Portland to San Francisco

Aug 22, 1991

I am now on a bus bound to San Francisco. I didn't do much at ALL today. I got up at the usual time. I did laundry (2011 Update: I'm doing laundry today too) and when it was time to get kicked out of the hostel, A guy (Who happened to be a boyfriend of a girl I went to high school with) dropped me off at the train station. I put most of my stuff in a day locker and headed for the city to have some excellent bread and homemade stout. Ahhhh, beauty! I proceeded to a place called Hamburger Mary's and had a burger filled with lettuce and alfalfa sprouts. It was quite good but expensive!! $4.40 for just a burger! (2011-Again with my cheapness!) Anyway, a guy starts talking to me about Portland, art, and jobs in general. I don't know what motivated him to speak to me but we talked throughout the lunch and he gave me a number to call if I decide to settle in Portland and decide to work part time for UPS. Even though I has a better time in Portland, Seattle seems more to be the place to settle down. I think Portland would be ideal for someone like James Gribbon.




2011 Update: It's amazing that on a long bus trip I put so little into the fact that I ran into a woman named Jackie Swanson who went to Mt. Olive High School the same time I did. I didn't know her personally but knew her from appearance. When we had our first conversation at the hostel, I had to draw her out to see if she remembered me. She didn't. I looked quite a bit different at the time from my high school days and certainly had a different attitude. However, When it was time to get to sleep we were able to converse about Mt. Olive High. I was cool.

The UPS guy was a bit pushy but I had considered working there because it was part time, However at the time the idea of cutting my hair to get a job was out of the question. I wonder how much that stand hurt me job wise over the years. Anyway I would finally work at UPS and it was up there as being the worst job I ever had. Of course I was 40, And being paid squat to work harder than I ever did.

Another interesting thing I did was buy some microbrew beer for the first time. I read about the trend in Peter Bagge's "Hate" and I don't think I had had a beer at that point on my trip. It was really good and I wish I could remember the name of the place as I didn't write it down.