Joe's Roadtrip

Location: Beaverton, OR

So as I mentioned in the last post, I had scheduled a car appointment with a local Mazda dealership here in Oregon to a) get an oil change, and b) make sure the car is still in good working order before I leave the country and head North.  The technicians said everything was great except they recommended a new set of tires (in fact, one had a slight bulge).  I probably could have gotten a little more life out of the four exisiting tires, but I chose to err on the side of caution and get them replaced while I was still here in the lower 48.  I imagine it would be a bit more complicated, and probably more expensive, if I chose to replace them in Northern Canada or Alaska.

So turns out I paid $600 total on this car appointment, which included an oil change, four new tires, alignment work, and a new air filter.  Thanks so much to my Owego friends who earlier had given me a $100 Visa gift card.  I put that to good use here, since the bill was originally $700.  In the big scheme of things, not a huge expense, given that I had originally set up a very padded budget regarding car maintenance for this trip.  Even with this cost, I remain under-budget overall.

New tires and ready for the major destination

I couldn’t pick the car up til after 4PM, so I decided to stay in Portland one more night (thanks to Mike and Heather for the extended visit).  On Tuesday, I’ll head up to Seattle (about a three hour drive).  I luckily have a place to stay there with a friend from high school.  Seattle is the last major stop in the contiguous 48 states for the next couple weeks.  From there, I head to Vancouver, British Columbia, and beyond.

Unfortunately, I have to say goodbye to this cute kid

Thanks again to everybody here in Portland that made me feel right at home.

joe