And So It Begins: US-20 (aka: "The Big Daddy")...

So, while the trip west was a success, it's the trip east which is the primary focus. It's really the reason I left St. Augustine in the first place.

US-20 passes through 12 states, from Newport, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. Its 3,365 miles makes it the longest road in America. The route is roughly parallel to I-90, which is, as you might surmise, the longest interstate highway in the United States. Most of US-20 is rural, two lane highway, which means it runs through those small towns that you tend to find on rural, two lane highways. Those small towns often have a wealth of weird and quirky things to see and photograph.

In Newport, we first stepped down to the beach at our hotel. This would be our unofficial starting point (the official one is the intersection of US-20 and US-101):

 

The beach outside our hotel in Newport...

The "official" starting point of our drive across the country on US-20...

 

Before leaving Freeport, we decided to get some breakfast and take a few pictures around town. Even though the weather wasn't ideal, we figured we'd probably never be doing this again, so why not? The Yaquina Bay Bridge is pretty picturesque come sun or clouds, so we hung out there for a bit:

 

 

There was no place in particular we were headed. We expected we'd go as far as Boise. The drive alone was going to be in the neighborhood of nine hours and, when you tack on time for meals, fuel stops and leg stretches, eleven hours would be well within the realm of possibility.

So, we simply decided to stop and look at whatever it was we saw along the way. In some cases, we came across some rather bucolic, picturesque scenes, such as this covered bridge in Chitwood, Oregon:

What we didn't expect, though, was when we exited the far side of the bridge (where this photo was taken), we were sitting on an unpaved road that actually looked more like someone's driveway than a public thoroughfare (and I remain unconvinced that it wasn't):

And then there are those things which you can only try to figure out. This dilapidated barn refers to something known as "BurntWoodstock". From what I can surmise, it was intended to be some sort of west coast version of 1969's Woodstock Festival in New York. Apparently, though, all that's left of it is this barn:

 

The "BurntWoodstock" Barn in Eddyville, Oregon...

You know, it's great to hit the road and seek things out to see and photograph and, to be sure, that would be a very important component of this trip (check out future blog entries!), but it often takes a fair degree of planning, especially when you're trying to stay on a single road; in our case, US-20. We just don't want to deviate more than an hour or two off our intended route.

But then there are those times of complete surprise. In this case, It was when I mentioned to Jess that were in in Bend, Oregon.

"Oh, we need to go to the last existing Blockbuster Video!"

Years ago, like probably most other American families, we had a membership to a video rental store. In our case, we actually had memberships to two: Hollywood Video and Blockbuster Video, which proved to be the mammoth; the one that most Americans rented from. Consequently, I had to wonder what the odds could be that we would end up, entirely by chance, in the same city as the very last operating Blockbuster:

The last existing Blockbuster, located in Bend Oregon...

Blockbuster was started in 1985 and, at its peak, had around 9,100 stores worldwide. They employed about 25,000 when they ceased corporate operations in 2010. Now, with just this one privately owned franchise, Blockbuster employees three people.

There was a poster for the movie "Hook" hanging in the window.

The remainder of the drive to Boise was comfortable, if not a bit long. Our next day would take us to West Yellowstone MT, which is just outside the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

And that was truly an amazing day...