portland, which is in oregon

'the core of a mans spirit comes from new experiences

 (the supertramp)'

a special thanks goes out to joels grandparents! joel called his grandpop west coast to east coast when the bus broke down late in the evening to ask for assistance, his grandpop said he would have an answer on how to fix the bus by morning, and joel was to call him when he awoke up at 6am, to fix bus. . . around 11 am joel called  his grandpop who already knew what to do. he advised us to bypass the broken part, which we did and got back on the roooooooad!!!!!!! 

THANKS GRANDPOP AND GRANDMOMMY!!!!!!! from bus boys(video spoof coming)

new experiences. new friends. what a couple weeks its been. i would like to give a special thanks to brooke, andrew, zonay, patrick and john for being such gracious hosts. you guys rock, thanks much!!!

as i sit here in the historic mississippi part of portland, i realize that we are rapidly approaching the end of our magical journey. it seems like yesterday we were building the bus and hitting the road. and today i see this thing winding down. a man much wiser than myself would tell me, 'nothing comes to an end brock, there are only new beginnings.'i guess i agree, but if only the show could go on. . .  while we are on the subject of new beginnings, i have finally caught up with the tele, only to find that brett favre signed with the minnesota vikings, instantly taking the vikings from an 18-1 favorite to win the super bowl, down to 12-1 favorites. i also have learned that michael vick signed with the eagles. although at the current time eagles coach andy reid cannot commit to vick seeing any substantial p.t. in their 3rd preseason game, sad to say but michael vick will probably be on an nfl roster this year. felons and football, you have to love it. i don't think i need to point out that a certain wide receiver d. stallsworth ran over a guy and killed him, while he drove drunk in his bentley. or that a certain quarterback was murdered by his mistress, while his wife and kids. . . . blah. football, got to love it. which reminds me, i may or may not have missed my fantasy draft. blair please email me!!! i would have you call me but we need not remember the southerners that commandeered my celly and called who knows where in central americas. . . . 

turns out the bus breaking down was a blessing in disguise. i will have to check with my legal counsel to make sure the bus is 'street legal,' but, turns out the part that ceased to work was actually a mechanism to lower bus emissions. the fact that it didn't want to work anymore should increase our gas mileage on the way home, also increasing our, um......how about them chiefs? chiefs are a 65-1 favorite to win the superbowl. insiders would call this a long shot. hey at least we got coach snyder back. true to snyder form, the cats play 2 div 1-aa teams, meaning the cats must win at least 7 games to become bowl eligible. doable, but much like the chiefs, a long shot. they will beat massachussets, louisanna, and tennessee tech. beyond that i see no clear victory's.  their best hope will be to beat iowa state in kansas city. there other chances at winning are texas am, colorado, kansas and missouri; all being home games.

getting back to the cool bus trip, after crater lake we spent one night in coos bay. this stop was particularly important for me, as i'm very interested in exploring these small coastal communities along the oregon coast. after coos bay we headed north along coastal highway 1. we then camped in the foothills above lincoln city. very beautiful land. we awoke saturday morning and headed into portland where we have been catching up with friends and family. our plan is to head to either mt hood or mt rainier, first thing tomorrow morning. we shall keep you's posted. thanks again to everyone who has helped us on our voyage. 

 

bus kids with patrick
burnside skatepark in portland
right near the beach

mammaloosa bridge, portland