It is not light in Portland O at 5 am and it is not dark at 10 pm but it is three hours behind Portland M so my internal clock is wondering what the heck hit it. Lucky John is able to snooze on but I am up and looking at a gloomy but promising Oregon sunrise. Little shreds of pink clouds and a sky slowly turning from gray to blue.
Margaret drove us from Belfast to Portland M in the Aztek and I obediently sat in the back and did not criticize her driving. Both things very hard for me but in fact her driving was excellent. Otherwise our travel day must not be taken as a significant sign of things to come because it was a misery and my attitude was not bright and cheerful. Not that anything actually went wrong-- it was just airports and air travel in general, mixed with my anxieties, particularly about leaving the dog. I was super tired from trying to do in a couple of days what should be done all the time-- that is to say deal with the results of too much bike riding and too little housekeeping. My feet, never happy to perform their primary function, were particularly bad and limping down long airport corridors wondering if I should give up and ask for a wheelchair, seemed ridiculous for a woman setting off to ride a bicycle more than 3600 miles.
A really fine dinner at Deschutes Brewery and the wonderful bed at the Mark Spencer Hotel has put all to rights. Deschutes has a very long beer list, including a gluten free beer and a large separate gluten free menu-- this matters to me because I have a friend who has celiac and finding gf is always welcome for her. I had a great beer and a spicy hot mac and cheese. John had a great beer, mussels and a Celtics game to watch.
The first leg of our flight was to Chicago in rainy weather and there was no visibility. From Chicago on, however, we could see the ground much of the time. I have always enjoyed the scenery from an airplane but it holds a special fascination for me now thinking that I will bicycle back through it. Our flight path was probably somewhat north of the bicycle route but there were all sorts of different terrains below including what John called "a whole lot of nothing". Stay posted!
No comments:
Post a Comment