650 miles

...thats right, and a long haul it was. From the cool foggy cityscape of San Francisco through a baking 107F heatwave sweeping the Northwest before arriving in Portland Oregon to meet Wes.

I jumped in on a rideshare with some random folks meeting early in the morning in Oakland. A funny biker urban hippie type, a spunky soul seeking college girl just returned from travels abroad, a tattoed guitar playing punk metal head, and myself. And a motley ragtag outfit it was. We had a fine time talking about all sorts of things road tripping up the west coast. This is more what I have been seeking, original experiences with random people. Encounters in America.

Unfortunately my images of the cool dripping wet Pacific Northwest were a bit deflated in light of the highest temperatures ever to be recorded here on the very day we drove. Cooking in an oven, as the landscape wilts in dry grass and sage giving way eventually to the iconic but today brittle conifers of the northwest. Letting the wind take my hands out of the car. Even the air is hot coming at you at 70mph on the freeway in these temperatures.

The highlight of the journey for me was stopping off at a secret spot just off the highway one of the guys knew about. A picnic of sandwiches on the gravel sand bar. Dipping in the cool waters of the upper Sacramento river flowing right out from the mountains. Floating on my back amongst that eddying icy cool water and staring up at the clouds was nothing short of pure content and peace for me. Many miles later and a couple ice cream stops for good measure and I'm hugging Wes and lugging my bags in the door. Portland Oregon.

I asked Dave, our punk metal head companion, if I could snap a shot of some of his many tattoes. A curious composition I thought. He was classic, a figure straight out of a Dazed and Confused movie. Skinny jeans and a white T-shirt, long headbanger hair and a mustache, two full sleeves of tattoes and an old truckers hat. One more unforgettable character on this journey unraveling America. A different sort of Americana in its own right, etched deep.