Camping out in the condo

February 4, 2018

Saturday

Tonight is our last night sleeping in the condo. There is still a lot of last minute crap to deal with, but at least all of the large objects are out. The last one went yesterday when we resorted to Craig’s List to get rid of our futon. It’s a nice piece of furniture, but it doesn’t make sense to us to store it for five years; and we can’t move it ourselves because it won’t fit in our car.

An appealing young couple came by at the end of the day to pick it up. They only wanted the frame really, but we agreed to part with it only if they took the mattress too. We felt good about giving it to them - it felt like it was going to a good home and will be doing more good than it was in our spare bedroom.

Arden got the measurements from me and concluded it would just fit in his Subaru Legacy, so he bit. He disassembled it and then he and his girlfriend loaded it into the legacy. He had a big smile on his face, noting that it just fit. He was right, if he didn’t mind breaking out the rear window from the car. So close!

After several reshuffles, they bowed to reality and threw the frame up on top, tied it down securely, and drove off into the night.

At this point. They’re optimistic. It just fits!

Which was just what we hoped for. Now though, we’re sleeping on the floor for two nights because we don’t have a bed any more and can’t move into our Air B&B until Monday night. Fortunately we still have inflatable mattress pads from the days long ago when we still tented out. It brings back old memories when I pull them out of their stuff bags and blow them up. Camping at home!

Sunday

We don’t have a table and chairs any more either, so the next morning we eat our oatmeal squatted on the floor, hunched over our small coffee table. This too brings up memories, reminding us of our tour of Japan, sleeping on tatami mats and eating on a low table.

We’ve had practice with this. It reminds us of staying at ryokans in Japan.

We spend the morning taking another carload of belongings over to our already pretty full storage unit: two more boxes of books, a trunk, the lamps, the small glass coffee table, and a few other things. We’re starting to run low on space, and we still have clothing, a Persian rug we hope we can keep, and other miscellania to find a place for. We’ll see.

Afterwards, we get on our bikes for a few hours and head out to the Columbia. It’s a great afternoon for a ride - amazingly warm for this time of year, mostly cloudy, light winds. Even better, the roads are very quiet - it’s Super Bowl day, and the big game has cleared a lot of the riff raff off the streets.

It’s the most strenuous ride I’ve taken since Hawaii. We keep a pretty fast pace, although at a few spots I stop and haul the camera out so I can blog about the ride - I’m starting to feel a bit guilty about how little biking there’s been in this journal so far. Out and back rides like this work well when I’ve brought the camera along, because I can lag behind a bit and pick up again with Rachael When she doubles back.

There’s very little wind today. This is more drift boat than sail boat.

We’re discussing how far and where to go. Rachael is about to pull ahead of me, and we want to make sure we reconnect.

A heron, the Columbia, and Government Island

It’s a beautiful day to be out on the river. It’s hard to believe it is still January.

Selfie with geese. I take advantage of Rachael’s temporary absence to work on my shadowshot technique. Rachael always chastises me when I do this, fearful that I’ll careen off into the brush.

Uh, oh - the drill Sargent is back. Time to get back on task.

And, she’s gone again. She’s been riding much more than me and is in better shape, so she’s going to take the long way home.

Later, we walk a few blocks over to Cafe Allora, an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood we like. We’ve been making the rounds for the last few weeks, having one last meal at our local favorites while they’re still within walking distance of home.

We begin the meal with a toast to the condo, and then dig in: we start with a warm kale salad, move on to spaghetti al pesto (Scott) and halibut (Rachael), finishing off with tiramisu and cannoli. While waiting for the meal I haul out the iPad and we go over the photos from the last few days. It is surprising how much this feels like a night on tour, like we’re on the road already.

Cafe Allora, an intimate trattoria in NW Portland

Rachael is wondering how long I’m going to take here - she’s impatient to dig in.

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