My new roommates

They're pretty easy going.

Getting a place to live in Portland is... interesting.

When you just drive into town and need a place to live, you are often at the mercy of Craigslist. Here are some good ads:

#1

--House dinner once a week, communal food staples, People's Co-Op membership.
--Friends come over for events such as arts n crafts, singing and guitar playing, cooking and baking (!!!), etc.
--Roommate 1 owns a coffee plant named Moises.
--Roommate 2 is in a ukulele band.
--Space for projects and hugs.
--No cats.

 

 #2

$400 Felony friendly , coed, not on bus line. Utilities included.

#3

Where I live. I found a great room and my housemate is excellent. So are the dogs. I'll be here until my apartment is ready, which should be very soon. All is well. Time to explore Portland some more.

Portland

Got here.

I'm staying in a micro-brewery.
Yes, it's awesome. No, I won't tell you where it is.

I'm looking for a place to live permanently and have had a little  luck. I don't think it will take long.

In the 80's and sunny the whole time. 

Oregon- East of Portland

The lame part of road trips

Into Oregon.

Idaho

Yellowstone

Put this on your "See before you die" list. Taking pictures are a waste of time. Yellowstone is like Alaska that way. It's too much to try and cram into a camera lens, almost like it's an insult to the sight itself. Just go see it.

Antelope

 

That brown fuzzy lump you see is the back of a buffalo that was pacing my car. I took this picture through my passenger window as I was driving next to it, right before it started swerving towards my car and I realized that it thought my little black Honda was a big black challenger. Thank God for that pedal on the right.

Steam from a Springs in the background.

Add caption

Wyooooooooming. Wow.

Creepy bastard followed me the whole time.

The colors in Wyoming are vivid.

Apparently Annie is Dirty and needs help.

Find this and drink it. Rivals any beer I've had.

Renting a room in Wyoming

One half of the cabin. 

I'm just outside of the Bighorn National Forest.  I stopped at this place that's on the outside of a tiny, tiny town a short drive from the entrance to Bighorn and when I got out of my car this guy sitting on a bench nearby says, "Hey, you wanna check out a room?"

I said, "Yeah, but I need to know what you're rates are."

He said, "Let me show you one of the places. Got a sleeping bag?"

"Uhhh, yeah. I have a sleeping bag."

"Well, you can stay here for forty bucks." He walks up to a stand-alone cabin.

"Forty bucks?" I asked. "Is it like a hostel or something? Do I have to share it with other people?"

"Nope," he said. "You get the whole cabin for $40. It's got a fridge, microwave, cable, a flat-screen, Wi-Fi and a deer head on the wall, but if I have to provide a sleeping bag, it'll cost you $60."

"I got a sleeping bag. I'll take it."

"You sure?" he asked. "I got another one, but it's got a sheep on the wall and it faces the road."

"I'm good with this one. Here's forty bucks."

Custer, South Dakota

I would consider living there. It reminded me of Stillwater, but in the Black Hills.

No pictures; go see it.

Black Hills

"housed 40 students in about 8 grades, 1 teacher and a few books"   - somewhere in the Black Hills

All of the above pics are from Hell Canyon. I hiked in there for a long time. Nobody else around. It was awesome.

Black Black Hills

George

1880's Steam Train. The conductor is loading it with water.

Cell Phone Coverage in Dark Green

Talk to you later!

Lakota Radio

One thing about driving through South Dakota that caught my attention last year and did again was the tribal radio that you can hear when you are near the Pine Ridge reservation. It's fascinating to hear World-Wide Native News. I was digging on the web for them and found what I think is their website.

I think this is the correct link if you want to check it out:


http://kiliradio.org/

Strange Faces, Strange Places, South Dakota

That's Ed. He thinks there's food on that retired SoDak passenger train. He's been waiting for them to unload it since 1884.

On either side of this road is a crop of Sunflowers, almost ready to be harvested. Middle of S.D.

South Dakota makes me wonder why Montana is called Big Sky Country.

Blah, blah, blah, no neighbors.

Ode to Cotton

This thing found its way to my sleeping spot in Sioux Falls.

Wayside Chapel

This was an interesting find.  Somewhere in the middle of southern South Dakota, just north of a rest-stop,  there was this tiny chapel. It was, literally, a converted tool shed.

The door was left unlocked. The donation "pipe" was some assembly of discarded steel tubing.