Portland

From Centralia I had to wind my way south through various smaller roads - no main highways going exactly where I wanted. I ended up staying the night in some playground equipment around the little town of Winl0ck.
The next day I made it down to Castle Rock, camping in the courtyard of their high school. In the morning I called my parents and wished my mom a good Mother's Day. The day before I'd run into quite a bit of rain, and my feet were pretty chapped. I'm not sure why, but for some reason getting soaked and then drying in my sleeping bag was harsh on them. I rubbed in some vaseline and walked for a while, but they weren't feeling good, at all. I only made it twelve miles on the day, down into Longview, and stayed the night behind the baseball field at the local college.
In the morning I walked across the Lewis and Clark bridge over the Columbia, and into Oregon. I wasn't sure, for a while, whether I was going to stay in Washington or head into Oregon, and I'm really not sure why I chose the latter. Mainly, I guess, because that way I could follow a main highway instead of sorting my way through back roads.
In St. Helens I slept behind a thrift store, and woke up to more rain. My feet were starting to flake pretty hard already, and I didn't want to walk in too much more moisture for a few days, so I ended up spending several hours in the St. Helens library, reading and waiting out the rain, and then made it down, in the evening, fifteen miles toward Portland.
I had gotten an offer, the last time I checked in, to stay with some people here in the city, and I didn't want to pass it up, so this morning I picked out a route in a gas station phone book, and made it here around four.
Dan Miller, a guy I met on Amtrak, built a cob house in some lady's backyard, and he's going to be gone for a while, so they arranged that I could stay there. It's pretty cool. Just a little place, but it's got a kitchen and a bathroom (a composting toilet) and a sleeping loft.
I've only met one of the people who live in the actual house - the owner was gone when I got there, but everything seems really neat. They're totally into organics, and planting their own things, and natural building. And there's a piano, which is a big bonus. I've been missing my piano, out on the road.
All in all, things are going well. I'm at around 220 miles so far and I'm definitely still getting broken in, but things are happening smoothly. No hassles from the police, no injuries. I'm sore, but I'm happy.