Travis Meyer

Travis Meyer

From: Minneapolis Minnesota. Been in Portland one year.

TRUNK: Chrome Backpack   Size: Ivan

LARGE IMAGE

In Bag:

- Weed Grinder

- Zig Zag rolling papers

- JoB rolling papers

- Water bottle

- Half smoked cigarette

- Bike light for cab

- Tire levers

- Pilot G2 .07 pen

- Willamette Week Paper

- Wireless MAC computer mouse

- Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”

- Mole Skin journal

- Wallet

- Modified Dockers cotton derby hat

- Bike lock

- Top filters

- Portland map

- Receipt from Tiny’s coffee

- Other random receipts

- Old deli meat zip lock bag (for safely transporting burritos)

- Empty pack of American Spirit cigarettes (Blue)

- Half full pack of American Spirit cigarettes (Blue)

- 14 dollars

- Headphones

- Empty Cliff Bar rapper

DP: How long have you been doing pedi cab?

TM: Three weeks.

 

DP: Do you like it?

TM: Yeah, best job I’ve ever had.

 

DP: Have you been meeting a lot of people?

TM: In the past three weeks I have met about 2000 people. I’ve seen a shanking, 7 fist fights and I do beer pick-ups every other hour. Just the other night, this dude crashed in a Denali, he totaled his car and another car. You meet a lot of douche bags, especially posting out in front of a place like “Dirrty”, in China Town, on a Saturday night.

 

DP: How often do you work?

TM: As often as I need to make money.

 

DP: Do you ride another bike other then this?

TM: Yeah, I have a Doss Chromoly frame.

 

DP: Do you ever ride the pedi cab around just for fun when you’re not working?

TM: No, I just ride it to make money.

 

DP: So if you had to specify your TRUNK between either the Chrome backpack or the Pedi cab’s actual trunk, which one would you choose?

TM: The chrome bag definitely, it’s my life.

 

DP: You had a fare amount of receipts in your bag, would you say you clean it out much, if ever?

TM: Rarely, I didn’t know those receipts were in there.

 

DP: You’ve been in Portland a year, do you like it?

TM: Portland is definitely where it’s at, it’s a good stopover place. I’ll be here for two or three years to finish my BA and then move on to some other place or country.

 

DP: Where are you going to school?

TM: PSU

 

DP: Do you like it there?

TM: I haven’t been yet, I start this fall.

 

DP: Is your journal for just writing down information or do you write more seriously?

TM: Actually yeah, right now I’m writing a novel.  When I leave Portland I’m hoping to write a novel that will encompass [Portland] in some way.

 

DP: What are you writing about right now?

TM: Right now it’s about Minneapolis, where I was living before.

 

DP: “How long were you in Minneapolis?

TM: eight years.

 

DP: Did you like living there?

TM: Yeah, it was alright.”

 

DP: Were you living with your family or something?

TM: Um, my family lives there, but I lived with my ex for six years. She left me for an Australian shoegaze musician, she went on vacation and she never came back.

 

DP: So your Pedi Cab is a really interesting take on the premise of TRUNK, with its actual trunk space. If you could only bring one thing with you everyday when you work, what would it be?

TM: water bottle and cigarettes.

 

DP: Just the bare necessities, I see.

TM: Yeah.”

 

DP: So is this your Pedi Cab or do you work for a business?

TM: No, it’s my friend’s [cab]. He runs a company and just has one Pedi Cab. I park it in front of my house, take it out whenever I want, and give a percentage of my earnings to him.

 

DP: Does he ever take it out?

TM: he actually doesn’t live in the city right now.

 

DP: Hahaha, this friend of yours doesn’t really exist, does he?

TM: Haha, He’s too real.

 

DP: You mentioned something about train hopping when we were taking shots of your TRUNK, when was that?

TM: I did that last June, with that Chrome bag, that was all I had on me.

 

DP: I know those bags pack a lot, but was that enough space?

TM: Yeah, they fit a lot. I strapped a canvas tarp on the top of it. It was really great, I could just strap it on to the top of the shoulder straps with some rope and just lasso it on.

 

DP: When you’re not doing Pedi Cab and you’re just out with your bag, is there anything that you would always have with you that you don’t have today?

TM: Um, my computer and burritos.

 

DP: You’re just a man of essentials, do you have a favorite burrito in town?

TM: Yeah, Santeria, on Burnside and Broadway, it’s attached to Mary’s Strip club right next to Tug Boat.

 

DP: Do you find this bag to be convenient with your life style?

TM: Oh yeah, I don’t know how people go out without backpacks, you know? You can spot them and you’re like, “That dude drives a car”.  I have friends that live in Woodstock, and so it’s like, I’m going to Woodstock and I’m packing up my life, you know?  I have no idea what’s going to happen to me, I could end up sleeping somewhere and not being back for days.