Today is both a sad and a glad day. I'm sad to be finished, but I'm glad to be going home. And believe it or not, I'm looking forward to my next biking journey. I'm still convinced that traveling by bicycle is one of the best ways to see places and things.
I had breakfast at the hotel - included in the room rate because I was using a AAA discount. That struck me as odd but nice; in addition to the normal room discount, a full breakfast was included. The waitress got my order a bit confused - a good confused since I'd ordered cereal with fresh berries and she brought me a bowl of cereal and a big bowl of berries. That was good. Berries are one of the things I've missed this summer - they don't tend to keep real well when I stash them in a pannier in the heat! Cherries do better in those conditions, and I bought them whenever I could.
I did a little tiny bit of riding around Eugene, and then headed over to Bike Friday to drop off the bike. I spent some time there talking, and looking at bikes (what else!). And I met a couple from Vancouver who were picking up their Twin Air tandem. That's one hot bike. I planned to walk back to the hotel - about 3 ½ miles. As I was about to leave, the folks at Bike Friday offered me a ride, but I told them I thought I needed the exercise. Yeah, I know, I've been getting a maniac's amount of exercise for the past 2 ½ months, but I figured my body would appreciate the walk - especially since I'm going to be sitting on a plane all night!
Back to the hotel to shower and check out. It felt like someone put lead weights in the trailer / suitcase. The trailer frame is in there along with everything that was there before except for my electronic toys. I definitely didn't want to risk them in the checked baggage. So the trailer really should weigh about the same as it has all during my trip. It sure feels heavier though! Oh well, this time I don't have to haul it around.
I headed out for lunch, a visit to the Tuesday farmer's market, and a walking tour of the East Skinner Butte area. There were some pretty interesting old houses to look at. Then I went to the Park Street Café - a coffee house and dessert bar that opened about 2 weeks ago. I treated myself to a cup of coffee and a piece of flourless chocolate torte. Yum! I'm either going to have to keep riding a lot when I get home or I'm going to have to stop eating like this. It's likely that I'll compromise and continue to do both - but maybe in more moderation.
It was a really funny weather day today - cloudy, with rain forecast. And it did rain, but only in spurts. I was walking down Willamette St. when it started to rain the first time. It was pretty light, so I just kept on walking (instead of ducking into a store or restaurant to keep dry). Later - on the way to the airport - it poured. But it poured for a minute in bright sunshine, then stopped. Here's hoping that there was some heavy and sustained rain over the big Oregon fires. I'm sure the firefighters could use some help from Mother Nature at this point in time.
I'm traveling home on a one-way ticket, so I figured I'd be searched at the airport. What I didn't figure was that I'd be searched twice, both times in Eugene. I had all of my gadgets in a daypack, and as the security guard said, it looked very dense in the X-ray equipment. So they searched it when I went through security, and then I was chosen (ahead of time, and probably because of the one-way ticket) for screening at the gate. Not a problem though - I didn't have anything with me that would alarm anyone.
I had a 3-hour layover in San Francisco, not long enough to go anywhere, but plenty of time to walk through the airport, and plenty of time to get some dinner. Of course I was ready to eat again!
I had to try a phone / monitor at SFO to check email. It was supposedly a high speed connection, but it seemed to be the same speed as my dialup connection on the Jornada. It had a touch screen with keyboard, and no mouse. I prefer to use the Jornada, but for trips when I'm not carrying it this phone/monitor/Internet connection is pretty handy. Later I noticed that all of the regular pay phones in the terminal both electrical outlets and data ports. Now that was cool! The world is getting more connected every day Too bad the little towns don't have phones like that - but that will probably be a long time coming.
After being on the road and traveling by human power for the last 2 ½ months, the airports really were culture shock for me. There were many more people in one place than I've seen in a long time, and no one was talking to anyone that they didn't know. I'm so used to talking to total strangers at this point that it seems really weird to see all of these people in their own worlds. I think I prefer the biking world, but a plane was definitely a quicker way to get home. Let's see, it took me 10+ weeks to get out here, and it will take me 10+ hours (including layover time) to get home. What a change!
