Eugene, OR

If you can't define "republic", don't vote. So says Uncle Sam on a billboard somewhere on the I-5 in mid-Washington State. Nobody told this to Bo, the night clerk at the Timbers Motel in Eugene Oregon, who freely admitted he voted for Obama without once referring us to his personal definition of republic. 99% of the rooms at the Timbers appear to be smoking, this one included, so if freedom to smoke in motel rooms is representative of the health (metaphorical, not medical) of a republic, then consider Eugene a shining beacon in the murky vast seas of would-be republics.





















We also went to the Kennedy School, in Portland, earlier, which is as awesome as Dave claimed it was when he raved about it before we left:



















It is indeed an elementary school converted to a pub, brewery, restaurant, and hotel.