Portlandia

11 hours, 715 miles, 3 tanks of gas, 90 something dollars, 80 on the 84, watching the sunset with Buddha on the dashboard as Bob FM plays Pat Benetar and Men at Work and Huey Lewis and the News, a PBR sighting on Montello Ave, and two states later I find myself in Portland, Oregon, where the streets are appropriately far from "neat", and just how everyone likes it. Most of the drive yesterday was spent thinking how all things are inevitably connected. I pondered where I am now in relation to the people in my life, how I would not have been in Utah had so many other events not occurred. I would not have arrived in Portland today, most likely putting it off another couple weeks, had I not gone out into the white nothingness of Benson Marina with Preston back in Utah, and saw a bird thriving, flying, having survived winter, and then moments later witnessed the contrast of black feathers and blood on snow from another who was not so fortunate. Why I decided that day to leave sooner I'm not quite certain other than it was just time, but I found myself waking at 7 this morning for a sunrise run, weaving through the quirky neighborhoods of SE Portland and meandering Mt. Tabor Park with my brother to see an exquisite view of Mt. Hood, eating Banh Mi for lunch from a place off Foster and 54th, and riding my bike down to Fred Meyer's to buy razors, because as I still won't be wearing a bra, I do choose to keep grooming... Pictures to come when I get a better hang of this blogging shtuff, or ever just get organized.