Well, for all the fans out there... sorry I didn't get to post last night. Read the previous entry and you will understand.
Got an early start this morning and was out of that roach motel by 6:45am. It was cold and rainy. By the way, the temperatures in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington for the past few days has been about 55 degrees, so it's been a bit cold. It's not that humid, Texas cold like I'm use to... it's more of that bitter cold with a bit of cold wind blowing, especially on the coastline.
Due to time constraints, I figured it in my best judgement to go ahead and bypass the Oregon coastline via 101 and just head over to Interstate 5, the main highway out of California that runs through Oregon and Washington, ending at the Canadian border. With the fact that 101 is a two land, very windy road up the Oregon coast, and considering the time it took me yesterday, I couldn't afford to waste several days traversing that coastline, though I really would have liked to do it. Instead, I took the quick route and figured I'd return to the coast in Seattle.
Now, check this out... how's this for weird...
I made it all the way to Salem without filling up with gas. Just north of Salem, I pulled over to fill up. I pulled into a Chevron, got out and proceeded to pay at the pump. As I was messing with it, an attendant came out and asked me if I 'had it figured out.' I replied, 'I think so' and proceeded to start pumping. The guy was still standing around and I saw him look at my Texas license plate. At that moment, it must have dinged in his head that I was along way from home. As he started to walk off, he says, 'I don't mind it, but just so you know, there is no self-service gas stations in the state of Oregon.' Puzzled at the comment, I replied with something along the lines of 'Really?' and 'Sorry about that dude, I didn't know that.' He was cool about it and walked off, lighting up a cigarette. I finished pumping and left.
That concept stuck in my head, and as I was leaving, I looked at the 76 gas station across the street and it's sign read '76 Fast Serve.' It almost seems as though there must be a law against it or something... I'm very intrigued by this, so I'm going to have to research this and I'll let y'all know what I find out.
Aside from that weird experience, Oregon was an okay state. A very green state with lots of trees, as one would imagine. All of the towns I went through were very small, backwoodsy, and very blue collar. Being that I saw numerous lumber mills, I'd imagine that most of the people of Oregon do that sort of work.
Portland, on the other hand, was the exception. I thought Portland was a very nice city and I'd like to go back and spend more time there.
On a side note: Due to the fact that it was raining most of the time and lighting was low, I didn't get very many good pics of today's journey. Sorry. I'd really like to go back and visit the Redwood Forest. I believe that is where they did the Return of the Jedi filming. If you want to know what it all looked like, just watch that movie.