Austin, TX

One of my good friends is moving back to Portland. She has lived in Portland for the past few years and moved to Austin to look for work. Things didn't work out and so now she is moving back. Her boyfriend, was wondering if I'd like to road-trip back with them.

Sometimes I can be fairly spontaneous and sometimes I'm not. On his suggestion, I told her "If I can get time off work I will".

Well, in the short span of 24 hours, I got two days off of work. In a weeks time I fly down to Austin and will spend the following 3 or 4 days on the road back to Portland.

I plan on bring my camera(s) and documenting the trip a little. There probably won't be much time to stop and see anything but it is an adventure.

It got me thinking... A road trip is a uniquly American experience. When I went to Taiwan, I asked the friend I was visiting if she wanted to go to a city that was 86km away. She thought that distance was far and I laughed because I told her it isn't. 86km is something like 40ish miles, which is the distance some people in and around Portland travel on their bycicle in a day. To an American, thats a short distance and really, I'm not trying to sound ethnocentric, just stating the facts.

Here is why...

Shortly after I came back from Taiwan, I decided to visit a friend of mine up in Bellingham, WA. The Drive is around 262 miles. During this 6 or so hour trip, I got to thinking... Taiwan is SMALL.

In comparasion, here is my trip from Portland to Bellingham compared to the size of Taiwan. People will routinely travel distances like this every so often. To take a week off of work or school to travel 500 - 1000 miles isn't a huge distance for us to travel.

Last year I did Portland to LA with a friend of mine and we did that in a day, 950 or so miles.

If you do get the chance to come to the States, I highly suggest a road trip.