Today we're in Portland, OR.

A lot has changed in the last week, as we've been travelling quickly, not by bike, and we've gone from way behind schedule to way ahead of it. We made some decisions - some compromises to make sure we could complete the leg of the trip from Portland to San Francisco, and now we're dealing with that fallout. Fallout in that our plans are changing pretty rapidly. We're forced to change tone from a bike ride from Indiana to San Fran, studying sustainability, to a trip across America, learning about sustainability. The multi-modal "trip" idea is less appealing to us, but our time constraints leave us with little choice than to do what we've done.

The time constraints are mostly mine, and that's caused some problems with our relationship. I've decided to start my MPA program this fall, so that puts a limit on the trip duration. We've worked out the complications that causes, but not all of the details that have to do with the program itself (like the mandatory orientation).

But the last week and a half we've been off the bikes, and now we find ourselves in Portland without them or our trailers. That's kind of a long story, but the condensed version is that we got a ride from Western Minnesota with my Dad in his RV. It's a 1970's era Dodge "Gladiator," which is a smaller RV based on a Dodge van.

He picked us up and we spent the better part of a week making a quick tour of West Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming. We saw a few national parks/monuments, toured Yellowstone, and then drove up to Bozeman, Montana. In Bozeman, we parted ways with my Dad and the trailers, taking a Greyhound Bus to Portland. Here in Portland, we've settled in with Melissa's sister Annah, her husband Tim and infant son Zaden. It's good to settle down for a bit after moving so much for the last 2 months.

I expect we'll be in the Portland area till Friday, when we'll drive to SolFest. SolFest is in John Day, OR, which is a 5 hour drive (or about a 5 day bike tour). We planned to pass it on our way, but we've overshot by arriving in Portland, and now we'll make a jaunt backward to interview folks at the festival. Then we'll head south on the bikes, assuming we have them at that point.

Our relationship is good now, and seems even stronger given how many issues we've dealt with over the course of this summer. A few people have asked us if things are ok, if we're still planning on getting married, etc. Things are still going ahead as planned, we're still in love and planning our life together. The only difference is that now we've been forced to confront all kinds of challenges that were going to come up someday anyway. We've just had to do it all in the span of 2 months.

I'm working on a picture gallery right now, but here's a great video of Matt Simmons, Peak Oil expert, on CNBC talking to the financial team. He's got it right, and his setting them straight is awesome to behold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkzETN8qfzw

posted by Andrew Davis  # 6:38 PM