"Where" is my destination?

Leaving OAK I called ground and asked for flight following to 7S3
(which I gave by name and spelled phonetically). Later, while I'm
taxiing they come back with "where is that" and I couldn't imagine
how I could help them if the identifier didn't, so I came up with
"near McMinnville", which is both a nearby airport and the name of
the FSS. There was a pause and they came back with "we would call
that 'Oregon'" and gave me a squawk.

On climbout with Norcal approach and later Oakland center my destination
came up at least once with each controller. One thought it was MMV.
One of them accepted 7S3 without argument and asked for my route of
flight, which I gave as "direct Maxwell VOR and then airways" which
started a new round of "what's the closest navaid to your destination"
and I offered to amend my destination to HIO. She explained that she
just needed to know if she should hand me off (to Travis AFB?). I think
my destination finally "stuck" then because it didn't come up again.

So, "where" IS my destination? Is there anything I could have said
that would have made it clear? Would they be confused if I just asked
for flight following to the Newberg VOR?

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/