Friday afternoon at the bar with K8 and Brain suggests we go to the coast. A few hours later, after calling in to work, I'm in a '77 Westfalia named Sweet Pea with three other people, three dogs, no heat, and a forty, crossing the pass in the dark. We got to Lincoln City around one in the morning and all crashed after some popcorn.
Day two had a late start after bacon and cold showers. We drove up the coast, eating lunch at one of those places that have the giant anchor sticking out of the ground. Kicked it on the beach in Netarts with the dogs and then ran out of gas. So, we pushed the VW up a hill for two miles back into town and borrowed a jerry can. Snuck into PDX from the west side in the evening and ditched my Bend friends. I guess Brain, Cheese, and K8 broke the plumbing at her ex-'s house and then showed up late to get K8 and she didn't talk for the entire frigid ride back to Bend.
I bummed around PDX until Monday, saw a bunch of friends, drank a bunch of red beers. Monday afternoon Jane reluctantly let me take her car (probably would have been easier to pull her teeth) and Vassar drove me to Hood River.
Both Monday and Tuesday nights my coworkers got a house at Black Butte for a party, but my brother's Christmas present to the family was two nights at a rented house overlooking the Hood river. It was rad. Hood River is like Bend in that there's a large contingent of outdoor folk, what with being so close to mountains. Less rednecks than Bend, and the town is smaller, so more convenient. I drank a lot of brown ales with the family and caught a ride with the folks on Wednesday to Maupin. They were appalled that my plan to get back to Bend was hitching. Once they left me in Maupin, I stole a car. It sucks, so I made a video letter to Jane to thank her for letting me take Alice.
