A Living Magazine - Day 25 - Where the Sidewallk Begins

I shared a seat with a very nice woman named Paula Pattenaude (sp?). She and I both apologized ahead of time for the snoring we might be producing during the night. I fell asleep relatively quickly. On the last journey I found it impossible to do much sleeping on trains and buses, but for some reason it was easier this time around. I think Paula had a harder time. She had been looking forward to an empty pair of seats to stretch out in. But with me there already, it just wasn't in the cards. She was very patient for the 5 hours it took to get to Klamath Falls.

After sunrise, I woke at about 8:00 am and adjusted my seat upward. Paula was already (or still) awake, and we talked for about an hour before my stop. She had done a lot of interesting things in her life. And we had very similar interests in tiny houses and community development.

She had spent many years in Fossil, Oregon (population 473, in 2010). She had also done some ranching with her husband, ear-tagging calves. She would trip them with a large metal hook (doing the job of a bolas), and her husband would hold them down and tag the ears. She said it was very exciting and completely different from the work she had done before.

She got into community development in the Fossil area, winning a grant for three separate school districts for the much needed construction of schools there. We discussed my ideas for self-sustaining subsidized rural housing and the concept behind my self sustaining property. She was a good person to meet, and I hope to stay in touch with her in the next year as I work my way back to Maine, hoping to establish some kind of name for myself along the way, to make it easier to resume my plans for the small cottage I designed and the prospect of promoting the idea for community housing in rural Maine.

In a short amount of time, the train reached Klamath Falls. Paula and I said our goodbyes, and I detrained, into the bright sunshine, stepping onto the ground in Oregon for the first time--and loving it...  

Nice!

Immediately, I noticed a stark difference here on several levels. The air was cool, dry and sweet smelling. The grass was very green and healthy. I saw no trash around, not even many cigarette butts. Faces of the citizens were primarily white. The language spoken was English. It was a small town feel; peaceful, quiet and laid-back. 

There were no obvious homeless people to be seen. This was a nice relief for me, because there wasn't the stereotyping that happened in Redding, with backpacks, etc. Around Klamath Falls, people with backpacks could as easily be hikers exploring the area. Gone were the thousands of signs I'd gotten so used to in California; spelling out rules, regulations and restrictive laws. There were no loitering signs. A person could sit on a curb or short wall for as long as he/she wanted. The park was clean and green. 

I had just enough donation money to finally get a motel room. It had been 25 days since I'd had a shower. I was very uncomfortable by this point and the ability to get a shower and a nice bed to sleep in was much appreciated. I found a real treasure of a place too: the Townhouse Motel (5323 S. 6th St., Klamath Falls, OR 97603). 

I walked into the parking lot after a 3 mile trek from the down town area. The owner was outside sitting in the nice noontime sun. I asked him if the place was open (not knowing yet that he was the owner). He laughed and said, "It's a motel, it never closes." He had a good point, although I'd visited motels that looked open only to find out they were being renovated.

He led me into the office where we went over the room rates. I just needed a single. But they were already taken. He did have a King available for a very reasonable rate. I paid for it, and he led me to the room door. The rate was about $10 more than I'd planned on spending, but it was still affordable.

I ended up with great room. The king-sized bed looked so appealing to me, and the full kitchen, really nice bathroom and clean hardwood and carpeted floors were such a stark difference from my life in the last month, sleeping in fields. Everything worked in the room. I shaved (which was a challenge). 

Then I took a bath, soaking in it for a good half hour, and had a very refreshing shower afterward...   

My scruffiness, before-shower. I meant to take an after-shower shot, but forgot. 

Backpack Inventory 1

Backpack Inventory 2

The whole deal.

After showering and resting a bit, I headed out, without my backpack (for once), light on my feet and looking for something small for dinner. I found a Discount Grocery Outlet with an interesting vendor at the edge of the parking lot...

Don't know why I took a picture of this sign on a trash bin, but... I guess... here it is anyway...

I found that I just couldn't concentrate on my writing. I truly felt like I needed a break. I had worked tirelessly on traveling, writing and just surviving for more than three weeks. Now I had a chance to just relax. I decided to cancel the day's work (part of the nice aspect of being my own boss). I pulled up my favorite pirated video site (genvideos.com), and watched "Jurassic World." [Note: If you ever use this site, you have to put up with pop-up ads, etc, and turn off Adblock if you use it. But once you finally get the movie rolling it will last throughout its duration without bugging you. It DOES have the most recent releases and is a good way to avoid the expense of going to a theater, if you can deal with all the spammy popups there.]

Afterwards, I packed up all the stuff again, throwing some away. The sleeping bag was open and airing out on the chair. I'd been handing out more and more cards to people I met, also leaving them in parks and restrooms...

Business Cards

At around 11:30 pm I lay down just to "rest," and woke up at 4:00 am (as if I would have to move on like I had for the last few weeks). I gave a sigh of relief, and set my watch alarm for 7:00 am. It was a wonderfully restful and peaceful sleep. And I was very thankful for it.