My years of living my 'One, Long, Strange Trip' continues: I packed light and got a midmorning start on St. Patrick's Day on my drive to Texas. I usually make the drive in 3 days, crossing the Cascades and the Rockies into Wyoming and Colorado before sweeping south to New Mexico and into Texas. With the atmospheric river still making news and making frozen precipitation, I decided to travel due south on I-5 until I got close to the California desert and then turn east to Texas, thus avoiding the complications of snowy mountain passes this time of year. I planned on 4 days of travel.
I left The Pilcuck with a few things still unfinished; some flooring still to be put in the office tower, deck rails yet to be bid and installed and much of the interior millwork; window sills, door casements and base boards remain to be painted and put in place. Also, the final connecting decking from the front sidewalk up to the front porch remains to be built in my absence - I refer to this elevated ramp connecting part of the walk to the front porch as 'the drawbridge'. My contractor likes the terminology and I tell him that when I come back from Texas I want a moat under my drawbridge and I will put in a pair of Texas alligators in the moat.
The night before I left The Pilchuck, I knew I'd missed Sister Sheri's (and Tony's) birthday, so I bought a generic card and planned to draw an armadillo inside and drop it off on their doorstep on my way south. Standing in the check-out line, a young boy asked me what I was buying, and I told him I was a bad brother and I was trying to make it up by delivering a late armadillo birthday card to my sister. He asked, 'What's an armadillo?"
I told him it was a famous animal that lives in Texas and likes to drink beer on the side of country roads. He asked. "What's beer?"
I told him it was Texas silly juice. His mother thanked me for the education of her son and I paid my money and left them at the checkout with their groceries and a few things to think about.
Sheri got her card, secretly delivered after a quick dodge off my I-5 route to hand deliver it to her house in Tumwater and then a return to my travels down the 'Main Street' of the American West, a route which I would hold for the next two days.
From Tumwater I called Inga in Portland and asked if she would be available for lunch around 1 as I was heading through Portland. She and Sean welcomed me. I suggested Mediterranean cuisine, but we ended up with Hawaiian tasty treats on Alberta Street at one of their favorite local places. Then, back on the road to the south end of Oregon.
Night 1 was in Ashland, OR. Across the motel parking lot was a pizza joint. I slipped in for a slice for dinner and started a conversation with a local. He told me last week the interstate was closed by all of the 18 wheelers parked at a stand still due to ice and snow covering the pass into California.
Timing is everything.
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