Thursday, June 24, 2010

5 Things I Hate About Oregon

My family and I recently took a short trip to Utah and Idaho. Both fine states. Unfortunately, we have to drive through Oregon to get there. Oregon is not my favorite place. Below are the five things I hate about Oregon:
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1. Could we go any faster?
During the oil embargo in the 1970s the government reduced the speed limits in states in an effort to use less gasoline. When that law was rescinded, most states increased their speed limits in order to allow weary travelers quicker passage through their respective states. Oregon only increased their speed limit to 65 miles per hour. This is not a bad speed to travel through highly congested areas, but for those of you who haven't been there, Oregon is mostly small towns and open spaces especially in the eastern part of the state. So as you pass through farmlands and barren wilderness you can only do so at 65 miles per hour. This would not be as bad if the enforcement was not there, but of course patrols are always vigilant.
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2. Full Service Gas...
I grew up in New Jersey which is the only other state besides Oregon that requires full service gas attendants. Growing up, I didn't mind other people pumping my gas. But, now with the use of credit cards at the pump etc. it just makes more sense to do it yourself especially when most stations have only one attendant. This weekend, in who knows where, Oregon, the attendant had me hold the pump myself because it wouldn't stay on automatically. I'm surprised I didn't get cited.
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3. What's this barren wasteland? Oh, its eastern Oregon.
Whenever I drive through certain parts of eastern Oregon, I almost expect to see caravans of nomads a la Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, or hillbilly, backwoods militia men high jacking people on the freeway. To date, I have not seen this first hand, but expect to any time now.
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4. Oregon stinks so bad I could only think of three things I really hate about it.
Well, this just goes to show how crappy it is. Since I live in Washington, I have an automatic distaste for Oregon. I'm not a fan.
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2 Things I Like About Oregon...
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1. No Sales Tax.
That's pretty good. They must go through a lot of pennies though. If I didn't charge sales tax,
I would round things so there wouldn't be so much change involved. Typical Oregon.
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2. Pancakes.
There's a restaurant in Portland called the Byways Cafe that makes great breakfast. Especially the pancakes. Though they have great scrambles etc. as well. Thanks Oregon.
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