Leaving in America

Kathryn and I made it to Portland and checked into McMenamin's White Eagle Hotel just a wee bit before 1am. Luckily McMenamin's is enlightened enough to allow you to order drinks at the bar just before closing time (1am) and carry them up to your room. In fact, a fellow can order a whole pitcher of beer and carry it out. Not too shabby.

All of our worldly possessions, however, are still making their way across the USA. We put the fragile stuff in a big crate that my friend Chris and I fabricated and the rest we shrink-wrapped on pallets (peep the above pics.)

The plane ride out here afforded me the time to finish reading The Human Stain. I recommend it. Here's a little excerpt that seems appropriate for this post:

"So much yearning, so much plotting and passion and subtlety and dissembling, all of it feeding the hunger to leave the house and be transformed. To become a new being. To bifurcate. The drama that underlies America's story, the high drama that is upping and leaving - and the energy and cruelty that rapturous drive demands."