Echo - Eastward Ho! Part 2

Wagon
Originally uploaded by Martina.

Day 1, cont'd: May 31st, from the Union Hotel

Picked PCJ up at 7 a.m. this morning. Unlike my last road-trip partner, who still doesn't know how near death he came at the onset of our journey, PCJ was actually packed and ready to go at the appointed time. This set the stage for a promising trip. Somehow the sense of fun is dampened, when one person wants to bludgeon the other with a AAA Trip-Tik before the tires have even left the driveway.

We made good time to Pendleton, stopping only once in Arlington for the two B’s (beverage and bathroom). As usual, we our need to pee was far worse than we thought it would be when we decided to stop at the next available bathroom. We are used to it, though, because every road-trip is a delicate balance between "Mmmm, sweet sweet beverage. More MORE MORE!!!" and "Oh God, my bladder is about to burst!" While this incident wasn't as bad as the time we were shafted in Shafter, CA (bathroom at next exit felt like 20 miles from said exit, was none too clean and the beverage was overpriced), we really did have to go. And, of course, we followed our bathroom break with the purchase of more diet coke.

We also stopped briefly in Echo, because a guide book said the little town had an old cemetery and ten buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. While this is techically true, Echo was not as impressive as the blurb (probably sponsored by the Greater Echo Area Tourist Board) would have a person believe. As it turned out, the only interesting structure was an old church, and even that was only marginally interesting, because it reminded me of some of the much older churches I'd seen in the Southwest.