Sunday. My thought was things had pretty much come together about eight last evening, the tired feeling much reduced, nothing to get in the way of, well, whatever. To bed early enough, up at the usual hour with the alarm, to breakfast and the papers. My waitress had brought me a bag of cookies and such wrapped in little Christmas packages, baked by someone in her family she said. She often does this and she knew I was going out of town today over Christmas, so I was happy that I'd put a much larger tip than usual down on the counter with a “Merry Christmas” just as she brought them out. Not a bad start.

Packing this morning. Most things are taken care of, we'll see how the train people greet me with my various pieces of luggage, all of which I want to carry with me in the roomette. Plenty of room, since I'm the only one travelling, there's plenty of room for luggage to sit on the second seat. Otherwise I'll check the clothing suitcase, keep hold of the cameras and head on up to Portland without complaint. Security checks for train travel aren't security checks for airplane travel yet (he said, not having been on this train in years), but I won't hold my breath.

Later. Packing pretty much done. Well on the way, anyway. The clothes, the cameras, the presents wrapped, all of them taking up too much space, but that's the process. We find ways to succeed using a little thought and a knee pressing down as we lock the case. No secret to this.

Still tired I must admit. Raining like hell, supposed to last through the middle of the coming week, I have no idea what the weather will be like in Oregon. Other than rain. They're familiar with rain. Maybe winter and the rain has a psychological effect. Some kind of effect. Still, tired as I said, but ready. Mostly ready.

Later still. Still one of these logey days, feeling tired and slow as mentioned, but picking up a bit as the evening arrives. Maybe just the way you feel on a day like this: the rain, the barometer, dark at five. All packed, though. I'm thinking of leaving the guitar, too much baggage to manage, use one of my brother-in-law's guitars to practice in Portland. No reason not to practice. Sounds good. I was planning on using his amp anyway, might as use his whole kit. Good rationalization. Good thought, actually. Makes sense.

They say they have Wi-Fi on the train now, be interesting to see if I can connect. Doesn't matter much, I'll still post tomorrow after I arrive. Plenty of opportunity to write on the train, done it many times, opportunities to take pictures too as I've done in the past. The guy with the camera taking pictures? Of what? People on the train? Difficult in such close quarters, but there are stations where we stop and you can get off. Night lights, people running in the rain. Ten minutes. Click, click. Snow in the morning up in the mountains, I suspect. Need to call a cab pretty soon, get on track.