Food Trucks, Coffee Kiosks, and Homeless Camps

Salem is not the same city that we remember from our last visit here, when we would ride our bicycles downtown, and rarely worry about locking them up. 

We stopped for gas at the station near a major grocery chain this morning. Lots of people and cars, and, in Oregon, lots of attendants that are required to pump your fuel for you. The regulations regarding that were temporarily suspended due to the heat a few days ago and the evening news had a story about locals not being able to figure out how to pump gas, resulting in huge lines at gas stations. As we fueled the car, a recorded message played over and over on the PA system, warning us not to leave valuables unattended, leave the car, and to watch for suspicious activity. Mobile solar surveillance stations were placed around the parking lot. What...??!!!

We decided to go out for breakfast at Patty's Off Center in downtown. We soon noticed that there literally is a food truck on every bare lot! Take your choice: mexican, vegan, or "Oregon Burrito". We also noticed a huge number of coffee kiosks, trailers, or, call them what your will, small semi-portable buildings serving coffee drinks. 

Our goal was a great little breakfast shop off of Center Street (get it?). Tucked into a small strip mall, Patty's is a local go-to we hear, so we decided to try it out. It's an eclectic shop, with a huge rooster on the roof to identify it, and dozens of poultry related signs hanging inside.

Breakfast was very good. Donna ordered extra crispy hash, and it came just as she had hoped!

My order of Uncle Mike's Redneck Benedict was a taste treat! An herb biscuit (sage and marjoram), two sausage patties, two eggs, smothered in sausage gravy and garnished with scallions....my cardiologists' number is......

As we drove around town, we couldn't help but notice that under every highway overpass, in every public park, and on the narrow grass strip in the parking lot at Pet Smart, a tent city has sprung up. Now, I know I'm old fashioned, but there's something inherently wrong with a situation where the "unhoused" squat on public or semi-public land, pay no fees, pickup no trash, and have enough money to smoke marijuana and eat McDonalds sandwiches. Trust me....eyes on. I can't help but wonder where this problem originated, and why is it such a huge issue in metropolitan areas? 

Ok, enough with that. I can't fix the problem, so I'll ignore it like so many others do.

On a lighter note, the weather has turned cloudy, with cool temps in the 70's and 80's! Wonderful!