Thursday, July 21, 2005

Driving to Newport

Thoughts while driving from Eugene to Newport, Oregon:
1) If you "adopt" a highway, is it yours? Could you, say, close the highway for an evening? "No, I'm sorry. You'll have to turn around. I'm having a party here tonight." Claire tells me that this idea was on Seinfeld.
2) Hippies seem to excell most of all at arts and crafts. They do know how to do quite a bit of labor though. Maybe they're evolving. Still, certain jobs should not be left to hippies. For example, hippie assassins would not do well.
"Ah man, I think you just grazed him!"
"Ah, this is a drag, man. Let's go get high."
"But, he's still alive."
"Dude! If we let you live, will you be cool?"
3) Hippies are actually quite different from the wild-eyed Marxist proto-fascists we had in DC. I dare say they're almost fundamentally different. You couldn't see a hippie lining anyone up against the wall when the revolution comes. They seem totally harmless. This contradicts all that I've ever heard about hippies forming the "treacherous fifth column". They seem ineffectual instead. Compare, for example, the psychos in International ANSWER and hippies at the local crafts fair. One wants to violently overthrow the state and the other wants to go skinny dipping, perhaps while playing the flute. See what I mean? Like night and day.
4) What beautiful land they have in Oregon. A golden crew-cut of farmland that stretches out in all directions. Occasionally, flocks of birds rise up and blow away like dead skin. The road is dotted with garden nurseries and produce stands. Hills roll by like shipwrecks. Oregon lucked out.
5) It's still weird asking for directions and introducing "my wife" to people. I just love Claire as Claire. Have to get used to this new appellation. I do love how happy older married couples get when they hear that we're on our honeymoon. I look forward to feeling the same way when I meet newlyweds.

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