Los Angeles, California: I worked this morning, ran this morning, packed the Chianti Beef, salad fixings and the loaf of bread I baked last night, then headed over to Los Angeles at 2p - giving me nearly three hours before DT's flight arrived. Plenty of time. I even took time to fill the fuel tank. Strange as this may sound to you, Dear Reader, but today was the THIRD time in my entire life I have ever put gasoline in a car. True, I rarely drive (which is a good thing as I am super blind - though I do have a license), but we live in a state (Oregon) where it is illegal to fill your own car with gasoline. True. Oregon has attendants at every station. Nearly my entire driving life, I have pulled-up to the pump and a dude swipes my credit card and fills the tank. If I am lucky, he will wash my windscreen. We Oregonians are quite civilized.
Did I mention we have no sales tax in Oregon?
All this is well and good, except I am not in Oregon, so I had to get my hands dirty, punch my billing zip code into a machine and figure out how to get the pump to begin spewing fuel. Something most of you do all the time was an adventure worth writing about for me.
And so, fully-fueled, I hit Interstate 10 west towards Los Angeles. I stayed in the center lane and cruised at 75mph the entire way! People were passing me, but I just stayed in the center lane and kept-up with the car in front of me. The speed limit is 70 - most people were driving 80... except for the occasional nut-job flying-by at 100.
Driving on SoCal freeways is like surfing in a hurricane.
I was about one hour from Burbank International Airport when my hands-free bluetooth screen read "DT CALLING". Huh? How could DT be be phoning when we was in a jet somewhere above Sacramento?
Dave's flight out of Portland had been cancelled. Due to the terrible NW weather, the Seattle airport was closed. DT's plane - and the pilot - was trapped in Seattle. After hours in line at the airport and hours on the phone, Dave was rebooked to fly down here on SATURDAY.
Saturday? I went ahead and checked into the hotel and added two more nights to our reservation. Guess me and my little over-night bag will be in Los Angeles a little longer than expected. Luckily this hotel is near a huge mall because I may be needing some clothes.
Dinner tonight was a huge success (after the patitsio epic fail last week). Lisa and Lenny had a guest and Preston had huge second-helpings of my Chianti Beef. Nothing makes me happier! And they loved the garlic-herb bread! Yeah for Bubbe!
Little Leo was especially adorable this evening. When Leo first saw me tonight, his face lit up into a huge smile and he squealed - then his legs started moving like mad! He "talked" to me for quite a while and the rest of the evening Leo stuck his tongue out just a little bit and blew raspberries... which delighted him so much, he squealed even more.
I am so sad Dave missed Leo's show tonight. Sad Dave missed the Chianti Beef tonight. Sad Dave missed the Peppoli Chianti Classico tonight... but Steve and Mary met Dave at a sports bar to watch the Ducks beat USC in basketball. Probably just as exciting as Leo blowing raspberries.
Until my next update, I remain, your flexible correspondent.
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