Home, finally!

The morning started pretty early today with our return preparations. The travel into Portland from Columbia City took an long time as the road was plowed but not cleared very well. There was usually two lanes where you could see the road but there was a lot of loose snow in between the lanes, making travel pretty tricky. It wasn't hazardous but it was pretty slippery the entire route.

The real adventure began when we arrived at Portland International Airport. Southwest Airlines had cancelled numerous flights over the past 2 days, leading to an overabundance of folks hoping to get rescheduled for their flights home. So the check-in line for Southwest wrapped around and around the shopping concourse giving us plenty of time to make friends with our line mates. We stood in line for about 2 1/4 hours before finally checking our bags and heading to security and the loading gate. Since the airplanes leaving were all late in line, ours was late too so we had time enough for a lousy lunch before getting on the plane.

Flying home was no trouble and we arrived before 5 PM. But by the time we claimed our bags, hiked over to the rental car agency, cleared through the youngsters that were trying to punch up their commission by upselling us a bigger car and made it out of the airport, it was late.

The very good news? My next door neighbor had used the snowblower under my carport to clear my driveway! Roger used the blower to clear his drive, mine and the next one over, for the guy that owns the snowblower. That was a huge relief because this little rental car would not have made it into the driveway!

So tomorrow the truck comes home from the repair shop and the dog comes home from the kennel. Then the rental car can go back to the airport and I'll be able to relax for a bit!