Wednesday Travel Day

Started at PDX and then finished with no sleep in Dallas.

I rose after 8, trying to face the morning. I was not depressed or recently undead, making the daylight too much for me (or more a gray glow of cloudy Portland); the bed felt good. It was a travel day, and I would not sleep again for 40 hours. I am taking the red-eye to New Orleans tonight, taking off at midnight from PDX. I found the focus to put on my slippers, but it took two tries to get them on; maybe I was a bit tired. I rose and leaned more than walked to the kitchen. Arriving safely, the sink was empty as I had done all the dishes and washed everything by hand; I did not want to run the dishwasher with a small run and unload it. I will wash all the dishes by hand today. I found the coffee (liberal Equal Exchange that tastes of justice, compassion, and community, French Roast) and the French press still with yesterday’s grounds. I rinse it out and reload it. I  use the electric kettle to heat water (someday, I will get one of those boiling hot water faucets installed and not need the kettle). Soon, I was juiced with caffeine and the knowledge that my coffee was purchased at a fair price; nobody was hurt by this imported product in my cup.

I wrote for hours and started the laundry. I stripped my bed of sheets and pillowcases and ran them in The Machine (my LG all-in-one clothing washer and dryer, which is ductless, too). I would do two more loads to finish all the clothing and towels.

I wrote more and published the blog. Then, I cleaned the counters, put away things, and recycled part of the paper blob made primarily from catalogs that seemed to be filling all flat surfaces. I know the catalog companies will send more. I cleaned the stove surface and washed the front of the stove and dishwasher (both metal), which improved things. With some sparkle and things put away, the kitchen no longer looked like Julia Child’s last stand. Or maybe, fitting my style better, the results of the Galloping Gourmet bender. I mopped the floors barefooted (and everything else) so as not to get Pinesol on my clothing and have yet-another-load-of-laudry needed before I headed out to New Orleans. The entranceway and bathroom were also mopped. Somewhere in the process of reprinting my papers and cleaning, the plastic bag with my meds fell out of my travel bag and into Dungeons and Dragons stuff (also stored in plastic bags). I finally dressed and started to work on packing and organizing the house.

I unloaded the games from Air Volvo. I drove to Goodwill and dropped off my old suit holder bag, a bag of books I have read, and additional ice skating books I recently found. I try to make many small donation trips instead of saving up the stuff. The center is only a few miles away, and I retired and can get there during the day when they are not that busy.

My back and shoulder had not enjoyed sitting for hours, followed by mopping, and I rested. I put on an alarm and was woken from a dark, dreamless sleep that would have likely taken me to the next day. Yikes! I showered, shaved, and so on and on my way. I checked, and I don’t have my meds! I am only a mile away and return home. After a frantic search, I spot the prescription bottles in the gaming stuff. F**k. Off again!

The crawl across Beaverton and Portland is not as bad as I have seen it, and once I am through the usual heavy spots, I travel fast. I see the usual interesting extra-legal lane changes. In one case, a plain Tesla ignores a huge jacked-up four-wheel pick-up truck and has to swerve to miss the charging truck that demands access to the lane by threatening to hit the Tesla. The truck did not get to the lane, and there were many horns and folks bouncing up and down in their seats, yelling. All this was about four stories in the air on a bridge with cars everywhere, and I watched in my rearview mirror. Had the truck been hit, it might have rolled, skipped over the barriers, and landed in the river; that is a long fall. Eek!

I reached the airport area without issue. I planned dinner at IKEA and then thought I would walk through their treasures of storage ideas. But, alas, they closed the kitchen at 3PM for ‘training,’ and the little cafe was closed for the day. No food.

I remembered that Fabulous Dave’s was there, and I grabbed a stool in the bar. The bartender suggested a pineapple hot glaze, sweet and spicy, on bone-in chicken wings at 59 cents each (a Wing-Wednesday special) and a large beer. It was all good. I also had an order of BBQ potato chips. I spent a few hours eating and watching baseball’s third game for the National League title. The LA Dodgers killed the NY Mets 9 to zero. I had banana pudding to finish with two cups of good coffee, freshly made.

Next, I parked an Air Volvo in the red economy and took a picture of where it was. I was soon at the check-in. The gal at America looked at me and said my bag was over 70 pounds, and then laughed when she saw my surprise. We talked about cooking and my classes and decided to have fun. I bet she wanted to do that to someone all day.

The rest of the process was fast and easy. The new terminal makes this go by fast, and this time, I used the correct security and did not have to walk the bypass. But the fates were not done with me. Yes, C23 is the furthest gate in all of PDX. Steps were earned!

I sat down, and a young gal sat across from me, and we began to chat. Kailen had broken up with her girlfriend and was now traveling alone to Miami via Dallas. We talked about my trips and how I found it easy to travel alone and thought she would be fine. I also learned she is a tarot deck reader, and we talked about her decks and experiences. I last saw her boarding after me and looking ready to sleep.

The Airbus was crap. My butt hurt after two hours from the lack of padding, the AC did not work, and the plane was steamy and hot. I would nod off, and someone would sneeze and wake me. I would nod off, and the bright light on the bathroom door would flash and wake me. I took off my sweater as I was roasting. I could not sleep. Few could. Three hours later, on Thursday, I arrived in Texas.

My headphones unplugged from my phone. I could not get them to work again, and each time I tried, I played music on my phone for everyone to hear. It was not good as folks were trying to sleep. I gave up and listened to the plane for the last two hours.

Thanks for reading.