Alice Walker: Expect nothing, live frugally on surprise.

This weekend was an adventure, and a reminder to have no expectations or judgment, and to be very flexible. The reason for the trip to Seattle was originally to spend the weekend with Tallulah on her birthday, and hang out on the beach at one of her friend’s house, and leisurely drive a minivan she had been given back to Portland. However, plans started to change without warning. Thank you to the BF, who checked in as she could and stored my truck and keys for me, and to Tiny, for the bungie cords to strap my laptop to my bike.

After finding out at 11pm Friday night that I had to be up at 4am Saturday morning to catch a 6am Greyhound bus to Seattle (because Amtrak was sold out), I caught up on some reading and rested on the bus, but wasn’t able to sleep – and we arrived late in Seattle because the bus driver got lost in Tacoma. By 1pm I had arrived and bought lunch, quickly engaged in a walking whirlwind of shopping, and we were having Tallulah’s birthday dinner by 6pm. As the plans for the weekend fell through, we headed back to Portland at 8pm after some quick vehicle maintenance, and with the help of a cassette player attachment to my iPod and much truckstop coffee, the minivan and the sleeping Tallulah arrived safely just after midnight.

I received two hugs and a thank you, crashed in Ruby’s daybed by myself, and was given coffee, a quick breakfast, and Tri-Met bus fare - which got me to the Illuminati Safehouse, where unexpectedly Tam and I finally got a chance to talk. I ate a late lunch on Hawthorne with Angel, called my mother, and by 6pm, I was on the road, slabbing down I-5 with my long-unridden Harley, and arrived safely in Salem by dark, in time to take care of Phaedrus and sleep.