1. The Deke and I said our farewells and expressed our thanks to the Pendletons and hit the road around nine o'clock. Our drive from Eugene to Kellogg was blissfully uneventful -- we faced some minor traffic congestion in Portland and a bit more in Spokane, but otherwise the traffic flowed steadily all the way. The weather was moderate. It was an easy drive home.
2. The Deke and I are comfortable with long stretches of silence when we travel. She often knits. I let my thoughts wander. I thought about how much I loved our visit to Eugene. I often think, on the one hand, that leaving Eugene was kind of dumb. We love our friends in Eugene. I loved being a part of St. Mary's Episcopal Church and my close friends at LCC. It must be one of the most convenient cities anywhere -- we lived within a stone's toss of off the beaten path movies, great grocery stores, the library, church, tasty freshly brewed beer, a variety of foods available at multiple eateries, fantastic coffee shops, and more. Nonetheless, we wanted something else, something different and our moves to Maryland and now to Kellogg have certainly been that. We've learned that there's a deep satisfaction in changing things up for the sake of family. We loved being closer to Adrienne and Molly when we lived back east and we have a great time living so close to my sisters and I relish being back with lifelong friends here in Kellogg. Wherever I live, I miss things about the places I don't live. I don't long to be back to those places, but Kellogg isn't Greenbelt, Maryland and Greenbelt wasn't Eugene and Eugene was never Spokane and Spokane was never Coeur d'Alene and Coeur d'Alene was never Kellogg. I've loved every city and town I've lived in. It makes me very happy that the Deke and I have decided to return to Eugene as often as we reasonably can and try to stay in close touch with our friends and not let our favorite spots and social centers like Billy Mac's and 16 Tons and Cornucopia and Bier Stein and High Street ever get too far away. I thought these long thoughts on those long stretches of freeway out on the Columbia Gorge, along the edge of the Palouse from the Tri-Cities to Ritzville, and on I-90 as we approached the black bark Ponderosa pines near Cheney.
3. While we were making our way to Kellogg, the Deke got a text message from our next door neighbor Jane wondering if we'd like cabbage borscht with salad, multi-grain bread, and strawberry pie. It was a life saving offer. We arrived home, Jane brought over the dinner, and we heated up the soup and greedily dove into this most delicious meal and within an hour, around eight o'clock, collapsed into bed, worn out after our nine hours of travel.
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