Sleeping in Tacoma

Tacoma Washington
It's officially been a week on the road, and I've been in four different states - happiness, wonder, awe, and slight depression. Oh, and also California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The scenery so far has been amazing; lakes and rivers and bridges and bluffs. But I'm not going to lie and say it's all been peaches and cream. Daytime is fine because I'm usually driving and can see all the great country around me. It's the nights, when everything slows down and I'm off the road, where I've experienced some boredom and lonliness. The times when I've met people at campgrounds and made friends have been fine, but sometimes there are no people around to meet, especially during the week. You have to figure out what to do, and sometimes accept that there isn't anything to do but just hang out. And so far I've noticed it's the big cities where this has been the hardest.

Sunday I pulled into Portland, which is a very cool looking city filled with bridges and a river and green everywhere you look. It was raining, and I decided that in order to better get a feel of the city I'd stay in a hotel. I fired up my wireless internet and picked a cheap hotel downtown, The Mark Spencer. It was a decent place, clean and safe, but the rooms were somewhat depressing and dark. It rained all afternoon, making it hard to get out and walk around, so I hung out in my hotel room, taking two hot long showers, caught up on blogging, watched some TV, and ate dinner. The rain finally let up in the evening, so I started walking around. I was a block away from Powell's Books, the famous independent bookstore of Portland (well known if you work in the radio industry, because if you're trying to book a guest on book tour, they're either on their way or just came from a stop at Powell's). I browsed around a bit, but in the end it's just a really big book store, which isn't the most exciting thing in the world.

I left there and wandered around a bit more, slowly realizing that I perhaps wasn't in the best part of town. I was in the downtown area, which is slowly being revitalized with lofts and such like most downtowns in big cities in America, and as darkness decended, the charming brick and steel building fronts gave way to unsavory loiterers and homeless. I ducked into a rough looking bar for a drink, and being Sunday night, there were only a few scattered patrons milling about. I drank my scotch, and not finding anyone I cared to strike up a conversation with, I left. I was told there were some cool and hip bars around my hotel, but again, being Sunday night, I found very little activity. So it was back to the hotel for rest and relaxation.

I've learned a couple of things so far, namely if that you're on your own, it's easier to camp and make friends then it is to be in a big city. And I've learned that if I'm going to go into a big city where I don't know anyone, it's best to have a game plan and go in prepared. So that's why I'm sitting here just outside Seattle - I'm formulating my game plan. The one person I do know here, Suzi, isn't around, so I'm going to have to figure it out for myself.

So while some of this is hard, one of the points of this trip is try and bring myself out of my shell. When I'm at home, I'm not the kind of guy who just goes out and meets tons of new people by myself, so it's not fair to put pressure on myself to be that kind of person on the road. I'm only a week into the trip, and I'll figure out how to be more adventurous. I just need to give myself some time.

Today I'm going into Seattle, and I'll see the big needle and watch them throw fish around. If I'm lucky, maybe Bill Gates is reading my blog and he'll let me crash at his place. I've heard he's got some extra room.