FROM THE ROAD: SALEM, OR

Oregon's definitely not the South. For starters, when you walk into a southern gas station the first thing you'll see is NASCAR memorabilia, beef jerky or bumper stickers. The second thing you'll see is every partially hydrogenated snack food ever made. But in Oregon all that is replaced with mixed fruit and nuts and every granola snack food ever made.

Then there's the rain. Every time I've been to the Northwest it's rained - a lot.

But today in Salem I actually spotted beef jerky in a convenience store and it didn't rain a drop. It was a good day in the sun on a stage at the base of a treed mountain. I do think there are more trees in Oregon than people. And that made for an amazing drive from Portland, where we landed late last night, to Thrillville USA. Yes, Thrillville USA...and RV park.

Sure it's not Carnegie Hall but there was sound and lights and people. What else do you need?

Thanks to K-Love, Air1 and Excel Marketing to bringing me out. It was a...thrill.

Got thoughts? Discuss this SHLOG on my message-board