Thursday. I was up at two this morning. Yes, two in the morning! At least it was Pacific Time, so it felt sort of like four in the morning to my body. Kind of. I was still super tired. But I did manage to sleep pretty well for my few hours that I had gotten.
I got packed up and was out the door of the Best Western Woodburn before three and was on the road in my little rental Toyota Corolla headed north on Interstate 5. Traffic was light, of course.
My drive was nice, traffic was no problem and navigating to the airport, PDX, was easy. It was only about a forty five minute drive. I did have to get gas, and gas in Oregon means someone filling it up for you. So I got to the airport then looked for a 7-11. There is one right in the airport road, so no need to get fuel ahead of time.
The rental car return for Dollar was nice and easy. There was no one but me and the one returns lady when I got there. So that was super quick and I was into the airport in minutes.
I wandered through PDX, doing well with plenty of time as it was so early. I noticed that unlike normal airports, there is no mark up at PDX, everything is normal prices. That’s awesome, I love this airport.
I stopped at a local donut place and got an apple cider fritter before heading into the security line. The line wasn’t terrible, but was longer than I would normally expect at this time in the morning.
Once through security, I stopped at a brewery for breakfast. It was about four thirty at this point (PDX starts serving drinks at five if you are flying out of state.) I ordered some decaf coffee (I am still caffeine free since June) and then some breakfast – something with shired eggs and a bowl of veggie potatoes that was fantastic. I hung out until a quarter after five getting my phone all charged up and my fill of food for the morning.
From there it was time to board the flight. A packed flight to Vegas, and then on to Dallas.
The flight to Vegas went well, although I felt a little off this morning. But it was a short flight, so whatever. Two hours doesn’t even feel like a real flight to me. I don’t even bother bringing something to do for such a short flight. Although a book would have been handy.
We stopped in Vegas and I had to get off of the plane because the wait there was so long that they did not want people staying on the plane while they cleaned and stuff. So I went into the airport and walked around a little, but not very much. Vegas is a terrible airport with absolutely nothing to do and no where to go. A tiny airport, but totally devoid of airport amenities.
It was about an hour at Vegas before reboarding the same plane, in the same seat, and heading off to Dallas, which is about three more hours.
The second leg of the flight went well and I was in Dallas early. No checked bags so it was right off of the plane and out of the doors. Paul pulled up to pick me up just a minute after I had walked out of the terminal, so perfect timing.
It was probably around one thirty, two at the latest, when I was home and got to see the family. Saw them a little, then went into the office to work for a few hours. Loads to catch up on having been gone most of the week. So my afternoon was decently busy until well into the evening.
It was a good trip. I had fun and was very productive. And now I am glad to be home.