Asshole alert: AT LEAST one IN Kelso...
I won't bore you with the details but involves somebody too stupid to realize that I wasn't about to give them ga$ for a ride to Seattle.
They actually had the GALL to hit me up for 50$...
Hello, if I had 50$ in Kelso - hell, Kelso HAS an amtrak and it's only like $20 to ride it to Seattle & the Three Rivers mall exit is near the station.
Washington hitchiking: ALWAYS make sure you can get to the following places on I-5
These places read north to south...
Mariner Park & ride (north bound make sure you get north of Hwy 2 or you're STUCK).
S 320th St Federal Way
YELM
WOODLAND
KELSO THREE RIVERS
Centralia / Chehalis *Safeway exit*
P.S. on WEEKDAYS you can get to Centralia Chehalis on citibuses all the way from Anacortes & the San Jauns w/a short hitch between 'Sharps' corner to Deception Pass on Whidbey Island and as I noted before WESTBOUND FERRY RIDES ARE *FREE* (in most cases).
Here's how rob got from the San Jaun Isles to Centralia on public transit:
Ferry to Anacortes (I could have taken the free SKAT bus to Sharp's Corner but it takes too long so I hitched out of the ferry parking lot to town then I caught traffic going to SHARP'S CORNER, turned right & caught a COOL RIDE with a NEAT lady in a miniskirt / stomper boots and a magnum on her shoulder (wash is a sidearm state - I didn't know that!).
To OAK HARBOR where T used the 'net, then took the FREE bus to the CLINTON FERRY TERMINAL (no Sunday!)
Then rode the ferry over to MUKILTEO; got on community transit to LYNNWOOD (85CENTS) intercounty - $1.70 ('net nearby).
Switched buses went to AURORA park & ride, took the #6 or 359 to SEA, the 194 to Federal Way, hitched thru Tacoma to DOWNTOWN Olympia (coulda took Pierce County Transit but hitching is usually faster from the Federal Way park & ride).
Used the OLYMPIA library, then a minbus (50 cents ) past 'Rainbow Village' to the Grand Mound park & ride where you connect with Twin Transit to the Chehalis / Centralia Safeway and a good southbound exit...total cost $3.50.
If you take anyplace in between these you may be stuck for awhile.
A note: a kindly fellow gave me a lift to Federal Way so I wouldn't have to ride the bus thru Tacoma (I was in YELM in Thurston County at the time - and NO buses run on Sundays there) and I learned something - if you work in say a Burger King and somebody turning really white really fast asks you for a pack of honey or sugar and they say their vision is getting blurry: GIVE IT TO THEM RIGHT AWAY - don't put it on the tray...
*THEY ARE having a diabetic incident and NEED that SUGAR *NOW** .
Oddly enuff he (my diabetic friend) was from my same town! And named 'rob'.
Shortly after going up I-5 thru Seattle, LYNNWEIRD, WA and WHIDBEY Island rob learned the show he was going to (Zero) had been canceled, thanx to a timely e-mail from 'EV' of Vancouver, BC. (rob learned this in the LYNNWOOD public library...) (near the Lynnwood Community Transit park & ride (next to I-5).
So rob drowned his sorrows in dr pepper at ALFY's pizza and went up Whidbey Island ANYWAY to take the ferry in the San Jauns just for the hell of it as it only cost 5$ r/t for non -i nternational runs...
P.S. the itty bitty boat that does the inter - island runs has 25 cent coffee! + an honor box for the Seattle P-I).
75 cents when you are ELSEwhere.
The P-I defines 'elsewhere' as anywhere north of Deception Pass.
Rob tried to use the ANACORTES, Wash internet but they have THE most restrictive one I've EVER seen. By the time you got a spot you will have grown a beard what with all the hoops to jump thru...I like the sno-isle system better - Lynnwod & Oak Harbor, ya walk in, ya can use it...
DITTO Olympia
P.S. the convenicnce store / deli up by Deception Pass has good food and low prices but they are like NEVER open...24 hr laundrymat next door tho...
Anyway got down to San Francisco in one piece, the only irritating part was in Cave Junction, Oregon when this drunken idiot tried to hijack my spot hitchiking (BOY was I glad to get shed of him...)
So was the kid after me who I met as the same people gave us BOTH a ride.
Pathetic dept: there is no stamp machine in the little post office between Cave Jct and California on 199 because the tweakers kept breaking into it...*SIGH*
You would THINK, in the middle of nowhere like that, but NO...
Got to Eureka looked for Chucker but Chucker had gone to Mt Shasta to see the ONE Zero show I wasn't going to...
Made it to S.F. w/ plenty of time to spare to see the ROAD TO UNLIMITED DEVOTION tour fall apart courtesy of Merl Saunders ego (according to the promoter).
Then I took GG Transit up to S. Rosa to see ZERO at the HEALTH & HARMONY fair.
Also caught the Mavericks performance at DAVIES SYMPHONY Hall; the FILL zone @ the PHILMORE (right after H&H).
Hitched from downtown S. Rosa to Oakland , then caught BART over (faster than GGT on a Saturday).
YES they let me into the symphony, I *DO* own a collared shirt ya know...
Then come morning lite as I was in DALY CITY I took the BART to El Cerrito Del Norte, Vallejo Transit to FAIRFIELD ity link to DAVIS where during a long wait for YOLOTRANS to SAC + RT to 'Auburn & Whyte' then Placer County Transit to the Raley's in AUBURN where I caught ONE ride to RENO to the Sierra Sid's exit on the east side - then to FERNLEY 20 minutes later!
Then to PROVO, Utah 60 minutes later down US 6 to price to I-70 thru Grand Junction to Clear Creek County to SOMEWHERE east OF DENVER, then 10hrs after I *FINALLY* get a ride to GOOD(bad)land, Kansas where I stay in 110 f degree heat for 29 hrs when I finally get a lift and they have WEST VIRGINIA TAGS ON THE CAR *yahoo*.
He gets tired in Knightsville, Indiana but hey, that's cool by me, I got thru KS in one piece - *I"M happY*.
Our hero blasts thru Ohio just in time to catch up with 'Chuck' from D.C. who rob goes FURTHUR with to VA BEACH Amph in VA Beach, VA.
Chuck sez: 'open the lot early then don't provide port - a - potties and don't let anybody tinkle in the woods: that's so insensitive it's almost impressive'
Chuck sez VA Beach redeeming factor: BREW THRU (drive thru beer store)
(also availabel in Nags Head ,NC).
Rob sez: Chuck 40 $ to CAMP? In a VA State Park? Christ, we could a got a room in Econo Lodge for that but hey - its yer $ chuck...
Chuck gave rob an idea which made him a small fortune in NISSAN Pavillion (where Chucker showed up!) He sold opaque plastic solo cups to tailgaters to pour their beer into - P.William County police attitude: out of sight , out of mind...)
Seriously, P.William County seems to have a VERY professional FIRM but FAIR p.d. that is able to grasp words like 'officers discretion' on penny ante shit - like open beers in concert parking lots PRIOR to shows...
I mean who's gonna be DUI if they drank BEFORE a 7hr gig?
Just make sure you're PLENTY SOBER AFTERWARDS THO!
Chuck also 'rescued' a couple of 'mushroom muffins' and let them crash his pad in D.C. - rob hung on Chucks 'psychiatrist' couch (natural habitat?) sez 'Val' while chatting upstairs online...
At THE SONY CAMDEN E-PLEX Chuck paid 10$! to park even tho FURTHUR shows are promoted as 'parking included'.
We also got an extra rider and Chuck dropped us hitchikers off out by PLYMOUTH MEETING Mall so we could hitch up the NE exit to SCRANTON - (Carlo's Cheesesteak AGAIN ;) + an unusual story involving the last slice!
SCRANTON Montage Mtn: normal as it can be.
Rob caught up with CHRIS I in GREAT WOODS in Mansfield, MA and crashed in a MOST UNUSUAL house in CT along w/ 'Jeremy from Ohio', whose friends walked w/ his stuff.
Using the 'GUIDE' and the 'net browser at the QUEENS library tho, we got Jeremy home in one piece (I know cuz I saw him at the POLARIS Furthur Fest...
Bugged Kevin in PGH for a day then took a 'cooks tour' SE OHIO
Almost made it to CINCINNATTI for the show but the car threw a rod in COLUMBUS so I had to desperately hitch to get a shipment of ankle bells from ohil & jeff at their motel...(rob made it 30 minutes before checkout time *WHEW*)
What rob's been up to lately:
Rob's been watching FISH (with an 'F' dammit) at the Bayou in DC (Georgetown), rob ALMOST got stranded overnite but a freak saved his ass!
Tramps in NYC on subway.
TUXEDO JCT - Danbury, CT (metro north from NYC $8-9) + Danbury has good net...
The CHANCE at Pouhgkepsie where CHRIS I showed up!
Back to CT up the tracks to NEW HAVEN:
Recommended Newhaven n-bound exit: Branford: the RAMP, *NOT* the service plaza (plaza is a cruising exit).
Good s-bound to NYC: Noroton Heights service plaza (near train station).
PROVIDENCE - the Strand (deadville town).
Took the 'T' to BOSTON and went to a BOSTON TEA PARTY at the PARADISE ROCK CLUB (on green 't')
9 m-f commuter rushours (only $4.75)
Wound up in Baltimore at 3 am (don't ask)
Saw the Pirates whomp the Rockies in PGH, got spit on by a cop from a neighboring county on my way back to the Fort Pitt tunnel...(that's ok **I** know who he is but *HE* doesn't know who *I* am (don't ask how I found out ).
Off to BUFFALO, and then thru CLEVELAND, where the TX RANGERS WON ONE & LOST ONE.
Yes, you CAN get Indians tickets for under face value at game time!
Which is starting to be a lot less of a dump + they have a nice new library and unrestricted 'net similar to this one here in COLUMBUS that this is being written on...
Now if you GENTLEMEN will EXCUSE me my windswept thumb is gonna catch the 57 or 67 (rushour express only) to Hilliard Rome Road so I can catch out to the EIndy / Chicago / Milwaukee area on I-70...
Best NV local convenince store chain is "WINNER's Corner"
BTW
I checked out the UC DAVIS LIBRARY.
Hey, did I plug Humboldt State in 'Arcata' yet?
Public WWW access there!
Total cost 7.50 total time: 6 hrs - don't try it on a weekend and START before 8 am or it won't work!
P.S. pso if any of this is confusing excise it; send it to me and I'll clarify it...
For the guide - INTERESTING BOOK DEPT.
THE BOAT OF A MILLION YRS - Poul Anderson..
Write to Legendary Rob.