Loyal readers should remember that I covered my trip down the Oregon coast and Highway 101 in the first installment of the trilogy, this one will focus on the interior with my stops in Corvallis, Amity ,McMinnville and Salem/Turner area. We intially started out in the small town of Turner (population 1400) just a few miles from the states 2nd biggest city of Salem. Sporting the newly rented 2011 Chevy Impala sedan we first headed to Albany for gas and then to Corvallis, home to Oregon State University. OSU is the alma matter of both my in-laws so we felt compelled to see the place that was there home for 4 years. The town itself had a very “small town” feel to it and reminded me of home in an odd way, although you could feel the strong undercurrent of liberalism in the air hanging like an invisible fog. We did stop at an antique shop near the old ROTC building on campus to browse and honestly yes shit in their bathroom because it was the only one within miles it seemed. Driving around Oregon I found 2 types of roads, major interstates and nice quaint 2 lane country rural highways that lulled you to a sense of calm and tranquility then quickly transitioned to series of hairpin turns , inclines, then declines with uneven pitch , and no freaking guard rails to protect you from the 100 foot drop over a cliff or ravine. All in all very fun after a while when trying to run the Impala like an Italian sports car. More small towns awaited us, Amity was a small town Southwest of Portland really made an impression on me, the tiny farm town was surrounded by the normal assortment of fields and vineyards, complete with half fallen down barns that are my favorite to photograph, not returning there during this trip will haunt me until i can make it back. It was driving through this town I felt a huge calm and steadiness. If you removed the modern cars from the street you could easily think it was 1920, that is the sort of iconic feeling it had. Mcminnville was our next stop, home to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. I wont bore you with the details but 100 aircraft spanning from the dawn of flight till today all under 2 roofs including Howard Hughes “Spruce Goose” flying boat. The final spot in the inland segment of Oregon is the sprawl of Salem , home to 154,000 people and it is a pain in my ass. Driving there was a nightmare and it really held very little in the way of architecture that I could get to despite being the states capitol. The capitol building itself was interesting but not what i expected at all. The people in Salem for the most part were rude and really the only redeeming quality about the town was Jack in the Box Restaurant and my my wifes aunt and uncle . Who are purely awsome and full of great tales of life while patrolling Salem’s streets as a Cop….Next in Part 3 “The Lake and Summary”