<p>
  i presume you're back<br>
  you should eat golden era<br>
  i miss you so much
</p>

<p><img src="http://static.flickr.com/26/64629443_458d07c318_o.jpg" alt="sailor hat"></p>

<p>i know it's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku">not quite right</a>, but it'll work.</p>

<p>Currently playing in iTunes: <i>Me And A Gun</i> by Tori Amos</p>

<p>fri 10.7.2k5</p>

<p>one of the kids from the show the night before said he could give us a ride out of pendleton to the tri-city area (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, WA). we took it but not all the way there b/c it would commit us to going straight through to seattle all the way through washington. personally, i thought going to portland then up the coast was a smarter bet. so we got out at this exit that had a couple 'truck stops' (which is being very very liberal with the definition of 'truck stop')</p>

<p>we kick it back and forth between the gas stations a couple times with zero luck. try the ramp. bubkiss. so back to the gas stations. finally decide to sit down at one and eat some food. more pesto and bread. seriously, this pesto is amazing. for any pesto, let alone for a store bought one. [i'll take a picture of it later.] then we get kicked out of there. so the ramp is our only option. work the top for a while. nothing. then the bottom. nothing.</p>

well, we could walk up to that rest area two miles down the road?

at least we won't get kicked out and it'll be a change of scenery.

i've realized that a lot of decisions are mad while hitch hiking for the sake of 'a change of scenery.'

<p>so we start hoofing it. we only make it about half a mile before this truck stops. but since it takes forever for trucks to stop we didn't know if he was stopping for us. he doesn't get out to fix anything, so we're likes, yep, must be for us. fingers cross. then we jog up there.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>
    us: where are you heading?<br>
    him: olympia, wa. you?<br>
    us: either portland or seattle. eventually seattle.<br>
    him: i can take you all the way into portland. i go right through there.<br>
    us: do you have room for two?<br>
    him: yep. hop in.
  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>i take the bed first and james is shotgunner / talker. this guy is very much the prototypical trucker. loud. dirty. gross. ...roundish. and loves to hear himself talk. we stop at rest stop. pee. switch seats and get back to it.</p>

<p>now i'm up front. talk talk talk. james and i decide to eat some more bread and pesto and nuts and dried fruit. after we've be driving for a while dude decides he wants to eat, too. so we're rifling through his stuff looking for his food which is a box of goldfish or cheezits or something equally gross and barely qualifying as food. oh, and then there's a can of chili. what're you gonna eat that with guy? i don't really see any cutlery. 'there should be a fork or something in that cabinet.' james only finds a butter knife. 'that'll work.' ugh. this was the most trucker moment i've ever seen. he was eating chili. cold. out of a can. with a butter knife. while smoking. and ashing on the floor. classy.</p>

<p>but you know, a ride's a ride, right? actually, he wasn't too bad once he was done eating. he gave us a lot of stories about his life, his hitch hiking adventures, his family, wife (and multiple ex-wives). basically lots of sage like advice. he told us all about this gorge and plans for a casino. which, btw, the gorge was beautiful. then we roll into pdx. he drops us on some ramp. </p>

<p>we walk around. go to veganoplis. eat some awesomeness. then decide to not hang out in pdx anymore and just get back on the road. try working some ramp a bit. no dice.</p>

<p>fuck it. lets just take greyhound.</p>

<p>so we did. a whole 26 dollars. then i call hannah who is going out but tells us to come over and crash out or whatever we want. near the greyhound station we asked some old guy how to get to the u district. and as he was giving us directions, he just offers to take us there. score.</p>

<p>caught up with hannah a bit. met her roommate. was reminded how most kids are in college by some dumb boys that were over there. read. wrote. slept. a bed and shower was real nice.</p>

<p>Currently playing in iTunes: <i>Slow Song</i> by Sleater-Kinney</p>

<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesongswesing/54472977/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/24/54472977_a004d5a012.jpg" alt="me at trial by alex"></a></p>

<p>i couldn't hold the goofy face i was trying to make, so it ended up as this.</p>

<p>Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/thesongswesing/">bikeridesandhighfives</a>.</p>

<p>rurs 10.6.2k5</p>

<p><a href="http://veganstraightedge.com/articles/2006/3/7/2/james-miska-saol-ceol/">james</a> slept well. i did not.</p>

<p>i've learned that i don't really sleep well when i'm traveling. thems the breaks, i guess.</p>

<p>we had the breakfast of champions at subway / taco bell inside of <a href="http://www.tatravelcenters.com/">T.A.</a> our own food, not theirs. dates, pineapples, cashews, mangos, bread and pesto. we rule.</p>

<p>tried for two and half hours at two different doors at T.A. to get a ride from truckers and the what not. eventually i got told "you can't be sitting there with a sign." james was told he couldn't hitchhike there, but he had spotted 'punk looking kid' earlier, waited for him to come out, then talked him up a bit. got a ride with him to go watch a movie [a history of violence], then to pendleton, or. where he was playing a show. his name is krist. he's vegetarian. he performs under the name '<a href="http://myspace.com/southerly">southerly</a>.' he drives a mini van and he's been on tour for 26 months straight. intense. i was gonna try to see him in seattle, b/c i really liked him in pendleton. but seattle had been so great and so many kids i didn't have time to. sorry krist. but i'm getting ahead of myself.</p>

<p>we asked around for a ride at the pendleton show. krist asked for us on stage. he was really really nice to us. pendleton was a sleeping little town. the scene seemed really forced. like they didn't really wanna be there. so we stayed with the kid that was putting up krist. we got some food at the store first. the cashier woman asked me if i wanted her to ring up my juice now. and i said "no, it's cool. i'm good." and it worked. IT FUCKEN WORKED!</p>

<p>we had some pasta with red sauce which is totally totally generic tour food, i know, but it really hit the spot. i fell asleep early. everyone else watched the david cross dvd.</p>

<p>wed 10.5.2k5</p>

<p>we took the 72 bus from in front of uprock to <a href="http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en-us&amp;q=transit+center&amp;near=Ogden,+UT&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=locald&amp;radius=0.0&amp;latlng=41223056,-111973056,10380789585458871410">ogden transit centre</a>. walked about two miles down the highway to flying j. at flying j, 2 people sat down and talked us a bit. they were cramping our steez, making us look like we needed a ride for four, which is near impossible to get, instead of a ride for 2. while we were eating our dates and cashews and mango tango, they asked "what are you guys, vegan?"  ...yes. so i scared them away.</p>

<p>i saw a good nice looking kid, the kind you could take home to the parents, with montana plates [granted we weren't going to montana, but we were going north to the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=salt+lake+city,+ut&amp;ll=41.178073,-111.991796&amp;spn=0.031729,0.066210&amp;hl=en">15 / 84</a> split] so i talked him for a ride up to the split. he agreed. his name was john. he was a mormon. he was in slc for conference [his second one]. talked to us about religion, the church the whole time. he missioned with the mong people in milwaukee and had just gotten back so was plenty excited to talk about it. he went to school and byu idaho.</p>

<p>at the 84 w / 15 n split we tried 2 gas stations [got kicked outta one] and the on-ramp twice. we went a little crazy on the ramp, getting cold and bored and down. but then we remembered that this is better than any day at ANY job. so we started dancing around, being more animated and doing spin kicks.</p>

<p>and that's when adam stopped.</p>

<p>adam was driving from austin, tx to snake river, id. he was in subaru impresza. with turbo. he was totally a street drag racing kid. he like to go 80-90 mph the whole time. which helped us make some lost time. let me tell you he has THE.WORST.TASTE.IN.MUSIC.EVER. seriously, people still listen to techno? he dropped us at a T.A. just before boise, id.</p>

<p>tried for a ride a bit. gave up til morning. went to scout out a good sleeping spot. right next to the T.A. was a <a href="http://www.shiloinns.com/Idaho/boise_airport.html">shilo inn</a>. we almost were able to get on the roof, but instead we slept outside in this little enclave that blocked the wind really well and was out of sight of the windows. it was a really sweet spot. i felt safe. well, safe-ish.</p>