[Oregon Eclipse 2017] Getting There Was, Actually, Less Than Half The Fun.

3476.

It's not the destination, it's the journey, so they say. Stop and smell the roses is also what they say.

I'd like to find they and give they a swirly or something. Unless they has more constructive things to add, they can keep their lips well buttoned, as far as I'm concerned. They never had to commute to and from a total solar eclipse, did they?

Another thing they said there'd be is a literal car-mageddon. They were wrong, until they were right.

From the 1971 Official Oregon
State Map, published by ODOT

Now, as I've priorly regaled, I am a child of Oregon earth, specifically, that Oregon earth around Silverton. I don't need GPS or really even much of a map if I'm anywhere north of Albany and east of Independence here in the northern Willamette Valley, God's little half-acre, and I'm pretty good at south of that too. And what they were saying was that Monday, August 21st, 2017, was going to be hell-on-wheels, provided those wheels were on an Oregon road in the mid-Willamette Valley.

Still, we went for simplicity in the battle-plan. Head as far south as we could in the time we had. We started out from Out 122nd Way at around 8:15-8:30 AM. From the research I did, I figured if we could get anywhere south of Aurora, or perhaps Mulino if we hit Hwy 213 instead of Hwy 99E, we'd be in line for some worth-it eclipse viewing. As we headed south, I had a tab open to Google Maps traffic as well as TripCheck.org, the ODOT statewide traffic site. It was looking grim then, with notable traffic slowups reporting along 99E between Oregon City and Canby in the gorge stretch of the Willamette River above the Falls, some notable slowing in the area between Canby and Aurora, and at Hubbard. Hwy 213 south of Oregon City was reportedly a long, 2-lane parking lot with an accident, which also affected our Plan C: Beavercreek Road into the backside of Molalla. Hwy 99E looked like the best bet, all things considered, so down the Pacific Highway East we went.

Strange thing, though. By the time we reached Canby and scored some Dutch Bros, it was 9:15 AM and we were a little on-edge, but here's the bizarre thing: there were no real appreciable jams or travails. As a matter of fact, it was pretty clear. In a few minutes, we were almost to Aurora, which is three miles farther down the road:

Highway 99E at Barlow Road. No poblano.

About 3/4ths of a mile beyond the last photo. Just over this
hill is Aurora. Amusingly, the yellow diamond sign
to the right there reads CONGESTION.

Our blithe sojourn into the east side of Woodburn was scant minutes away.

So the trip down went. Happy, casual, relaxed. I had heard that the expected throng at the Oregon Coast was a no-show; could it have been similar to with the mid-Willamette Valley? The signs were promising.

It was a roadside sight
on the way down, now,
we call it home

That promise was actually broken after the event. It was time to go home and everyone left at the same time. Our vantage point was at about Young Avenue and North Pacific Hwy in Woodburn, as previously mentioned. After waiting a few minutes to let the rush of the event abate we too embarked on the northward trek home. We hit the old bumper-to-bumper on before we were even half-a-mile down the road in Woodburn; it was locked and loaded from just north of the Hwy 211/214 junction, just south of the MacLaren Youth Correctional Home, to Hubbard. This two-mile distance took more than 45 minutes to cover.

There was not only time to stop and smell the roses, there was time to smell the exhaust from other cars, the seething impatience of other drivers, the interiors of other cars (but be polite, always ask first!), to lick the roadsigns and electric fences, to settle down, marry, and start a second family. People would get to Hubbard, park the car, find an apartment and just live there because, hell, they weren't going anywhere anyway. It took so long to get from Woodburn to Hubbard that when we saw this sign, I got out, signed up for lessons, completed them, and by the time the car passed the other end of the property I had three offers for concert bookings.

It took us so long to get from Woodburn to Hubbard that I learned the
piano her. I open at the Keller in December; watch this space

North of the Hwy 551 turnoff the grinder loosened up a bit but it choked back up by the time we got to the east end of Canby. 99E was stop and go from the west end of Canby to just past New Era, then broke open again, choked up a little just as we got to the Oregon City city limit at Canemah, then was stop-and-go but a little less aggravating through Oregon City's adorable-yet-claustrophobic downtown. We stopped at the Shell station by the Arch Bridge for a breather.

The distance from the spot we were, in Woodburn, to the spot we found ourselves in, in Oregon City, is close enough to eighteen miles. We had made that trip in about three hours. Woodburn to Oregon City - at an average of six miles per hour.

If a total solar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime event, then so is that traffic. And if I ever get my hands on they, they's got some hard explaining to do.

And so it goes.

[or_photos] Silverton - Street Signs and Back Streets

1291. More Silvertonage.

Some time ago I uploaded Silverton photeaux with the aim of showing off the street blades in My Little Town™. I realized that I never quite got to that. Herewith ...

I give you here your typical pair of Silvertonian street blades. Silverton, as many towns do, name streets after the families of the settlers who originally populated the town. Barger and Cowing are two such family names.

As seems appropriate for a town of Silverton's size, the street blades are uncomplicated. They show a designers' sense of hierarchy; the specific (street name) stands out, the generic (street type) is diminished. Information processing is limited to what the driver quickly needs to digest. Also notably is the mixed-case, which, when the sign went up, some time in the 1970's, was something of an innovation. There is now a school of thought that holds that the brain processes not only the shapes of the glyphs but the overall shape of the word – which, if correct, suggest that a mixed-case word of clear glyphs packs more informational punch.

The typeface is a recogizable FHWA version.

This corner is in one of the most charming neighborhoods that one could imagine, south of downtown and between the South Water Street arterial (the road to Silver Falls State Park) and Silver Creek. Looking south down Cowing from Barger, here's what you see:

This is charming enough to make an hold hard-hearted former Silvertonian like me consider moving back some day.

Next we have a street blade set from one of Silverton's hidden corners. You won't find Fourth Street on most maps, but it exists. thou there's not much of it:

This is looking north on Fourth from Drake:

There is, by the by, just out of shot on the right, this big gorgeous house that overlooks that asphalt sidewalk. You can see it quite plainly if you look up Drake Street from South Third (it's a rather short block).

And this is south on Fourth from Drake:

 

Up there at the top of the hill, according to maps, Fourth doubles back and becomes Fifth. I didn't have the nerve to walk up there though: it looks a little bit private even though it's a public right-of-way, and I didn't want to make the people up there look like I'm doing surveillance. If there's a sign for the corner of Fourth and Fifth, we'll have to find that another day.

Next, here's an example of a downtown blade, from First (properly, N. First) and High

The blocks defined by First, Water, Main, and Oak are a historic district now, with attendant signage:

 

While the brown color and the distinctive and refined serif type here communicate charming antiquity, the e-x-t-e-n-d-i-n-g of the type in the word FIRST by stretching it out makes me cry a little and die a little inside.

And this is what a numerical street outside of downtown looks like. Note the directional, in the same case and size as the generic.

And Portland isn't the only place you'll find a Stark Street ... there's also one just east of the above picture, along B Street between N. Second and N. Third.

I am really burning the time here. Up against the clock, got to go. More later.

Tags: Oregon photos, Street blades, Silverton Oregon

[or_geography, or_roads] State Route 551

1171. One of the few signs or a post-2002 State Route badge–once simply the cutoff route to State Route 99E between Aurora and Hubbard, and Canby via Arndt Rd and Knights Bridge Rd:



Taken on the shoulder of I-5 just before the exit, in less-than-optimum conditions. The "To" banner enables identification of the route but obviates (until the signage is updated at Exit 282A) the need to get a whole new sign up just now.

This was the highest-numbered Route in Oregon before they got shy about a certain "below the Beltline" reference.

Tags: Oregon Roads, Oregon Routes, road signs, state highways, OR 551