Springfield Oregon

...OK, so I found a bench where I could sit down and draw up a sign reading: "Please help a hungry traveler get some food. Thank you." When I finished, I stood on a narrow concrete median between eastbound and westbound traffic, displaying the sign so westbound drivers could see it while stopped at the stop light. Right away one driver gave me a buck and another gave me a slice of pizza. No one else gave me anything over the next 45 minutes. By then I was a starting to hurt because I'd been carrying my backpack the whole time, so I relocated near the front door of Albertson's, hoping for a seat and some better luck. Very shortly I acquired another $11, so I went in and bought enough food to last a couple days, even though I'd already decided to head toward Bend, where some friends of the family live. After chowing down on some very welcome morsels, I started walking east along the road
that goes to Bend, eventually turning on my mental CD player and inserting Smashing Pumpkins' "Gish."