Journal (cont.)!!!!!!
10:48am ~
(Rachel) An update of all that has happened since 8:30pm last night. We went to Cold Stone and got ice cream and then went to Serenades, a fraternity/sorority dance show which was scarring at best. Complete with racy moves, guys stripping on stage, and the girl in the audience giving the guy next to her a lap dance, it was certainly something we were glad to leave after the girl (Kathryn's hallmate) we were supporting had gone. There was one fraternity, though, that had its really cool moments--like a chain of guys doing the worm together in a wave. Then we went back to Kathryn's dorm, where I crashed, and Sarah, Kathryn, and Rachael stayed up till 3. I was completely unaware of anything, so I'll let Sarah write in anything significant that I missed. I slept until 7:45, when I got up and took Aleve, and as soon as it kicked in, I crashed again. We got up at 9:45 (the plan was to get up at 9 and get breakfast, then leave at 10, but this trip has existed to defy deadlines and change plans), and ate cereal (mine came with a free dead bug!--we decided it was recyclable), lost our journal pen, got a new one from Rachael, said goodbye (and see you at Urbana) to Rachael, saw some ducks, said goodbye to Kathryn :'(, and set off for the coast!
11:09am~
(R) Buffalo sighting!
12:06pm~
(R) Sheep!
12:47pm~
(R) Ocean sighted!
12:55pm~
(S) and Sarah finally gets a chance to write. First, a quote from some Willamette football guys, as told by Kathryn and Kelsey.
Football Player #1
Just kidding. There was some disparity in the ways we heard the story, so you will have to wait until we clarify to hear it.
(R) I just fed a seagull my pear core, but it didn't eat it. Seagulls are amazing.
1:10pm~
(R) I casually mentioned that we ought to empty the trash, and a few seconds later, Sarah sighted a garbage can outside a store and pulled up beside it. I emptied the trash and--BALD EAGLE SIGHTING AT 1:13!!!!--ran down the street after a gumwrapper in my socks, because I had taken my shoes off. I also managed to find the journal pen, which had somehow contrived to throw itself off the dashboard and wedge itself between two levers underneath the passenger seat.
1:59pm~
(R) Dear Amanda,
We just saw a creek that made us think of you. It was called Ecola, which is a combination of Ebola and E. Coli. You just come drink the water out of the creek; who knows what you'd end up with!
2:08pm~
(R) Don't ever bowl with defrosted turkeys. The Auto Shop in Seaside says so.
2:28pm~
(R) We stopped at the Rag 'n' Bone Thrift Store in Seaside, Oregon. We saw many cheap and interesting things. It wasn't exactly the Arc, but it was pretty amusing. Most hideous piece of lingerie ever sighted.
2:54pm~
(R) Hello, Washington! Dismal Nitch, next right.
3:14pm~
(R) We have been looking for a bathroom for the past ten miles. Apparently, southern Washingtonians don't ever need them. Or they don't open them to the public. Ha! Score! McDonald's! We also saw two little (or not-so-little) old ladies in motorized wheelchairs waiting to cross the street while standing in the middle of it.
4:19pm~
(S) But that was before we realized we'd locked the key in the car. We asked the lady at the McDonald's for a phone book and found the only locksmith in Long Beach, who said he'd be there in 10 minutes. He was, but had a little trouble getting into the car. While he was busily at work, who should roll by but the wheelchair ladies! One of them said, "Hey! It's your son!" and the other one called, "Androo! Are you trying to break into that young lady's car?" Rachel and I fought to keep straight faces. Andrew finally got the door open, recommended that we not do that again, and sent us on our way. Total cost for use of McDonald's bathroom? $49 and an hour of our time.
4:22pm~
(S) As we pull onto the main drag again, we notice a little old man in a sombrero, also in a motorized wheelchair, cruising down the sidewalk.
4:40pm~
(S) Joe Johns Street. We suddenly discover we aren't on 101 anymore.
4:55pm~
(S) We discover we haven't been on Hwy 101 for a very long time.
5:03pm
(S) We find Hwy 101 again. It seemed it made a sudden right turn and we missed it because...we were looking for a bathroom at the first gas station we stopped at. Now that's ironic. Unlike rain on your wedding day, which is not ironic at all, just a bummer.
5:41pm~
(S) Conclusion--Hwy 101 hates us. Turns out it took a sudden left turn this time and left us on West 4. We are not making good homeward progress.
6:34pm~
(R) So, 101 hates us with a burning passion. And passion kills. And 101 is killing us. We thought we'd somehow managed to overshoot 107. So we pulled over in South Bend, WA, to call Sarah's mom and have her Mapquest us. Turns out, we hadn't gotten to 107 yet, so we kept going. But 101, angry at being thwarted again, decided to close itself and detour us off onto a small winding road that seemed suspiciously to be heading into mountains. Fortunately, it was only a detour and not a death trap, and we are now back on 101, riding into the sunset (or parallel to it), and hoping 107 shows up soon.
6:47pm~
(R) Bat, or other large creature, hits windshield, producing loud thump and heart attacks in both of us. We made it through therapy, but are not exactly recovered since 101 is out in the middle of nowhere.
6:51pm~
(R) 107! We're going to live! Our friend is coming with us! Or our stalker, which is why the doors are locked.
7:23pm~
(R) Our friend passed us, so he wasn't a stalker. Just a bit of company that we needed on that remote highway that felt like it was leading us into the Yukon. We're now headed onto 101 South (yes, we can't get away from it), and home... in another hour or two.
7:48pm~
(R) A small tribute to our friend. He is in a nondescript, somewhat dilapidated old blue car (license number 703-LMJ in case you were wondering), and he is younger-forty-something, gray hair, clean cut. He followed us faithfully from the detour on 101 until we were safely on 12, when we have been passing each other since, by turns. We decided he is probably our guardian angel. We wanted to follow him until one of us exits, but didn't want to look like creepy stalkers.
8:54pm~
(R) We are almost home! We have just finished reciting The Princess Bride through the albino "You are in the Pit of Despair" scene. Between the two of us, we have managed to remember almost every line. We lost our friend in a mass of traffic on I-5, but will always remember his reassuring presence.