Mobile Junkie II: Oregon Postcards

We Made It to the Pacific
Mobile Photo by MJ

My phone works intermittently and I feel that we are leaving civilization behind as we drive south on the Oregon coast. I pull it out of my pocket again: "No network", I say tartly to Georgia. I have been in close contact with Moe and AJ and Huck, my oldest son, these past few days, through various dramas, mostly concerning Georgia's "mate" and Moe's live-in. Of course AJ needs money! She calls from the train station sometimes, with urgent pleas for subway fare. It is not easy to be an 18 year old dancer in New York City. I feel the futility of lost contact, like a morse code operator frantically tapping out his message on a doomed ocean liner. My unsent message folder fills to capacity as I stare at my phone's empty display.

The sun was setting when Georgia pulled into the first scenic turnout overlooking the Pacific. I took a picture with my phone, which looked like "an oil spill at Jiffy Lube" according to Steven, who had given me the directive to "not send him any messages while I was gone". Perhaps he wanted us to miss each other, or maybe he just wanted to be left alone. We never have been able to communicate, and I never have been able to obey. The grandeur had begun.

"This is ridiculous," lamented Georgia. We drove down the coast in the dark. "We should stop now and drive tomorrow, when we can see the ocean." So Georgia and I peered at the occasional roadside outpost, looking for a cheap and cheerful motel. Unable, even after backtracking 20 miles, to find such a place, we checked in at the Newport Motor Inn, which was a good contrast to the grandeur. Mixed with the abusive boyfriend drama in the background of our minds it added gritty realism to the search for self-transformation. It is so hard to love your fellow humans while staying in a dirty motel on an ugly commercial strip. Especially when your cell phone is not working. I placed the phone on the table beside the bed, as usual, and tried to imagine the bars fully green and tall, at full reception. Voices in the next room became angry and menacing. The lights from the parking lot (or was it a junk yard?) next door reached through the gold curtains into my head, even while I slept. I wonder if one can make 'a life without money' cheerful. Poverty has its claws in this coastline. The working class towns line the coast, with their 'historical' beachfronts as draws for the tourist bucks. In Lincoln City I saw a longhaired man wearing a tie-dyed t-shirt standing in front of a tattoo parlor and an aging waitress in Burger King gave us directions to the hospital in Coos Bay, where Georgia will meet with her Multiple Schlerosis Society people tomorrow.

In the morning even Newport is hopeful, and I am thrilled with the tiny drive-up expresso shops that sit in supermarket parking lots in towns along the coast. I order a tall almond latte (and am thankful that I am not forced to say the word "venti") and Georgia gets black coffee. We order two scones that we nibble as the scenery goes by and we think our separate thoughts. In Coos Bay we locate the hospital where Georgia will have her meeting later that night and we point out mountains of woodchips that line the road. We have noticed that the fringe of trees by the highway can't hide the clearcut behind. I pick up a copy of the "coffee break: Free Daily Morning News" in a grocery store when we arrive in Bandon and I find that it divulges many of our collective class secrets and desires.

Two barn owls that came to Free Flight as babies were released back in to the wild on North Bank Road this past weekend.

COME JOIN us at Jodella's this weekend for live tunes with Bill Bartels on Friday night and piano by Jack Ponting on Saturday night. Great music, delicious food, spectacular sunsets.

THE TEA Cosy needs a cook who loves to bake.

2 LOONS Deli is happy to announce acceptance of all major credit cards coming the last week in July.

PREMIER OCEANFRONT parcel. Stunning panoramic views! 100 ft of ocean frontage! $850,000.

WALLET FOUND by Table Rock Motel. Call to identify and claim.

MISSING TEETH causing you embarrassment or discomfort? Frustrated with a loose denture or partial? Call today for a free consultation.

MOLLY HERZIG: at noon Thursday in the Pedway, you will find 6 of your favorite things. Love, Brandy and Amy.

I notice among the "divorce/moving sales" and ads for "reliable and motivated housekeepers needed through the season", an announcement for a "PROPOSED CELL phone tower in City Park. Reminder: attend Planning Commission meeting at City Hall".

I am determined to enjoy our quaint motel by the ocean and later when Georgia leaves for her 25 mile drive back up to Coos Bay, I turn off my receptionless phone, place it in my pocket and head down the path to the beach.