Author: Joshberu@gmail.com

Starting Point:  Eugene, OR

Ending Point:  Portland, OR

Distance Traveled:  110 Miles

This morning I left Eugene around 5:30 AM.  Sleeping at the hostel the night before was uncomfortable and sort of awkward. Maybe I’m just not used to it, but six grown men sleeping on bunk beds within a 10×10 room which in this case happened to be over 80 degrees throughout the night just isn’t comfortable.  Also, because of my lengthy showers and early-morning routine I didn’t feel comfortable taking a shower, thereby awakening seven people at 5:30AM.  So when I woke up at 5:30 AM after sleeping for five hours, I just bolted out of the hostel immediately.

I drove on the five freeway and made my way toward Portland. My first stop was Forest Park, of large forest within Portland that offers relatively flat, shaded hiking and running trails.  The trails follow the ridge and go through greenery including huge trees, ferns, and brush which reflects the sunlight creeping through the trees.  Most unique about the trail is the almost-complete shade and the majority of people were trail runners.  I ended up hiking The cherry Trail, which is about 5 miles and one of the steeper trails in the park.  However, I ended up getting lost or “intentionally wandering.”  My ultimate route was Wild Cherry Trail to Dogwood Trail to Wildwood Trail to Adler Trail, and back to the starting point.  Total mileage was probably around 5-6 miles.

It was really interesting that the “Leif” trail continues for 30 miles, providing a relatively flat, shaded, dirt road for trail-runners to log plenty of easy miles on.

After finishing the Forest Park hike, I communicated with Devidas and drove straight to his house which is in a high-income neighborhood about 15 minutes from Forest Park.  Devidas was very welcoming, friendly, and a skilled conversationalist.  He seems to have a knack for making small talk and also educated conversation on many different conversation topics.  He must have amazing experiences as a host for hundreds (and probably even thousands) of Couch Surfers over the years.

After I took a shower and freshened up, I headed to Washington Park for a short drive/detour and then to Powell’s books and searched around the bookstore for about half an hour. The bookstore is enormous (probably at least 50,000 SF) and is overwhelming unless you have a general idea of a book/topic you’re looking for.

Afterwards, I spent a few hours at Starbucks organizing future trip plans, real estate work, and personal work.

After Starbucks I went on a walk for a few hours across the bridge from Downtown Portland in a quiet industrial area, crossing the bridge and connecting back to the “Old Town” neighborhood Downtown Portland.  While walking, I came across Voodoo Doughnuts and recognized it from my earlier Yelp searches.  There was a line of about 50 people and it was worth it.  They had flavors such as Oreo, Fruit Loops, Portland Cream, and an Apple Fritter with Moist Banana flavoring on the inside.  It was delicious and probably was at least 800-1,000 calories. However, I convinced myself it was worth it because of the experience of trying Voodoo donuts, eventually even deciding to add on a chocolate milk “for the experience.”

After eating at Voodoos, I strolled around the Downtown waterfront awaiting the 10PM fireworks shows.  After a couple of hours of spending time in the area, the fireworks began and it was a beautiful show.  Although I wasn’t with family or friends, it was a nice experience and a great atmosphere.

Starting Point:  Reno, NV

Ending Point:  Eugene, OR

Total Mileage:  461 Miles

Highway 395 from the beginning its start in California city all the way up to the border of worry again is a beautiful scenic alternative route to the highway five.  Although it takes 4 to 5 hours longer than the direct route it is worth it because of the wide expanses of the green landscape, geologic features, and scenery and wildlife along the highway.
For some reason it seems like many of the small towns along major highways are very poor economically. It looks like many of these towns had previous economic engines that aren’t active anymore. I was surprised to see that even gas stations in good condition or boarded up and closed.

Passing through the city of Modoc, I even saw a sign for a California Pines, the infamous land subdivisions that were sold on TV by the animated personality.  (http://novotopia.com/CaliforniaPines/aboutcp.html)

When I drove into Klamath Falls, I was surprised by the simultaneous my old scenery, quaintness, dead feel, and very low income.  I suspect all encounter many many low income and run down neighborhoods on this trip. Growing up in the affluent area of Los Angeles, I wasn’t really exposed to many lower income areas and lifestyles, except for Hispanic areas. However these areas are how many Americans live.  They work 9 to 5 struggle to maintain their homes and have no way out of their lifestyle unless they’re incredibly ambitious and intelligent.  I’m not sure that if I grew up in one of these areas I would have the ambitiousness and intelligence to work hard and move to an area such as Los Angeles.  So much of what motivates me (and other people) is the people around them and what they’re doing with their lives.  I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by all-around successful people from a young age.

I searched Yelp up for a good restaurant to eat at and came across a well rated pizza restaurant named Rodeo Pizza. At the cashiers suggestion I tried a slice of brussels sprouts pizza and eggplant Parmesan pizza.  I then headed to Moore Park, a park located along Klamath lake and ate the pizza in front of the lake.

Afterwards I headed off to crater Lake, one of the most stunning volcanic geologic formations in the United States.  Crater Lake was extremely crowded and there was even heavy traffic in some areas of the park.  I stopped at a few lookout points and hiked down on the Cleetwood Cove Trail which ended at the Surface water.  I swam for a few minutes and then hiked back up to the trailhead.  Surprisingly, the water wasn’t too cold.  I expected it to be cold because of the very deep waters but it was close to the temperature of the oceans in Southern California.

Afterwards, I decided to head up to Eugene rather than spending the rest of the day at Crater Lake National Park.  Eugene is a low income, liberal hipster city where you see fun colored houses, bluntly labeled community growing gardens along residential streets, and bumper stickers with phrases such as “real patriots pay taxes.”  In fact, of all the liberal establishments in town, I’m probably staying at the most liberal one:  Whittaker international hostel. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/eugene-whiteaker-international-hostels-eugene) Everything from the rooms, front desk, guests scream equality, communism, free spiritedness, and sharing.   From the Yelp reviews, it seems like many of the guests at the hostel are just staying there for free or in exchange for working odd jobs around the house.  Based on my interactions with a couple of guests, I think this might be the case, but I’m grateful and excited to have somewhere to sleep for the night.

With that said, I think the main reason this a town like this can tread water is because of the huge sums of cash drawn in by the university.  Otherwise, this place would be a much worse area.

Starting Point:  Los Angeles, CA

Ending Point:  Reno, NV

Distance Traveled:  472 Miles

This morning I left LA around 6AM and drove up highway 14, then highway 395 to Reno.  The scenery became very beautiful around Lone Pine and continued to be green and scenic until arriving in Carson City.  The weather was in the 90s but very beautiful and I got upgraded to a bar suite at the Atlantis, which was a nice surprise.

Unfortunately, when I went down to the parking lot, I realized that I forgot my keys in the room so I just decided to gamble for a bit.  I initially started with $80, betting $10 each hand.  On one hand, I even bet $13 and doubled down for a total of $26 and lost a hand that I was favorable to win.  I ended up losing $80 and was disappointed.  In the future, I shouldn’t gamble unless I’m interested in the social aspect and am willing to bet the minimum just to hang out.  Also, I shouldn’t bet for than I’d be comfortable losing. In retrospect, $40-$50 would’ve been a more reasonable amount to start out with.

After driving around Reno for a while, I parked in Downtown and walked along the river.  The river scene is happening in some parts and has a lot of potential as a high-pedestrian traffic retail and entertainment area.  There are also several nice neighborhoods bordering downtown with multi-million dollar historic homes.  The home shown below is almost 18,000 SF and listed is currently listed for $17 million! (http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/631-California-Ave-Reno-NV-89509/61639243_zpid/)

A few weeks ago, I was originally planning on driving straight up to Oregon on Day 1 of the Road Trip and leaving on Friday July 3rd.  However, yesterday I decided to change up the plans after I received an email from a hotel in Reno offering a free stay on Thursday night.  For purposes of this Road trip, Reno is conveniently located about two-thirds of the way up to Crater Lake National Park.  Spending Thursday Night at Reno, would add an additional day to the road trip, but relieve me of the daunting task of driving twelve hours on Friday.  Instead, I’ll be driving 8 hours on Thursday and 4 hours on Friday.  Also, I’ll have a free night in a beautiful hotel in Reno (Atlantis) and be able to spend half a day on work-related activities and enjoying the beautiful nature and culture of the Reno-Tahoe area.

Earlier today, I downloaded about 10 interesting Audiobooks from the Los Angeles Public Library Website.  These audiobooks will hopefully come in handy on the inevitably long, bland drives I will experience on this Road Trip.  Hopefully they’ll help me remain attentive and productive on the rides.

Additionally, I completed my CouchSurfer profile which will make my profile more attractive and reassuring to prospective hosts.  My profile can be checked out at https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/joshua.beroukhim

I still haven’t started packing, so I should probably start now and leave tonight for a last-minute grocery store stop.  I’m really excited for the many unknowns and looming adventure ahead.  It’ll certainly be an incredible experience with many lessons if I approach every day with an open-minded, optimistic mindset.

Josh :-/

Today is June 15th, about 18 days before July 3rd, the scheduled trip date.  “Scheduled trip date”  was the date chosen on my calendar thirty seconds ago for the road trip to kick off.  Besides being around the time of 4th of July weekend, Friday July 3rd is also the end of the week following a business deal I’ve been working on for a couple months.  The few days after the closing of the deal should hopefully serve as a few days of relaxation time and and for some efficient preparation and last-minute equipment/supplies orders.

Over the past few months, I’ve been contemplating the idea of a cross-country road trip, occasionally shifting between certainty and doubt about the trip’s likelihood of happening.  This blog is meant to serve as a concrete motivator and major step toward making the trip a more concrete plan, rather than a vague idea.  Many times over the past few months, I’ve wondered whether I would actually follow through and complete this trip.

Questions/Concerns

Numerous questions have been on my mind.  The questions and brief answers are below:

• What I am hoping to gain from this trip?
  • This is the most important question and it’s been a top priority for me to pinpoint the exact reasons why I’m doing this trip, what I want to achieve/gain, and how I hope to do so.  The main reasons/explanations are as follows:
    • Deep-rooted desire for adventure/freedom:  Growing up in a religious Jewish household with strict (and sometimes irrationally overprotective parents), I’ve always felt a need to push the limited on adventures/freedom.  Since early in high-school I’ve dreamed and planned for world-wide travels, road trips, backpacking trips, and the accompanying indescribable feeling of freedom, peace and satisfaction that comes from being free and connected to nature.  Furthermore, after reading books like Nate Damm’s “Walk Across America” and Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild”, this thirst for freedom and adventure and the feeling of satisfaction and peace that supposedly comes with it, seem to be much more attainable and conservative, relative to the experiences of each of the authors in the above books.  Also, the last motivating push I needed was receiving regular updates on the year-long international road trip travels of Mr. and Mrs. Adventure and also running into another road tripper on a recent trip to Death Valley, CA (milesinthemirror.com) .  I feel like this road trip is another way to fulfill this long-suppressed desire for adventure and freedom.
    • Experiencing new cities, new people, new culture and growing as a person:   Another goal for the road trip is to gain a greater perspective by being immersed in different ways of living, people with different perspectives/upbringings, local and regional cultures and more.  Born and raised in LA and spending over 90% of my life there, I’ve mostly been exposed to the hustle, business, and active lifestyle of Big City Life.  Hopefully the small towns’s throughout the United States and the culturally unique large cities will help me better understand and appreciate my future relationships.  In order to ensure that I’m always equipped with an adventurous, curious mindset I’ve committed to journaling at least a couple of times a week on this blog.  I hope this will provide me with a more aware, present mind and absorb the huge amount of experiences/realizations that these 30 days will include.
    • Real Estate Knowledge: As technology improves, real estate is transitioning from a local business into a national/international business.  On this trip I hope to gain a familiarity of urban areas throughout the country, including Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, St Louis, and much more.  Even if all I’m gaining is a familiarity, I hope to be able to become mildly familiar with a few areas which may help down the line in my work.
• Is 30 days enough for a cross-country roundtrip road-trip?
  • The viability of the preliminary schedule has been a concern, but not a worry.  After I planned to drive about 4-5 hours per day, every day, regardless of whether I’m visiting a large interesting city or a uninteresting small town. Fortunately/unfortunately, the extent of the trip planning will probably be the four maps listed below with listed attractions so there will be flexibility if I decide to skip through some quiet towns or spend an extra night or two in cities I find fun.  This flexibility/openness is what makes a road trip a road trip:  spontaneity, uncertainty, freedom, and adventure.  As far as I know, this trip might last 20 days, 50 days, or anywhere in between.
• Will I be able to stay in control of my work while I’m on the road?
  • Absolutely, technology has improved to the point where communication is enabled (in many forms), information accessed, and work created/accomplished whether you’re in a coffee shop in Montana or in a full-service office building in Los Angeles.  With mobile document scanners, 4G internet access, and mobile devices, people can work more efficiently while on a road trip today than someone 25 years ago could work in an full-service office building.  Especially since I’m not too busy and am just trying to hold ground, working remotely hopefully won’t be an issue.
• Would it be better to find someone to go on the trip with?
  • This question has been a difficult one.  There are many benefits of having a road trip companion (or up to three of them).  Some of these benefits are splitting the gas/lodging costs by four, having a driving companion/driver on long driving days, and having a full-time companion to hopefully help against loneliness, boredom, and exhaustion.  However, the possibility of having a dull, unadventurous, energy-draining road trip companion made the idea of having a companion a non-starter, especially on a fast-paced, challenging, uncomfortable road trip that’s planned.

Preparation

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been preparing for this always-distant road trip by skimming RoadTrip USA by Jamie Jensen, while simultaneously using TripAdvisor.com to quickly search for activities in each city, and also plotting out the locations of the cities/activities on Google Maps.  The full road trip map in three separate parts is below.  The red markers indicate locations where I’ll be staying the night and the yellow markers indicate locations of activities (mostly top-rated attractions on Trip Advisor.

Budget Information

The anticipated budget for the trip has been an important factor in the trip planning.  Based on my initial estimates, I arrived at the following breakdown:

• Gas:  (7500 miles at 25 MPG and $4 Gallon):  $1200
• Lodging ($50/Night):  $1500
• Food ($20/Day): $600  
• Activities ($20/Day):  $600
• Total:  $3900

To keep the costs as low as possible, I’m planning on camping/AirBNB/Couchsurfing for lodging, shop at supermarkets for some meals, and try to plan inexpensive/free activities in nature.

Equipment Information

Here’s several items I’m planning on bringing along for the trip:

Honda Accord:  Small 2-door car.  It’s great on gas, but unfortunately it’ll be difficult to sleep in and it’s not roomy.

Folding Bike:  Bikes seem like a great/cheap/efficient way to see much of a city in a small amount of time.  Instead of attaching a bike rack on my car and there being a high chance of it being stolen, a folding-bike that can be stored in the trunk might be a good option.  The quality seems average, but at $130 I decided it’s a risk worth taking.

External Battery charger:  To recharge my phone without access to an electrical outlet

National park pass: Yearly pass to national parks throughout the entire country

Audiobooks:  Audiobooks are a great method of using time efficiently in cars and productive entertainment

Josh 🙂