Tuesday Another Travel Day To Oregon

It is Wednesday morning, and I am home in Oregon in my office writing this blog. I woke early, but managed to sleep. It is an overcast gray morning with fog and the sunrise being less of an orb and more of a lessening of darkness. In other words, October in Beaverton here in the Pacific Northwest, my home.

Returning to Tuesday, I woke up with my first alarm. I now know to set two on my phone, as I have missed the first one before. Then, I quickly showered, shaved, and got ready. As there is no in-room coffee, I did not first make coffee and then get ready. Not liking this change. A nice cup of coffee while I wake up is just what I do.

I stuffed my last dirty clothes in my bag, found a shirt I had missed packing during my final check, and added it to my carry-on before I was off. Deborah and I are both putting on a brave face today — I will be back for Christmas — as she showed up in her mini. I supplied, using the coffee machines in the lobby (Kieth had to empty the used grounds for one to work), a cup of coffee for both of us.

The trip to Detroit at 5:45 was busier than you would expect for so early in the morning, but only once did it slow down. Detroit people are driving to work like all the car plants are still running (many still are). We make the trip in about an hour, including getting inside the airport and dropping me off at Delta. A quick kiss with sad eyes, and I am off to find my way. Deborah heads off to work.

(The video was muted)

The lines are longer than I would expect for 6ish, but soon my bag is dropped off. A TSA guy sends me to the Weston Hotel (?). I soon find signs to TSA and a tiny one-machine security check that is not too busy. My bag and I, still with the security-questionable chicken salad in a box lunch kit, pass. My suspenders get me checked, but I’m soon finished without any further checks.

This hotel check opens Terminal A already, and I step out and see my gate only a few steps away. There is a PF Chang’s open for breakfast, so I think, “Why not?” and, after some waiting, enjoy a rice scramble. The hostess notices the waiter is busy discussing the weekend with the manager and takes my order. I do not see the waiter until I am ready to pay. I gave a reasonable tip, despite waiting ten minutes for my order. I walked across the terminal to my gate and heard the usual spiel about rollerbag checking and a nearly full plane.

DTW is always good for steps, and I find that I need to walk about ten gates to reach the men’s room. They are upgrading every other one, and that makes it quite a walk to the ‘facilities.’ You need to plan. With that ten gate and ten gate back walk, I was ready to sit for a while. I met a lovely British couple who were meeting friends in Portland. They are traveling all over the USA and send reports back to friends and family about how nice it is here. Excellent!

The flight is only four hours and a fraction, and soon I am in my window seat with my deaf ear pointed at the wall (‘A’ seats are best for me). I have wired noise-reducing earbuds that work on Delta flights. I watched the rest of CIA: The Agency, an excellent American-based (but in London) spy story, available on the screens (I will have to find it at home). Recommended! I watched a high-stress cooking show, and I found it fascinating. I guessed each time who was “chopped” each time. None of the main ingredients I had ever cooked with. Wow!

Soon the plane landed, I made the long trek through the lovely PDX terminals, found my bag, and boarded the MAX. A couple is upset because their cards aren’t working correctly. I agreed with them that TriMet hasn’t done this as well as NYC and other places, but they plan to get this to just “tap” soon. My trip was pleasant, and I mostly read stuff on my phone and relaxed. I sent updates to Deborah and others.

I met a TriMet poll taker, and he gave me his survey once we were on the 57 bus. I soon had that done, and my step showed. A person boarded the bus about halfway through, engaged in an animated discussion with someone we could not see, yet she remained calm and appeared content to be listened to by her invisible friend. I thanked the bus driver (and all the TSA folks who weren’t too busy at the airports) and rolled my now heavy bags to the house.

Jeff, my fix-it guy, had the fans installed in the bedrooms and new lights, too. There was some ‘mud’ work, and that was still drying. He has some painting and other final touches left. I unloaded my bags, separated the laundry, and started the wash. I also retrieved the wine, still intact, and the books from my bag. That was taking up the space and making it hard to roll.

Corwin still had my car, which he needed for work and to get parts to repair his truck. I ordered from Grubhub, but soon, too much gyro arrived from Gyro House, and I couldn’t finish it. I did laundry and announced my return by text to many. The mail still has not restarted.

I watched Slow Horses and reworked a mangled transaction in my Quicken. A transfer was doubled as it was partially loaded on one side and not the other. Generally, Quicken spots the connection, but this time it failed.

Corwin returned my car, and we went to Golden Valley Brewery for dinner. I had a snack from the happy hour menu at the bar, Corwin had a burger, and I enjoyed a beer on my last vacation day, which marked a return to one a week.

I had spaced a church meeting, and Corwin got to hear some of it on Zoom while I drove. I had it just on voice and mostly muted. I returned home and finished the meeting on Zoom in my office. I continued to do laundry and managed to get three large loads done. Another episode of Slow Horses dropped, and I did nod off a few times as the time change, travel, and lack of sleep accumulated for me.

I found my clean PJs, curled up in my own bed, tried to read, and soon fell asleep.

Thanks for reading!