Spent time at Cannon Beach with Ronin and A yesterday.  Man, Oregon is so beautiful!  Driving through the forest on Hwy.26 was such a huge change from the plains I was cruising across just a few days ago.  The foliage here was dense, like a tropical rain forest but the air was dry and cool.  The road curved, rose and fell, and there were no 18-wheelers.  I have a renewed appreciation of Oregon, it's just so visually pleasant and comfortable.

On our way there, A got pulled over by a trooper for speeding.  Neither one of us saw him.  After he went to his car to write her a ticket, he came running back to us and said, "Today's your lucky day, go buy a lottery ticket.  I have to go to a crash."  He handed the license back, ran to his car, and tore off in the opposite direction.  It was like a scene from a movie.  However, we were a little speechless...our good fortune was due to another's misfortune.  We felt bad.

In Cannon Beach we had a really good lunch then hit the beach to fly Ronin's Lightening McQueen kite.  After a couple hours soaking in the sun we hit Pizza a'fetta, a tasty pizza place worth going to.  The drive home was uneventful and I finally got Antonette to use the cruise control (after how many years of refusing to use it?!).

-- Invasion Stuff --

I tallied up my mileage (corrected for my tires) and costs for the Invasion trip:

Total miles traveled:  4,551.3

Total vacation cost:  $2,270.92  However, if I exclude the cost of FOUR new tires:  $1,678.96

Average mileage:  23.6mpg

Lowest mileage:  19.5mpg

Highest mileage:  28.3mpg

Other stuff about the trip:

Brian's butt has been classified as a Chemical AND Biological weapon.
Some people wake up and have a cigarette.  Some have coffee.  Brian has Diet Coke.  The wake-up alarm goes off and then I immediately hear a pshhht! as gas escapes the Diet Coke bottle in Brian's hand...he's not even out of bed!

One's brain can only think about so much during the solo time while driving, then it starts to loop a couple of songs in your head, over and over and over.  For me, it was Robert Plant's, Heaven Knows, and bits of the song from Smokey and the Bandit because Brian brought it up...curse him!

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'

We gonna do what they say can't be done

We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there

I'm east bound, just watch ol' Bandit run!