Highlights, musings, and observations from my recent roadtrip twixt Portland and Medford and back:

• I watched a DC-3 climb out from Aurora and slowly climb to cruising altitude while banking off to the West. (Most likely headed to McMinnville?)
• Saw an Old School Biplane®, mayhaps a Waco or Stearman, advertising rides.
• And, rounding off the aviation trifecta, the number of A-4 Skyhawks at Albany has doubled since the last time I drove through.
• Watched a Subaru Outback going the other way with a couple of kayaks on its roof at just the right height so that the median barrier blocked the car completely as it passed, making it look like a pair of kayaks were floating down I-5!
• I saw at least two dozen dust devils, with all but three or four reaching at least a hundred feet in height.
• South of Eugene there’s a Christian billboard advertising help with porn addiction in the parking lot of an adult bookstore. I cannot help but think that both view the other as helping build their clientèle.
• In the Bay Area most of the asshole drivers were either sports cars, luxury sedans, or SUVs. Once you leave Portland though, it’s either full-size Chevy trucks, full-size Dodge trucks, or ‘79 Pintos.
• Kidding. The third one is full-size Ford trucks.
• (This seems to be independent of raising and/or 4×4 capabilities.)
• In fact, I witnessed a 80’s era F-150 weaving in and out of traffic fast enough that the body was tilting on the frame as it maneuvered. It was pretty easy to see as it happened less than a foot off my front bumper.
• (I should add that in Portland the worst drivers nowadays are invariably to Lyft or Uber decals.)
• The Forest Fires near Grants Pass and Yreka were bad enough that you could smell smoke on various stretches of highway, and there was a lingering, smoky haze.
• Finally, it seems like there are lot more big rigs on the road than I remember the last time I drove through the state. Whether that’s indicative of an improving economy, increase in population, or my poor memory I cannot say.

ROADTRIP!