14th
Eastward Ho(me) + DONUTSDONUTSDONUTS!!!!
First off, sorry for falling off the face of the earth. Yes, our trip has concluded; yes we are back in town; YES I WANNA HANG OUT!
Staying with my family in Coos Bay was wonderful and a much needed rest as I was able to regain my health, spend time with my Uncle and Cousin and also meet my Uncles’ lovely lovely girlfriend Angie and her kids Audrey and Grant. Really, your hospitality was so overwhelming, it is hard to find the words to express how grateful and happy I am for that time. I got to watch Grant’s soccer team totally skewer their competition (16-0!) and we spent some good time exploring the forest, cliffs and beaches, beatboxing, eating DONUTS, watching Iron Man, and sleeping off our collective sickness.
On to Portland! Overcast skies, Voodoo DONUT, a Japanese Garden, tons of thrift and the largest bookstore in the country. Also friendly people. Basically anything I could ever ask of a city. We didn’t know our last day in Portland was going to be our last day in the Westerly West, but by the evening Nelle and I decided to save Seattle for our next trip.
Our next stop was to be Bozeman, Montana…or so we thought. The GB thought otherwise. We were almost out of Washington (our route was a little weird, okay?) when one of the front tires decided to peel itself off and hang out in the middle of the road. No big deal, I’ve changed a tire or two in my day; we pulled over (really, the luckiest place we could’ve gotten a flat because we weren’t in the mountains or on some craggy death peak, just flat, wide open, rolling hills with wiiiiiiiiide shoulders on both sides of the road), unloaded our trunk, got out the spare, positioned the jack, grabbed the…
Oh right. The tire iron. Apparently did not come included with the spare that the guy who sold me the car raved on and on about. My bad, I should have double checked. 20 minutes and a good Samaritan later, we were rolling on a sweet little DONUT that says it will last us 50 miles as long as we don’t go over 50 mph. We drove about 60 miles to Spokane doing 55, found a motel, tied one on with the hotel bar staff and a couple of 80 year olds, got the tires fixed in the morning (by the same guy that stopped to help us! small world – thanks again dude…also thanks for the DONUTS Les Schwab. Cinnamon Sugar=highly rec’d), decided to skip Bozeman, drove through whiteout blizzard conditions, stopped again in Buffalo WY, sang Christmas songs and pop tunes when the boombox (briefly) died, turned into zombies (braaaaaains!) and arrived in Iowa City in the dead of night two days after we left the Northwest, blasting our beloved reggae tape and dragging my muffler behind us. Success!
So really, it’s good to be back. We’ll keep you posted on the next iteration of PAT. Uh, and, I guess that’s it for now! THANKS!! (more specific thanks to come)! See you soon!
LOVE CARE
