Road Trip – Life of Brian

The Gordon House

Monday, March 2, 2026 Leave a Comment

The Gordon House

I knew of this house as I had seen signs mentioning it on my previous passes through this part of the Willamette Valley looking for post offices. And I’ve always been interested in Frank Lloyd Wright, as I kind of wanted to be an architect in high school. When one of the Moss Motoring Challenge points was a famous piece of architecture, I wanted to go to Fallingwater in Pennsylvania to get that. And we did; I took several from the parking lot, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get the car, flyer, and house in the same shot.

And today, after seeing the second sign for the Frank Lloyd Wright House, I decided to follow them to its conclusion. Cool house, and had I wanted to, I could have toured the inside of the home for twenty bucks if I had only been there on a weekend afternoon and had made a reservation a long time ago. Basically the same scenario as Fallingwater back in 2015.

Before I got to Silverton to see the Gordon House I did grab these two small post offices along OR-34

: Tidewater – I’m not sure who the customers are for this post office. It seemed to have been plopped down in the middle of nowhere. Yet after taking the photo of the place while sitting in the GTI checking if I had a usable image, a car pulled in next to me and went inside to mail a letter. (3/2/26)

: Alsea – Unlike like the earlier in the morning Tidewater post office, this one made more sense as it was in an actual community. (3/2/26)

Eleven Equals Thirteen

Sunday, March 1, 2026 Leave a Comment

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

I took eleven post office photos today, and eliminated two more because there were two post offices that have been shuttered since I made the jumbo spreadsheet back in 2019. They were the one called South Beach that is just south of Newport and the one further down US101 for Seal Rock that have been decommissioned. Thus the total number of post offices for the state now stands at 388 instead of 390. This is not to say that once I have finished the rest of them, there might be 2 new ones added that I don’t know about. Once I get the two tomorrow on the way home, I will be down to just 63 left.

: Hebo – My first stop of the day along US-101 and the skies were a pretty blue. Later post offices were photographed under cloudy or foggy or misty conditions. (3/1/26)

: Cloverdale – While most post offices are rather drab in color, the blue here in Cloverdale rivaled the green of the GTI for saturation. (3/1/26)

: Pacific City – This town was a few miles closer to the Pacific Ocean than US-101, so it had a nice quiet feel to it. (3/1/26)

: Otis – Is that front plate on straight? (3/1/26)

: Neotsu – The community of Neostu is on the 45th parallel north, which is halfway from the North Pole to the equator. (3/1/26)

: Lincoln City – The name “Lincoln City” was chosen from contest entries submitted by local schoolchildren. The contest was held when it was determined that using one of the five communities’ names that made up the city would be too controversial. (3/1/26)

: Gleneden Beach – See those two blue doors above the roof of the GTI? That is the entrance to the post office and there is a sign saying so but it is in the shadow. (3/1/26)

: Depoe Bay – Somehow I expected Depoe Bay to have a grander post office building. (3/1/26)

: Yachats – Even though it was Sunday, this post office’s parking lot was very full. Apparently the restaurant to the right was a popular after-church dining spot. (3/1/26)

: Waldport – Even though this was right on my route home for Monday morning, I stopped and grabbed it while I was passing through on the way to Yachats. (3/1/26)

: Newport – This was the town I was overnighting in, but before I snapped this photo I continued down the coast another 25 miles to get a couple more post office photos first. (3/1/26)

On The Santa Fe Trail, Day Three

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Today was the end of the trail. It was a short day too, with only 4 1/2 hours on the road. We returned to a cold house; it was deja vu all over again, again. Last January, after returning back from Sally’s mom’s 98th birthday, we were greeted with the same scenario: the radiant floor heating was not working, and the same boiler was still serving up the on-demand hot water.

Carlsbad Caverns

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Today was Cavern Day. The VRBO is a mere 35 miles from the caverns, and we had a 9:30 timed entry pass, so naturally we left ‘home’ at like 8:00 AM. We thought the road might still be icy, but it wasn’t, and our 8:30 arrival at the Visitor Center meant we were in for a 30-minute wait before we could get in the building. I parked facing the south at Sally’s suggestion because it allowed a nice view out over the valley from our elevation in the Guadalupe Mountains. By the time they opened the doors, there were a half-dozen folks waiting with us to get in. We had to check in and show our National Park pass and the reservation ticket.

After wandering the 2 gift shops and a restroom visit, we were ready to ride the elevator down the 750 feet to the Big Room. Our original intention was to walk down the natural entrance, but we couldn’t because it was closed due to the ice remaining at least halfway down. Turns out the ride was kind of worth it, because after finishing walking the mile and a half loop around the inside, we were ready to get back up to the top.

I put the visit on par with the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere; it was worth the money for the experience, but I don’t need to see it again.

: Carlsbad Caverns

: Carlsbad Caverns

: Carlsbad Caverns

: Carlsbad Caverns

: Carlsbad Caverns

: Carlsbad Caverns

On The Santa Fe Trail, Day Two

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

When we got off I-10 to head north towards Carlsbad, it was in the town of Fort Stockton, TX. That name was somehow familiar, and I thought I might have been there before. Sally had picked out my photo of the day while she was looking around for gas. The town’s claim to fame was a very large roadrunner statue called Paisano Pete. When I saw it, I was pretty sure it wasn’t for the first time. When I got back in the car, I checked my external memory bank, this here blog, and sure enough, Donna and I spent a night here in 2013 on our way to meet her brothers in Big Bend National Park.

I, of course, can’t be certain that I have seen the statue before, but when I get back home to Fairview, I’ll have a look in a photo album…kids, a photo album is where you store the glossy 3×5 pieces of paper that have an image on them from the developed film…kids, film is not a movie, but a roll of photosensitive…oh, forget it. I’ll check to see if I do have a photo of the roadrunner statue from back then.

On The Santa Fe Trail, Day One and a Half

Monday, January 26, 2026

The half day is because we spent yesterday getting a head start. This is the first time we won’t spend two nights in the state of Texas on a New Mexico-Louisiana trip. It’ll possibly be the last one too all because of our Carlsbad Caverns side trip.

As you can guess, we stopped at a Buc-ee’s. Actually we stopped at two of them, Baytown and Luling, thereby making up for zero stops at one on the Nov-Dec trip. There were 3 along our I-10 route, but we skipped the Katy one because it was only 50 miles from the first one. There were nature breaks at both, and there was some shopping done, but the only purchases made were drinks for me at each and gas at one for the Tucson.

On The Road To Loiusiana, Day Three

Monday, January 19, 2026

Today’s drive consisted of 160 miles in Texas and 200 miles in Louisiana. Except for the city of Baton Rouge and the next 20 or so miles, it was pretty easy driving. Dinner was at the home of Sally’s mom, AKA The Birthday Girl, and now we are settled into our VRBO. Tonight’s entertainment is watching the college football championship game with the sound muted and Radio Paradise playing on a portable speaker. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have something more exciting to write about.

P.S. My GTI is internet famous; the folks that wrapped it featured it in their Instagram post for today.