[Day 4 Continued]

So I wanted to write more last night but was honestly just too tired, I needed to get to sleep. There were only 2 things I wanted to write about real quick, and they were the beginning of the drive and Portland.

First of all, Oregon is beautiful. Maybe a lot of you know this or assumed it, but I’ve never been here so it’s all new to me. I drove through the whole state, and though it changed from place to place, there is one constant to it all: the GREEN. No matter where you are, if you look on either side of you (you don’t even have to look, it’s blaring at you) you’ll find about a million trees in both directions. The South half of Oregon was more beautiful I thought, specifically going through “Canyonville”... it was insane, it was about an hour of driving through mountains, but not windy hills like you might think - it was long straightaways and curves going up and down on a 4 lane freeway. On either side were trees reading up 50 to 100 ft, and the road went up and down so much that it was really hard most of the time to know if you were climbing or descending (really disorienting actually). The air was unlike anything I’ve breathed anywhere else too. Here are a few pics from the drive, the first was in the heart of Canyonville and the second is right past it (forgive the quality, they’re through the front of my windshield as I was going 75/80 mph... they’ll give you an idea of what I’m talking about though).





I made it to Portland from Medford in just about 4 hours, which was really good time. I parked in the parking garage at Powell’s books in downtown, and went inside... that place is overwhelming! It’s 3 or 4 stories high, and each floor is packed with shelves, DENSELY packed, to the point that it almost feels like a maze. I wanted to get something there so I could remember it, so I bought Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, I’m gonna read it while I’m here. I rode my bike around downtown a bit and got to know the area a little, it was awesome, that place has such a cool feel.

From there it was a few more hours to my relatives’ house. In the last hundred miles or so I began to feel it - my head was starting to pound, I could feel myself getting REALLY anxious... 4 separate days of driving, ranging from 4 to 9 hours a day, will really get to you I think... getting out of that car at the house felt great, but my brain felt like it wasn’t all there, I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I feel a lot better this morning, and am still going to use today to rest and recover from the drive. Thanks to everybody who’s following along, it makes it feel worthwhile and helps me feel connected. I’m going to explore a little around this area, I’ll have more later.