6000 Mile EV Road Trip - Stay 21
Portland, Oregon | July 26 – 28, 2024
Written by John Martinson
The three-hour drive (normally 2) from Olympia to Portland included a “traffic detour”—a diversion off I-5 South for all vehicles (except large trucks) through steep and narrow rural neighborhood roads to avoid a slow-moving traffic jam on the interstate. The purpose of our visit to Portland was to visit several friends who had moved to the area.
Arriving during Friday afternoon rush hour, we checked into our hotel in downtown Portland – The Nines Portland, a LEED Silver Certified Hotel. We then drove to the Clackamas Tesla Supercharger for a charge (and left a Tesla cache) on our way to our friends’ house for dinner. As we plugged in, I noticed some damage to the side wall on our passenger side rear tire. We Googled Discount Tire and discovered a store just a quarter of a mile away and called them. It was 5:20 PM when we pulled in. It turned out that they had 2 Tesla Model X tires in stock. They honored our Discount Tire Warranty and replaced the pair in short order. Gotta love Discount Tire!
We arrived at Bruce and Janice’s home in Milwaukie (a suburb of Portland) by 6:00 PM. Bruce and I met at Syracuse University in the Fall of 1973. Two years later, he graduated and moved to Arizona to get his Masters in Geology at ASU and I left and moved back home to the Hudson River Valley. About six months later, I moved to Phoenix and Bruce and I became roommates until I moved to Scottsdale. We have been friends for 50 years and this was a chance to get together with our respective wives.
After dinner, Suzanne and I were privileged to hear Bruce sing and play guitar and harmonica on his front porch as part of Milwaukie’s 5th Annual Porch Fest, a free festival of performances on porches, driveways and public spaces across Milwaukie held on Fridays in July. People are encouraged to walk or bike their neighborhoods, meet their neighbors, and share their talents with the community. Bruce, now a retired guitar-playing science teacher and geologist, hosts a weekly radio show (Reflective Eclectic) on Shady Pines Radio (a local streaming radio station). After some heavy reminiscing over dessert, we said our farewells, vowed to stay in better touch, and retired for the evening.
The next day, we walked around downtown Portland, had a tasty lunch of Irish nachos at Kells, an authentic Irish Bar, and then later met up with friend Lisa for a delightful al fresco dinner in Portland’s Pearl District.
