Journey to Oregon

I looked at the calendar this morning and realized that September is almost over, and I haven’t posted much at all about our travels since Burning Man. So, here goes…

On our way back from Reno, we stopped in Sacramento at Lindsay and Sean’s for a couple of days to get things washed and repacked. As always, an awesome visit with those two. On Thursday, we headed into the Bay Area and stayed in San Leandro to pick up some stuff we had shipped to meet up with us. And then on Friday, we relocated to the South Bay so that we could carpool in with our friend Dave to the Singularity Summit for the weekend.

The Summit was fabulous.. an amazing amount of brain power and focus on Artificial General Intelligence.

Above is a picture of Eliezer Yudkowsky presenting the three differing definitions of the Singularity. Unfortunately, this is the only picture of the summit that came out with any clarity – so I don’t have good pictures to share of the many other fabulous presenters. But I can say, the summation of the the summit that I walked away with is that when we go into the Singularity, AGIs will get bored with us humans and eat the planet on their way out of here. So.. enjoy life while you can *grin*. The other pic is of Chris looking all smart-like as we discussed the summit with Dave during our lunch break on the grasses of the Palace of the Fine Arts.

After the summit, we stuck around in the Bay Area for a couple extra days for a business meeting. Yes folks, Chris and I are working on our first major contract together.. as nomads, no less! Woo-hoo. It’s been a lot of fun meshing brain waves with him to do the research for this and write our technical papers. And it’s really nice to have some funding and biodiesel money.

After the meetings, we headed up the coast with a stop in Benicia for one last stay over with our SmartPower drink friends, Mark and Min. It was awesome to visit with them, hopefully helped get them situated in some great places that can get them more market distribution and stocked up on a few cases ourselves. We are leaving the SmartPower region afterall.. and we have gone on rationing.

And then.. we left the Bay Area for a while, heading up 101 with a goal of being to Portland by September 21st. We loaded up with a tank of B100 biodiesel in Hopland on the way out.. and on we went, releasing french fry smelling emissions in our wake.

We stayed in a couple of Redwood parks on our way up the coast in Northern California. Absolutely stunning. And then we crossed into Oregon.. our first new state in our journey in months! There is something special about Oregon, you feel as soon as you cross the state line – from the flower landscaped ‘Welcome’ sign, to the uber friendly road signs to friendlier drivers and a general shift in attitude in the people you stop to talk to. So warm, inviting and friendly.

And the coast of Oregon? Simply breathtaking. We made a stop in Bandon overnight to stay with the folks of Poly Pots (there is no kidding with the ‘many pots’ there… their house was covered with many pots they handmake and sell), who had invited us to stop in on our travels. Delightful people, and it was amazing to watch them work on their art form.

Next, more driving along the coast and many stunning views. I was also on a mission to stop at Yaquina Head Lighthouse, just north of Newport for my father. We were on our way to meet them in Portland for the reunion of the submarine my father served on in the 1960s, which my father also happens to be the organizer of. As part of the awards banquet, he always gifts my mother with a lighthouse (as, she’s a major lighthouse nut). When they were scoping out Oregon to host the reunion at, they did a romantic night in Newport to see Yaquina Head, but it was shut down for renovations. So, he had us stop and pick up a statue of the lighthouse as her gift. Beautiful lighthouse.

From Newport, we took Highway 20 eastwards towards Lebanon, for a stop over on a former Rhea Ranch that now just has llamas, chickens and bunnies on it. It’s owned by a friend of Chris’, Martha – and it was an absolutely delightful stay to get a taste of more rural Oregon for the week. Many great conversations, and an instant feeling of welcoming and being part of an extended family. Martha also gifted me with some great clothing.. better than going to a thrift store :D.

After visiting Martha’s ranch, we headed northwards towards Portland to rendezvous with my parents and my brother and his wife who had flown in from Texas to be there as well. A long overdue family reunion.. and a chance for my family to get to know Chris better.

The reunion was amazing, as always. My father pulled out all the stops, organized many great ceremonies, included active service submariners from a local base and really touched a lot of the veterans who attended. And I was once again honored to be able to help out in making the reunion happen.

We also got to tour the SS-581 Blueback, that was at the OMSI in Portland with my family.. lots of fun!

And now.. we’re making our way eastward towards South Dakota. We just picked up a brand new digital camera – a FujiFilm FinePix F50SE, and here’s the first picture of us camped in Cascade Mountains this morning: