The Days of Lore

Going back to Cali

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 | musiX, pdX

Five straight days. I haven’t been away from a computer that long in, let’s see … hmm … carry the two … 1,943 days. After traveling almost as many miles to sunny (and windy) California I have returned, exhausted but unscathed.

Packing for such a journey typically consists of five minutes of stuffing clothes into a bag and another 45 spent choosing the music (Old 97’s, The Strange Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wicked Lester, Clap). And this trip, like many previous, involved one or more of the following:

Great friends, Hot Tamales, Indian-food comas, Jack Daniels, lamenting the collapse of journalism with old college friends, Pale Bock, shuffle board, the Hemlock, G&Ts, hugs, a Bobby Flay marathon, Bud Light, baseball games (Little League and Major League; A’s 7, Rays 1), covert guitar amp deliveries, Anchor Steam, High Fidelity, pork products, family, coffee, and a slobbering, but lovable buffoon named Lucas. I was asked what the totally hawt, rad, new up-and-coming band was, for which I could only reply: “Shit if I know … Willie Nelson?”

The drive home consisted of me asking if it was “sandwich time” every 15 minutes, referring to the pastrami-and-pepper jack grinder we picked up earlier from the Countryside Café, a brilliant little eatery in the Northern California podunk of Red Bluff. We passed places that sounded like they would be fun to go to—Turntable Bay, Soda Creek, Electric Avenue, Easy Street—but that I will unlikely ever visit. I did, however, finally say hi to the new TDoL mascot (pictured above). Stonewall Jackson was shot in my passenger seat by his own men just a little past Yreka. The Indian casino looked inviting (”Two hands of black jack and the trip pays for itself … “). And I came very close to finally stopping at Jiggles, just north of Salem. It’s a Jello factory, right?

Now we’re home. Things are back to normal. And I’m singing the song that was playing in my head well before we hit Multnomah County:

“Portland Oregon” - Loretta Lynn and Jack White

Tags: Clap, Countryside Cafe, High Fidelity, Old 97's, Stonewall Jackson, The Strange Boys, Wicked Lester

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