On the First Part of the Journey...

I started writing this last night but fell asleep at the keyboard.

Getting here was half the fun. Leaving White Salmon after dinner, I got myself settled in to the Ramada in time for the second half of Daily Show and all of Colbert. Tried to go to sleep but the neighbors came in after 11 and scared me out of a deep sleep. I thought someone had broken into our house, I was that asleep. Heart rate back down, slept til the alarm went off at 3:30 am. Shuttle at 4, and the nice man at the desk was actually from NC...had hit the 6 month mark in Portland and was homesick.

The flight went to Houston, there was NO fresh coffee because the plane did not have any coffee pots. Oh, United, what has become of you? A 5:55 am flight and NO COFFEE???? No hot breakfast for purchase either. Just a ham and cheese sandwich and some nasty snack packs. The flight attendants did the best they could, with humor. Was glad I pounded down a large coffee and a muffin at the Coffee People stand in PDX. Tstorms in Houston (big surprise) meant delays getting in, so had to RUN for the next terminal, with the gate at the far end of the universe (of course) to catch the little plane to Charlotte. But I made it. And the folks at Charlotte airport were waiting for us all, with signs, smiles, young men taking our bags, and showing us to our buses, where I met up with Valerie and a few other WA delegates. Stomach really rumbling by now...thank God Valerie had a banana she had no plans to eat.

Our bus driver was on his first run of the hotel loop. He was not from Charlotte. So we helped him navigate with phones, gps and printed directions. He was a really good sport. I hope we helped him for his next run!

The welcome at the hotel couldn't have been warmer. People are so excited to be hosting this event. I settled in to the room, then went downstairs with a fellow delegate I'd met on the bus for some salad and a glass of wine. That blueberry muffin was long gone...When Tanisha, my roommate, arrived, we went down for a late night glass of wine to unwind before bed. Then lights out! We were both asleep in minutes.