dancing in bathroom stalls: Oregon Trail 2009, Part 1.

(Somewhere in Downtown Portland)

Last Summer Omar, Eric and I went on a 12 day trip to follow 1994! on their West Coast Tour with Spires. On this trip we brought only the essentials: three bikes, clothes n' shit, assorted instruments(train whistle, maracas and a harmonica) we would use to make noise for a mile after every 100 miles that Veronica(my volvo) successfully brought us closer to our destination, cassettes and a giant jar of peanut butter. This was a month prior to Omar and I leaving for the East Coast to see 1994!, Be Happy Fest and Malegoat. You can read about those series of posts here. Disclaimer: Those posts are riddled with grammatical errors. I'll write about the shows and post pictures of this trip soon-ish.

This is what it looks like entering Oregon around 5 or 6 in the morning. This was also the worst part of the trip, sleep deprivation, the fear of running out of gas(Veronica was somewhat unreliable), GPS that served us best at getting us lost, abandoned gas station that look haunted and sustaining our senses with those huge cans of Monster energy drinks and Sunchips we would later nickname Crack n’ Snax.

So I dont really remember what we did each day but I can tell you this, it was an amazing stay. We made it a point to eat vegan burritos and drink horchata everyday, holy shit does Portland have making burritos down to an art. We went record shopping(I think I came home with about 27 7"s and 10-15 LPs) and went shopping at Powell's Books. The best one is in downtown, why? SIX STORIES OF BOOKS, THATS WHY. So many awesome restaurants EVERYWHERE. If you happen to be in Portland on a Wednesday, you should stop by Hungry Tiger Too because they serve $1 vegan/corn dogs and PBR tall cans. Also, if you beat the record for eating the most corn dogs you get a shirt and free beer every time you visit. At the time the record was 24 corndogs, I had a measly 13 and a half. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and trade those corn dogs for the beer. As soon as Eric and I left it became apparent that I must have been the most inept sloth in Portland and passed out on the side of a street for a half an hour. The cause: food coma.

(Pretty self explanatory)

My favorite part of Portland was being able to ride everywhere and anywhere and not have to worry about cars. Since it’s a super green city, everyone rides and the motorists are respectful to cyclists and just about every storefront has a spot for you to lock your bike. Riding across all the bridges was a lot of fun. We crossed every bridge we could and circled bodies of water forever into the night.

(Omar and Eric)

(Me, photo by Omar)

We stayed at one house for two nights that hosts/ed shows. This was also the house Kidcrash would practice at which made waking up on the first day pretty awesome. I don’t remember much of the people at the house but one of the girls at the house said ‘take it easy jotos’ just as we left for a ride, that shit was hilarious. We would also play Mariokart 64 and kick the shit outta her while we were drunk. On one of those nights I would give Omar a piggyback ride to the nearest liquor store for booze and chips, this was however a fruitless voyage because we went at some ungodly hour of the night.

After that house, we stayed with a friend of Omar’s named Morgan. He and his roommates were great, they took us to Sauvie Island for some swimmin’, showed us a record store that specializes in what we fancy, a park with roses and set up a tent in the backyard for me to sleep in due to my allergies and their house being populated with cats. The days we were at this house Omar introduced me to his friends Teagan and Kayla. All five us were at a party where there was a dude who kept on throwin’ up the horns while saying ‘Just play one Morrissey song!’ and was trying to kiss Teagan and kept telling her she was a super model. Whoever this guy is, I like his style. Though they were unsuccessful, I should probably practice his methods.

(Our bike and then some over at Morgan's)

Shortly after this night, we would have to begin our trip back home. Thankfully, Teagan put us up for the night in Salem, Oregon. This town is apparently a breeding ground for juggalos. I had an encounter with two, I managed to survive. Here we met Leo, he is one of THE nicest people I have met. He’s also a great artist. At our stay in Salem we all piled up in Veronica and headed out for Silver Falls to walk on a trail in a forest where eight waterfalls reside. After this small excursion, we left Salem for Phoenix to stay with my friend Matt. On our last night in Oregon we would drink beer and watch Holy Mountain.