Rail Retreat -- Intermission

System jolt! The layover in Portland has afforded the chance to have a luxuriantly spacious night's sleep, true, and the variation from train menus has indeed been delightful. Moreover, for exercise I walked the 10-or-so blocks to the sacred mountain: Powells Bookstore -- a multi-storied city block of books.

That said, this urban interlude has been a jolt back to reality -- the steady, almost narcotic drone of the train replaced with the cacophony of traffic; honking horns, car doors, squealing brakes; boom boxes thumping out from passing windows; wisps of marijuana seeping out of a parked beat-up pickup, inside of which is a haggard looking woman stupored against the glass; dodging bicyclists, and people. It seems like a suffocating mass of people. I know that sounds strange -- that the confinement of a train could seem less congested than open air in the city -- but there you have it. The hotel was filled with name tag-dangling conventioneers in town for something. The coffee shop where I'm spending an otherwise tasty party of the afternoon, called Stumptown Coffee and Pastries ("one of the best in the country," I'm told), is packed with people and and a throbbing soundtrack of "music" I would not have picked (and wouldn't be included in my otherwise "broad and somewhat disturbing musical collection").

One serendipity -- while sitting in the coffee shop typing away, a woman named Stephanie, a reporter for a local television station, along with her cameraman interviewed me briefly about online personality inventories and IQ tests. She said I caught her attention because of the laptop I was using and its obvious connection with the story she is working on. I, of course, was disappointed; I was certain it was because of some self-apparent sagacity and erudition. Supposedly I'll be able to watch the story online by next Wednesday at www.KGW.com. Can't wait.

Truth be told, neither can I wait to be back on the train. This is what I escaped! I'll be back to urban life soon enough. Meanwhile, the coffee is quite good.

I checked for an update about the train's timeliness, but learned nothing new. It will come, on its own time.