Milestone P6

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The latest installment of the ongoing milestone adventure takes us to the 9800 block of SE Stark, just east of I-205. There's no 98th Avenue at this point, so milestone P6 isn't on a street corner like many of them are. The few accounts out there simply describe it as "near the Elmer's Restaurant". Precise directions are important when tracking down anything this small and this grey, so let me expand on that. Just east of Elmer's is a small one story office building with a 60's-ish mansard roof. Between its parking lot and the parking lot for Elmer's, there's a small landscaped bit with a few trees and shrubs. Milestone P6 is tucked in there, a few feet off the sidewalk, lurking behind a big conifer tree. Believe me, this one was hard to find. I didn't see it when driving past (several times, on two separate occasions), and when I stopped to look for it, I walked past once before finding it. The Google map here is centered on it, if that helps at all.



The surrounding area isn't quite as cute as Montavilla, a mile west of here, but it's next to the freeway, and it's got everything. As noted, Elmer's is right next door, so there's a convenient source of bacon nearby. Which is crucial, obviously. Also I think they have a bar section with video lottery if you're into that. A couple of blocks south is Mall 205, with a Home Depot, a Target, a mostly-empty indoor mall part, and a McMenamins. The lighting in my condo uses a variety of dodgy little halogen bulbs that only Home Depot seems to carry, and this is the closest location to home, so I actually know this area reasonably well. Also, Kelly Butte is a few blocks further south past the mall, so I have this part of town to thank for a large percentage of visitors to this humble blog.

Being near the freeway there are the usual fast food outlets, which I won't bother to list. And just east of the milestone are a couple of, er, "gentlemens clubs", if that's more your speed. Also just east of here is Sayler's Old Country Kitchen, home of the 72 ounce, eat-it-in-an-hour-and-it's-free top sirloin steak. I used to know a guy who kept threatening to have a go at this monster, back when there was also a westside Sayler's location. We lost touch some years ago, so I don't know if he ever worked up the nerve. Perhaps the steak is to blame for us losing touch. It would've been a hero's death, to be sure.



A curious thing I've noticed: Despite all the "gentlemen's clubs" along Stark (and there are quite a few of them), it doesn't appear that any are named "Stark Naked", even though that would seem to be the obvious choice. Maybe that industry has a desperate shortage of clever people or something, I dunno. So, maybe, if this whole software thing doesn't work out, and I can't make a go of it in subsistence agriculture, or as a gentleman jewel thief or housesitter-to-the-stars, and I can't bring myself to take money for blogging or photography, then perhaps, just perhaps....