Portland!

Onward to Portland!

I've arrived! I'll be volunteering this summer with Micro Community Concepts, an affordable housing model being piloted in Portland. I'm really excited to be part of this event: it's everything I've been working toward. The dream I hatched in my back yard in 2011 has begun! Here it is: to go back to school to get a degree in city planning (check), downsize (check), buy a travel trailer (check) and head toward the Pacific Northwest to tweak the American Dream just a little--to find a way to buy a house and to help others buy a house in a more sustainable way. Why Portland? I chose Portland because it is a city with a history for innovation and I want to be right in the middle of it right now!

I left on June 9 by way of Route 1, all the way here. Taking this route was amazing but be warned: it doubles your time! But I got to see the forest for the trees, not to mention the coastal vistas all up the coast. I stopped overnight in California at San Simeon, Mendocino Headlands and Eureka (Arcata) and in Oregon at Newport, rolling into Portland on June 15.

 

With my Pandora set to Janis Joplin, I approached my new neighborhood, Woodstock--to my new, temporary home on a flag lot. With the help of my new "landlord," we pulled Towanda into place and I've been settling in. It's been more than a week and every day is a new adventure.