I love Oregon

I turned 16 in the winter of '91, and on my birthday I convinced my Dad to drive me the 45 minutes north on I-5 to Portland so I could buy a used 1982 Chevy Cavalier. It was charcoal gray with more than a few dents and the interior had been beat up a bit, but it seemed to be firing on at least 3 of the possible 4 cylinders so I coughed up some of my hard earned Dairy Queen money and navigated my way out of the Beaumont neighborhood with the sweet taste of mobile freedom on my taste buds. 15 minutes later, I rear-ended a #9 Tri-Met bus. Probably should've got my license first, I guess.
The day I got the car out of the impound lot (and negotiated a restitution plan with the good people at Tri-Met), my girlfriend and I skipped school, pointed the car in a basic southeasterly direction, and just drove. Drove through Mt. Angel and Silverton and Stayton, past Gates and Detroit and Bend, around Prineville and Post and Paulina, and through Burns and Crane and Rome. We must have listened to that Pixies mixtape a hundred times before stopping to eat at a Basque restaurant in Jordan Valley. I was tasting lamb for the first time in my life when I realized that I loved Oregon, and that I was never going to leave.
Oregon turns 150 this year, and I miss that Pixies mixtape. That girlfriend, not so much.
I'm 33 now. I have an awesome wife with a shock of red hair that can strangle a cat and a 21-month old beh-beh named Henry who told me just this morning that chickens sometimes poop. We are--HOPEFULLY--doing two things this year: Travelling to every city in Oregon to ask the mayor of every city to sign our gigantic map of Oregon, and also totally ripping off that extremely popular "Where the Hell is Matt" video in an Oregon-centric fashion. Here it is in case you haven't seen it:

So the purpose of this blog is to chronicle our journey. It's no Oregon Trail or Lewis and Clark, but it sure beats flying to fricking Sarasota, Florida for a wedding. Sorry Brendan. I'm also hoping this helps to connect with Oregonians around the state that feel like dancing with me in front of, um, let's say the fountain in Lithia Park in Ashland, for example. It should also help me give some background to various mayors around the state when I email them asking for their autograph so they don't think I'm scamming them. I'd hate for Port Orford Mayor John Roorbach to think I'm trying to trick him out of his '04 Chrysler Sebring* or something.
So there it is. I think there are 243 cities in Oregon (I'll get back to you on that one). We have just over 11 months and about $5000 in the savings account. Should be a lot of fun.

*I strongly believe that Mayor Roorbach would look good in a Sebring.