travis johnson

We are having a great time in Eugene. The weather is amazing. It only rained about 10 times on Monday and hasn’t rained since. We have been doing a lot of walking. Yesterday we walked downtown, nearly to my office, and had some pizza for dinner. We then went up to the downtown Eugene public library and I got a library card (more on this in an upcoming paragraph). I checked out a couple of books and we rented a BBC show to watch. We then walked home and had a lot of fun.

The guy came to install our cable and internet today. It sounds like we got very lucky. Most of the homes he has been hooking up have to wait about 2 weeks. We only waited 1 day.

Our library cards are so cool. They are smart cards (no magnetic strip). Checking out a book is automatic at the downtown library. Just stick the card into the reader, put your books on the counter (no more than 4 high) and click the ‘Continue’. Take out your card and a receipt is printed out and you are on your way. You can reserve books online and they will email you when the book has been returned.

I think we are going for fish and chips for dinner and then probably more exploring.

7 Comments » Categories: General

We made it to Portland late last night. We didn’t get to do as much as we hoped here, but it has been fun. The hotel is quite nice and the city looks pretty neat. I am sure we will be back here within the next few weeks for fun and shopping (I need new work clothes and Rachel should get some back-to-school stuff, too). We are so close to the Apple Store, but I think we won’t get the chance to stop by… next time, though, we will.

This might be the last time we have internet access for a while. I am not sure how long it will take to get it started at our new place. We can probably go up to the school or find some live computer, we will see.

On to Eugene!

4 Comments » Categories: General

The second day of driving went well. I did all the driving today, because it was easy. There wasn’t too much construction and most of the way we traveled on 75 MPH highways. I still can’t get over how great that is. Why didn’t we have those back in the midwest?

We first stopped at Tree Rock (less than 30 miles outside of Cheyenne). I took the picture of the tree above, but realize it doesn’t look all that extraordinary. The tree is growing right out of a rock. I also enjoyed rolling over the Continental Divide today and driving up and then down a few mountains.

Getting into Twin Falls today was great. We drove over the Snake River and it looked so cool. We already have plans to walk from our hotel in the morning down to observation point and check it out. I am sure we will take plenty of pictures.

Tomorrow’s travel takes us to Portland, leaving us just a short drive on Monday to Eugene.

4 Comments » Categories: General

The picture above was taken as we crossed the border into Wyoming. If you look carefully you can see cowboy riding the bronco - Wyoming’s state symbol, I think. It didn’t turn out too good because of the setting sun, but it shows the trouble Rachel had to go through while driving.

Today we will travel through Wyoming, Utah, and end up in Idaho.

1 Comment » Categories: General

One interesting event Rachel and I encountered on our trip so far was the change to Mountain Time. Our cell phones automatically set the time themselves based on the time sent from the cell towers. I knew this and checked our phones to see if they would change as we crossed the time line on the map. They didn’t. I checked 10 miles down the road from the line and they still hadn’t changed. 100 miles, no change. We were certainly out of range from a cell tower in Central Time, so why no change? I thought I remembered hearing something about the Mountain Time zone not doing Daylight Savings (and while I don’t know how that would affect the time - has Central Time sprung forward or fallen back?), but when we got back from dinner I noticed the clock in our room was an hour earlier than I expected - Mountain Time! I looked at my phone and it too was an hour earlier than my watch. I don’t know where it changed or where it was supposed to change.

Hopefully we will see you in Twin Falls.

No Comments » Categories: General

We got in to our hotel and are running out for some dinner. Some local soup and sandwich place. Check back later for more updates (maybe).

Quick Update: We drove around downtown Cheyenne for about 10 minutes and found the exact spot that the sandwich shop was supposed to be at, but didn’t ever see the restaurant. Oh well, we ended up going to Village Inn (The VI) and had a pretty unappetizing dinner.

We should be in Twin Falls, Idaho tomorrow night. I don’t know if we will have a hotel (or whatever it is you call a Holiday Inn - motel?) with internet access. Check my flickr photos that I am taking from my cameraphone as we trek across the country.

3 Comments » Categories: General

The movers will be here in just a few hours to take all our stuff. The computer is coming down shortly and won’t be back online until, at the earliest next Tuesday or Wednesday. I will be posting plenty of pictures to Flickr from my phone over the week, so check it out.

6 Comments » Categories: General

We have no work tomorrow, so what do we do? Pick Libby up at the train station in Lee’s Summit at 12:00, drop her off and get back to our place by 1:00. Then, just as we are parking, meet a guy in need of some help. He has a flat and we happen to have just the tool he needs. After an hour of trying, we couldn’t get the lock off, but we tried. Met some friends, though - Franklin and his friend and another guy that empties the trash cans on the Plaza. What a night!

2 Comments » Categories: Kansas City

The losing streak is snapped at 19!

1 Comment » Categories: Kansas City

I got a new phone, finally. It has Bluetooth and a camera. Check out my cameraphone photostream on Flickr.

1 Comment » Categories: General