Have you ever wondered what it’s like to drive across half of Idaho and three-quarters of Oregon in a day? Let’s just say Dave and Tara no longer have to wonder. As our fearless Atomi-tons (we’re going to see if that catches on) try to get most of the way to Redwood National Park, they encounter an extremely angry woman, Portland’s answer to Souplantation, restrictions on gas-pumpery, and lots and lots and lots (and lots) of pine trees. Also, along the way, they get a very exciting update from the home front. It’s the one episode of Overwhelming Positivity you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT MISS!
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June 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Unluckiest homeless man ever.
June 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Aw, yay! Happy Birthday, Olivia! Congrats to the new parents as well!
New Jersey is the only other state where self-serve is prohibited. Apparently the ban on self-serve was originally put in place over fears that “untrained” customers would handle fuel improperly, but technology has advanced to the point where that’s no longer an issue. There is usually an attempt every couple of years to have the state ban lifted and consequently reduce gas prices, but the gas-station-owner lobby always wins, since full-serve creates jobs is “safer.”
The scary thing is gas is a lot cheaper in NJ than neighboring NY and PA, where you have to pump your own. Come to New Jersey - We’ll Let You be Frugal and Lazy!
June 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
ARGH. “…creates jobs AND is…”
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 am
Yay, Aunt Tara! Being an aunt is awesome.
Also, I would like to hear more of Dave’s tobacco baron impression. And I look forward to Dave’s baby too.
Oh, and the sprinkling thing is to prevent decay in the logs and increase pulp yield.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Okay, I totally resent that you think we have a stick up our ass. Except, that, no, we totally do with the gas-pumping and the low speed limits (which I try to ignore on a regular basis). BUT Baker City is really more Idaho than Portland, so the angry woman is not Oregonian to me.
Congratulations on your biological aunthood, Tara! It’s very awesome.
By the way: I will verify that Tara has the correct pronunciation of Oregon.
(I do think they water the logs so they don’t dry out. I’ve seen it my whole life, though, and it’s totally normal to me, so I don’t question it. That’s just how we roll here in Oregon.)
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
When I was in law school (in Oregon), there was a great moment where the professor explained that the gas-pumping thing had to do with protecting jobs. And one of the more know-it-all liberal-arts dudes in the class was like, “What, it’s the work of the INCREDIBLY POWERFUL gas-pumpers’ lobby?” And the professor just said, in this patiently withering fashion, “Yeah, perhaps you’ve heard of organized labor.”
Unrelated but parallel: the same guy stopped the professor during a discussion of adverse possession, which has to do with becoming the owner of property by openly occupying it for long enough even if someone else owns it — it can come up if you own land you’re not really using, for instance. This guy says to the professor, very disbelieving and impatient, “How is it possible that there’s land anywhere that nobody lives on, that’s just unoccupied?” And the professor waits a beat, and kind of amusingly-but-not, she says, “Ah, you must be a city boy.”