Two for Wednesday

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1) The other day when I left Brookings, OR, and headed south to the California redwoods, I passed through one of the state’s agriculture inspection stations. As I stopped, the inspector popped his head out and said, “Nice, that’s a bright green.” As he waved me by, he said, “Have a great day.” There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the inspector himself. His gray-silver hair was brushed straight back from his tanned, toned face, and his voice had that distinctive California surfer dude accent. If asked in a court of law, I would not be able to answer no to the question, “Was the inspector Josh Meyers doing his Gavin Newsom?”

2) Yesterday while dining at Heidi’s of Gresham, I noticed that the menu boasts, “Family owned and operated since 1968.” This is the second time I’ve eaten here, and the clientele is of a certain era. There are my “peeps” and older. I would guess that if there is anyone dining here that was born after 1968, they are with at least their parents, if not their grandparents.

Two For Tuesday

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1) Coming north from California and on the way through Klamath Falls, I took a photo of the GTI in front of my favorite mural. This is the GTI’s second photo in front of the Kingsley Field mural, taken when I stopped here on the way to Vegas last November, back when the car was black.

2) It’s Saint Patrick’s Day, so it was time for a dinner of corned beef and cabbage. I stopped at Heidi’s of Gresham, and I was willing to bet that they had that as a special today, and they did. I finished everything except for 3/4 of the carrots; they are going in a chicken noodle soup I’m going to make.

Starting Home

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But first, California. Another lighthouse, a Klamath with no Falls post office, some big-ass trees, and a Roadside America stop. Tomorrow, northward bound.

92%

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Today’s eight post offices brings my total to 356 of the state’s “total” of 388, or I’m now 92% finished. In the two weeks of March I have made three separate trips: a one-night outing, a day trip, and this 4-day event, capturing 44 post offices. All the rest are in the far northeast of the state. Those will have to wait until April; I need a break.

It wasn’t all business; I stopped at two lighthouses, Coquille River and Cape Blanco, and walked along the shore at low tide in a couple of places. I also received a compliment, I think, on the back window of the GTI.

Southwest Clean-Up

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Last Monday I contemplated doing a 4-day road trip to get to the last 21 post offices along the southern coast. Tonight I’m in Coos Bay. I broke it down into 9 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. Once again Google Maps led me astray, and I could only find eight of the nine; the Allegany post office was nowhere near where they said it would be. I couldn’t research where it might be because I was deep into the forest away from US-101, so I had zero service.

After finding those eight, it was only 1:00 pm, so it was way too early for the hotel check-in. I decided to head down the coast some more and shrink Sunday’s quota of twelve. The next town south on US-101 was Bandon, about 30 miles away. That round trip would only kill an hour, so once in Bandon, I headed inland on OR-42 to grab four more post offices that were deep into the woods like Allegany. Thankfully, all four were where Google Maps said they should be.

At the hotel I researched the Allegany post office further. I tried searching for the address given for the place on Apple Maps, and it pinpointed the town’s community center, a couple miles further down the road from where Google said it was. So tomorrow that’ll be the first place I head.

Of the last 8 I need to find, 7 are in towns right on US-101. The seventh town, Agness, is a ways inland along the Rogue River, and the road to get there is on the south side of the river, and Agness is on the north side. I have to drive 3-1/2 miles past it to get to a bridge and go back those 3-1/2 miles, take a picture, and then reverse the route.

Old-School

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“Old-school selfie: me holding up a point & shoot film camera sometime between 2003 and 2005.”

That was the caption I put on this photo when I uploaded it several months ago. I was going to lean in and tell you how I could tell it happened to be in that date range. But now looking at it, I can see this is positively prior to November 2003. I know that because that is when we bought the Emperor, a 2003 NB in Garnet Red, and this car is blue, and those seats are cloth NA seats. I owned two blue Miatas, a 1990 and a 1995, and because of the limited amount of blue you can see in the photo, there is no way to tell which car it is. It has to be prior to 2000 because I put leather seats in the 1995 that year.

Another clue was on the hat: the word “Word” is clear there, but what follows it? My first thought was WordPress, but that didn’t come into being until 2003. The only other thing I can think of is WordPerfect. That has been around since the late 70s, and according to Wikipedia, “the height of its popularity was in the 1980s and early 1990s.” I started work in Aiken in 1989, and the first computers came in the early 90s, so I think the best I can narrow it down to just somewhere between 1993-1999.

Ten Little Post Offices

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Knocked off another 10 post offices yesterday. Now there are just 21 more to capture along the coast, and I’m thinking that it is time for a 4-day trip to get all that are left out there. I either do it this weekend or wait until the first weekend in April to avoid Oregon school’s spring breaks. But if I wait until April, the rates for staying on the coast will probably cost a bunch more because it’ll be the beginning of their season. I’ll make that a game-time decision on, say, Thursday morning.