San Fran to Portland, and a Stereo Total concert!

The fun continues - it's really been rather non-stop lately!
Leaving San Francisco felt good - back on the road, and heading north, back to Canada, eventually. I'm not in a great hurry. The funds aren't quite depleted yet, the weather is warm, the sun is shining, my Beast of a Van still goes, and I seem to have things to do and people to visit all up the west coast of north America, so why race back!

SF to Portland was a whole lot faster than the southbound trip - Antonia (who also wants to get back to Vancouver) chose to travel with me, and we decided to go straight up the I-5, the big, fast interstate freeway. It's less exciting than the coast road we took to come down, but a lot faster. We were two nights on the road, staying at a couple of well-appointed (and free) highway rest stops. The weather was hot and sunny almost the whole way - the temp rose about 10 degrees the moment we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. It's the first time I've wanted air conditioning here, I think. We passed through the volcanic country near the California/Oregon border, and considered a detour, but the good things to see were all a bit far off, and the idea of spending more time in Portland and Seattle appealed more. We did stop at a lake just near the border for a swim, though, which was very pleasant in the heat of the day.
A bit of car trouble (inexplicable flat battery - have to look into that...) meant we were a bit later than expected arriving in Portland yesterday - but that didn't matter. Like I said, there's no hurry!
Portland is one of the most comfortable places I've been. It helps that Shea, whose house I park outside here, is a wonderfully welcoming, generous person. But so are all her flatmates. And everyone else we've met here, pretty much! And there seems lots to do - last night we went to a Stereo Total concert - I've heard a bit of their music before, and had them pointed out to me in a Berlin bar (they hang out in the same sorts of places as everyone I know in Berlin) so the opportunity to go to a concert for half price (we were given one free ticket between two of us, and live music is cheap to begin with here!) was fantastic. And the concert itself was wonderful. It was like a little bit of Europe in the middle of the USA, which felt odd, but also rather good. And now I have to find a copy of one or two of their CDs, as I don't seem to have any of their music. I'll have to start combing second-hand record shops - I need the Pump up the Volume sound track too! Anyway, they put on a highly entertaining show, and I notice they are touring practically everywhere that people I know live in the next few months, so look here to find out when they are in a cool venue near you.
(Click the picture to see more!)
And today has been rather pleasant too. Antonia and I met up with Pike, another currently travelling queeruptor, and followed Shea's directions to a vegan cafe, where we had tofu, vegan sausages and vegan french toast for breakfast, and then went to a hotel/restaurant/art kind of place that is in an old elementary school. They also happen to have a large hot spa, which was a rather nice place to hang out in for an hour or so, followed by mojitos in the garden... All highly civilized, really. And extremely relaxing. So much so, that when the other two decided to ride the bikes to a anarchist collective bookstore and bike co-op, I chose to return to Alberta street (which is an interesting bit of Portland that is fast becoming very familiar...) and hangout in the cafe that has wireless access next to Shea's work (she's a piercer, which may be convenient. But more on that later... maybe...)
So life continues to be mostly idyllic. The only thing currently causing me any stress is the possibility of expensive things going wrong with the van, and even that, I know I can deal with. I just might need to find some work earlier than I'd otherwise like. So I shouldn't let even that stress me!
The unemployed travelling lifestyle is definitely agreeing with me, anyway!