Day 2 - In and Out of Portland

John’s Café was our first stop.
The old Greek couple has been working the joint for over 30 years.
After finding out what we were doing, breakfast was on the house.
I went out to the car (Laura) to get our battery chargers and this hippy van pulls up next to me, all spray painted. We connected right away, there was definitely a psychedelic VW moment.
She (the van) just got back from Burning Man. We were happy to see them and Steve painted a blue wave on their side.
They were excited to do the same.

Our day was slower than we had planned.
We went to get an oil change and ended up adding new break pads too.
That gave us a couple of hours to walk around downtown Portland, and a lot can happen in that time.
Met the local girls at the outdoor shop.
Test-drove a Scion with some boys, they had a big promotion going on, and aaahhhhhh yeah we chatted with those girls too.
We got a $45 gift card to shop right there next to the test drive promotion place, and walked out with two shirts and a pair of runners.
(It was a cheap second hand trendy shop).
After getting the car back, we went back to the Scion place and sold everyone there on veggie oil. As usual everyone loved Laura, and signed her up.
We only drove out of Portland at 4:30pm.

Heading east on the I 84, along the side of the heavily dammed Columbia River, we moved past more than five dams in less than two hours.
For those that don’t know the Columbia River, it’s about the same size as the Fraser River, and the horizon of it’s valley is framed by a forest of power lines.

This river doesn’t flow, it’s stuck, imagine that.

If this is the future for our rivers, we need to find the balance. Seeing these dams in the Colombia River affirms the need to demand the support from corporations to invest in environmental education, sustainable communities, and in the development of outdoor sports.
The promotion eco-recreational activities doesn’t take much capital in comparison to what the hydro companies are making. Usually dams turn into big lakes where sailing, sea kayaking and even kite surfing can develop into a tourism industry generating additional revenue within the local community.

One of our goals with Free Flowing Rivers is to develop these outdoor community centers, where future generations will learn how to walk, fly, and flow with nature.

As the night gets colder and Mexico gets closer, our anticipation builds about doing the river race on the Papagayo River, and documenting this river before it turns into a massive outdoor community center.

Its Saturday night as we roll into Idaho and the music from the stereo is helping me to teach Steve and Roger some Spanish. Buenas noches, hasta manana.