Post Offices

It’s Postal Photoin’ Time Again

I thought maybe an early drive and a caramel latte would be nice. I had picked out a route home so as to be able to grab some post offices parallel to I-5, but there were three not on that path, so I went looking for them. The hotel breakfast looked awful, but I went with my old standby, cereal with a banana with some OJ.

After breakfast I was really ready to go, packed up all my stuff, threw it in the trunk and started back north.

Bucky or #6 Needs A Bath

Couldn’t stand it any longer, I drove down to Eugene to see my new purchase. They have it scheduled to start working on it this Friday, but until then it is tucked away all dirty and forlorn. I dropped off some of the parts I purchased, for them to install, so I don’t have to do it in my driveway in the cold.

After that, instead of going back to the hotel and relaxing, I headed out on the town. First up was dinner at the Snack Shack. Blue Cheese & Bacon burger with crinkle fries, not bad, but not Burgerland wonderful. Afterwards I drove around the dark and rainy streets photographing Post Offices.

2000 Cars In A Minute

On Sunday I drove up to Granite Falls, WA to visit the other family that makes up the Pacific North West Chapter of the Morrison/Bogardus Club. On the way up I noticed a very interesting town name and filed it away for the drive back.

Vader, WA – 98593

“Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy.”

This morning, while returning home along I-405 going south, if I could have pulled over and counted cars going by every second, I would have tallied 33-1/3, or 2,000 a minute. The New Miata rolled by 2,000 miles just after crossing back into Oregon.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Please read today’s post title in the voice of Jan C. Gabriel, the Chicago-area motorsport announcer who is best known for popularizing this ubiquitous motorsport phrase.

Today’s sunrise was set for just after 7:30 AM, so I set my alarm for seven o’clock. Unfortunately I woke fully up at around quarter to six. So, I brushed my teeth, packed up and got in the car. The first 2 post office were photographed in pretty much in the dark. Not really an issue, during the South Carolina post office roundup I took around a dozen in the dark and several more at dusk or dawn, and I kind of really like them.

Just Another Sunday

And just another trip to capture images of Post Offices. Today’s objective was to take pictures the four downtown post offices that I missed on on earlier attempt, plus one that was practically on the way home.

This time I got up at the crack of dawn, thankfully at this time of year its 7:30, to hopefully minimize my interactions with traffic. It was a good idea because there was hardly any traffic around the downtown area and I saw more transit busses than automobiles. The lack of traffic was also helpful because in the middle photo of the top row below I had to park in the travel lane to take that picture.

So now, of the two dozen Post Offices that are in the city limits of Portland, I have only one more to get. And quite possibly if I wanted to I could have grabbed that today too, but it is so far west of town as to be almost in the town of Beaverton. Besides it is practically next door to the Mini dealer where I will be going to soon enough to get something fixed on that car, I’ll get that one then.

The Man Of 11% Of A Thousand Post Offices

And also, the man of 29% of the 385 Oregon Post Offices.

Yesterday evening the weather forecast called for rain overnight, turning to just cloudy during the day today. So, I mapped out about 8 post offices to go get photos of in the morning only to wake up this morning to find it raining and now it was going to continue raining for the whole day.

I briefly considered calling the drive off, but I now know from living here for over a year, that even if the forecast calls for rain, that rain, more than likely, will be just off and on not a steady downpour. I jumped in the Miata and headed south.

It did rain pretty steady for the first 25 minutes on my trip down I-205, but it did become sporadic once I started driving on B roads going through the Post Office towns. My second planned Post Office was in West Linn, but when I got to where it was supposed to be, it wasn’t there, it was a paved parking lot for what looked like a new supermarket. Guess it moved to somewhere else. The address I had was from 5 years ago when I first compiled the list. I really should check these on USPS.com before I go out looking.

The convoluted post title was because a few miles from home on I-84 heading west the New Blue Miata hit the 1,000 mile mark.

It’s Sunday So…

…its post office hunting day.

Instead of my usual go west into the heart of the big city I turned my eyes east to go a bit rural. And it was worth it. After the first 6 or so miles the roads turned very rural, all twisty, narrow and traffic free with plenty of elevation changes. Perfect Miata roads, almost. Today was a rainy day, so while I enjoyed driving them I didn’t push the car too much because I’m still getting used to the new cars handling and grip.