I had a super time here in America.  The bicycle tour from Portland to Death Valley was my super dream bicycle tour.  I heard “your living the dream” multiple times from the people I met.  I feel lucky, at 62 that I’m healthy and have the motivation to continually seek adventure.  I also did the bike tour to reaffirm my choice to move to the EU.  No question about it, the EU’s social & economic values are more representative of my values.

I believe you should always support your values through your purchases. I always order the vegetarian/vegan options when in a “traditional” restaurant (unless they have turkey!:).  That’s something I like about Slovenia, turkey is on almost all the menus.

I met my college friends, Brandon & Barb in Anza Borrego desert.  They winter camp using an RV and go biking and hiking during the day.  I showed up with the flu, but we still had a good time.  Here’s some photos of our camp.

San Diego was where I made lots of memories.  I got to bike with Bill Walton of Trail Blazer fame for their 1977 championship year.  Hung out with Kieth and Arlene, Kieth was my first employee at Yard Tamers.  They had a great apartment in the garage with bathroom/TV/WiFi and a hot tub!  We walked on Martin Luther King march with the dogs.

 

America’s economy is very militaristic, $600,000,000,000 (billion) or 54% of the entire federal budget.  Some say it’s wrong that sports figures make so much money.  I choose a sports and entertainment economy over a military economy, anyday.  I support my NBA Portland Trail Blazers.  I went to as many games as possible, inviting my friends and kids.  I’ll miss this part of Portland.

I had 80 regular customers with my landscaping business.  All of them were great, some stood out more than others.  One of my favorite customers who I really respected for all her community work, I called and she invited me to breakfast.  Roger was a famous surgeon who had a clinic named after him.  I was kind of surprised that more of my “friends?” didn’t invite me to dinner? Whatever.

I made my yard into an edible landscape.  It’s probably the main reason I don’t sell my house.  When I tried to rent the house, everyone wanted the house, but they never even looked at the yard.  The yard is what my house is about.  When Mike came to look at the house, he looked at the yard and said “I love the yard”, he moved in.  I trimmed and landscaped the entire yard while I was in town.

TOUR OF TRAILER LIFE AND MY YARD

 

 

 

I sold almost everything I owned to move to Slovenia.  Looking back, I wish I kept my Grandfathers tools.  I’ve been living in a car trailer that’s in my backyard-between staying with friends.  I’ve got a microwave, WiFi and Google TV, what else do you need? how about a bathroom.  My neighbors have kindly given me a key to their house.  Being retired has allowed me to help the friends who hosted me.  I washed windows, cleaned the cat box, trimmed trees, did yard work, took care of the recycling………. Something kinda funny or a statement on how hard some American’s work,  EVERYWHERE I stayed they never had time to even put the toilet paper on the roller.  I can’t count how many times I did that.
While sitting here packing I’ve been looking at old photo albums I put together years ago.  Here’s a few fun photos to share.  I’ve been bike touring since I was 16, it’s the best way to travel.

Since the last time I was here in Portland,  the homeless problem has exploded.  Along bike paths, along the river path, along freeways, I’ve never seen it like this in the EU.  I’ve seen 1 homeless person in the 3 years I lived in Slovenia.  There may be more, but I’ve never seen them?  I meet someone who just moved from San Francisco/Oakland and said it was 10 times worse there?

Portlandia is a TV show the parodies life in Portland.  Some Portland residents didn’t like being made fun of, but the truth can be funny.  The show is now in it’s 8th and final season.  If you have the time here’s some great clips from throughout the years HERE.

PORTLAND CAN BE A CITY OF MIXED MESSAGES.  I spotted this sign in a new bakery in my neighborhood.  They accept everyone, no matter color, immigrant or disabilities ……  But they also reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. WTF!

Well for now this is it.  I’m planning on heading back to Slovenia in the next week.  I have this one video from a Death Valley Day ride called the Artist Pallet.

 

 

 

DEATH VALLEY ARTIST PALLET DAY RIDE

Thanks for reading the my blog, your comments are welcome, it helps keep me writing.
Jeff

Is complaining about complaining, complaining?