Phew... Just got back from my road trip about an hour ago. I drove a total of 1797 miles after leaving Chico on Tuesday afternoon, on a route that took me all the way to the Northern edge of the Oregon Coast, and back down to LA.

I'll eventually post a detailed entry on everything I saw and did, complete with photos (not sure how to do that since I almost filled the 96MB card), but here are some notes I made each night for now:

9/9 - 500 miles, 8 hours
Chico to Portland

9/10 - 227 miles, 7 hours
Cannon Beach
Tillamook: Air Museum
Newport: Light House Deli
Yachats
Cape Perpetua: camp site

9/11 - 350 miles, 12 hours
Florence, breakfast
Oregon Dunes
Bullards Beach: drift wood structure
crossed into CA
Prairie Creek Redwood State Park: Revelation Trail
Humboldt Lagoon State Park: beach camp site
Humboldt Redwoods State Park: camp site

9/12 - 720 miles, 14 hours
Fort Bragg: Glass Beach
San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Exploratorium
back to LA

Okay, it's not Friday, but I like this week's Friday Fives, so here they are:

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?

   Yup. Nothing's changed. I've always been Ryo Chijiiwa.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?

   I don't have a middle name, so I've been on a quest for a good middle name. In high school, a few of my friends gave me a bunch: Cheetah Chiquita Chihuahua. So my name became Ryo Cheetah Chiquita Chihuahua Chijiiwa, or RC4 in short (C4, as in the explosive, since I was known to mess with various explosive devices in high school).

   About a year ago, someone looked at my last name, pronounced it "Chee-hee-wah" and said it was a "nice Native American name." So for a while after that, I went around claiming to be "Ryo Chee-hee-wah from the land of the falling horses and running rain."

   A few weeks ago, I ordered something from SmallDog and when the UPS shipment arrived, it was addressed to "Raymond Gonzalez Chijiiwa". So I'm thinking "Ryo Raymond Gonzalez Chijiiwa" might not be bad either. You know, mix it up bit.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)

   Ryo is a common name, but few people use the same Chinese ideogram as I do. The character I use means "head" or "to receive" depending how it's used. My parents chose the character because it's used in the Japanese word for President (i.e. I was born in the US, which supposedly means I'm technically eligible to run for Presidency in some simplistic/idealistic way, and all that crap. I guess it's a fairly typical thought process for immigrants.... except, my parents really weren't immigrants.)

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?

   Not really... Although, speaking of "names" and "love", the first 3 girls I was infatuated with were all Elizabeths (pure conincidence, I assure you). But they all went by different variations: Libby, Liz and Beth.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn't it?

   Wow... dude, that's creepy. kabalarians.com says (parts hilited in blue are true):

   Your first name of Ryo has given you a practical, logical, analytical approach to life and a great deal of patience. You enjoy working at anything of a mechanical or technical nature, and believe that what is worth doing is worth doing well. When you are interested in a project, you concentrate all your thoughts on it and do not appreciate being interrupted. This name creates a deliberate and methodical way of thinking and speaking; it takes you time to learn but, once you have mastered a subject, you do not forget it. You are very systematic in all you do and do not like to see things out of order; however, there is a tendency for you to be too fussy. There is a seriousness to your nature which could cause you to worry over your responsibilities, especially when confronted with change and uncertainty.