I have been to Oregon once before, in the 1970s, when I came to Corvallis to check out graduate school. I stayed in Arizona, so I have no practical knowledge about the state and its people. Based on news stories and political trends over the years, I pictured Oregon as one big, liberal college town. I imagined that the people wore hip and expensive name brand outdoor gear, like North Face, Patagonia, and  Arc’teryx.  They all drank craft beers and they all drove a Subaru or a hybrid Toyota. They all voted for Bernie, who beat out Hillary with 54% to 42% of the vote in the 2016 Democratic primary. Progressive, white privilege folks, if you will.  If you lump Corvallis, Eugene, and Portland into one metropolis, my stereotype might be accurate. Out here in rural Oregon, the stereotype dissolves.

Downtown Monmouth

I am visiting a friend in Dallas, OR (pop. 16,000) and have spent some time at the grocery store there and out in the neighborhood, walking Tango. I have also been to the city park and library in neighboring Monmouth, OR (pop  10,000). I have not yet seen a Bernie bumper sticker or any other political sentiments. I see ordinary people wearing ordinary clothes, like cutoffs, a baggy t-shirt, and flip-flops. I have seen Ford trucks and an old Buick with the fender held in place with duck tape. Parents walk with their kids in the park. Old couples walk their dogs. People of color stroll by. Monmouth has one trendy beer joint on the main street and maybe another tucked away somewhere. This is the epitome of small town USA but with an Oregon zip code.

Both Monmouth and Dallas are in the Willamette (will AM it) Valley, a long swath of land that runs 150 miles north-south, through Central Oregon. California has it’s Central Valley, Oregon has the Willamette Valley – a rural, agricultural zone that sits between the soaring Cascades and the foggy Coastal Range. My friend Gennie says the soil will grow anything, which seems to include lots of berries and vegetables. I also see hay meadows, some irrigated, some dry-farmed. Maybe the llamas belonged to old hippies, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Otherwise, the farmhouses and buildings look like those in any other agricultural area. In fact, the Willamette Valley reminds me of Northeastern Ohio, where I grew up – lush rolling hills, productive lowland farms.

I did see one pot store that was discreetly located in this family town. However, that is commonplace, not progressive. I saw dispensaries in wild Alaska.

I didn’t even see evidence of the liberal influence at the 4th of July fair in the park when Gennie sold her fused-glass jewelry. One lady made dozens of lanyards from pretty fabrics. Another offered handmade aprons. Local authors sat in the library booth signing their books. In fact, you would not know you were in the land of the libs unless you went to the library. The used books for sale in the entrance include Thoreau’s Walden and a number of books on sustainable living (compare that with Bismarck, ND, whose used book offerings including Sarah Palin’s bio and something by Billy Graham). The magazine section was also revealing, with Utne Reader, Mother Jones, and Mother Earth News. In the stacks, right next to the Holy Bible, I found Conscious Capitalism (John Mackey) and Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System (Stephen P. Kiernan). In another corner of the library, I found a seed exchange library, where patrons can take and later donate garden seeds.

At the ice-cream parlor where I went to take a break from all that good reading, it was back to small-town America. No hip flavors like Green Tea or Goat Milk Marble Fudge. I found the usual, including chocolate chip mint, strawberry, and Moose Tracks. I had the chocolate peanut butter in a waffle cone. Yummy, good, I concluded as babies cried and toddlers dropped the last dregs of their cones on the floor.

Oregon? How had I become so misinformed? That is why I love to travel. For me, it is more than the phenomenal landscapes, like the glaciers I saw this summer in Alaska. Travel also provides the chance to meet people and see how they really live. I have learned, we are more alike than we are different. And, we all have something to talk about.