Wake in Portland, Blink an Eye, Touchdown in Columbus

As planned, I woke at 630am. I quickly gathered my running stuff then headed out to start some coffee then dress for my run. It was still dark so I planned to wait until daybreak before setting out. I feel much safer running in the daylight.

There wasn’t enough of the Mt Hood gourmet roast to make a full pot so I had to grind some of the beans Glenn bought from Collins Lake. I enjoyed a cup of coffee while waiting on the sunrise. The coffee was delicious. Yum-yum!

Delivered some coffee to Mindy then headed out for a run near 7am. I ran to the river walk trail again and under partly sunny skies and the temperature near 40 degrees. It was really quite nice, and a far cry from many final day Vancouver runs where I’ve had to contend with pouring rain.

I was out about 34 minutes. Darwin was up shortly after my return as was Mindy, who was already in the shower. I asked that she leave it run so I could jump in to help save some time. I was out of the shower and dressed to leave by 8am. That left 45 minutes for any last minute packing, loading the car, and then goodbyes. That was more than enough time. Not wanting to pack sweaty running clothes, I tossed them into Glenn’s dryer for ten minutes.

Darwin was the last to shower apparently not remembering us saying we wanted to depart at 845am. Not a big deal. He was ready to go by 905am. By then we had the minivan loaded with our luggage and were ready to depart. Glenn asked for one more group photo before we said our farewells. That went quickly. We said out goodbyes, which I hate, then headed to the airport after confirming the best entrance ramp option. As he often does, Glenn snapped photos as we pulled away. Won’t see him again until most likely late June early July.

I’ve left Glenn’s place in a rental at least three times and have never had trouble finding my way to 14 east then 205 south. This time, however, I had all sorts of problems. Ended up going to far on the ramp and had to make a u-turn (didn’t see a sign prohibiting it), and then ended up on 5south crossing over the river. Dammit! Still not sure how that happened. Darwin had his GPS fired up and said we could pick-up 30 east on the Portland side so we took that all the way to the 205 north ramp.  That’s a first. As we exited 205 we almost went  the wrong way again but caught the mistake with just enough time to switch lanes albeit dangerously. Arrived at rental return by 925am (flight departed at 1120am). The return went smoothly. Had to wait about 10 minutes for a 2^nd shuttle. No biggie.

Had us to the airport by 940am. Southwest line was short. Got right to the counter. The friendly clerk helped check our bags. Shared something we hadn’t before realized. You can check an extra boot bag free if one of your checked bags is skis. Totally cool!  I love Southwest.

And because Mindy had a lame knee, we were ushered to a free line at the security check point where there was a fairly large crowd waiting. Cool! Mindy was poked and prodded.  I, on the other hand, was passed without incident. We shopped for a souvenir t-shirt for Jacob while waiting on Tommy and Darwin. That had to be at least 10 minutes. Having eaten nothing, we were all hungry. We opted for the Wendy’s near our gate – C15. Arrived their near 1020am. Service was slow but the food probably the freshest I’ve had from Wendy’s in years. I had a double combo. Yummy!

Given Mindy’s bum knee, we were given priority boarding passes and told that the flight was full. Again, totally cool. Tommy & Darwin had to wait. We still ended up taking seats behind the wing where we’d have an unobstructed view from the right side of the plane traveling east. That way I would be able to see and photo Mt Hood.

The flight was indeed full. We were fortunate in that Mindy was able to save the one seat left in our row for Darwin. She sat in the middle eventually removing her brace for added comfort. The sky was mostly clear above about 4000 feet. That meant I could see the top half of Hood. And because I was in a window seat, I kept an eye on the terrain for much of the 3.5 hour flight. The geography of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming is fascinating to view from 40K feet. I took a few pics.

The flight was a fast one for me, but not so for Mindy. She said it seemed excruciatingly long. Landed in Chicago right at 5pm CT. The sun was already descending which made for a really short day. Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave Chicago until 755pm. We’d have almost 3 hours to kill. We deplaned on concourse C and our flight out was on A. It was about a five minute walk, but after sitting for 3.5 hours, I was looking forward to it. Understandably, Mindy was not. She was a little slow and used the conveyer whenever possible. Once we found our gate and confirmed our flight, we went for food.

I suggested the food court we passed about halfway back, but Mindy curtly objected. Instead, she stubbornly took refuge in a nearby bar. But after resting there for just a couple minutes she agreed to follow me to the food court. So did the others. Mindy opted for Greek. We both ordered gyros, with me getting the combo that included drink and fries. Mindy opted for the fruit instead of fries. Surprisingly good, especially for airport food.

The time went fast. Soon it was 7pm. We made our way back to gate A9 where the NYC flight was still boarding. They left shortly after 7pm. We had at least an hour wait ahead and at the time, no plane. We spent the time playing on our smart phones. Mindy and I headed up to the SW counter to see about getting another preboarding pass.  No questions asked. Sweet.

Our plane pulled up around 745pm from Houston, I believe. It was another 10 minutes or so before boarding. Over the intercom they shared that there were only 31 passengers taking our flight. Sounded like there would be tons of room. Mindy and I boarded early with her pass. We sat in row #2 left side of the plane, me in the window seat, she in the aisle. During general boarding, the passengers just kept filing in, and still no sign of Tommy or Darwin. There were some of the last to board, and by my estimation the flight was nearly full. It was more like 131 passengers. Mindy ended up sliding over to the middle seat next to me and allowing a woman to have the aisle seat. There was so much carry-on luggage that they had to take four or five pieces and have them placed with checked bags.

We were leaving late, not until 820pm or later. Pilot promised to make up time in the air. It was an incredibly quick flight from Chicago to CMH. I gazed out the window the entire time. Because it was clear, I could see the sites below easily. I could see Chicago fade into South Bend, Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland all at the same time. Couldn’t have been in the air more than 40 minutes. Just like that we were landing in CMH.

Took a few minutes for our bags to show up in claim but they were all accounted for. Out in the cold to catch the Blue Lot shuttle. It was colder than it’s been for a while. Had to be near 20 degrees. Said farewell to Tommy. He was expecting Kelsie to be there for the pick-up. At the Blue parking shuttle line, there were too many folks to board the first bus. We waited for shuttle #2. That one filled fast as well. Had luggage in the aisle even.

Mindy had our parking ticket – B14 - still from boarding upon departure, though when asked, she told the driver C14. There was no ‘C’. We tipped the driver well as he dropped us in the very spot he picked us up 8 days prior. I started the Honda then loaded our luggage. Scrapped the ice from the windshield too. Parking was $63. Not bad.

Felt good to be on the ground and on the road for home. It was already approaching 11pm. All three of us were tired. We took

the Hague Ave

exit and dropped Darwin at his place first. He must not have had a key. Had to knock and wait. We waited until we saw the door open before heading to our place.

Backed in the drive and entered through the garage. Told Mindy to head in. I’d carry in the luggage tossing the ski and ski boot bags to the garage floor. Jimaken was sitting on the sofa watching the grammy’s. Quickly carried everything inside then headed immediately to greet the kids, who were already tucked into bed. I even beat Mindy to the punch.

Bella was excited and rose to give me a huge hug. Told me that she missed me. Jacob only grunted. I promised Bella Mindy was on her way up. Jimaken left within minutes of our return. I thanked him for taking care of things. Seemed to work out pretty well for all.

I lugged our main suitcases up to the room then changed into PJs. It was 1130pm in a hurry. Before heading to bed I downloaded photos from my camera to my PC then put my Droid and Blackberry on charge. We were both in bed just before midnight. I was exhausted. Laid in bed but couldn’t sleep. NO! Mindy even rubbed my head, which works 9 times out of 10, but not this time. Now 1230am, I got up from bed and headed downstairs to my PC hoping that after reading a few stories or viewing vacation pics, I might get super sleepy. I hung downstairs until 1am but still wasn’t sleepy tired. I headed up to bed again anyways. Good night moon!