The Road To Portland

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

I said goodbye to my Oregon grandchildren yesterday evening, and this morning Abigail and I will be on the road to Portland where we will turn in the rental car at the airport and then call for a shuttle to our hotel.  After checking in, we will figure out how to get to downtown Portland and explore a bit.  (I have in mind that I would like to see the main "Powell's Book Store."

Our flight tomorrow departs at 5:35 a.m.  (Thanks, Tim!). It's Delta, a company that stole the price of a plane ticket from me during the pandemic, so I will be boarding with negative expectations.  Then we go through Salt Lake City and rush for a connecting flight, and finally back to Kansas City where we each still will have hours to drive before ultimately getting home to our own beds and washing machines.

The road to Portland is interesting.  It is US 5 which runs all the way from San Diego, California, to Seattle, Washington.  We catch it just a couple of blocks from our hotel and it will take us most of the way to the Portland Airport (PDX).  There is a highway marker just north of Salem which identifies the 45th Parallel, the halfway point between the North Pole and the Equator.  Other than that the scenery will include a lot of highway fare - exit signs and truck stops - and plenty of tall evergreen scenery.  Traffic will be brisk and the drive of sixty miles or so should take about an hour-and-a-half.  

Today we will probably be able to catch our breath and relax a bit, though that is by no means guaranteed, and tomorrow we will definitely be busting ass from the middle of tonight onward as we rush and run to get home.

Daddy's coming, Rosie!  See you tomorrow!