First Month in Portland

Life in Portland is better than expected!

A quick stop during my drive out

I wanted to write up a quick update on what my first Month in Portland has been like.  I arrived here December 30th, managed to find an apartment on the 31st(I finally moved in on January 16th when it was available), and ended up at a party on the 31st with some couchsurfers and had a great night.

WFR Class

Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort

So I have not started working yet, officially my job search starts tomorrow.  I have however done a bit of networking and made several contacts.  My plan is to register FTF Automation LLC here in Oregon, and start finding contract engineering work in the area.   I will of course keep everyone posted on my progress, but it looks pretty promising.

Ski Touring with the Mazamas

My first few days here I got a couple days of skiing in on Mt. Hood Meadows, then I spent 10 days taking a Wilderness First Responder Course.  I took this course for two reasons #1 to be better prepared for the worst when I am out in the great outdoors.  #2 I am hoping to do some volunteer with outdoor youth organizations, maybe lead some hikes or camping trips.   Currently I am signed up with an rganization that takes underprivileged teens skiing and snowbooarding.  Since I missed the start of season training for instructors, I can only help out as a photographer, but its a start.

Life in Portland is fantastic! I have joined the mountaineering club and I'm taking a ski mountaineering course through them, I recently completed the Avy 1 certification with the class already and I'm meeting some great people and futture ski / climbing partners.  This Saturday we built snow caves, practiced uphill travel, and self belay and self arresting. It's so great to live somewhere where mountaineering is so popular and so many people share the same passion I do.

I've been keeping busy with the tri club here too. I work out with them about 3 or 4 times a week. Tuesdays they meetg at a track 2 blocks from my house for a workout and then immediatly after we head to the pool (only about 5 blocks from my house) for a 1 hour swim workout that is lead by a guy and his wife that stay on deck and coach us. They provide us with a complete workout each week (usually about 1500 yds) which is good considering i had not been in a pool in over a year before this. Thursday nights we do a boot camp style workout in a nearby park. Then saturdays is a long ride, I have not made it yet due to taking a ski mountaineering class the past few weeks. The club also does long runs on sundays that start at 10, which is very cool because I can still go out saturdays and party like a rockstar the night before.

Decentralized Dance Party

I also get out with the couch surfers from time to time to. They normally meet about once a week or twice a week.  Just yesterday I went to a bar with some couch surfers where there was a Bollywood dance party, pretty cool stuff.  I am really loving the cycling lifestyle that Portland has too. Since I live downtown I rarely ever drive anywhere, I always bike or ride the light rail system. I really feel like I have found a long term home, and feel that this is where I belong.

I just finished a bicycle mechanics course. Its been great, I already volunteered today with a charity bike repair clinic and worked on about 5 different bikes in just a couple hours.   During class, we built and trued a pair of wheels, another day we disassenbled and service a half dozen different style hubs, crankssets, and casettes. We are learning about all the different systems and all of the types out there old and new. I really like and want to start getting a few tools, plus I will be volunteering at a bike coop starting today at a bike tune up clinic as a mechanic, a great way to practice what I just learned.

Volunteering with Bikes 4 Humanity 

Everyone here is super active everyday you literally hundreds of people biking, running or doing whatever else! Instead of being the exception being the crazy guy that runs marathons, I'm more the norm here. I definitely feel like I belong here. The people are also super cool too, everyone I meet is really nice and genuine.  While attending bike mechanics school for I commuted 4 miles everyday to school and back by bike, everyone here rides their bike, it's almost like being in another country.  Drivers are much more aware of cyclists, and there are lots of bike lanes too.  I rode through the core of downtown everyday at rush hour and never felt unsafe, it's great exercise too.  Last week I only drove my car 2 days all week (one was to go to the mountain).  I bike when I go out, to the grocery store and more.  It's a very fun way to live.

I have a season pass to one of the resorts on Mt. Hood and I have been up 4 times already and have plans to go a couple more times next week.

My Living Room

Oh yeah lastly a bit about my apartment.  I found a place just south of PSU, right on the edge of downtown.  It's close to the local light rail system, the river front and some other great running routes.  I rent out the top half of house built in 1895.  I have 2 bedrooms, huge gear closet, attic storage, my own garage and laundry.  The best part though is the view on a clear day.  I can see Mt. Hood, and just off to the side Mt, St, Helen too!  I really could not ask for more.  In addition I love having guests.  So please make plans to come out for a visit!


Stay in touch.

Greg

Kitchen

Gear Room

Here's a few statistics from my trip:

Miles Driven	35165
Gallons of Gas	1954
Days	272
Nights of Couchsurfing	109
Nights of Camping	82
States Visited	27
National Parks	24
Provinces & Territories	3
Countries	2
Photos taken (approx)	16000

It was an amazing journey and I have no regrets, I have learned a lot grown, and come out of it with a new appreciation for North America.  I encourage all of you to embark on voyages, save the money, throw away societal expectations and get out there and live life!

here's just a random few photos from my trip!

Wrap up and the future for Greg...

Sorry for the absence on my blog, I've been a bit slack about it lately.  For those of you that have not heard I've wrapped up my 9 month North American Road trip a few weeks ago an have been staying in Greenville, SC to pack up my things, visit some friends and prepared for my move.  No I;m at home in Windsor for the holidays.  I have decided to relocate to Portland, OR.  I will leave Dec 27th from Windsor and start driving west, my things have already been shipped out and will meet me there in the new year.

 

You're probably asking a few questions, and I will attempt to briefly answer them below:

 

Why Portland?

Well why not?  I have been living the Southeast since Nov 2000.  It's been great, I have had great time here, met some great people, finished an MBA, married, divorced, owned a couple houses, travelled and had a very good life.  However I'm ready for change.  I want to live somewhere where I can ski more, climb big mountains, and more.  I want to live in a bigger, more progressive, more liberal city.  The south east as many of you know if super conservative, Portland is not.  Portland is a medium sized city (700,000), compared to Greenville county with about 350,000.  I've visited many, many cities and seriously considered many of them as places I would live (Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Fort Collins, CO; Boulder, CO; Missoula MT; Spokane, WA; Boise, ID) all made the shortlist.  In the end though it's the quirky vibe, eco-friendly, open minded people of Portland that won me over.  I'm looking forward to living downtown, biking everywhere, and skiing in all my free time.  I recently joined the mountaineering club and I am taking a class with them starting in January.  These are things you just can't do in lots of other places.

 

What will you do for a job?

I'm hoping to get FTF Automation LLC going again when I arrive in Portland, meaning I will continue to do Automation Engineering and Consulting on a contract basis.  When I arrive I am taking a Wilderness First Responder Class for 2 weeks, then a 2 week bike mechanics.  I'm just doing both of these classes for personal growth, trust me no career change at this time, I'm still having too much fun doing engineering.  So I've already started to make a list of potential clients in the Portland area like Intel, Nike, Boeing (in Seattle just 2 hrs away) and slew of other smaller companies that might be able to use my services.  I'll start looking for work sometime in February after I'm well settled.  During the past 9 month while travelling I would receive calls or emails from people looking for controls support, primarily in the South East.  So I'm hoping it won't be hard to find work in the North West once I relocate.  So if you are familiar with anyone in the NW looking for controls engineers let me know!

 

Can I come visit?

Of course!  I plan on living very close to the MAX lines (Portland's light rail system which is connected directly to the airport).  I want to live right near the downtown area, likely in the NW or SW part of the city.  I'm planning to get a 2 bedroom apartment so I can have plenty of room for guests.  So book your flights and come on out!  It's about a 4 hr flight from Detroit.  You won't need a car when you’re here, I plan on getting a couple of extra bikes, so guests can experience Portland by bike.  Come for the skiing, the mountains, the breweries (there are 30 micro breweries in the city limits, more than any other city in the US), the great weather in the summer, the ocean and windsurfing on the hood river!   I'm planning to do a half Ironman triathlon July 8th, this will be my first long distance tri, so come out and cheer me on!

 

What about the weather?

Yes it's true Portland does get it's share of rain and cold in the winters.  Cold I'm fine with, actually looking forward to the cooler summers, and still relatively mild winters.  It rarely snows in the city and does drop below freezing for very long.  The rain and grey skies maybe be a bit of bummer, but I hope to get plenty of sunshine in the mountains when I'm there skiing.  In fact I've already bought a season pass to the Meadows ski area!  Of course nothing is permanent, if I move there and after a year or two don't like it I'll go elsewhere.

FTF Day 256-258 - Panama City Beach, Florida - Nov 4th-6th, 2011

Weekend with old friends to support Kristin’s Ironman event!

I arrived in the late afternoon on Thursday and met with Kristin.  I had been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while now, and I was glad it was finally here.  It was great to see her again!  It’s been 8 1/2 months since I seen her or any of my friends back in Greenville.  We took car of some last minute preparations on her bike, and then picked up a few things at the grocery store before she had to go to her athletes orientation meeting.  I headed back to her room and soon afterward, Grant Dave and Grant’s mother Heather arrived.  We all caught up, had a few beers some laughs. 

The next morning I went for a nice long 12 mile run.  I had marathon in Georgia coming up the following weekend and had to be ready.  It was a awesome place and time to run since so many athletes were out doing last minute, runs rides and swims.  Later that morning after breakfast, Grant headed to the local Radio shack to pickup a mega phone, while I went to pickup a few things for Kristin, and the materials to make a big poster board for her!  For the weekend we were all staying in a condo of our own so we checked in there.  We had a 12^th floor 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with oceanfront view and balcony.

That evening we met with Shari, Maureen and Shawn that had driven down that day, and we all went out for dinner for Heather’s birthday.  We all headed to bed fairly early that night as we had an early wake up for the 7AM start of the race.  Just a side note a full Ironman distance event is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles (full marathon) of running.  Winners typically do it in 8 hrs, the cutoff is 17 hrs.  The average athlete(as if there was anything average about these people) finish in around 12 hrs.

Saturday morning we got down to the beach in time to watch all 2500 athletes go running into the water and splashing about.  It was quite the site to see!  The swim course was 2 laps, so between the first and the 2^nd lap the athletes actually ran up onto the beach and then back in the water.  Unfortunately we did not manage to see Kristin at this point.  Later though I saw her as she entered transition zone #1.  Then we all saw her again as she headed out on her bike.   We then drove (all 7 of us in 1 car) to mile 40 on the bike course, but unfortunately she had been too fast and we missed her.  This whole time Grant, Dave and I had been taking turns on the megaphone cheering on the athletes, playing music for them, and generally being goofballs, but I think most of the competitors appreciated the encouragement.  After a short break at the condo in the afternoon, we headed down to the bike finish, and caught her as she finished the bike and started her run.  Grant, Dave and I then headed to approximately mile 2, 11, 15 and 24 on the run course.  It was all in one location because the athletes do 2 laps of the 13 mile course to finish the marathon distance.   The athletes loved it, we cheered played music and saw Kristin 3 times, she was super happy every time she saw us, and I think most people were.  We had a great time.  We made it down the finish, which by this time was after dark to see her come in with a strong finish in 12:22!  She was super happy, and we were all really happy for her.

That night after some rest we all headed to Mellow Mushroom to celebrate.  Again, the mega phone was still with grant and he continued to use it even in the restaurant.  Grant, Nancy (one of Kristin’s friends) and I headed out to celebrate at some local establishments.  The others tired from a long day headed to bed.

Sunday we all met for breakfast and then parted ways.  I headed for Pensacola, the others drove back to Greenville.  I will be there in just 2 weeks.  What an awesome weekend, it was so good to spend time with old friends again.  It’s probably the aspect of life that I miss the most.  I’m a very social person, and being alone so much is very challenging at times.  Nothing can replace good times, with good friends.

I must admit, I am inspired by watching this event.  I have always wanted to compete in an Ironman event.  However I have only done a half dozen sprint triathlons to date.  I have decided to participate in the Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) June 4^th in Boise, ID.  The plan will be to complete a full Ironman in 2013. 

FTF Day 256-258

FTF Day 253-255 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Nov. 1st-3rd, 2011

A quiet couple days in Baton Rouge

I decided to stop in Baton Rouge in place of New Orleans, for 2 reasons:  I was not looking to party or get crazy after such the Halloween weekend in Austin.  I arrived and was greeted by host Nathan at his home on the Southern edge of the city.  He introduced me to his daughter, and showed me around his place.  He had a done a number of home improvement projects including a hot tub installation, and a roof over his patio complete with integrated lights, speakers and ceiling fan.  Very well done work!  He made dinner that night too, that included okra, something I had not had in months, a proper southern delight.  Nathan also brews his own beer, and blueberry wine.  I got to sample quite a bit of both.  The blueberries comes from his father’s farm.  

The next morning Nathan took me down to the LSU campus for a run around the lake.  It was beautiful was, and we had decent 4 mile run.  Later I headed into the downtown Baton Rouge, I visited the state Capitol building.  Built in 1931 it is the tallest state capitol in the country and it does not have the traditional dome shape, but rather it is a 29 story art deco building.  I visited the observation deck and checked out an exhibit on the assassination Huey P. Long, the man that built the building while he was governor.  Later I walked the downtown area for a bit, the waterfront, and finally the Louisiana State Museum.  That evening I took Nathan and his daughter out for dinner, where we had alligator, and a gumbo as well.

The next day I headed out early en route to Panama City, driving through New Orleans in a rain storm.

FTF Day 253-255

FTF Day 238-241, Grand Canyon NP and Northern AZ – Oct 17th-20th, 2011

Grand Canyon NP and Page, AZ

FTF Day 238-241

FTF Day 237, Phoenix, AZ – Oct 16th, 2011

Running with the Bulls USA

FTF Day 237