Over the River and Through the Woods...

It has been quite the afternoon!
Coming out of TPI, this dude hollers for a light. Then he asks us if we wanna make money! We politely declined, saying we might call them later, and headed on our way to Union Gospel Mission to talk to them about our bus tickets. He put in the cheque request, and now we have to wait for it to be approved sooo...we're in Portland for at least another day and we found ourselves on the adventure to remember. Over the river and through the woods (mountains, on/off ramps, over passes etc.)





So, the dude that offered us work from earlier had given us his number, so we called him. He needed someone to help him move furniture, and we had told him earlier we might call him. So we agreed to help him, he came and swooped us up and we made a quick 30 bucks which lands us up to now. 8:51pm. We farted around downtown a little, talked to the guy holding our stuff and discovered we need to come get our Duffel bags by tonight. We're finishing up eating McDonald's right now (yay! We got a food reward, lol.) And then we're headed back to retrieve our four big-ass Duffel bags. We have no clue what we're going to do with them. Probably do some rearranging, keeping what we can carry in two backpacks and prioritizing to reduce down to one or two bags. Plus our backpacks. Plus my purse. I haven't got a clue what to do right now. We can't go to tent city because of our bags and it's dropping well into the 40's tonight.

I'm a relatively new believer in God, got saved this past Christmas Eve, and this is a big test of faith. I've failed previous tests, but I'm getting the idea. God tests my faith, I catch God testing me, I bend my will and my life for him and God takes control. So at the present moment, I'm sitting in this booth in McDonald's, my will bent, twisted and knotted every which way and trusting in my Higher Power. God's got my back, this time I know it. I was so scared my first night here, and after a long prayer and repentance of my sins I asked him to help me stand strong in His image. God gave me strength, and I have persevered so far. I wish I could've figured this out back in February.

So God, if you're reading this, just know that I'm functioning solely on primal instinct right now (eat, smoke, be merry, lol) and waiting for that profound moment when you light my way. I'll be waiting for your light down here, just don't forget about me. Kthxbai! <3

Haha okay, sorry. If you can't tell, when I'm stressed I sometimes make bad funnies.
We're outta here folks. It's getting late and we need to get our bags.
Until next time...

--Cracker and Rabbit

posted from Bloggeroid

Shower to the People!

It's another cool, grey day here in Portland.
We're about to the end of our trip, leaving today or tomorrow. It might be a week, we're waiting for our tickets. So we're over at the day center now chillin' after taking a nice hot shower over at tent city. This guy does the showers on Tuesdays and Fridays of every week. The tank in his van holds 300 gallons of water which he doesn't even use all of! The water is nice and hot, and the showers are very clean. When you get there, you just step into line and wait until it's your turn to go in. They provide you with soap, shampoo, brand new socks, brand new underwear (my ass looks good in the tightie whities), feminine hygiene products if necessary and toothbrushes and tooth paste.

You are not under the pressure of a time limit (It's very hard to take off two zip-up hooded sweaters, two thermals, a t-shirt, undershirt, shoes, socks (sometimes two pairs), pants, boxers and tightie whites and still have time to scrub your ass), nor do you have to worry about foot-eating fungus as bad. I've noticed that the public showers at the day center aren't inspected between bathers, whereas these showers are. Peter is the executive director and he makes sure to provide you with a quality experience. Peter, if you're reading this, thank you for everything you do! People like you inspire people like me, especially right now.




Here's a few pictures of tent city. We stayed there again tonight in our favourite spot by the wall in Office (the name of the tent). We got another awesome night's rest again have met some really awesome people. I totally support their cause ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Right-2-Dream-Too/291307830880922 ) and I hope they can go through with their plans to provide non-discriminatory services to the homeless. Everybody has a right to dream, don't forget that. I know I won't :3



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Once I know when we're leaving, I'm going to post a summary of our trip, sort of like a review with some of our favourite resources photographed and detailed. I'll be posting it as a wrap-up post and of course for the next month we're going to be preparing for the next trip. We need ideas on where to go, our technique is a little flawed. Throwing darts at a U.S. map lands us frequently in the boonies, haha!

Keep in it real and weird.
--Rabbit

posted from Bloggeroid

Cleaning Out Pipes and Other Extreme Sports

Well, we're under the awning which is close to where we started here in Portland.

Cracker and I first found the awning while exploring shortly after touching down here in Portland. We had no where to go until we found R2D2, tent city, and they were full. We had seen some people sleeping here at the awning earlier, and the guy on security at tent city advised us to go there. So off we went, and broke out our expensive feather down comforter right on the streets of downtown Portland. Now we're sitting here again, winding down, pullin' some nice resin outta the pipe and smokin'. We'reprayin' hard that everything goes alright tomorrow, since it's our last day in Portland. We're ready to get warm, get dry and come up with a game plan for the next trip. Sponsorship is flitting through our minds as we realize just how desperately we want to do this.

We love the suspense of living on the edge with the despondent and crazy. It's not so much that we enjoy being homeless, it's just a life-changing experience to go through as an adult. It's even more of an experience doing it from our angle. We have experiences with homelessness, but we have a home and for once can live pretty comfortably. Why not do something productive with that life? We're still young, and we have the means to travel the U.S. and let's face it, the tourist traps really aren't as fascinating.

It's not all Smiley faces in this life either. Danger is very real, and in the city it's very scary. We come from an area where you square up face-to-face out in the yard. In the city, they fight with guns and knives. Pickpockets roam on bikes (we saw one last night), drunks are stupid and loud, and the things that go bump in the night are everywhere. You really can't judge a book by it's cover, especially in big cities like Portland, Dallas, Washington D.C. and others.

We see drug addicts every day, had a conversation down by the waterfront with a guy tweaking on Meth. We saw a heroin addict in O'Bryant Square who absolutely out of his mind. He was also pulling a needle out of his arm and skin popping in the park. Cracker's talkin' to a kid now who's been on Meth. We see addicts, completely whacked and slap-assed drunk, on a daily basis. We see scary cases of running across people who are crazy AND high, and with those types I'm tellin' you that they'll stab you and walk away. Laughing. You also see very sad types. Addicts who are so far gone, you can only feel pity for them. We have a very good friend like that, and so we always feel strongly for people like that. Shit, we feel for all of the mentally ill, chronically homeless, hopelessly addicted and just about anyone feeling shunned by society.

Heroin is a really big thing here. Everyone either talks about using it, or talks about someone using it. There are several needle exchanges available to addicts in the city. The area in front of Greyhound (behind the day center) is called "Crack Alley". They say all of Chinatown is crack (big surprise, eh?) And weed isn't too hard to find. There's really no reason for Marijuana to hide due to the lax attitude about it. Everyone who smokes is smoking it openly, and everyone who doesn't smoke doesn't care. Back in Lex, the big things are Meth and pills. Drug addiction is a problem everywhere, but on these streets it's a lot of hard drugs by hard abusers.

Okay guys, we're out. Gonna go check into tent city for the night. <3

Lunch in SW

Okay, so we did lunch in the SW portion of the city. We got to see the Pearl District, and while we were walking through we saw a filming crew all set up at the Federal Building on Glisan. That was pretty cool to see!

Anyways, we caught a street car down to Taylor Rd where they were feeding, and the street car was pretty neat. It's just like the light rail, but drives with traffic on rails and is much smaller. It is meant to connect the smaller neighborhoods within the downtown area. I have to say, Portland takes the cake for transportation!!

Lunch was a freaking awesome. Another pile of food that was hard for my clumsy little self to handle. I actually managed to drop something this time: my dessert. Down went my apple pie! I picked it up after putting my plate at my table, and they thankfully gave me another piece. The meatloaf was awesome, the salad was kinda funky, the corn lacked flavor and the baked potato was awesome smothered in sour cream and hot sauce.

All in all, it was another great meal at one of the soup kitchens in downtown Portland. That's where Portland takes another cake, this is some of the best food I've ever eaten on the streets!

We've been toying with the idea of flying a sign. We just spent our last dollar on my refill, we're out of food stamps and fixing to take a 2 1/2 day journey East on a Greyhound with no means for a meal (or smokes, lol. I'm a smoker, he's not) and we said we'd do this experience the way any homeless person would. We know plenty of people who fly signs back in Lex, but we've never personally done it. I've panhandled and I don't ever mind doing it to be able to eat, so I'm sort of intrigued about this "sign flying" idea and let's be honest - I wanna try it! I think my first sign is going to say "Why Lie? I Need Smokes! (Donations Appreciated)"

I love to stand out from the crowd, so it's only natural for me to put a comedic spin on it! Anyways, we're out at the Central Library now using their computers. This building is big, and it is old, and it is very beautiful inside and out. I love libraries to begin with, and this place is like a candy store for me. I can't take my eyes off the old books overhead!

Alright y'all, I'm out for now. Off to explore more of Portland! Keep it weird! --Rabbit

The Day Center

We wound up turning in really early last night at tent city, but not without some fear being felt by the both of us. We crossed over the Hawthorne Bridge by foot which was miserable for Cracker since he doesn't like heights. We checked out the drum circle for a few minutes and then headed in. We started out looking for the metro rail, but we wound up crossing on the floating pedestrian walkway back over the river. This time we were under the steel bridge and a train decided to chug on through when we were halfway across.

I swear on everything good to me I nearly crapped myself.
I never, EVER want to do THAT again which means crossing bridges on foot in Portland will no longer be happening and will not be blogged about.

This morning has been pretty good. We left out of Tent City to grey skies and wet streets at 6:30am. The air was bitter, cold, damp but I was in a really good mood. We both had a great night's rest last night. We took a trip down the river to under the Morrison Bridge where we sat down to smoke and I quickly changed my pants (I wear a pair of shorts under my jeans, just in case, lol) before we headed on to the Rite-Aid in Pioneer Square. I ran into a problem with my medications and needed a refill ASAP, and luckily the Pharmacist was able to help us out. After that we went to eat at the Portland Rescue Mission, stopped and got a snack and coffee at the Union Mission and then proceeded over to the Blanchet house to wait for lunch. It's a never ending cycle of hurry-up-and-wait here in Portland. If you don't get in line an hour ahead of time, it'll be an hour or two before you eat.

Breakfast was decent, I'm not a big fan of eggs though.
Snack was awesome hot coffee and a cinnamon roll quarter with LOTS of icing.
Lunch was bomb-diggity - a bird leg, rice, green beans, salad and fruit salad...yum!

Now we're at the Day Center chillin', chargin', bloggin' and waitin'.
Everything up here requires you having a TB card saying you've been tested and are in the clear. Both of our TB sites look good, so we'll be getting our cards signed off in about 25 minutes. After that, I dunno where we're headed. The sun shines through for a few minutes then the sky turns grey with more clouds. We know of a place that serves at 2, so we'll probably check that out and update y'all on the type of meal offered there. Blog about this cold, wet weather and probably some new photos of the weirdness that fills the streets of Portland. We've been tellin' everybody about the blog, and in my next post I'm going to feature people we've taken pictures with since Thursday.

Ta ta for now, viewers.Until next time...keep it weird!

--Rabbit & Cracker

Down by the River

O'Bryant Square put on a fabulous show with Potluck in the Park!
We were meal tickets 195 and 196. Within 20 minutes we were being served. My plate started out with fruit salad (mmmm strawberries and mango!!!) Then a spoonful (big cooking spoon) of awesome potato salad, Spanish rice, and a hot dog. I put lots of salt and lots of pepper on my fruit, potato salad and rice, ketchup and mustard on my dog and headed on. Deserts...oh my god deserts...a HUGE yeast donut with tons of messy chocolate, a piece of chocolate cake with icing, and a little tiny cupcake with frosting. I had no clue WHERE in my body I was gonna put all this food, but it was all going somewhere.

After eating, it's safe to say we consumed a days' worth of calories in one meal and in a span of twenty minutes. Now we're down by the park, layin' in the grass and enjoying this really awesome weather and this really awesome bud. To anyone who hasn't figured it out, we are conoisseours of marijuana and yes, we do advocate for legalization. By the way Portlanders - we wish we could sign your petition! We've had to turn down several because we're not Oregon Registered Voters. I'm actually thinking about signing one when we get back to Kentucky.

We just talked to couple of guys who were smoking under the tree next to us and they told us to check out the drum circle. It's the next bridge down (these people say that like it's the next street (which it usually is, lol.) So we're gonna go check it out here in a bit. I'm extremely excited, my mum took me to one when I was younger and it was the most amazing experience EVER. I really can't wait!

It is so nice down here by the river. The weather's nice, the park is nice...I really could curl up and take a nap here, heh. We're out for now, gonna head down to the Rescue Mission to eat dinner, then off to tent city!

Still Keepin' It Weird

It's feeding time on Sunday.
Hot meals are harder to come by on the weekend. Mostly because everybody wants to take a little time off from the homeless, or else they might feel insane within a year. This shit is just absolutely amazing though because the park where they're feeding is just like Phoenix Park back home in Lex. Oh jeeze, it's 12:30 and Cracker just informed me that we are not gonna eat until after 3. Sometimes, I really have to just take a deep breath and go with the flow. In Portland. Where it is rainy and cold.



Actually, today really isn't too bad. It's a little cool and windy, but it was fantastic down by the waterfront on the Willamette River. It's no wonder they call Portland the "City of Bridges" by the way, they have 8 bridges in this place! And our first night downtown in Chinatown introduced us to the nickname "Beervana". You could hear a woman puking at any hour of the night, money guaranteed. Also this city reeks of beer on the weekend, haha. I have to say it again...I can NOT believe I am on this crazy journey!!! Thank god for my husband and my sister Mary Jane.

I'm watching these people prepare for lunch(Potluck in the Park) and I'm completely blown away by the size of this production! You don't see things of this caliber in Lexington and this shit don't happen at we're from, the Southern Florida swamps. Back where we're from in Florida, there is one homeless shelter. They are the only place that serves a hot meal for lunch and dinner. Their shelter comes with a lot of rules and minimal options for the chronically homeless. The community views the homeless with a critical eye and the homeless endure some of the cruelest treatment not only by the community, but by law enforcement. My husband and I have been homeless, living in a tent and always stressed about our stuff or the law kicking us out. It sucks down there, and it's almost impossible to get on your feet because the cost of living is so high.



It's areas like my home that I'd really like to see motivated to really help the homeless which is why I say I'm on a bit of a mission. We are going to be home in Lexington until we decide our next mission.

Anyways, back to Portland.
Something else that's different is that a lot of people are homeless with their pets. Usually dogs, but it wouldn't surprise me if I saw a homeless guy walking a pig down the street. What's even more amazing is the quality and health of these animals. We've seen some very nice lookin' Pits up here on the streets, and I even noticed a Boston Terrier that's of AKC quality (though I still don't understand what people see in those weird-looking little guys...) What's even more amazing is that the dogs (or pig if he's walkin' around here somewhere ;) are allowed inside of some of the soup kitchens! The first time I saw that, my jaw hung open! Again, it's something you don't see back where we come from.

Another difference is the dismissal of marijuana.
They just don't care if you smoke it here (yeah, some of my friends are wondering why I'm going back, haha!) I can't tell you how many people I've passed on the street here who are openly smoking a joint - one right outside the doors of the mission where they feed! Again, you don't really see that shit where we come from.

Okay, Cracker was just talking to the women who hand out the meal tickets. Wait until you hear this...
Potluck in the Park begins serving meals at 3pm in O'Bryant Square on Sunday afternoons.
You start picking up your mealticket at 1pm.
In 10 minutes they serve 100 people. That's 600 people, needing a hot meal, served in an hour!

posted from Bloggeroid