My Oregon-themed Personality Profile: Likes and Dislikes

In the morning, with the sky still overcast, we went for a long walk on the beach in the cove in front of the hotel. On the Oregon coast, it's quite possible to go for many miles that way. I joked to Red that I actually enjoyed this particular activity more than most people, even though it is the stereotypical "like" from personal ads (although I've never seen anyone actually put that in a profile).

Need I even say the Oregon "brand" on the map? Here's the link in any case.

The day was set to be another scorcher. Not wanting to turn around yet, we drove further down the coast, past the giant dunes visible at times from the road, until we reached the port town of Florence. There we cut inland through the coastal ranges through rustic little timber towns that had hardly changed in many decades.

In the tiny hamlet of Drain, we drove past a faded wooden sign for an attorney with my own last name, and the quirky words "Drain Justice Center." I made Red stop and take a picture of me in front of it. We stayed outside in the heat just long enough to get a few shots before scrambling back into the air-conditioned car.

Following our OSU/UofO thread from the previous evening, I suggested to Red that we should stop in either Corvallis or Eugene on the way back to Portland. She had never been to either city, and was interested in seeing a college town. I told her that I'd been to Eugene recently, but that I hadn't visited Corvallis in many years, so we agreed to go there.

Interstate 5 was crammed with semis and cars, as it always is. On the flat stretch in the valley north of Eugene, Red decided she needed a break so she pulled into the next rest area. I warned her that from my experience, Oregon has absolutely the worst rest areas in the entire nation, typically just a small cinder block shed for the rest rooms. One has to stand in line for the stalls while breathing the accumulated stinking vapors. Calling them a disgrace is being generous.

"It's like Burning Man," I told Red,  after emerging from the men's room, "on the sixth day."

In the nearby informational kiosk, the state map under the glass cover was so faded that the rest area where we were standing could not be located.

The best rest areas are generally found in the East, where the states are closer together, and having rest areas such as Oregon's would be a mark of shame compared to the neighbors.  Indiana's rest areas are little self-enclosed fortresses on hilltops, nicely landscaped with the state flag proudly flying on top. In Mississippi (a very poor state), the rest areas offer free coffee and live bluegrass music. In Louisiana, I ate a free lunch cobbled together from samples of local Cajun dishes while perusing the sophisticated displays on bayou wildlife.

Nebraska probably has the most consistently best designed rest areas, as far as the road experience goes. They know that most of the out-of-staters who visit there are driving through on their way to somewhere else. It's their best chance to leave a good impression on visitors---a smart strategy.

But in Oregon it's different.

"It's as if they aren't going to spend one extra nickel on these places," I said. "What are the Californians going to do after they drive all this way, turn around and go home because the rest areas suck? And as far as the locals go, well, we all know what they deserve."