The Great Alaskan Road Trip: Week 18 Roundup

Each Friday, I post some relevant (and not-so-relevant) stats about the trip, as well as a little write-up of what it’s like to live out of a van for weeks on end. Here’s where we are overall:

• Total miles driven: 12,685
• Total miles by ferry: 537
• Total days on the road: 123
• Total nights in a hotel: 7
• Total miles hiked: 120.14

Roses at Portland’s International Rose Test Garden

Some interesting stats for this week:

• Fuel stops: 1 (diesel: $4.16/gal in Troutdale, OR).
• Technical Issues: 1-ish (blew a fuse on our air compressor when Kevin was topping up the tires.  We didn’t have any spares on board but after a quick trip to the auto parts store we were back in business.)
• Wildlife invasions: 0 (so far so good!)
• NPS Sites Visited: 1 (Lewis and Clark National Historical Park)

On our way back towards the Oregon coast, we decided to stay in the Portland suburb of Troutdale at the Edgefield Lodge, a hotel that used to be the dormitory for the Multnomah County Poor Farm back in the early 1920’s.  It’s part of the McMenamins pub empire – in the 1990’s the brothers bought and revitalized the main building and all the outbuildings.  There’s a spa, vineyards, a winery, a distillery, and of course a brewery – all on-site.  So you can pick your poison.

Local artists have covered every interior wall with artwork depicting the building’s history (and other random wackiness). 

The rooms are all named for famous artists and musicians who’ve performed here (like Stevie Wonder and B.B. King) and for prominent past citizens.  We ended up in the David Flinn Buxton room, named after a pioneer farmer who settled here in the 1850’s.  There’s a portrait of him painted on the wall by the lamp; he’s the one with the beard (not to be confused with his stern-looking wife, Fanny).