The beginning approacheth! Counting down from 365!

Finally I'm getting to the point where I feel that my excitement is justified (or at least can be justified by those who are pained by my constant yammering about this trip). Time is flying by right now, and on July 3 of this year, I'll be able to start counting down from 365 days. As it stands now, I'm counting down from 430 days til 'launch' date.

Couple of feel good moments lately, and signs of life for this trip: Responses from Vancouver, BC tourism folks (although it felt an awful lot like an electronic form letter) and a great response from the Travel Salem (Oregon) folks. Anthony Tham from that office wrote back personally to ask a few more details and make some suggestions of places to visit during our time in Oregon. That was just what I needed when I was beginning to think that this was FAR more exciting in my head than it was in anyone else's.


Let me be the first to admit that I've never given Oregon much thought until now. I always kind of assumed that Oregonnites, Oregonions (Oreganos?) or whatever you call them were just kind of 'stuck' between Washington and California. Kind of a no-man's land between complete wacko's (California) and caffeine-hyped, rain-soaked, great-northwest wackos (Washington). But, as I'm hoping to really discover on this trip, my stereotyping doesn't hold up under the real scrutiny of daily life. Oh, sure, I'm positive I could find lots of examples of West Coast Wacko out there, but I'm finding that the more I connect, the more likeable, down-to-Earth, and similar people I find.


Back to Oregon. I really have known only a few people actually from there, or who lived there for any respectable amount of time. One of them is Chris Norman, a colleague from my Knight Ridder days who still travels frequently back to the Beaver State. I very much respect Chris, so I already had some predisposition to say that not ALL Oreganos (I like that name the best) were tree-hugging crazies. In fact, I just get that false generalization from the entertainment media (most of your 'chain-me-to-the-big-tree-before-dozers-come' characters seem to be from Portland. How many made for TV movies seem to follow that trend?). So anyway, Anthony Tham was quick to respond and let me know that he'd be happy to help me organize our visit to his area, on behalf of Travel Salem. He even suggested our visiting Silverton, Oregon, because it was named one of the Top 10 Coolest Small Towns in America by Budget Travel magazine, and I had suggested to him that we were interested in seeing smaller towns. Salem is the state capital and with a population of close to 400,000 in the two counties that surround it, it ain't exactly a 'small, quaint village'. I haven't committed to visiting Silverton just yet, but I will definately look into it. When it's somebody's job to point out places, features, highlights and must-see's, and they recommend something, it's just good sense (and polite) to listen and take heed!

I think Anthony is probably still scratching his head over exactly what this trip is all about. I'm still doing a bit of that myself. However, things are just showing hints of starting to gel in earnest now, and it just means that this place will soon be hopping with updates.

Next steps will be in securing some sponsors to help defray some of the costs. Since I know how tight corporations are, I'd better start now! Anybody got an inside with hoteliers? I'm not brand loyal at this point, but I'm willing to be!