And so it began!
With a Costco chicken bake in each of our respective guts, Eric and I set off on the most odd and ridiculous adventure that we could conceive of. The first hundred or so miles on HWY 5 were fast and easy. I pulled out my ukulele and Eric and I began polishing our free style rapping and song improv skillz.
After a few hours of driving it became clear that not only was it time for a pee break but that we needed to toss some disc. So as anyone in their right mind would do, we stopped off at Maxwell, California. Off the five you first pass two blocks of residential houses before going through the three blocks of downtown. How ever impressive downtown was we carried on to Maxwell High where we casually walked in and used their facilities. On their lawn we tossed some disc. It was glorious.
So onward and upward. As we passed the Rolling Hills Casino I jokingly suggested that we go in and win some money. I had forgotten that the theme of our journey is to always say yes and before I knew it Eric was racing off the the highway and pulling into the casino. Eric went to the slots as I seated myself at a table of Black Jack. I put $40 down on the table and very quickly was able to turn it into $5. With my last 5 on the table I crossed my fingers and prayed to the gods.
Black Jack!
And so my streak began. Within a half hour I was up to $265!!! And although this trip is all about saying yes... it is also knowing how to quit while you're ahead. Besides, I had earned myself some serious time crisis 4! And off again. We drove into the night looking for the Black Bear, an eating establishment that I had visited once in my teens. Thinking we had overshot it (in fact it was still 20 miles ahead) we stopped in the feel good town of Lakehead, ca. There we found the Basshole. Amazing corned beef and a Lymeric contest for the taking. The night ended with Brady getting beaten in pool by a 9 year old (did I let him win? Medium!) and Wehlitz sweet talking one of the bartenders. There was also some serious polka going on. Wehlitz's new friend told us of a place camp with only one warning,
"If in the middle of the night you hear screaming like a woman is being brutally raped... it's a mountain lion. Stay in your tent!"
The spot was right on a pretty lake and Eric and I had our first night on the road. I got a decent amount of sleep. Eric on the other hand had never slept in close proximity to me before. As anyone who has knows that when I'm sleeping, there's a train a coming! Since then Eric has gotten ear plugs and all is well.
We woke up and after skipping some rocks in the lake set off for Ashland Oregon for a 1:30 performance of Midsummer Night's Dream. A quick stop in Dunsmiur California for Breakfast burritos at the Brown Duck (bomb!) and we made it there with time to spare. The play was not great but fun to watch. The Audience was full of highschoolers and they screamed at a lot of stuff which I enjoyed and Eric hated which I enjoyed all the more. Afterwards we biked around Ashland and found a cool cafe with internet.
There I taught Eric Backgammon which will be a staple of the trip. We played until the cafe closed and then moved outside to finish our game. There we met a dude beyond all dudes. Here are some quotes,
Dude: My ex girlfriend partially paralized me
Brady: What'd you do?
Dude: I tried to leave.
Brady: What'd she hit you with?
Dude: She bear hugged me!
Brady Was she a wrestler?
Dude: No, she was a short fat bitch... she knew what she was doing.
Wow...
So off north we go. We were going to try and crash on Perry's floor in Eugene but she was so sick she had been to the hospital the night before and we under estimated the distance. We tried to camp at a closed camp grounds which i assured Eric would be fine (you've got it!), but no sooner did we scope it out did the cops come and boot us. I asked if we could sleep in jail but we were denied. We ended up parking in a residential area and sleeping in the car...
Ok there is so much more but I am tired. Sleeping in the car was day 2 and I'm concluding day 5 in Portland. I'll write more tomorrow to try and catch up!
Bradles
