After a couple of weeks of working in Sonoma and sailing on the Bay, it was time for my next adventure:  a road trip!

My parents are downsizing and moving to Oregon, so I volunteered to drive one of their cars from Los Angeles to Portland.   This also meant, of course, saying goodbye to my childhood house in Glendale.

On Sunday, July 10, I flew from San Francisco to the Glendale/Burbank airport, where my parents picked me up and took me to our Glendale house.  This would be my last visit to the house.  My parents had just hosted the final estate sale, so the house was pretty empty.  In a strange way, though, the emptiness revealed the raw beauty and detailed features of the house:  Spanish tiled stairs, hard wood floors, wrought iron gates and railings, stained glass, vaulted ceiling, etc.

On my previous visit a couple of weeks ago, I took a lot of pictures as well as a walk-though video.  Therefore, on this visit, I didn’t stay at the house for long – just a couple of hours.  This was enough time to watch the Euro Cup Final and get instructions on how to drive a Toyota Prius.

By mid-afternoon, I was standing in the front yard with my parents taking a final picture of me by the "For Sale - Sold" sign.  I said farewell to the house, but packed myself and the memories in the Prius and headed north.  

It was 1,000 miles to the Portland area.   But my plan was to visit some family and friends along the way, perhaps taking me as far north as Seattle, before ending up at my final destination of my parents’ new house in McMinnville, Oregon, just south of Portland.

That first afternoon I drove about 5 hours, stopping in Tracy, California for the night.  I enjoyed a $66 per night hotel, complete with a carpet that didn’t look like it had been vacuumed, a bed that looked like it was 100 years old, and colorful neighbors who liked to yell at each other. 

The next day I drove for 9 hours, arriving my Uncle’s house in the small coastal town of Florence, Oregon, in time for dinner.   I would stay here, with Bruce and Mai, for a couple of nights before continuing on my journey north.