Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 12:00:38 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Bend, Or and vanagons Not much van content
In-Reply-To: <000701c8b061$f84d7040$4001a8c0@gateway.2wire.net>
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Just want to say the I-5 corridor in Oregon is not 'all that bad.'
Depends on where and when of course - you DO NOT want to be on I-5 in
Portland on any weekday afternoon, starting about 2:30, and some weekend
times.
That can be 'LA" for sure. The rest of the time, off commute hours and
weekend traffic hours, not bad. The rest of I-5 in Oregon - not a problem
ever.
Seattle - won't even talk about that - lol ! When I lived there a few
years ago ( Port Townsend, Wa ) Seattle was stated has having the 6th worst
traffic among cities in the nation.
As for Bend -yes, shame that 'ParkWay' wasn't made into a real Freeway
Bypass. I think they want to keep the 'park' nature of the town too badly.
It's still a ..........'used to be a Podunk town on a two lane hwy' that has
now grown to 8 times what it was, say 15 years ago.
They have this thing about Traffic Circles too - now you encounter them
every now and then, on the west side of town ........their idea of 'euro
traffic safety' or something. It does keep everyone moving with stop signs
or traffic lights I suppose. Also just keeps you from driving on a straight
street unrestricted, or delayed. Sort of makes everyone suffer equally,
whether driving through on a main street, or entering from side streets.
Statistically they probably show fewer fender bender intersection type
accidents.
It's gorgeous over there of course, absolutely spectacular. Drive up Pilot
Butte sometime. On a clear day you can see half the Oregon Cascades right in
front of you. It's high desert, cold and dry in the winter, hot in summer.
The nearby Mt Bachelor ski area and all that forest area is endless winter
recreation, and summer back packing. Three Sisters Wilderness, etc. About as
good as it gets. Real ice mountaineering even, like on North sister. Bend
constantly makes it onto lists of 'Ten Coolest cities in the US' in
magazines like Outside.
Scott
Rogue Valley , OR - Medford/Ashland. 3.5 hours from Bend.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Don Hanson
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 9:47 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Bend, Or and vanagons Not much van content
Yeah, the Northwest has many vanagons.
Poor Bend! In fact, the whole northwest has been growing outrageously
fast. While I am not a 'native' I've been living here for about 13 years.
Moved here from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to escape the influx of the well
funded in that area.
The Northwest is "in denial" about it's new-found population. Yes, if
you've recently moved here from San Francisco or L.A., like it seems
everyone has, it is still better than where you left. But those who are
running the states and cities are not even close to keeping up with the
rapid and large influx of new population.
We now have huge traffic problems, getting worse quickly...Maybe not huge
compared to the Bay Area and LA (yet) but the whole I-5 corridor through
Oregon and Washington often encounters grid lock and the greater Seattle
area is especially bad.
Bend, until just a few years back, had just the old highway to get
north/south through that city. 4 lanes, with stoplights and large truck
and trailer traffic. Lined with stip malls and gas stations. It took an
hour to get through Bend, (about 8 miles) and then you were in
Redmond...more stoplights and strip malls..
Bend finally finished a "Parkway" a few years ago that helped the north
/south flow of traffic somewhat..but it, too has stoplights and a 45mph
speed limit. I guess the city fathers and ODOT never expected the
population to keep growing.....Bend must think they are still a 'little
town'...but not so.
Weekends and holidays, the route through central Oregon is as bad as
I-15 between Las Vegas and LA, only it is still just a 2-lane highway..It
reminds me of US 99 through the central valley of California...
Yeah, Mike...'you shoulda been here yesterday'... I think I saw "Bend,
Or. Pop. 370,000" last time through there.
Don Hanson
Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 22:42:23 -0700
From: Don Hundt <dhundt@BENDBROADBAND.COM>
Subject: Re: Bend, OR -- my goodness, lots of Vanagons!
You think it's nice now, you should have seen it in the early 70's before
everyone started moving here from socal ; ) 7000 people, no big box stores,
no traffic, no jobs...............
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