Greetings from sunny Oregon, where it actually gets COLD at night. (The temp was 48 degrees when I got up this morning.) I heart Oregon. Also, everyday is a sales tax holiday here. And you never have to pump your own gas (yet, somehow, this does not make gas more expensive).

Speaking of the expense of gas, I found this fun t-shirt at the Dallas airport. It made me laugh out loud, so I bought it. I thought it might scandalize my mother when I wore it off the airplane, but when she noticed it, she laughed out loud, too.

My cross-country trip was supposed to be 10 hours, but clocked in closer to 13, due to the fact that the plane I was to be on for the last leg of the trip hadn't even left Seattle yet at the time it was supposed to be departing from Portland. It's a long haul across the country, but I find that last little puddle-jump across the state to be the nail in the coffin. Fortunately, Horizon Air provides complementary alcoholic beverages, which I desperately need by that point in the journey.

Still, 13 is a heck of a lot better than 27 hours, which is how long it took me to get across the country the last time I made this westward trek. It helps not to miss your plane.

I met a nice 72-year-old fellow named Elvis on the flight from Dallas to Portland. He had never been on an airplane before, but he was coming out for his granddaughter's wedding, and his kids didn't want him to RV across the country alone.