In Search of Austin and other Wanderings through Portland and the Oregon Coast. (Post from Adam)

We awoke on the shores of Pacific happy to see that we had not been swept away in the night by the tides of the Western Oregon coast. After laboring to pack up our gear we pulled off the beach in search of a McDonald's or other facility that would provide us with a chance to eat as well as clean up before we reached our destination of Portland for the day.

Our journey took us down an expanse of small highways which exposed us to the beach, mountains, and even a tsunami evacuation route. Kevin captained us down an expanse of roadway that provided us with an encounter with no less than 50 Porsches and a variety of other sports cars traveling up the coast as we traveled down. Just outside of Portland we stopped for the meal and clean up time that we had hoped for earlier in the morning. Here we met the one of the nicest people and certainly one of the nicest McDonald's managers any of us had ever met before. We chatted about school, life, and our journey down the coast. He even took the time to talk to everyone in our entourage and guaranteed us a place to freshen up and get some free water at any McDonald's in Oregon. After eating, chatting, and sink bathing (Leigha, Bracken, and Rob) we headed south to Portland. Our trip took us to through a downtown market and to the infamous Bank of America building which ultimately led to Austin's MIA adventures and the deployment of our search and rescue team.

It all started out with some email checking time in the basement of the Bank of America building at a cafe. It was here we learned of our coffee shop plans with the Don, aka Donald Miller. Aside from this it was used as a time to catch up on email and trip planning by Rob. In the mean time some of us waited while others made plans to explore the city. Austin headed off in one direction, with the remainder of us, minus Rob, walking down to the Columbia river with the intentions of meeting up in 30 minutes. Unfortunately that was not the case as both parties each arrived back at the meeting sight at separate times. Austin being the first one to arrive left after 5 minutes and just missed our party which was walking back up the street for the expected reunion. However, this was not to be the case as we found ourselves sitting out in front of the meeting spot for nearly 2 hours as we wondered whether we'd ever see our little buddy again. After not seeing Austin we decided that it would be best to walk around and enjoy the city, and maybe even find our missing comrade. Our adventure took us to coffee shops, bookstores and a record store. (On an aside this was the same means of entertainment chosen by Austin for the day). After many unsuccessful attempts to contact Austin we headed to dinner and then to the car to get Big Red and head out to meet with Donald Miller. After a few moments of searching for the coffee shop and the park area we were suppose to meet Donald at we got an unexpected call from none other than Austin Booth. It was at this time I was unable to decide who I was more happy to see, Austin or Donald Miller.

The moral of this story is to don't wander off in strange cities without a working cell phone.

PS it was impossible to be mad at a face like Austin's.

Adam Schanz wuz here. (notice how was is spelt "was" west coast gangsta style)