Stayed in Portland last night with Carly and Kevin. Good to see old faces with fresh eyes. How easily we forget those yesterdays that mean(t) so much. Arrived early and taught myself how to drive around Portland, not a bad skill to have if I'm gonna be there with the girls for 10 days next month (see Ecovillage Conference). Found a beautiful little book called Rebel Bookseller that just came out this year and was sitting unobtrusively on a little shelf inside CounterMedia kitty-corner from Powell's books. Ran into Meilani over by the 'zine rack at Powell's. She's such a badass. Gave me a few copies of her new 'zine which Steph is in to distro. Eating well so far: Burgerville on the way down, burritos and whiskey and cokes upon arrival, nice solid Hawthorne style snack before we hit the road Tuesday morning. Lyli and Scarleht were amazingly well behaved in the car. We jumped off I-84 for a smidge and coasted along the old highway 30 (historic columbia river hwy) stopped at the top and leaned over the edge with the girls in my arms. They laughed and screamed and pointed at the world down below. On the way down a large hawk glided right beside us for several yards. Scarleht's eyes got the size of dinner platters and when I asked if she saw the big bird she said "uh-huh" in a dazed tone of voice.
We all miss Steph already, with 6 days of this adventure left to go... more to follow when it isn't 5 a.m.