In which I’ve been considering the size of Oregon lately.

I have recently learned that Oregon is about the size of the United Kingdom.

The entire United Kingdom, which is, like, three countries. Oregon’s actually got a few square miles more space than that.

What the hell. How are all those people and towns and countries in an area smaller than Oregon?! I’ve been in the habit of watching Escape to the Country in the evenings and there seem to be endless numbers of houses for sale in the UK. If a similar show were taped in Oregon, would it last fifteen seasons?

Actually, the population density in Oregon is about 17 people per square mile. In the UK it’s 281. We have a lot of empty space.

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The closest Amtrak station to my house is in Pasco, WA, which is 51 miles away.

There is no Amtrak service from Pasco to Seattle; you either go via Spokane or Portland. This boggles my mind.

If I wanted to get from my house to, say, Astoria, I’d have to take a municipal bus from Saager’s Shoe Store (half a mile from my house) to the Amtrak transit center in Walla Walla, then take an Amtrak bus to Pasco, then transfer to a train to Portland, and then transfer to another bus to Astoria. It would take almost two days to go 327 miles.

Meanwhile, there’s some British guy who makes videos that are all “how far can you get from London by public transpo in a single day?” and the answer is: VERY. In fact, YOU CAN GO BASICALLY ANYWHERE IN GODDAMNED EUROPE, because those guys have useful, interconnecting public transport infrastructure and Oregon… doesn’t.

I mean. Buy a stupid, expensive, ugly, climate-destroying personal vehicle, you hippie. Or walk. Because fuck you.

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Our country’s utter lack of will to put in efficient, useful public transportation drives me nuts. If you could just walk to the corner and step onto a bus, YOU WOULD. Because driving fucking sucks.

Owning a car sucks. Parking sucks, insurance and maintenance suck. It all sucks. People think it’s convenient and freeing because they’re totally ignorant of any other way, but I guarantee you that any time you hear someone gushing about a charming vacation spot they love, they love it because IT’S WALKABLE.

People love Disneyland’s Main Street USA because it’s walkable, they love Boston because it’s walkable. They love New York because it’s walkable, same for Seaside and most of Europe: IT’S WALKABLE. People loved college because it was walkable.

Cars make you miserable. They stink. They’re stupid. Car infrastructure makes towns and cities ugly as fuck. Buildings surrounded by parking lots are hideous, and you know in your bones that most of America is distressingly unbeautiful which ultimately makes you depressed. Looking at ugly shit all the time is not what you signed up for.

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As an aside, if you try to book a Pasco, WA (PSC) to Vancouver, BC (VAC) trip on the Amtrak site, it crashes. You have to do PSC to PDX, and then PDX to VAC, and then it can’t figure out how to offer round trip options so you have to do them all manually.

I don’t know if I want to go to Vancouver BC, but as the Yeti changed jobs recently he probably can’t get time off next month for us to vacation together. So I’m considering a solo train ride!

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I imagine a light rail through Milton-Freewater. It would go to Walla Walla and Pendleton, and at each end there’d be transfer to other trains so people could get to work. If there were frequent train service to both towns, households on my street wouldn’t have to have between two and seven fucking cars.

Imagine if each household only needed one car, and that they could, if they wanted, hardly ever use it. If it was easy to get to Walmart and back, why would you ever drive? Or if the train ran in such a way that you could get to and from your Walla Walla job easily? How fucking great would that be?

Ugh. I hate fucking cars, and I hate not being able to get anywhere without one. If there was a light rail to Walla Walla, I could take my bike to the mechanic tomorrow and wouldn’t be limping along on bike tires that won’t hold air for more than an hour.

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Yes, I drive sometimes. Yes, I’ve even driven to work and back, which is barely half a mile. It’s fun to have access to a car. What I’m bitching about is needing one in order to be able to function in your own goddamned society because there’s no even vaguely reasonable alternative.

Example: there is a bus from here to Walla Walla. But it only goes twice a day, it barely gets within a mile of my destination, and there’s no bike rack. So, while I could technically get to the bike shop tomorrow, it’s not reasonable because this one, simple errand would take something like five hours.

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Dunno why I’m so furious about car culture today! Probably because my bike’s needed new tires for weeks and I’m feeling sorry for myself because I can’t just drive it over to the shop, because the Yeti’s always got the car when the shop’s open because, well, it’s his car, and he works in the opposite direction.

Anyway. What’s fun in Vancouver BC?