The Journey Begins: SF- Bend, OR

After a full week of sad goodbyes, near mental breakdowns and sporadic bursts of shoving all my possessions into both my car, Roy (short for Rookie Of the Year), and a large wooden storage container I was finally ready to hit the open road.

The NPR duo of Ira Glass from This American Life and Terry Gross from Fresh Air kept me company as a coasted up the 80 and 505 freeways at a constant clip towards Bend, OR. Every two hours I made sure to keep the blood flowing by pulling over at the nearest rest stop and completing a one minute cycle of burpee push-ups. I inevitable received many perplexed stares from the other resting motorists, but the call of the road left no time for embarassement. I hopped back into Roy and sped onward.

Six hours and 60 burpees further into my journey my stomach began to growl and I decided to grab a small snack from the local Klammath Falls grocery store. Wanting to eat something mildly healthy, I went to the produce aisle for some baby carrots and an apple. I searched for some hummus to go with the carrots, but I found it's stickered place on the refrigerated shelf empty. One slot over, however, I discovered a small tub of 5-layer dip, calling out to me. I had never had 5-layer dip, but I figured with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, refried beans, mystery layer five and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, how could I go wrong? In the parking lot, I dived into the dip with my baby carrots only to be disappointed by the odd combination. Oh well, road trip: 1, JP: 0.

The rest of 505 proved uneventful yet beautiful. I snapped some pictures of the landscape with my phone while driving, bouncing from the center divided to the right white line as my gaze split itself between the road and my camera. Most of the main roads in Oregon are incredibly straight and incredibly long causing any driver to be easily lulled into dulled mental state. Nothing a few self induced slaps to the face couldn't cure.

I arrived at my aunt Marilyn and uncle John's house in Bend at about 8PM and was greeted by the proud patrol of their three dogs Butch, Frank and Beans. They made it difficult to park as they constantly darted in front of Roy attempting to fend off my intruding presence. Marilyn, John and I shared stories over a delicious dinner of lasagna and salad with a dessert of chocolate covered peanut butter and cookie bars - yum. I called it a night tired from a long 9 hour drive.