Yes, I'm still at my home near Portland, Oregon, still getting ready for my trip. As I'm discovering, it takes a
lot of work (and time) to prepare for a massive trip like this, especially if you're an overly-obsessive person like me. However, I did cancel my apartment lease a
few weeks ago, so on June 1, I'll be moving out of my apartment and will finally hit the road for my U.S. trip. I've had to
pare my U.S. trip down to about two months, but that should still be enough time to drive completely around the country at a (semi-)
leisurely pace.
Above: My sister's house in Lincoln City, Oregon.
Speaking of road trips, I put together a new web page this past week that includes a map of all of the road trips that I've taken around North America
during the last 20 years. The page is called My Previous Roadtrips, and as
you can tell from the map I posted there, I really enjoy driving. I've also included photos of some interesting places in North America.
And speaking of photos, the big project these past few weeks was scanning my favorite slides. I've shot about 25,000 slides of North America since
my college days and recently selected my favorite 4,000 slides, which I just finished scanning so I can post them on this website over the coming months.
You can never have enough JPGs, that's what I always say.
I can't wait to leave on my big roadtrip. Speaking of that, here's the Portland group Nu Shooz singing I Can't Wait.
I recently spent a few days at my sister's house in Lincoln City, over on the Oregon coast. Doti moved to Lincoln City in 1984 and lived there
for over 15 years, but she moved up to Bellingham, Washington about two years ago to stay with my dad after my mom passed away. Doti recently decided
to sell her house, so I went over to Lincoln City in early May to go through my high school and college stuff, which I've stored in her garage for
the past 15 years.
And guess what? After storing all my "precious" stuff there for 15 years, I ended up throwing almost all of it away. I guess
that's how life is, huh?
Above left: Going through my "precious" high school and college things at Doti's house.
Above right: Twenty years of memories equals one trip to the dump!
Above: I took a break yesterday and went to Portland Community College for the annual Draft Horse Plowing Exhibition. Of course,
these days they use tractors to plow the ground instead of horses, but it's fun to see how they used to till the land.
Above left: A three-horse team and riding plow. Draft horses are huge, descendants of the horses used in battle during
the days of King Arthur. Each horse weighs about 2,000 pounds and eats around 20 pounds of hay every day.
Above right: Both the farmers and horses really enjoyed getting out and plowing land the old-fashioned way.