The slow road to Sellwood

April 2, 2018

So this is another non-cycling item in the journal. You can think of entries like these as ligaments - vital connective tissue helping hold together the biking content. For those of you growing impatient with this, hold tight just a bit longer - Sellwood is our final Airbnb in Portland before our departure in just over three weeks. Soon enough you’ll be seeing day after day of biking entries for weeks on end, and looking back longingly on those lazy days when we were just hanging out.

Before checking in at Amy’s Home in Sellwood though, we have another short excursion to complete -a quick trip back to Minnesota to visit our son Shawn and his daughters. This isn’t the ideal season to visit the Land of 10,000 Lakes, since they’re mostly frozen over - but for this year, it’s now or never.

We had a fine visit, although we were pretty much housebound because of the cold and snow. A shame, because we didn’t get a chance to see Haylee on her bike again - she’s much more entertaining outdoors riding her bike than around the house, where she spends most of her time under the thrall of Minecraft. The highlight was the Easter egg dying and hunt, an event I haven’t participated in for quite a few years.

Some pics from the weekend:

Departing PDX; a new angle on a favorite subject lately

Arrival in MSP. We were lucky and had two dry, clear days before the snows returned.

Shawn’s back yard isn’t conducive to an outdoor egg hunt this year.

The dyers add nearly as much color as the dyes.

Warmer, warmer, hot! I like Haylee’s socks here - they match her basket, but not each other.

Mittens is not amused to be relegated to a prop.

Even at the restaurant Haylee is locked in on her Minecraft game.

So that’s a bit about the visit, without getting too personal. Also though, even half way across the continent, we’re still wrapped up in our home sale project. Our second prospective buyer backed out a few days ago, again on the windows issue; so we’ve taken a time out while we learn more about it and develop a plan of action. Rachael and I have both been quite stressed over this, anxious about just how big this issue is, how long it will take to resolve, and how much the resolution will set us back. I’ve been having nightmares about a very expensive project to replace the windows; and we’ve even had discussions about just renting the place out instead and coming back to it ourselves some year.

Our own window inspector came over this morning (let in, helpfully, by Elizabeth) and assessed the damage. He’s certified by the manufacturers of these windows, so he’s the expert. We’ve been understandably anxious about the verdict, and now that it’s in we’re elated and hugely relieved. No big deal - some fairly minor cosmetic work is needed. We call Jim the painter, who agrees to come over Thursday for a review and can start work next week. This is all our agent needs - she’s relisting the property immediately and will hold a new open house for her brokers tomorrow. We’re back in the game!

Some of the finer words we’ve read lately

Tuesday

We head back to Portland today, on a flight scheduled to leave late afternoon; so we have all day to kill. Unexpectedly, Ashley has an in-service day at school so she’s free for one more visit - if we can get out there. The forecast is for snow all day, so we didn’t commit ourselves at dinner last night, thinking we should assess the weather and road conditions in the morning first.

The conditions this morning look like this:

It’s a fifteen mile drive from our motel in Coon Rapids to Shawn’s home up in Champlin. I don’t do much driving in the snow, and with a few fresh inches on the ground and another three due today, I’m uncertain. It was clear that Ashley is really hoping we’ll make it up though; and seeing the traffic on the freeway moving smoothly we decide to go for it. The drive is fine, as it turns out - there’s no problem on the highways, which look like they were freshly plowed this AM. It’s a bit less comfortable in Shawn’s neighborhood but still OK.

We spend a few hours with Ashley, visiting, playing with Mittens, and watching the original Ghostbusters. Amazingly enough, I’ve never seen this classic. It s very pleasant to get the time to just hang out with Ashley alone. By about noon though the snow intensity picks up, we get a bit anxious about the ride south to the airport, and take our leave.

Fashion show. Ash models her classy pants, and Rachael sports her new favorite bandido shirt from the Uncastillo world film festival she picked up last fall.

Mittens: our submission in the CycleBlaze Cutest Cat contest

If there’s something wild and it don’t look good, who you gonna call?

The dive down to the airport makes me anxious the whole way. It’s snowing, the roads are wet, and the temperature looks right about freezing. With the temperature due to drop far and fast this afternoon, I’m worried about suddenly finding myself on ice; but it never happens. We arrive at MSP about four hours before departure and settle on a nice Italian restaurant for our main meal for the day. Nice, except for the decor - it looks more like a casino hall than a restaurant to me though, with an iPad at each table where you can place my order. My immediate reaction is that this is a ghastly innovation - so impersonal, unaesthetic, and another destroyer of entry-level job opportunities. It’s a good meal though; and as I sit here a few advantages come to mind. I think I would have loved seeing a place like this in Japan, when we so often had difficulty ordering a meal.

On to Sellwood; last stop before Chania!

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