Boise, Bend and Beer as Usual

We got an early start leaving Jackson Hole, my family dropped us off just before the pass where a lady heading to Victor soon yielded to our thumbs. Boise was our destination, we were off to a fast start.

Next a couple picked us up heading clear to Idaho Falls, a guy from the Army to Blackfoot was next, then we rode in the back of a pickup truck to the next junction where we got the golden ride, a woman road tripping with her kids who'd be heading right through Boise.

Marilyn took over driving the last leg of the trip, a grateful woman relaxed, enjoying a break from being behind the wheel. Soon enough we were hopping out in downtown Boise, immediately making our way to 10 Barrel Brewing where we pulled up a stool and began sipping beers as we contemplated where we might sleep that night.

We headed to another bar where I hoped to run into Brian, a guy I'd met my last time in Boise who offered to let me stay with him. He wasn't around this time, after a beer we headed back to 10 Barrel.

Couchsurfing came through once again for us, a woman named Betty replied to our last minute post and soon enough she was driving across town to come pick us up. Back at her house we chatted with her and the family, they told us about their upcoming New Orleans road trip. She had a lot of questions for us about our traveling lifestyle, we chatted into the night and flipped through her binder with the plans for the road trip.

Waffles came in the morning, an introduction to the backyard chickens as well, guided by Betty's little daughter who told us all their names as she chased them down and picked them all up, she loved those chickens. I jammed on the drums with Betty's husband for a while, soon Marilyn and I were ready to get outside, though.

Betty gave us a ride to the river, Marilyn and I got some tubes and proceeded to float on down. Conveniently we landed near a brewery, then a fancy french fry joint, and finally another trip to 10 Barrel before heading back to Betty's for the night.

In the morning, after another nice breakfast, we left Betty's place and walked our way to the freeway, now Bend was on our mind. After a long walk on the freeway a minivan came along and got us to the next town over. A guy with his kids gave us another short ride across town, then we waited up on the highway where traffic was at a near stand still. Some girls gave us some apples as they crawled by us, but soon we got an actual ride through the traffic from an older couple.

A trucker then got us up to Ontario where we'd turn off the interstate and head straight west towards Bend. We got a ride from a local guy to the next junction and then a short ride from a parole officer to Vale, Oregon where we began waiting for a ride to come across the street from the Bates Motel.

We waited a good long while in the heat, finally we began walking just to avoid boredom. A minimal amount of cars passed us as we got hotter. Ahead we saw a sole tiny shadow in the distance, we kept hiking until we got to it, happy to somewhat cool down, but no sooner did we get there than a guy driving a mostly empty moving truck stopped and picked us up, he was heading to Bend.

We rolled up and down the road, chatting away, the guy driving made these dome sort of tents for festivals, he had one in the back of the truck, the smallest size truck available that certainly overkill. We watched the sunset, then come over a lip in the road and watch it rise, then set again, then the same pattern, finally it went dark for good and not much latter we were hopping out in downtown Bend.

We had a beer at Deschutes with one of Marilyn's friends, then we walked our way to my friend's house we were staying with, Billy. Marilyn and I spent the next two days on Bend's Ale Trail, visiting about a dozen breweries and getting our "passport book" stamped in order to earn some "silipints", just a six ounce silicone cup. In the mix we played some shuffleboard, soaked in a pool at McMenamins and ran around the brewery Billy worked at.

The day after we wound up in the car with Billy, cruising west through a purple lightning stormed sky, emerging on the other side in Portland. His girlfriend was pouring for Ninkasi at a sort of food and beer festival, loading up on all of it and meeting up with Marilyn's friend, Mike, who lived in the city.

Later on we parted with Billy and headed back to Mike's place where we sipped some beers and talked on the deck before calling it a night. We spent just the next day in Portland, the three of us joining a free city walking tour and abandoning it almost as quickly. After a cup of coffee we realized it was "Burger Week" in Portland, we hopped on a bus where the driver recognized us as being travelers and let us ride free, dropping us off right near a spot doing a burger special.

Voodoo doughnuts was inevitably next, then Burnside Brewery, Hair of The Dog Brewery, Rogue and then across town to a house party. After the party it was back to Matt's place to wind down with some whiskey, talk of basketball and Alaska before fading to sleep.

Come morning we had California on our minds, back to the road to keep it moving.

August 3, 2013 to August 11, 2013

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