The Big Shift

THE BIG SHIFT

You fucked it up for all of us—I want to say that to the “vehicle dwellers” who abused privileges, who disrespected locals…who left trash, who frightened people, who deficated in public areas. Because of them the Oregon Coast is extremely challenging with respect to finding places to overnight. I found a couple of places halfway down the coast. I am grateful for these vista points—and that is exactly what they are—as they were right on the sea and you go to sleep at night with the sound of the ocean. There is the sound of the highway, true, but you can lean against your van and watch the sun slip over the horizon in oranges and pinks. You feel the need to not be too overt, eating subtly, not cooking. There is a raw zoo smell of urine in the area, a stray can or two one feels obliged to pick up. But you sleep and wake beside the ocean.

That is 140 miles south of this hotel room in Astoria, a town I have grown fond of. Oldest town west of the Mississippi according to the brochures they leave out for tourists. I guess I am one. I sit in the Fort George Brewery nursing a pint as I look for jobs or work on a story. I walk and, like a tourist, take pleasure at moving my neck in honor of all the old buildings and solemn piers stripped of their purpose. I shouldn’t have booked another night in a hotel, even $65 is forbidden money to an unemployed person, but I am at the end of my tether hustling to find places to overnight on the coast. But, it is better than living on the streets of Portland. Further east, in the drier parts of the state where the trees are stately husks, there are places I love, but snow is predicted out there this week. Plus I am waiting on word regarding two interviews I had last week; this brings us to the Big Shift.

I spent a month and half looking for work in the north valley. The problem was that bosses don’t care to pay a living wage in towns like Redding and Chico. After a few weeks it was time to look somewhere else. Out of curiosity, I put in a couple of applications in Portland—the following day I had an interview scheduled. Within three days I had three invitations for interviews and two conversations with potential employers that went well. I take that as a sign. My history with Portland is complicated and I am not fond of the weather, but it is a city with much to offer and enough time has passed for me to be open to that. Nothing is forever, nothing is cast in iron; in a year I may move on…or I may find a job and a place and a community and stay longer. I am a reed in the wind.

Pandette is now eating oil, not a drastic amount, but enough that I understand long trips of thousands of miles are in the past. If I settle in Portland, I will sell her for enough to pay her off and save money for whatever the next adventure is. Hopefully I will get a job in the near future; even if neither of these interviews pan out I take the speed of which I got them as a sign, and a wise person never ignores signs.

Please also check out the books I have for sale on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Izaak-Diggs/author/B00EG7OKUY?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true