ALNM: 865
Rowan: read through first 3+ chapters

We left far too early on Sunday, and headed north. Ken put the iPod on random album play, all Styx. There’s something wrong with my helmet connection: I can hear the music and I can hear Ken, but Ken can’t hear me (although he can hear the music). So I was able to sing along as loud as I wanted.

Still, I was exhausted, and the San Joaquin Valley is dull, dull, dull. Flat nothingness, with occasional cows. It also started to rain, although our new jackets proved to be well waterproof.

We got into Sacramento and found the Chevy’s restaurant where we were meeting some guys from the BMW list. When I lived in the Bay Area and in Redding, Chevy’s was one of my favourite restaurants, so I had been looking forward to this. Sadly, my meal was average. The meat was fatty, they gave me refried beans instead of black beans, and my tea was lukewarm and did nothing to help warm me up. And I was so tired, that it was hard to care.

By the time we got to Redding, I had no energy, no conscious thought, just the desire to be horizontal. It had started raining pretty hard, too. Our plan had been to continue on to Medford, OR, but Ken realised I had become a zombie and decided it was best if we stopped. We even went so far as to get a motel with an indoor Jacuzzi. I’m happy to report that the Jacuzzi was blissfully hot (usually in hotels, they’re not, because most people don’t like them super-hot), even if the jets weren’t working. It took the chill out of our bones and the ache from our muscles, and it was well worth the cost.

A funny story: On the way back to our room, we stopped at the front desk to get a newspaper. The clerk said that someone had asked about the bike, and she’d tried calling our room, but we weren’t there. The guy was in 105 if we wanted to talk to him. It was across the hall from our room, so a while later Ken wandered over there. It turned out he knew the guy from the BMW list. He was from Texas or somewhere, and had bought a bike in Redding, and had flown in to ride it home. Of all the motels in Redding, they ended up at the same one (and it was an out-of-the-way one). Across the hall from each other. Weird how that works sometimes.

We never ate supper that night, partly because of exhaustion and partly because we’d had such a late lunch. We spent the evening reading and staring at stupid TV and being mindless, and then we slept for a long, long time. I had a headache in the middle of the night, but took allergy meds and felt a lot better soon thereafter.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, packed up, and headed north. But we stopped less than an hour later in Dunsmuir because it was in 30s and dropping, with heavy rain. We called the weather service, and they said the road conditions through Ashland Pass was listed as “no advisories”. We weren’t sure what that meant, although it didn’t imply freezing temps and snow/slush/ice as we feared. We discussed our options as we drank hot tea in a pizza parlour, and eventually decided to go forward.

It turned out to be sunny and in the high 50s through the Pass, so our fears were unwarranted, and that was a good thing. We hit more rain coming into Eugene, but again stayed dry thanks to the new jackets.

We had lunch with my OCW buddy Rob and his partner Ximena, who’d sadly lost her job that day. (We hadn’t expected to meet her, so it was nice for us, even if it was a major bummer for her.) We ate at a McMenamin’s Pub, and I had a glass of their raspberry flavoured Ruby Ale (which I love) and a Reuben, and Ken and I shared a scrummy marionberry crumble. We had a pretty view of the river in the rain, and shared a lovely conversation about writing and music and the like.

We made it to Lev and Gayle’s outside of Portland less than two hours later. They took us to dinner at Salvadore Molly’s, a funky Caribbean-style restaurant, where we shared a pitcher of margaritas and I ate interesting, spicy mac-and-cheese cooked in a banana leaf. Back at home, we sampled a coconut cream banana pie that Lev and Gayle had made. And then, we slept. Sleep good. Ungh.

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Today Ken’s working, and I’m curled up on Lev and Gayle’s funky swoopy sofa with Afalwen, a notebook and pen, a Nora Roberts novel (the third in the Key trilogy), and the remains of a cup of tea. Dogs Reggie (Regina) and Rufus are sacked out nearby. From downstairs I can hear the faint tapping of Gayle typing, working. (She’s doing online study for medical transcription.) There are deep wind chimes outside, where it’s overcast and cold, making it warm and cozy inside. I don’t get that cozy sensation in our house, and I’m still trying to figure out why. I’m tempted to put long curtains or blinds over the sliding doors in the living room. Not only will it make daytime TV-watching easier, but it might give that sense of closeness. Of course, when it’s gorgeous and sunny out, we’ll open them and admire the sparkle of sunlight on the pool. I also want to do more work to make the backyard funky and inviting.

Like I need more stuff to do on my list…

Today’s goal is to read through all of Rowan. While I was writing it I made notes on what needs to be added, but I may see more now, as well as good places to beef up the romance aspect. Dean says the first three chapters should be as polished as possible for the workshop, but the rest of the ms is okay to have “this is sketchy, to be added later” notes in it. I’m still not 100% sure about the workshop, but I’m leaning more towards it. The fact that I’m disgruntled with some other areas of my life means I’m better reminded of the fact that I want and need to focus on my writing even more.

Actually, what I really want to do today is nap and read. I don’t know why it’s hard for me to do that at home—too many projects calling me, I guess. But working on some of the house projects will make the house more inviting…

Heh. One of the options we discussed when we were deciding whether to press on, was to head home and just not tell anybody we were there. (Except Cat, of course. She might notice something suspicious.) Just focus on us, and on the house, and on whatever we wanted to do. But I’m glad we’re here.

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Gayle and I went out to run errands, and then she took me to an awesome sushi place—small restaurant in a strip mall, nothing to look at, but the sushi was fantastic and the price about half of what you’d expect. Sometimes I think I could sit and watch sushi go ‘round and ‘round on a conveyor belt for hours. We tried not to stuff ourselves too silly, because they’re taking us out to a cool place for supper tonight (Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant). Apparently Lev doesn’t like sushi, so Gayle doesn’t get it much. I told her she can take me anytime I visit.

I remembered that I had three chapters of edited ALNM to read through, and I’ve just finished that. I realised a few scenes that need to be added, so I’m going to work on that now. I mailed the proposal today, so keep your appendages crossed for us.

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Okay. Three chapters re-edited. I wrote two scenes, added a scene I’d written previously, and moved a bunch of stuff around. I’m starting to lose sight of it all—my brain is full. Time to take a break.

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Marrakesh was a blast. You sit on low sofas or soft cushiony stools (which wobble madly—I did _not_ have any alcohol or I would have pitched over and hurt myself), and eat communal food with your fingers. Only the main dish isn’t communal. I had a whole chicken (a Cornish game hen, really) in lemon olive sauce. Yum. Alas, Ken got stuck at work and didn’t make it, but we all decided we’d go there again the next time we visit.

I showed Lev & Gayle pictures from Black Oak Lodge (www.darachshire.org and follow the links—some good pictures of Ken & I), and then I plugged my laptop into their network, and Ken used wireless to hook to my laptop, and at one point all four of us were online. How geeky is that?

Probably to bed soon, so I’ll post this. Not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow, as there’s a 100% chance of rain—not good for wandering about on the bike. Maybe we’ll go to Powell’s…