First Principles

The mighty steed that we’d be taking to Alaska had spent most of the last year in Reno, but Eric had some business in the Bay Area and I hadn’t earned that much vacation time. It was a good thing that he had to do a shorter road trip of sorts before we started north, really, because without the test run we may not have made it.

Before he’d gotten back from the Middle East, I’d taken his truck in to get it refurbished. It’s an old truck – a 1994 Ford Ranger without air conditioning, power anything, or cruise control, but Eric had taken very good care of it. Still, it needed a good tune up. Unfortunately, when I took it in, they put the muffler on backwards. And then they put the wrong air filter in. I’m no mechanic, but I heard that vehicles don’t like that kind of thing all that much.

Fortunately, Eric pays more attention to “Check Engine” lights than most people, and had it looked at by a different mechanic, who discovered some of the problems. Then he had to take it to the dealership to figure out the rest. Expensive, but all in all a lot better than being stranded in the Yukon.

While Eric was throwing money at every grease monkey on the West Coast, I was readying to fly to Seattle to meet him, visiting some old friends along the way.

Outside of the Mall of America, is there a more interesting place to people watch than an airport? Even in the small Reno airport, all kinds of characters were there. There was the ridiculously angry looking, potato shaped girl (?) with the multiple facial piercings. I actually feel bad for someone so unhappy that they have to share their self loathing with the rest of the world, but I wish it wasn’t such an assault on the senses. (I’m sure she would be offended that I would judge her on the appearance she’s so carefully cultivated, but oh, well.) There was a guy wearing a surgical mask, which should perhaps be disconcerting but isn’t. I think it says more about him than about the general cleanliness at the airport. I hope he has a legitimate medical condition beyond mere paranoia, because otherwise, what a sad way to go through life!

And then there’s the woman who is clearly new to the whole air travel thing, telling everyone she sees that she’s going to Hawaii. I don’t blame her for her excitement, but is it really too much to ask for her to understand that other people are also flying and that her fumbling around with her 3 carry on pieces and her story telling to the TSA people is holding everyone else up? She’s like a human RV, obliviously taking up the whole road while a stack of cars builds up behind her. Ugh. Oh, well. Fortunately she didn’t know about the whole shoe thing, and so I was able to get around her.

But for all of the Silly Creatures, there are many more normal and more happy travelers. Families doing their family thing. Folks taking care of elderly companions. Kids debating urgently yet civily over who should sit next to the window. People who haven’t lost the thrill of boarding a plane. It helps that the Reno airport is small and easy to get through – people are a lot less surly when they don’t have to stand in line for an hour before they even get to their gate.

It was interesting to look at the Seattle area rise to meet us as we prepared to land. I’ve flown into SEATAC many times, and it was odd to be doing it when I wasn’t going home. It had been just a year since we moved away. I felt a strange simultaneous mix of feeling like I’d never left, and that I hadn’t been there in a million years. But I didn’t feel any nostalgia for it – I miss a lot of them people still there, but I don’t miss Seattle a bit. The gray skies and rain didn’t help things any. I felt that way over and over again the whole weekend I was there.

What was clear, though, was that it was great to see friends and enjoy their hospitality. I can’t thank them enough, and I wish I would have had time to see a lot more people. And there were things I missed about Seattle after all – great microbrews, fresh sushi, tasty beers, good coffee, satisfying beverages on tap… The lushness of it all was also a refreshing change from the desert, even if the moss growing everywhere reminded me of why I prefer the desert in the long run. But it’s not where I belong, and maybe one of the best things about the stop was to remind me why I’m so glad I now live where I do.

When the plane landed, I thought to myself that it was the start of the ground offensive – north to Alaska with no more shortcuts!