Not to be tired / Like zombies / Dream and dream

3:57am: Catch MAX train to airport

4:27am: Eat banana and dry cereal. Attempt not to be tired. Fail.

4:44am: Arrive at airport. Find United Airlines. Proceed through check-in rigamarole.

4:58am: Note that checked bag is 49 lbs on the nose, exactly one pound under the highway-robbery traveler-gouging limit.

4:59am: High-five self.

5:03am: Undergo TSA SS KGB security-theatre concentration-camp procession. Feign levity.

5:26am: Make inappropriate jokes at humorless TSA minion during pat down procedure.

5:35am: Mourn the loss of a bottle of organic soy sauce which we had, in our stupor, quite cleverly stowed into a carry-on bag in order to avert its inevitable destruction at the hands of the baggage goblins. It has now been scheduled for destruction by TSA, unable to escape it’s dark fate. We soldier on, deliriously, toward the coffee/tea kiosk.

5:41am: I slam a chai latte while the Princess nurses a coffee imbued with espresso, but we both know we are on a long downward slope into sleep-deprived airport madness.

6:36am: Amble like zombies into the plane.

6:41am: Canvass plane crew into letting guitar ride in the cabin.

6:42am: GREAT SUCCESS!!!

7:01am: Apply travel pillows.

7:14am: Japan (and sleep)*, here we come!

…Teetering on the edge of consciousness, we watched the lights of Portland skate by, and then dissolve away into the fog beneath us. Above the shadowy mist, morning skies basking in the gilded rays of dawn greeted us with hues of red and gold. We watched in silence, our hands held tightly together. Drifting between dream, and dream…

* Note that by Japan, I of course mean a one hour layover in San Francisco, and by sleep I mean one hour and fifteen minutes of pretend sleep, but at this point, who’s counting, right…?! RIGHT!!