Friday Travelling to Michigan

Back in Michigan, I overslept this Saturday, the day I am writing this, because my alarm didn’t wake me.

On Friday, I was packed, the house was somewhat organized, and I had done some basic cleaning on Thursday when I woke up with my alarm at 6:30. I went to bed without writing the blog and had, which is often true before flying, poor sleep with me waking multiple times and checking the time. I had trouble reading the phone too.

I rose and discovered my eyes puffy and my eyelids swollen. Apparently, the eye drops contain a preservative to which I am allergic. We worked that out today, Saturday, as my eyes did it again this morning after I restarted the eyedrops. Deborah worked this out after I sent her a photo of the drops. I had acquired the drops on Thursday. Hmm.

This did not make things easier, and I called Deborah, slightly panicked as I was traveling, but already (not using the drops), the eyes were improving. I dressed after a quick shower, added the few things to my carry-on, my usual red Nike gym bag, and put on my hat and coat. It was 50°F (10 °C) in Oregon, with cloudy skies and hints of dampness. My neighbor Chris, who was working from home today since there was no school, called out, “Was I running away from home?” We talked for a few minutes, catching up, and then I headed out, rolling my bags to the TriMet 57 bus. I managed to wave the bus to stop for me and thanked the driver for his kindness. Spent $2.80 from the Hop App on my phone. I have heard TriMet is moving to a pure ‘tap’ system soon. Excellent.

The bus ride with my bags was uneventful, and I soon found myself waiting for a Red Line MAX train, also operated by TriMet, where I used a free transfer to pay. It is rush hour and I wait only 4 minutes. I record a video and add it to the #ShowMeYourHellhole tag for Jimmy Kimmel. He asked folks to post videos from Chicago, Portland, and other affected cities. I did.

I soon arrived at our airport, known unimaginably as PDX, which is also its call letters. I had talked to folks who were visitors on MAX about the area and suggested they return for more wine tours and enjoy the wine country west of Portland, where I live. I live within miles of various vineyards where grapes are grown.

At PDX, I left my phone on the scanner at Delta again as I followed the ritual of bag self-check, which has very few DIY actions, but I managed to retrieve it. Ugh! The belts are down at Delta bag check, and I rolled my bag to a generic bag area and handed it to a green-shirted person with an ID, who seemed happy to take and place it on the belt.

Next, I waited in a queue for about twenty minutes, walked past a dog, and then underwent two security checks. I thanked every TSA agent, all of whom were working during the shutdown, except the dog handler, who was busy, and I had to walk by as the dog checked me.

My box of chicken salad with crackers tripped the alarm. The TSA agent took the Lunchable, swabbed the box, and it checked out. The AI is trained to look for specific shapes and types of light, I was told, boxed chicken salad sets were tripping an alarm. I smiled and said, “I have done AI training before, and I understand that with each training, the AI may behave differently. As it sees chicken salad sets flagged as OK, it will change.” The TSA agent said, “Yes, the technology is still young,” and I thought he was a bit relieved that the human touch still works. We both smiled.

As often happens, I was talking to someone before the flight and found them next to me on the plane. Another person took the middle seat, and she brought a pizza. She dashed our hopes of having extra room; the flight was not full. I had acquired a bag of peanut M&M and a fruit and cheese box for the flight. I watched the previous TRON movie, which was better than I remembered it. We all politely watched shows and spoke only a few times. We ate and I finished the trip with a new series, CIA: The Agency. It was quite good.

I took a video of leaving Portland and posted that. I managed to get the wifi and Internet connected back on my phone. I had put my carry-on in the overhead after collecting my food and earphones, as I was feeling off (my eyes) and wanted to put my feet down and sleep if I felt like it. I did not sleep.

The plane landed, and I deplaned without issue. Soon, Deborah found me. Her drive in was messy, and she parked in valet; it is not much more than the garage and certainly easier. We waited about thirty minutes for my bag to appear, but its tag, which I had gotten when I bought the bag, was gone. It was supposed to be indestructible, with a metal cord. Hmmm. That tag has been to Casa Blanca, Iceland, and all over the USA. I will miss it.

(Deborah’s picture of sunset in Detroit)

The drive from DTW to my hotel was the usual fast-moving Detroit traffic. Soon we were at my hotel and checked in. The desk staff was happy to see me back and gave me the suite with the hot tub this time. We went next door and had dinner at the Grand Tavern. The staff there remembered us, and we had drinks and the fish and chips special.

Later, Deborah headed home, and I tried to sleep. It was hard to get to sleep due to the time difference. My eyelids swelled again. I was up and down all night. No good sleep for days.

I got a text and saw it was 8. I was not ready to start.

And that starts Saturday, thanks for reading!