Post Offices – Page 3 – Life of Brian

Been A While

Saturday, August 16, 2025

It has been almost 4 weeks since I’ve gone post office hunting. I’m overnighting in Pendleton, OR and will head home tomorrow. Today I checked off 8 of them and have saved 5 for tomorrow’s drive home. Today’s list in order of capture went Hermiston, Stanfield, Echo, Milton-Freewater, Athena, Helix, Adams, and Weston. Almost missed Weston. Looking at the area map on the phone, the normal Google saved icon became dots, so I didn’t see it. I knew when I set out that today’s haul should have been eight, and when I had only seven photos, I zoomed in to make the icons larger and found my missing PO. Funny because I saw the town name when I passed the road to it on my way to the furthest one and wondered how come there wasn’t a post office there. Well, there was.

: Hermiston – Its population of 20,322 makes it the largest city in Eastern Oregon, and I saw very little of it, just a quick photo and back on my way. (8/16/25)

: Stanfield – Just as I parked that white SUV pulled in. I waited patiently until the woman was inside before clicking the shutter. I you look closely at the door, she is still not in. (8/17/25)

: Echo – These two guys had told their wives they were going into town to check the mail. So they did, but then spent the next 30 minutes chewing the fat. (8/16/25)

: Milton-Freewater – To dash or not to dash. I saw several signs that hyphenated the town name and just as many that did not. (8/16/25)

: Athenea – This two-and-a-half-story-tall building was the tallest in town, and it didn’t have any competition. There were probably a half dozen buildings in town period. (8/16/25)

: Helix – There was a big ol’ farm truck sitting right in front of this PO and I was going to wait him out but gave up. When I got out of my car to walk across the street to take my photo, they started to pull out but stopped. He asked if everything was OK. I said yes and told him I was taking a picture of every post office in the state. To which he replied, “I guess I better get out of your way.” (8/16/25)

: Adams – It is the first post office in Oregon alphabetically. In South Carolina that distinction fell to Abbeville; there was no Adams, but Adams Run was number two in SC. (8/16/25)

: Weston – There was something going on at a big old house next door to this PO. I think I recognized a lot of Future Farmers of America jackets though. (8/16/25)

You didn’t think I forgot a Roadside America picture, did you? Turns out there is something called Cattle Drive, and it is less than a 1/2 mile from the hotel, so I walked over and took a few photos. While I was there I noticed lights on the ground, which possibly meant it would be illuminated at night. So, I went back after dark, and sure enough, it was lit up. The low-level lights made it difficult to capture a wide shot that wasn’t burnt out by light flare.

: Cattle Drive – Day

: Cattle Drive – Night

Post Office Mop Up

Sunday, July 20, 2025

I had originally planned to to get today’s 4 post offices as part of an overnight trip back to Klamath Falls, but when I got up this morning I almost didn’t go anywhere. Just couldn’t get motivated to to go all that way, spend a night in a hotel and drive back the next day. Instead, today I just drove a loop that was the equivalent driving to Klamath Falls, but I’m already home for the night.

: Camp Sherman – I’ve had a couple three close misses on this particular P.O.. but either I didn’t have the time to make the 10 mile round trip or the road was snow covered. (7/20/25)

: Powell Butte – Powell Butte is an unincorporated community in Crook County and named after the nearby Powell Buttes.(7/20/25)

: Prineville – Prineville is the county seat of Crook County. It was named for the first merchant to establish businesses in the present location, Barney Prine. (7/20/25)

: Warm Springs – Located on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, the community is also known as the “Warm Springs Agency”. (7/20/25)

While I captured four post offices, I actually got to mark off five. The post office in the community of Brothers, which was on the list for capture today, has closed. I have now taken photos of 238 Oregon post offices out of the 390 in the state. Green marks are the ones I taken photos of, hover over the image and the yellow marks are one that I still need.

Don’t ask me why the Google maps for brian.the.red account shows as a flat map and the mr.miata account shows as if it a portion of a globe…

Post Office Updates

Sunday, July 13, 2025

After yesterday’s 15 post office flurry, I’ve photographed 234 out of the 391 in the the state. Which means I’m at 60%. Today I added those fifteen new photos to their respective galleries.

I tried to break up the nearly 400 post offices into 8 groups of around 50 each. Using the spreadsheet I went back and added up how many of the photos taken were in each of the eight groups. In order, Group 1 has 28 of 48, Group 2 has 30 of 49, etc. Group 6 has the highest at 38 of 50 for 76% and Group 8 has the lowest at 22 of 46 for 48%.

When you go to the Oregon Post Offices galleries page it shows right there how many photos are in the gallery and none of them are right. All fall short of how many photos should be in the gallery, With me adding yesterday’s photos the groups miss the total by 3, 5, 2, 7, 9, 2, 2, & 3 for a total of 33. All of those that need to be added so the galleries reflect what’s been done so far.

Tomorrow.

1 Car Wash & 15 Post Offices

Saturday, July 12, 2025

At the Car Wash

To eliminate what happened 2 weeks ago, me missing a post office and having to go back, today I wrote down the names of all the post offices I was after. And it was a good thing too because I would have missed Falls City. And not only would I have missed the post office, I would have missed getting the car washed by a girls softball team.

Today’s post office total of fifteen is the largest daily haul so far in Oregon. I want to say when doing the South Carolina post offices, there were a couple of days where it was in the twenties. But then again, South Carolina has about 150 more post offices and has 1/3 the land area, so everything is a lot closer. I did some chipherin’ and there is 1 post office for every 71 square miles in South Carolina, and Oregon has 1 post office for every 252 square miles!

Now I’ve got to go back and write something about each of today’s fifteen post offices…

: Amity – I’m going to take a wild guess and say this isn’t named after the island that a great white shark terrorized back in 1975. (7/12/25)

: Sheridan – Sheridan counts the prison population of the Federal Correctional Institution as part of the city’s official population. (7/12/25)

: Willamina – The town was named after Willamina Creek, which in turn was named for early settler Willamina Williams shortly after she fell off of her horse and into the creek. (7/12/25)

: Grand Ronde – The only thing of any substance in this town of 1,600 is the Spirit Mountain Casino. (7/12/25)

: Rickreall – Rickreall was often referred to as Dixie during the Civil War and for some time after because of the Southern sympathies of the local populace. (7/12/25)

: Dallas – Unlike Scio & Monmouth, I’m betting the founders of this town didn’t name it after where they came from. Folks from Dallas, TX, weren’t moving here in the 1840s. (7/12/25)

: Monmouth – Like Scio, this town took its name from the town the early settlers came from, in this case Monmouth, Ohio. (7/12/25)

: Falls City – I almost missed this one like I missed Odell two weeks ago, but this time I had written down all the POs I planned on photographing and realized I’d skipped it, so I went back for it. (7/12/25)

: Independence – Hooray for the red, white and blue. Red Ford Explorer, white Toyota RAV4 and a blue Mazda Miata. (7/12/25)

: Turner – My good friend Mark Turner from the ASCO days was a CNC programmer and machinist and in spite of his last name, he was more of a miller than a turner. (7/12/25)

: Aumsville – I don’t know how the residents of this town pronounce its name, but all I hear in my head is “alms for the poor.” (7/12/25)

: Sublimity – The blue lettering on the building goes sublimely with the blue of the Miata. (7/12/25)

: Stayton – Instead of my usual, standing across the street and clicking away, I backed off a bit to get the mural in the photo. (7/12/25)

: Scio – The town was named by one of the original residents, William McKinney. He used the name of his former home, Scio, Ohio. The Ohio village is, in turn, named for a Greek island called Chios; the Italian version of the name is Scio. (7/12/25)

: Jefferson – The first name for this locality was Conser’s Ferry, for Jacob S. Conser, an Oregon Trail pioneer of 1848 who ran a ferry across the Santiam River. (7/12/25)

I Got The One That Got Away

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Fruit Boxes

It was another sunny Sunday, so I took a drive that got close to Mount Hood and captured the one U.S. Post Office I missed last Sunday. Instead of doing the whole loop like last week, I went back up to Hood River and crossed the bridge over the Columbia River in to White Salmon, WA. I then headed west along WA-14 until I crossed back over the Bridge of the Gods to drop into Cascade Locks, OR. Instead of driving I-84 all the way home I ducked off onto Historic Old US-30 to get some twisty road fun. It is summer and the amount of traffic along that route, because of all the very scenic waterfalls, meant I got twisty road without the fun. Still better than Interstate.

: Odell – I went back today to pick up the one post office I totally spaced on last week during my Mount Hood loop. (7/6/25)

: That’s A Lot Of Fruit Boxes

: Mount Hood Miata Backdrop

6 Out Of 7 Ain’t Bad

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Mount Hood & Miata

It was a beautiful morning for a top down drive and I had a nice little loop planned. Go due east on I-84 until Hood River and then turn south OR-35, following it down to US-26 where I would turn west towards home. This enclosed Mt. Hood inside the loop and there were seven Post Offices along the way. Trouble is that there were two real close together and in my excitement I drove off after taking photos of just one.

: Hood River Annex – This was today’s first stop as I already taken the main Hood River Post Office on the 1st day of the Jumbo Road Trip. (6/29/25)

: Mount Hood Parkdale – Although located in Parkdale, this post office services both Hood River & Parkdale which both have a population of about 300 each. (6/29/25)

: Government Camp – Formerly a camp on the old Barlow Road, the village was named in 1849 when U.S Cavalry troops were forced to abandon wagons and supplies here. (6/29/25)

: Welches – I knew where this post office located for about a year and a half. Donna & 1 stopped in the shopping center across the street from it to get a coffee and a tea back in January 2024. (6/29/25)

: Rhododendron – This PO shares its building with a pizza place that maybe puts magic mushrooms on a pie. (6/29/25)

: Brightwood – Although this photo is of the Post Office it looks like it is a photo of a Miata with a government building behind it. (6/29/25)

Maybe next Sunday if the weather is similar I just might drive that loop again. It was a very scenic drive and maybe I’ll wear my hiking boots and stop at one of the many trails along the route.

Fairview, OR – Day 61: Home & Post Offices Again

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Umatilla, Oregon Post Office

All three of today’s Roadside America photographs happened in my home state of Oregon. Both the first two Metal Men on a Roof and the Large John Wayne Figure, although I see no resemblance, are located in Umatilla. Number three, the Tugboat On Land is grounded in the town Boardman.

: Two Metal Men on a Roof

: Large John Wayne Figure

: Tugboat On Land

Today is Day 61, and like I did on Day 1, I took the opportunity to take a few Post Office photos. I grabbed the first three upon entering the home state. And because I really got to Fairview pretty early I should have stopped at the other two, Rufus & Arlington, that are right off I-84.

: Umatilla – Is the first town in eastern Oregon I came to when returning from the 2025 Jumbo Road Trip. (6/17/25)

: Irrigon – This kind of looks like the Post Office in Umatilla. Maybe they both started from the same set of plans? (6/17/25)

: Boardman – The directions from Google sent my on what seemed like the long way round. I’m it was my fault for having “Avoid Highways” checked, but that’s how I roll. (6/17/25)