We weary traveling few
We finally booked into our hostel in Portland today after leaving almost exactly a week ago. Yesterday we applied for an apartment in Vancouver, Wa., a short distance from Portland, which may be a little more difficult for commuting, but it is cheap as hell and an awesome place. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a washer and dryer installed and looks 10 times nicer than the other places we looked at all for about $725 a month.
Now if only jobs will pan out. I've put out dozens of resumes so far. I've gotten one interview at a small newspaper for next week that keeps getting pushed back. I kind of hope it works out but from the way they keep pushing me back I'm not going to put all my cookies in one basket.
So anyway, the trip up:
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 8 - Louis and I packed the car the night before. I thought that I was packing somewhat light, but my travelmate put me to shame. Whereas his stuff took up maybe a third of the space with a duffel bag and a computer, I took up the rest of the space with my already thinned out clothes, shoes and personal affects.
We said our goodbyes to Chris, Victoria and Ms. Stephanie and headed out with a vision of seeing Dallas in our rearview by nightfall. We must have been really trucking, because we made it to Oklahoma City by nightfall, and although Louis swore we could go another 200 miles (to round out to 1,000), I insisted we stopped for the night.
In Oklahoma City, we got our first experience of THE GOLDEN CORRAL, an appropriately named establishment with an amazingly tasty selection of shrimp, chicken, beef, chinese and pastries. We left thoroughly sass-ti-fied.
We stayed at the Motel 6, which I believe is one of the more amazing establishments. I just needed a bed. There was tv and a bathroom. No shampoo, but along our route most motels didn't offer shampoo...
THURSDAY, Sept. 9 - From Okla. City, we traveled all the way through Kansas, through Denver, Colo., and upto Cheyenne, Wyo. where we stayed the night.
Oklahoma was nice and then it wasn't. I could imagine that God himself had commissioned Bob Ross to paint the scenery there. Many happy trees and little wooden pickets sticking out of the ground as if they had at one time belonged there. It was storming for a good majority of the time as we traveled through Oklahoma.
Kansas on the other hand was a sad and lonely place. If you want to be alone (and I mean completely alone), go to Kansas. I almost went blind from all the yellow and nothing. We passed through Denver briefly stopping at a place outside of the city limits call the Cheeky Monk, good for its beer. We finally stopped for the night in Cheyenne, at another Motel 6, just as fancy as the last one.
FRIDAY, Sept. 10 - All of Wyoming up into Yellowstone (and a little ways into Montana). Wyoming took us pretty much all day to get through and half of that was Yellowstone. It is quite a larger park. The state of Wyoming is gorgeous. Rolling hills, cascading mountains, 6%grade declining roads - you'll feel like you're on a roller coaster. You can't close your eyes in Wyoming, there is always something to look at, the place with remarkable and intimidating vast beauty.
Getting into Yellowstone was a bit breathtaking, and by that, I mean we were holding our breaths. Uphill, nasty mud, snowing, in a standard through construction work. Louis drove through that. It was so scary it was hilarious how much was going on at once. We got to Yellowstone with about an hour and a half before the eruption of Old Faithful. It was getting late so we were trying to figure out a place to stay, hoping for a place inside the park, but everything was booked up. Frantic, I had to start calling a bunch of motels just outside the park from a list given to me by one of the receptionists at Yellowstone. It was getting kind of late by this point. As luck would have it, after three motels we were finally granted a place to lay our tired heads at a slightly pricier motel (with no internet connection or shampoo, but it had free breakfast). We finally got to go stand in the cold and wait for the Old Faithful water fountain to start its show. I got a few pictures, but like most everything else I saw on this trip, I don't think photos will do it justice.
On the way out of Yellowstone we passed an assortment of friendly animals, like bison, elk and coyotes. I saw a bison cross in front of a car. That's a lot more intimidating than a family of ducks. The park rangers gave us a warning about the bison. "Buffalo can run 3 times faster than you can! Many visitors have been gored by buffalo. Do not approach buffalo. Stay safe! Stay Away!" Thanks guys. I will not even thing about getting near a buffalo. I also saw an elk stopped in the middle of the road that may or may not have caused an accident. It was dark and we passed just as another car was coming from the other direction and the elk was standing in its lane. We do know that the car that was right behind us was no longer behind us for a while. The warning we got about elks - "All elk are aggressive, fast and dangerous. Elk can charge you, hurt you and damage your car. Stay away from elk" Good to know.
SATURDAY, Sept. 11 - After a buffet style breakfast, complements of the Traveler's Lodge, we were on our way through Idaho, mostly uninteresting, with a little bit of Wyoming straggling through, and a scenery of what you might expect traveling through the desert, but with a little more grass. We crossed completely through Idaho and into Oregon to stay the night in Ontario, where I felt like I was in Bogalusa. The place had the feel of the blue collar working family's resthaven, with closing down store front that look like they came from the 80s anyway, deserted streets and a smattering burger joints and fast food establishments. We stayed at an impressively oppressive little motel owned by an Indian family that possibly lived there as they kept greeting us in pajamas. I'm going to assume that the motel was cleanish because its easier for me that way.
SUNDAY, Sept. 12 - We had breakfast at the local Knights of Columbus hangout, McDonalds, where it seemed we were invading old folks territory. They looked rough, like they could beat us up. After we finished our meal, I asked one the girls behind the counter how to get back on the Interstate. She looked a bit confused at first, as if no interstate existed here. When I told here we were heading to Portland, some familiarity dawned on her, but not enough. She asked another lady behind the counter who proceeded to give me the wrong directions out of town. I guess no one really leaves Ontario, Oregon.
We made it all the way to Portland, but as our reservations at the hostel weren't for another couple days, we got another motel on the other side of Portland. It wasn't bad, but I was a little irritated that I booked a double bed room and they gave us a one bed. We then had to go argue with the little Indian guy behind the counter who insisted that I was wrong while not even listening to what I was trying to say. He kept pointing at what he had on his computer, saying "Look, look," with me responding that that was not what was on my computer. Finally, for an additional $10 a night he "upgraded" us to the two bed room. I'm not really liking hostelworld.com. The motels and hostels are not really honoring the prices that they offer on the web site. They are using tricky wording and plopping in hidden costs.
So on Day 2 of our stay at the motel, we checked out several apartments and decided to go with the one we found in Vancouver, because it was a great price and there are public transit ways of getting back to Portland. We only intend to sign a 7-month lease to give a chance to get further settled and hopefully figure out which area we would really like to be and find jobs that can afford us what we need.
Now if only jobs will pan out. I've put out dozens of resumes so far. I've gotten one interview at a small newspaper for next week that keeps getting pushed back. I kind of hope it works out but from the way they keep pushing me back I'm not going to put all my cookies in one basket.
So anyway, the trip up:
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 8 - Louis and I packed the car the night before. I thought that I was packing somewhat light, but my travelmate put me to shame. Whereas his stuff took up maybe a third of the space with a duffel bag and a computer, I took up the rest of the space with my already thinned out clothes, shoes and personal affects.
We said our goodbyes to Chris, Victoria and Ms. Stephanie and headed out with a vision of seeing Dallas in our rearview by nightfall. We must have been really trucking, because we made it to Oklahoma City by nightfall, and although Louis swore we could go another 200 miles (to round out to 1,000), I insisted we stopped for the night.
In Oklahoma City, we got our first experience of THE GOLDEN CORRAL, an appropriately named establishment with an amazingly tasty selection of shrimp, chicken, beef, chinese and pastries. We left thoroughly sass-ti-fied.
We stayed at the Motel 6, which I believe is one of the more amazing establishments. I just needed a bed. There was tv and a bathroom. No shampoo, but along our route most motels didn't offer shampoo...
THURSDAY, Sept. 9 - From Okla. City, we traveled all the way through Kansas, through Denver, Colo., and upto Cheyenne, Wyo. where we stayed the night.
Oklahoma was nice and then it wasn't. I could imagine that God himself had commissioned Bob Ross to paint the scenery there. Many happy trees and little wooden pickets sticking out of the ground as if they had at one time belonged there. It was storming for a good majority of the time as we traveled through Oklahoma.
Kansas on the other hand was a sad and lonely place. If you want to be alone (and I mean completely alone), go to Kansas. I almost went blind from all the yellow and nothing. We passed through Denver briefly stopping at a place outside of the city limits call the Cheeky Monk, good for its beer. We finally stopped for the night in Cheyenne, at another Motel 6, just as fancy as the last one.
FRIDAY, Sept. 10 - All of Wyoming up into Yellowstone (and a little ways into Montana). Wyoming took us pretty much all day to get through and half of that was Yellowstone. It is quite a larger park. The state of Wyoming is gorgeous. Rolling hills, cascading mountains, 6%grade declining roads - you'll feel like you're on a roller coaster. You can't close your eyes in Wyoming, there is always something to look at, the place with remarkable and intimidating vast beauty.
Getting into Yellowstone was a bit breathtaking, and by that, I mean we were holding our breaths. Uphill, nasty mud, snowing, in a standard through construction work. Louis drove through that. It was so scary it was hilarious how much was going on at once. We got to Yellowstone with about an hour and a half before the eruption of Old Faithful. It was getting late so we were trying to figure out a place to stay, hoping for a place inside the park, but everything was booked up. Frantic, I had to start calling a bunch of motels just outside the park from a list given to me by one of the receptionists at Yellowstone. It was getting kind of late by this point. As luck would have it, after three motels we were finally granted a place to lay our tired heads at a slightly pricier motel (with no internet connection or shampoo, but it had free breakfast). We finally got to go stand in the cold and wait for the Old Faithful water fountain to start its show. I got a few pictures, but like most everything else I saw on this trip, I don't think photos will do it justice.
On the way out of Yellowstone we passed an assortment of friendly animals, like bison, elk and coyotes. I saw a bison cross in front of a car. That's a lot more intimidating than a family of ducks. The park rangers gave us a warning about the bison. "Buffalo can run 3 times faster than you can! Many visitors have been gored by buffalo. Do not approach buffalo. Stay safe! Stay Away!" Thanks guys. I will not even thing about getting near a buffalo. I also saw an elk stopped in the middle of the road that may or may not have caused an accident. It was dark and we passed just as another car was coming from the other direction and the elk was standing in its lane. We do know that the car that was right behind us was no longer behind us for a while. The warning we got about elks - "All elk are aggressive, fast and dangerous. Elk can charge you, hurt you and damage your car. Stay away from elk" Good to know.
SATURDAY, Sept. 11 - After a buffet style breakfast, complements of the Traveler's Lodge, we were on our way through Idaho, mostly uninteresting, with a little bit of Wyoming straggling through, and a scenery of what you might expect traveling through the desert, but with a little more grass. We crossed completely through Idaho and into Oregon to stay the night in Ontario, where I felt like I was in Bogalusa. The place had the feel of the blue collar working family's resthaven, with closing down store front that look like they came from the 80s anyway, deserted streets and a smattering burger joints and fast food establishments. We stayed at an impressively oppressive little motel owned by an Indian family that possibly lived there as they kept greeting us in pajamas. I'm going to assume that the motel was cleanish because its easier for me that way.
SUNDAY, Sept. 12 - We had breakfast at the local Knights of Columbus hangout, McDonalds, where it seemed we were invading old folks territory. They looked rough, like they could beat us up. After we finished our meal, I asked one the girls behind the counter how to get back on the Interstate. She looked a bit confused at first, as if no interstate existed here. When I told here we were heading to Portland, some familiarity dawned on her, but not enough. She asked another lady behind the counter who proceeded to give me the wrong directions out of town. I guess no one really leaves Ontario, Oregon.
We made it all the way to Portland, but as our reservations at the hostel weren't for another couple days, we got another motel on the other side of Portland. It wasn't bad, but I was a little irritated that I booked a double bed room and they gave us a one bed. We then had to go argue with the little Indian guy behind the counter who insisted that I was wrong while not even listening to what I was trying to say. He kept pointing at what he had on his computer, saying "Look, look," with me responding that that was not what was on my computer. Finally, for an additional $10 a night he "upgraded" us to the two bed room. I'm not really liking hostelworld.com. The motels and hostels are not really honoring the prices that they offer on the web site. They are using tricky wording and plopping in hidden costs.
So on Day 2 of our stay at the motel, we checked out several apartments and decided to go with the one we found in Vancouver, because it was a great price and there are public transit ways of getting back to Portland. We only intend to sign a 7-month lease to give a chance to get further settled and hopefully figure out which area we would really like to be and find jobs that can afford us what we need.