Happy Town

Words

"Life is a balance between throwing out and inviting in. You are just a passage. Share! Give, and more will be given to you. Be a miser, don't give, and less will be given to you because you don't need it." Osho

I left Urbana six months ago. 

I went in search of a guitar today. 

I walked a mile to the Amazon Trail and across the road lives a man named Phil. I knock on his door, he is a large man. I sit on the sofa and plug in, happy to be with a guitar again. 

Phil offers me a ride to a local music store.  As he drives he tells me he once played AAA baseball. He has lived in Eugene most of his life, and loves it. "It rains all the time, and joke it is our sun." 

At the music shop a female clerk tells me she once lived in Vegas, and recently moved to Eugene. Phil buys a drum kit for his son. 

Back home, I study the amp, tune the strings.

"Thinking of the stars night after night I begin to realize 'The stars are words' and all innumerable worlds in the Milky Way are words, and so is this world too. And I realize that no matter where I am, whether in this little room full of thought, or in this endless universe of stars and mountains, it's all in my mind. There's no need for solitude. So love life for what it is, and form no preconceptions whatever in your mind." 
Jack Kerouac 

Country Fair, Eugene

The family left yesterday afternoon.

The Country Fair is going on this weekend, a three day event. KC mentioned something about not minding the nudity. Three of her friends drove down from Portland, setting up tents in the backyard.  They invited me to join them at the fair, but having just arrived in town I am more interested in running and learning the streets. 

Last night the three friends returned from the fair. KC and family had already left for the airport. It was me, the dog, goldfish, and the three friends. Catherine showed me videos of the fair. She said if I wanted to visit Portland I could stay at her place. To let me know she was serious, she gave me her business card. She lives near Forest Park.

I am going to look at a guitar this afternoon.

I ran the Amazon Trail and Spencer Butte two days ago, and this morning Pre's Trail in Alton Baker Park.

I walked to Safeway yesterday to get supplies. 

The nights are cool, days are warm. Catherine told me not to be fooled, when summer ends it will be months of gray skies and rain.

Arriving in Eugene

Willamette River I

Willamette River II

Casey

Hostel

Perfect weather in Chicago. 

This morning I ran to Meigs Field, now called Northerly Island. When I reached the Museum Campus I could not locate the island. Someone pointed me in the right direction and I discovered a prairie field with a single paved path.

I ran north to Belmont Harbor, passing the Triangle Camera building on Broadway, which is where I lived and worked in the mid-1990s. I bought lunch from Treasure Island market and had a picnic at the harbor park.

I walked to the bus stop at Temple Shalom, which is where I once made a portrait of a man who sat on its steps. 

 

I rode the 145 Express and exited at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue. I stepped into a church and read proverbs while listening to organ music. 

It is 7:30pm and I am at the hostel, readying myself for sleep.

I fly to Eugene, Oregon tomorrow.