Around the States in 30 Days (Part One -- Olympia to Portland)

I'm back! Where have I been? EVERYWHERE!

To say "I've been busy" since I last updated this blog would be a major understatement, but here are some of the highlights of the past seven months:

-First, on the health front -- almost immediately after I wrote my last entry, I "fired" my oncologist, and moved on to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. I didn't hate my former oncologist, but I wasn't comfortable with some of his decisions (and really didn't care for his reaction to my "second opinion" at SCCA). So I decided to switch docs. I'm happy with my decision. It's a nice change of pace having a woman oncologist; plus, SCCA has a great reputation, so I feel much more confident under their care.

My treatment plan remains the same. Actually, on that note...

I just started a new journal at CaringBridge, and from this point on, I'll be posting my health updates there. To be honest, I prefer CaringBridge to Blogger (I especially like my page there, which is all pretty and sunflower-y). However, their site is specifically set up for those of us with health issues; and I feel kind of funny using their space for random posts (even though it's probably just fine). So from now on (at least on those very rare occasions when I actually have time and motivation to "blog") CaringBridge will be my "cancer journal", and Auntie Tammy's Naked here will be used whenever I feel like writing about my other life experiences! (I guess that makes this blog title even weirder, but oh well.) You can find a link to my CaringBridge page over in my sidebar.

-Meanwhile, speaking of "other life experiences" ... on April 11th, I got married! Someday, I really need to write about it in detail. But for now, I'll just say that I was lucky enough to marry my best friend -- and our wedding day was honestly the best day I've ever had. Many of our family members and friends were in attendance (one of our favorite bands played the reception). Cheesy as it might sound, we were surrounded by love that day. I don't think we could have asked for a nicer wedding, and I'm extremely grateful to everyone who helped us put it together! Since then, Merwyn and I have been enjoying married life ... it's similar to our pre-married life, yet there's something just a little bit different and special about being "husband and wife." I can't quite put it into words, but it's definitely a good feeling!

-From May 14th through May 29th, my new husband and I were busy honeymooning ... in Europe! Not just in Europe, but in Norway!!! Some of you who know me may know about my fondness for Norway (and Scandinavia in general; I sometimes host an all-Scandinavian-music radio show). I never thought I'd make it over there so soon, but thanks to my loving parents (all four of them) and some generous wedding gifts, we were able to enjoy about five days in Norway, plus several days in the Netherlands and Sweden, and an overnight stay in Copenhagen. Talk about a dream honeymoon! It was a fantastic experience. Norway was as beautiful as I expected, but each of the other countries was lovely in its own right.

That trip, like my wedding, deserves its own detailed post, and one of these days, I hope to write one. Until then -- some of the many, many high points of our honeymoon included: wandering around Amsterdam; meeting some new friends both there and in Friesland (about two hours north of Amsterdam), all four of whom were kind enough to give us tours of their area; hanging out with Julian Berntzen (one of my other favorite musicians) in Bergen (he gave us a private concert in his studio!); riding the train across Norway and Sweden; and meeting and spending time with my Merwyn's family (who are WONDERFUL) in the little village of Tuna, Sweden. Plus lots, lots more.

There was one bad point in the trip -- some weirdo in Bergen stole my camera (we're pretty sure it was the waiter at this restaurant we went to on our first night there; he was the only one in our vicinity when it disappeared) so I lost about three days' worth of pictures. That was sad, and frustrating. But it could have been worse. And other than the camera theft, everything else about our honeymoon was perfect. I can't wait to go back overseas whenever we're able. I have a long list of places to travel to, and Scandinavia is VERY high up there on the list.

-Which brings me to the actual title of this blog post. My travels this year didn't end in Europe. Quite the contrary! This past September, I spent virtually the entire month traveling across the United States, mostly by train. Many people have asked me why I did so; the simple answer is, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. (Particularly since last year, when Merwyn and I incorporated the train into our Southwestern vacation.) My first-ever out-of-state trip -- back when I was 11 -- was via Amtrak (from Tacoma, WA to Disneyland) and I've had a passion for rail travel ever since.

In fact, immediately after the doctor told me I had mets, one of my first thoughts was it's time to take that train trip (though I "had" to postpone it for awhile, to travel to Florida, Dallas, and Europe. I know -- bummer, right?) So I spent this summer planning my itinerary ... and at the end of August, I finally hit the road!

This time, rather than just intending to blog about my trip, I'm going to make an attempt to (*gasp*) actually DO so. It was another incredible journey. I'm not sure my words will do it justice. In the span of four weeks, I managed to see about 30 states. I met an incredible array of people from all walks of life; I slept in everywhere from a closet-sized train "roomette", to a hip Brooklyn apartment, to a gorgeous Southern mansion. I posed in the Chelsea Hotel, heard a lost Elvis song, attended a beautiful memorial for a woman I never did get to meet (nevertheless, she touched my life, and countless others). I wandered into the South Bronx by mistake, and narrowly missed the Atlanta floods. I saw the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument and Lake Michigan and the church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach. I was able to catch up with some old friends, and meet many new ones. And I spent some time with family as well as with several of my "survivor sisters." Seriously, when I think about everything I packed into those four weeks, it blows my mind.

Some of these experiences, I'd like to keep private for now; others, I'll write about in more detail. In short, though, if you've ever thought of a cross-country trip, I HIGHLY recommend it! (I hope this record of my trip might inspire you to plan one of your own.)

And now that I'm done with the world's longest blog intro, let me begin with ...

States #1-2 -- Washington and Oregon

Though my first train didn't leave until August 31st, my trip officially began on the 30th -- which happened to be my parents' 36th anniversary. It actually made for a fitting tribute to my folks, who in fact met on a Greyhound bus (and got married nine days later; beat THAT for a "couples meeting" story!).

My original itinerary called for me to take the Greyhound from Olympia to Portland. However, when my mother-in-law, Kathleen, heard about my plans, she and my father-in-law (George) got in touch with their good friends Sally and Bill, who live in nearby Aloha, OR (and who nicely agreed to let me crash at their place the night before my train took off). Kathleen said she and George would drive me down, and suggested a get-together and everything. I don't mind Greyhound, but I thought a road trip, dinner, and a chance to properly say goodbye to Merwyn and his parents sounded much nicer than a bus ride. So I readily agreed to the change of plans.

By the way, you've undoubtedly figured out by now that Merwyn was not able to come with me on this trip. Both of us would have LOVED if he could have come along, but sadly, he wasn't able to take the time off work. (As far as my own work goes, my "main" job is very flexible; I was even able to take my work with me, which helped a lot, income-wise. I did have to take time off from my "on-call" job -- I can't very well be on the radio long-distance -- though, fortunately, my bosses at the station seemed okay with this.)

It was really nice to be able to share at least the first leg of my trip with Merwyn and his parents. We left Olympia Sunday afternoon. I was supposed to do my radio show that morning, but didn't get much sleep the night before, so Merwyn played host on that week's Think Tank. He came home shortly after noon and made lunch; meanwhile, I had to say goodbye to Katie (my poor little Yorkie, who I think suspected something was "up", though she probably had no idea I was about to abandon her for a month). Then George and Kathleen picked us up, and we were on our way!

The ride from Olympia to Portland -- while nothing new in terms of sightseeing -- was a pleasant one. It's usually about a 3-hour drive, and we made good time (we made just one stop, at a rest station outside of Vancouver. I got a coffee and a peanut-butter cookie).

Actually, I take that back about the sightseeing. The route itself may have been familiar -- however, the Fabulous Thunderbirds air show was going on that afternoon, so on the way down, we were treated several times to the sight of planes beautifully swooping around, doing tricks in the sky. Which, I have to say, was pretty cool!

We made it to Aloha,OR around 4 PM-ish. I got to meet Sally and Bill for the first time, and felt comfortable with them right away. I also met their pets (the first of many pets I met along my route). They have a HUGE -- but mellow -- black dog named Hudson, and two Siamese Manx cats. (The Manxes made me think me of my sister, Missy.) One of the cats is full grown; the other is a mischievous little blue-eyed kitten (about 4 months old at the time) named Sammy, who spent most of the get-together inside, but kept me company a lot later that evening.

Sally and Bill have a lovely home, with an especially nice backyard (complete with a fish pond). The weather was favorable -- not too hot, not too cold -- so we spent the first couple of hours hanging out, chatting and enjoying some drinks and hors dourves, in their backyard.

Eventually, we were joined by Bill's family. I unexpectedly made a new friend in Bill's little nephew. While I like children and tend to get along with them well enough, I'm generally not the one that kids flock to in a crowd; however, my whole trip was an exception. Just about every kid I met along the way seemed to love me (perhaps because I was a houseguest, and therefore, a novelty? I don't know, but they were all adorable, and all in that especially fun age level -- around 1-5 -- so I got a kick out of it!) Anyway, Bill's nephew was the first kid to take a liking to me. He led me all around the yard -- and part of the house -- on a "color search"; first we had to point out everything red (his "favorite color") in sight, then everything green, then everything brown, etc.

Around 6:30 or 7, it was time for dinner. Sally, Kathleen, and Bill's sister-in-law spent a lot of time putting the food together, and they did a wonderful job. What a feast!! Two different kinds of salmon, potato salad, fruit -- and for dessert, a yummy vanilla cake with chocolate frosting!

(I'll write a lot more about food in future entries of this blog. Basically, there were a few periods during my trip where I managed to maintain my healthy eating habits; and there were many other points where I broke just about every "food rule" I have. However, throughout the four weeks, the topic of natural, healthy foods -- and alternative medicine -- came up so often, from so many different people, that I had to wonder if it was some kind of "sign." It was one of many recurring "themes" throughout my trip. Again, I'll have more to say about this later on.)

As for that night's meal, I guess it fell somewhere in the middle of the "health" scale. Healthy or not, it tasted GREAT!

Unfortunately, shortly after the meal, it was time to bid farewell to Merwyn, Kathleen, and George. It was getting pretty late, and they still had a 3-hour drive ahead of them. Saying goodbye was sad -- it felt really weird to know I wouldn't see my husband for a month -- but easier than I expected it to be. What can I say ... my excitement for the trip was building (and I knew that we would be in touch a lot)!

Bill's family left at the same time as Merwyn and his parents. So for the rest of the night, it was just me, Sally, Bill, and the pets. We had a quiet, relaxing evening. I spent an hour or two watching some TV and talking with Sally. I also got to watch the animals interact, which proved to be rather entertaining. The two cats don't get along so well, but it turns out that Hudson and Sammy are buddies. I have to tell you, there's nothing quite like watching a little kitten interact with a big black dog about 50 times its size. Sammy would follow him around, batting at him, and Hudson didn't so much as curl his lip! They reminded me of our old family pets, George and Chester (another dog/cat odd couple).

After Sally and Bill went to bed, I read for awhile. Sammy hung out with me during this time; he even curled up in my elbow and did "happy paws." (It almost made me want a cat.) Eventually, I started to get tired myself, so I let Sammy out to have the run of the house -- then turned out the lights in my room-for-the-night, and had a good night's sleep...

When I woke up the next morning, Sally was already at work, and Bill was (I think) running errands. I ate an oh-so-healthy breakfast of leftover cake, then got ready for the day ahead. In just a few hours, I would board the Empire Builder (the first of several trains, and my longest rail trip, at almost 48 hours). However, there were still a few things left to do before I left Oregon for Milwaukee.

First on the list -- before I "officially" left Portland, I had to go across the bridge to Vancouver ... then turn around and go right back to Portland! Talk about backtracking! Long story short, it was time to refill my Femara prescription -- and my insurance wouldn't cover it outside of the state of Washington. This was a bit of a pain, however, Bill did me a huge favor and VERY nicely drove me to the Walgreen's in Vancouver so I could pick up my pills.

After that little side trip, Bill drove me back to downtown PDX and dropped me off near Union Station, in front of a funky vegan restaurant/yoga place. I still had a few hours before my train took off, but I had plans to meet with my "survivor sister" Kim for lunch. She's one of the many girls I met along the route from YSC (the Young Survivor Coalition), my online support group.

Many of the YSC girls, I would be meeting for the first time ... but Kim and I had already met a few times. We'd had lunch in Olympia several months earlier, and met at the YSC conference in Dallas last February. We've also been in touch via email. I don't get to talk to her as much as I'd like, but always enjoy when we connect. She's really a sweetheart -- gorgeous, too, but even more beautiful and kind underneath. We had a great lunch. She's been through a lot this year, but seemed to be doing very well. We had a chance to catch up on health stuff, and talk a little about books and travel. Kim had her own trip coming up in a few days - and she also seemed genuinely excited for me about my upcoming plans, which made me even more excited!

As for the food, I don't remember exactly what I had. Some kind of vegetable pasta. The portion was huge, and I do remember that it was quite tasty! When we were finished with lunch, Kim gave me a ride to Union Station. She took some pictures and wished me well, then left to go back to work.

I'd already had a great stay in Portland, but now it was almost time for the heart and soul of my trip -- THE TRAIN! This would be my first solo train adventure ... and my first time in a roomette! I could hardly wait to board.

Actually, I wouldn't get my roomette 'til we hit Spokane; before that, I would be in a "lower level" coach seat (for some reason, doing it this way made the trip about $300 cheaper). But I didn't mind this at all. I even got to hang out in the "VIP lounge" in Union Station, despite the fact that for the first eight hours, I was a mere coach patron. The "lower level" turned out to be MUCH quieter than upstairs, and I met some characters down there. Including a guy who ... offered me methadone. (Weirdly enough, this didn't creep me out. I'll tell you more about it, and him, in my next entry.)

Overall, the Empire Builder would take me through seven states, five of them brand-new to me. For the most part, I genuinely enjoyed all of my train rides (especially compared to my flights), but something about the Empire Builder made it stand out, and it remains my favorite of each of the routes.

Coming up in my next post, I'll write all about that, plus I'll tell you about my lovely stay in Milwaukee, WI with my friend Kait and her family ... which I enjoyed so much, I ended up staying an extra day (if you haven't seen Lake Michigan yet, you must make a point to see it. It's BEAUTIFUL!)