20 March 2010

NEWS - DAY ONE Victoria BC to Portland OR.

7am - Trout's alarm goes off.
7:02am - Coffee goes on.
7:03am - Wonders why he's in the kitchen.
7:04am - Smells coffee brewing and begins his day.

8:34 am - Much to his surprise, The Troutmobile is packed and ready to roll only 4 minutes behind schedule.


At this time I'd like to mention that this would not have been possible without the help of the incredible support staff here at Kreddible Trout Industries (my wonderful fiancee Michelle)

and we're ready to roll!

... after KTPI's support staff mentions that he's pointing East, the car is pointed west and Trout is actually headed south, things become more clear and it's off to the ferry.

After some sad but excited goodbyes, my support staff leaves me to deal with US Customs on my own and goes in search of the rest of her sleep. Customs was as uninteresting as you could hope. No latex gloves. No threat of latex gloves. And, about 45 minutes late... the ferry leaves.

Next stop: Ferry food. I was hoping for something good-ish. I wasn't expecting this:


...it was chewy.

The ferry ride was pretty nice and I got to see a side of Victoria that I'd never seen before. We both blushed but were ok with it. The picture of which is pretty boring, so I won't share it.

This one is not much better, but it's the opposite of the view I have from Victoria so... I like it. Mount Doug is on the left there. Taken from Port Angeles.

And then I hit the road. Finding roadside burgers and out-to-pasture photo booths as is my wont.

This trip holds many firsts for me. My first solo road trip. The first time I've been this far south. I think, of all the firsts on this trip, one is very important to me: my first Jack in the Box meal. They do things differently down here but I wasn't quite ready to use the Jack in the Box self-serve machine. I'm old fashioned, I like to be totally disregarded as a customer by an actual person. Not a machine.


The meal was... it was fast food. I was hungry and ordered the large meal... they fries were a decent size and they gave me a large plastic barrel to put my pop in. Had I had filled it, I would have needed help getting it to the table.

next stop: Portland.

I must return to Portland. I was there for only about 18 hours all told, but I think I may have fallen in love. It's a very interesting city. And I met some interesting people. An online photo-friend from way back in the teen years of JPGmag named Matt Adamik put me up on his inflatable mattress in his living room and was a great host. We swapped stories of other online peers talked a little shop. Then we went out to meet up with some friends of his and had a good time at a tremendously boring bar. If it wasn't for the awesome company... well, I'd still have found a way to amuse myself, but I would have looked a bit more nuts than usual. the folks in the picture below are Photographer and Flophouse Owner Matt Adamik, Pin-up model extraordinaire Dottie Diamond, Pin-up Photographer extraordinaire Emily Rinard, Photographer & Sporter of the Fonzie Jacket Jason Allen.


We spent the entire night twittering on our smartphones! It was, like, SO much fun!

Then the DJ decided to clear the place out so we said our goodbyes, exchanged business cards and all went home. If I come back, I'd love to be able to work with these folks. They seem to be some of the rare exceptions to the rule that photographers have to be pretentious tits who compare 'gear' like it was a measure of talent or sexual virility. They were cucumber cool and not at all full of themselves. More reason to like Portland.

Now, at the end of day two, in Newport, I must get some sleep. We'll catch up to here tomorrow night.

TROUT OUT!

1 comment:

  1. You were so much fun and immediately part of our crew! SO wonderful to meet you sweetie! love Dottie

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