-HALF ASLEEP, SITTING ON MY BACKPACK,
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT,
OUTSIDE NEWPORT, OREGON-
I reactivated my phone and so now I can post some new photos!
-ALL PHOTOS AND EDITS BY RUTH RADER-
Whether it's a pine tree giving the finger or a cop digging in on a Harley...photos are so much fun to take!
-MOTORCYCLE MEDIC, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT,
NEAR OGDEN, UTAH-
__________
My new road trip began near the ocean in Oregon. I boarded several buses between Bandon
and Coos Bay, Oregon.
-WAITING FOR A BUS AT COOS BAY, OREGON-
I finally moved far enough inland to the small city of Sweet Home, Oregon. I stepped off the last of the series of buses there and went looking for assistance. I quickly found it.
One minute I was walking down a sidewalk and the next minute I was eating lunch with a member of a church, in the Sweet Home community. He not only bought me a meal but he also bought me a room in a nice mom-and-pop motel, too. I stayed there overnight and the next morning, he drove me out to a good spot where I could begin to hitchhike from.
He prayed with me and then slipped me an envelope with $100 in cash in it. And then he drove away.
I was concerned about how I was going to get through Idaho, since that State is so hell-bent on giving hitchhikers a hassle. But the man assured me that God had heard his prayer and that I would probably get a ride right straight through Idaho.
I did.
But I got a ride to Cascade, Oregon first. I was propositioned by a local pervert and after I got rid of him, a man from a Nationwide tire company gave me a ride. He ended up driving me over 670 miles from where he picked me up at, to the pretty little town of Tremonton, in northern Utah.
-A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET OVER OREGON'S HIGH
DESERT-
The man drove all night. By the time that we reached Tremonton, Utah it was morning again and I was totally exhausted. So I said goodbye to my driver, checked into a motel and fell asleep.
The next day, I got a series of rides that eventually got me to "the other side of the mountain." I traveled to Interstate 84 and a ski area known as Heber City, Utah.
Heber City eventually led to a man who works in a huge oil fracking patch in Utah.
After work, he bought me a room (where I stayed by myself) at a Best Western hotel in Vernal, Utah.
The next day, I took a short ride on a Greyhound bus to the small, spit-in-the-sand town of Dinosaur.
I finally made it to the crazy State of Colorado.