Sherry and David.
Onward to Portland, where we stayed with Kate’s “childhood chum” and her husband for two nights. Sherry and David recently moved to Portland (Clackamas, actually) from Mill Valley, CA. They have a huge house with an incredible view of Mount Hood, two dogs, and two birds. (Their twins are in college now.) It was a comfortable place to land for a bit (we’re still in recoup mode), and great to reconnect with these old friends. It’s always fun to listen to Sherry and Kate hash out old memories of their laughingly (now) dysfunctional families and to hear Sherry’s description of young Kate as a 38-year-old divorcee in a 15-year-old body, always asking adults intimate questions about their lives as if she were a peer.
The weather continued to be unbelievably gorgeous, and we got to use a Groupon that Kate bought almost two years ago for a Segway tour of downtown Portland. This was our fourth Segway experience, and if we could afford those things, we’d pack them on the back of Bessie and ride them everywhere. They’re so much fun to drive! And it was a great way to see Portland in sunny spring bloom.
Well-fed and a little more rested, we went on our way again on Tuesday, up I-5 to Seattle. I’m much more comfortable driving Bessie on the freeway than on the winding, narrow roads we took to get to and from Silver Falls. But it is still so new and sometimes stressful. I look forward to the day when it feels second nature to whip Bessie’s behemoth butt in and out of traffic and tricky parking spots.