Tuesday Another Traveling Tuesday

I woke with my first alarm at 4:45 Michigan time and managed to shower, pack, and be ready for Deborah to pick me up before heading into work and taking me to the Detroit airport. I made a mistake, I put the leftover Monte Cristo sandwich in my carry-on, and the jam leaked into my bag and made a mess. I would be sticky with jam for the trip.  I did eat the last scone with the coffee I made in the Keurig in my hotel room. Instead of a messy sandwich, I usually find a cheese and fruit tray in the grab-and-go at the airport. I should have stuck to that. Food will involve many mistakes on Tuesday!

It was an easy, early drive into Detroit on Highway 75 and then 94, and we missed a flipped semitrailer event that happened later in the morning on 75 inbound! I tried to get some photos, but Deborah took better ones with the sunrise.

With every ‘hello’ comes a ‘goodbye’ when you travel, and though I will be back in less than six weeks, it was hard to say goodbye to Deborah. When I plan my trips, I never fear the goodbyes, as the hellos let us reconnect and seem to be full of light and colors. When it is time for a goodbye, I never think, though often it may be, it’s the last one. I think only happy thoughts of the next hello.

I managed to make no mistakes, such as forgetting my iPhone at the DIY bag tagging and drop-off. You put the phone on the glass to scan the QR code on the electronic boarding pass. You then get the tag, which means you must remember to take the black on black device, in my case, which you will not see.

(I did not get in the wrong line. This really brings it back home. This is the security line at Detroit.)

Transitions like tagging and security are places to lose things. I have seen, not me, passports left there in Turkey! I put everything in my carry-on now after they check my ID. I was halted and rechecked for carrying my ID in the scanning Machine. They had to check it was real and not a weapon (!?), but did not check my hat that time. I try not to think about this too much. My suspenders stayed on this time, and my back and side were hand-searched. I was happy it was limited to those areas this time.

Once through, I headed to my gate. I chatted with Deborah, who was still driving, and we agreed that I would need to walk to A23, as the train would take me too far. I walked through three sets of gates and found mine. The airport was just waking.

Cat Cora Taphouse opened soon, directly across from my gate, and I sat at the bar. Sue was the bartender, and we agreed on the peppers and cheese omelet with bacon, sourdough toast, and coffee. I watched her make four, using a special spice from a box, Bloody Marys, and two folks had beer, ‘it is not just for breakfast,’ for breakfast. My breakfast was good.

The bartender was busy but still friendly, and I learned that they were out of most Coke products. They did not have deliveries on Labor Day, and now they are short. Sue did not comment that Labor Day should not have been a surprise. I enjoyed my breakfast, started the blog, and time disappeared, and soon it was time to get to my nearby gate.

I watched movies and a series for the four hours and change that the Delta direct flight takes to get from Detroit to PDX. I can’t remember the film (it was something I had seen before, and I might have nodded off a few times), but I found season three of 100 Foot Wave, about surfing the huge waves. The music is by Philip Glass, and the camera-work, combined with the repetitive and slightly non-tonal phrases of Glass, mesmerized me. I actually continued to watch until the plane was taxiing in Portland. I did get a cup of coffee with their excellent cookies, and later, ginger ale with ice.

I deplane the usual way and find PDX welcoming. The carpet is there to remind us that even the carpet design means something to us locals. The wide terminals never feel crowded, and there are ample seating options. Food is the street price, excellent, and the goods are also sold at street prices. No ripping off of travellers in friendly PDX! The high ceilings and the wood everywhere say, ‘welcome!’ to us locals. The stress of travel melts away as I collect my bag and head to the TriMet MAX light rail.

My laptop, sticky, is out on the MAX, and I write and publish the blog on the train. And I enjoy a $2.80 trip home and board the 57 bus, transferring for $0.00, and then getting off at the strip mall by my house. These doors have to be pushed (in NYC, you simply touch them and they automatically open) to exit the bus. I rolled my bag on the sidewalks for ten minutes until I walked down Clarion.

I am home in the morning, and I am hungry. I unpack and start the laundry. Corwin had, with my permission, had dinner and even swore at the house. I run the dishwasher with his dishes (happy to see them in the dishwasher). I board my EV and take Air VW the Gray to Gyro House, where I have a large lunch. I am taking my still sticky (it took three tries to get the jam off the case and the laptop) laptop and updating transactions and reading too much news.

I return home and head to Beard’s Framing and pick up my new framed posters in the EV. I stop by the gaming store after getting the lovely framed items, and see that they are not busy on Tuesday mornings. I learn that the area gets busy around 6, and they have contests on some Tuesdays. I looked at their Discord server, and folks were looking for games. I might see if I offer some board games on Tuesday morning-early afternoon and see if anyone shows. More to come.

I ordered terrible Chinese-style food from a place I had heard about and even requested a partial refund because some of the order was incorrect. It was expensive too, and I thought it would be good for leftovers; I will regret that decision.

I was tired and managed to get some laundry done; one load remains, the dishes were put away, and the mail was delivered. Deborah told me to just sleep, but I stayed awake until 10. Some of my stamp purchases from the auctions arrived, too. These are the ones I bid on while traveling. Mostly used federal duck hunting stamps. Something to fill in a few places in my album, as long as I can get them at reduced prices. Again, I like used stamps as they are real to me. Unused, while pretty, seem less alive to me. A used stamp was expended, recovered, collected, and now offered to me (often having, at this point in time, having passed three or more collections). I am just the steward of my collection.

I watched some videos on YouTube about ships and games. I watched the less-than-stellar Pirates movie, “Strange Tides.” I was watching them all again.

I got out the rules for Burning Banners and will try to learn and play this expensive board game soon. It is a Fantasy hex-based wargame. One of the few. I did not get far before I was nodding off and was asleep around 10. I woke a few times, confused what time it was, and woke late on Wednesday with no memory of the dreams I knew I had.

Thanks for reading!