See where I was on these dates:
May: 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
June: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
July: ?

May 18 Eugene, Oregon

Current Odometer Reading In The Van:

We're in the country, now.....
Nothing much

I don't know what makes me think I'm actually going to get anywhere on this road trip....A whole hundred miles was all I could manage today. In classic style, 5pm came around before I even left Portland today -- history repeats itself, eh? So naturally enough, I found myself facing rush hour traffic see picture------> getting out of Portland. But it was a lovely evening, which, when complimented with my taste of freedom, made for an enjoyable drive, peering around me at those commuters going home from the cube farms to watch some tv. MegaKookarama
happy & happy Liza and Clark saw me off late in the afternoon. It was the beginning of the road trip proper, after all.....Since they live in a barn like house which has a really cosmic layout, (and me too....I lived there for a whole year, after all), I wanted to get them in a portrait not unlike "Gothic American" (continuing in my great style of murdering great paintings...see The Creation of Van). Well, Clark didn't have a pitchfork lying around, so I made him hold a broom instead. Click on thumbnail for results (145k). That's Mozart the Dog, and if you look really close, you'll see Phil the cat. My 4 housemates for the last year. But that's all over now..... time to move on to the next chapter in my life..... And hey! - That turned out to be Eugene, Oregon, deep in the heart of the mighty Willamette Valley.

Here's me, just before I entered the on-ramp at the beginning of the trip, just after I got some snacks at seven-eleven, just for the record....
Bit of a bad picture, I guess -- I'll get some better ones as the days go by.
The Great Conaldo.

Tonight, I'm staying at Joanna & Kelly's in Eugene:
Joanna & Kelly

Joanna is a super festive partiere who goes out of her way to play dangerously (backgammon, that is). Joanna & Kelly have these two sons, Josh & Nathan, who are twins, so they pretend to be each other and wreck your head, but, hey! They role play on MUDs, so they must be coo-ool, uh-huh? Josh's comment on the van:"Man, if I drove that van into school, I'd be soooo popular; everyone would wanna be my friend." I told him I didn't want to part with my van-induced popularity just yet.
Thanks for putting me up, guys, it was wonderful to sleep on a real bed for the last time in a while :)
12345.6 Sometimes, it's scary what you take photos of on a road trip. You should see some of the junk I've photo'd. What in the hell was I thinking?

Don't forget to email me at conal@ibm.net

See where I am today......... Tell me where I could go tomorrow.....