While looking for a place to get gas I realized I was about to pass by Springfield, OR, the city the show The Simpsons was based in, and made a detour! The family mural was in itself worth the stop. This is the first, and official mural created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who confirmed Springfield, OR is indeed the city The Simpsons live in. Which makes sense, since he grew up a couple miles from here in Eugene!
Downtown was a nice area to walk around and take pics of really awesome graffiti. I tried to find all the Simpsons characters, but missed finding Marge and Bart! It was fun walking around, and stumbling on a character hidden in an ally here and there. It wasn’t just Simpsons stuff though, there was a lot of incredibly beautiful graffiti work all around this small downtown area. Found out Ken Kesey, who wrote “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” grew up in Springfield! There’s a mural for him too..of course!
After that little adventuer, I head to my next spot to boondock for the night, a hazelnut farm!! It was located just north of Salem in Hubbard, OR, and was so pretty, and there was another Roadtrek camping there for the night! I decided to set the bed up from twin beds to full size. While trying to get the support piece into place, it slipped out of my hand, and slammed my fingers into the support rail. The pain was…so intense I think I saw birds around my head! ðŸ˜
Got the bed set up, then poured myself a margarita, which I instantly knocked off the counter and spilled everywhere. Argh! Poured myself another margarita, got all curled up into bed..and the bed support dropped from under me. While trying to fix that, realized my margarita spilled into my bed, sheets and blanket soaked! I gave up, stripped the bed, knocked back what little was left of the last of the margarita, crawled into bed and called it a night. Holy cow what a night!!
In the morning, I got to meet the hosts who gave me a tour of their conversion van, which started as a pandemic project. They were so nice and awesome, and I was super excited they had some hazelnuts for sale! I picked up a couple of things, and then started the last leg of my trip back home to Seattle!
Roadside America – Simpsons Mural
Roadside America – Ken Kesey Mural
