The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Thirty-Five

 

Chapter Thirty-Five

Keeping My Foot on the Gas

 

My RAM (random access memory)

gets more random with every passing year.

—Gullible Original

 

 

  

Somewhere along the way, I acquire a sandwich wrapped in foil inside a white, plastic grocery bag.   I have no recollection of this sandwich and can’t tell what it is.   The time when the photo was taken is during the American Airlines flight, so either it was served or I bought it en route.

There is another possibility.  I might have purchased it in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport before getting on my flight to Seattle, because I have another sandwich, too, that I bought along the way, but I have absolutely no memory of landing in D-FTW and changing planes there.   None.  I must have really been out of it.

 

Anyway, I got to Seattle, debarked, and took a hotel courtesty van to the hotel.

This bench where people wait for the hotel courtesy vans its HEATED 

Flowers outside the Coast Gateway hotel in Seattle.   Looks like impatiens and Dusty Miller.

 

My hotel, Coast Gateway, in Seattle, has a wonderful restaurant called Sharps that is right in the hotel parking lot.  They offer delicious pulled pork sandwiches and fries, and I have purchased them several times.   But, they are huge and I usually can’t finish them. 

 

 

There is also the price.   The sandwich itself is a fair price but the add-ons make it spendy.   Last year my  $16.50 pulled pork sandwich had these add-ons:  $0.82 to-go charge, $0.82 cook’s commission (like a tip to the kitchen), $1.82 sales tax, $3.30 tip, for a grand total of $23.26.    I paid with a VISA card and I’m surprised they didn’t charge extra for that.

 

This is not meant to dis Sharps.   It is a great restaurant.   But, I cannot eat the whole thing.  I have made two or three meals from it in the past.   When you consider that, the price is more than fair.

 

This year, still not feeling well and having little appetite, I picked up a boxed sandwich in some airport that cost around eight or nine dollars.  I made two meals out of it.

 

And my handy little folding scissors came to the rescue again to open the mayo package.

 

 

I went to bed in the late afternoon and slept until the next morning.   That went a long way in recovering from any jet lag.  

 

Raining in Seattle the next day when I boarded Alaska Airlines.   I always feel like I’m almost home when I reach this point in a trip.

This is what the luggage claim area in the Anchorage international airport looks like.   I have never seen this in any other airport.   There's always a gigantic scrum of people moving in  front of other people to wait for their luggage.

In Anchorage, everyone stands back three feet from the carousel.   That gives all a chance to spot their bag, and the owner steps forward to lift it off the carousel.

 

Everything went well.   I took a cab to the place where I left my truck.

 

AND THAT’S WHEN THE TROUBLE BEGAN!!!

 

My truck would not start.  The cabbie gave me a jump, which cost $20.

 

After the cab left, the truck died and wouldn’t start.   I called the cab company and another driver showed up and jumped the truck for $25.   Why the difference?   Because the first driver was right there and didn't have to travel.

I kept my foot on the accelerator to make sure it wouldn't die.   He kept telling me to let it up, but I didn't and I sat there for a long time, hoping the battery was charging enough to get me a mile down the road to Costco.