My flight out of Eugene wasn't until 7:45 this evening, so I was obviously in no hurry to leave the comfortable confines of the Hampton Inn. Finally, though, I dragged myself away just before the 11:00 checkout time, after taking full advantage of the superior continental breakfast.

Back in Baker City several days ago, I had called a bike shop in downtown Eugene, and had arranged to have them box up my bike today. I initially made my way towards the shop on the bike path near the hotel, but, frustratingly, it soon ended due to construction. I blithely violated various traffic laws (riding on the sidewalk, riding the wrong way down one-way streets, riding through red lights, etc.) as I found my own way to the shop.

They told me it would be a couple of hours before the bike was ready, so I walked a few blocks to the Eugene Public Library, where I used my laptop and the wireless internet for a while.

After I walked back to the bike shop, where I found my bicycle was now in several pieces in a 30 inch by 50 inch box, I took a cab to the airport. I knew I would be arriving at the airport early, but my plan was to check the bike and one of the small panniers, and spend the afternoon using the airport's free wireless internet. I was severely disappointed, then, when I was told that it was too early too check any luggage for my flight - I would have to wait another three hours. The worst thing was that I couldn't leave my unwieldy boxed-up bike unattended, even for a few seconds. Unless I dragged it, and my two panniers, with me, I couldn't go to the bathroom or the restaurant. I tried to reason with the (humorless, to say the least) TSA people, but the end result was my sitting glumly in the baggage check area for the next hour or so.

While I was sitting there forlornly, a bearded fellow came up, glanced at my panniers and boxed bike, and said hello. It turned out he was Alvin, who had led the Adventure Cycling group that I had almost caught up with in the last few days. He was a nice guy, and it was enjoyable discussing our touring experiences of the last few months. It sounded like leading an Adventure Cycling group was interesting, and sometimes challenging. Before he had to leave for his flight, Alvin was nice enough to sit with my stuff while I went to the restroom - Thanks, Alvin. (I was surprised the TSA people didn't object to this, since they had given me such a hard time earlier).

The following added on 4/10/2011: I didn't know it at the time, obviously, but as I sat in the airport, I missed (by a few feet) meeting the woman I would marry three years later. Fortunately, I got another chance to meet Joy Santee when she rode near my home on the Underground Railroad route in 2007...

Finally, 5:00 rolled around, and I was allowed to check my bike and my luggage (but only after a brief delay - there is apparently someone with my (or a similar) name on a terrorist watch list or something...) As the guy at the counter looked over my e-ticket, he told me there was good news and bad news - the good news was that I had undoubtedly saved money by buying my ticket through Expedia.com; the bad news was that because I would be changing airlines in Las Vegas, I would have to go through security again there. I hadn't flown since before September 11, 2001, and wasn't familiar with all the new rules, but surely it wouldn't be that bad, right?

I had dinner at the lone restaurant in the airport, then had my first experience with post-911 airport security, when my bike shoes (with their metal cleats) briefly aroused the suspicion of the guy standing behind the x-ray machine.

The long wait at the gate was uneventful, with one exception - I talked to a woman whose husband had ridden with the Adventure Cycling group that Alvin had led; she had apparently traveled to Oregon to meet up with the group, and now she and her husband were flying home.

After the relatively short flight from Eugene, I arrived at the super-busy Las Vegas airport, full of people and noisy, incessantly blinking slot machines. The whole thing was a little nightmarish, actually, especially the rush through security (again) to get to my connecting flight to Chicago.

The flight to Chicago was on a larger jet, and was completely full. I listened to my iPod while half-watching the in-flight movie, "Failure to Launch." The stewardess had mistakenly announced that the movie starred Jennifer Aniston, and a few minutes into the movie the pilot made a mock-serious announcement that "Sarah Jessica Parker would be playing the role of Jennifer Aniston." Very funny, I thought - now how about devoting more time to flying the plane, and less to kidding around with the stewardess...

I tried sleeping after a couple of hours, but found it difficult. I did finally doze off, but was awakened by the stewardess telling me to buckle my seatbelt during a brief spell of turbulence. Helpful.

It was busy at O'Hare when we arrived at 5:00 AM (Central Time, I think - I wasn't sure anymore...). I bought an insanely overpriced cinnamon roll and chocolate milk for breakfast, then waited at the gate for my flight to Lexington, trying desperately not to fall asleep and miss it.

The flight on the small commuter jet from Chicago to Lexington was quick and uneventful (uneventful being the best outcome of an airplane flight of course). Mom was at the airport there to pick me up, and was relieved that I had finally returned from the long trip mostly unscathed.

I walked out of the airport into the muggiest morning I'd experienced in well over a month. It would take some time to get used to this again, I thought, after so many weeks of mostly cloudless, hot-but-low-humidity days.

I felt a mixture of excitement that I was almost home, satisfaction in my accomplishment, and sadness that one of the greatest experiences of my life was now over.