And so it begins...: Day 133

October 19, 2017 Day 133

I was so comfortable and warm in my brand new zero degree sleeping bag that I didn't want to get up this morning. I felt really tired also and it didn't help that it was raining outside. Sometime after 08:00, I dragged myself out of bed and stepped out into the rain with a small bag full of clothes, toothbrush and soap that I took with me to the restroom/shower area. I just washed my face and did not shower today for my hair was still decent from yesterday. I walked back to my camper in my new boots and went to the office to see if I could stay another night. Thankfully I could and after I paid an additional $35.00 I made my first Shakeology shake and got in my vehicle.

I decided that today I would try and drive myself into downtown Portland and park instead of paying Lyft or Uber another $15.00 each way. The drive took some time for it was going on 10:00 and the traffic was still pretty crazy. When I reached the Lan Su Chinese Garden I parallel parked and paid $4.00 for two hours. Since I didn't want to go to the gardens just yet I walked down the street in the pouring rain to Voodoo Doughnut. There I ordered the: Memphis Mafia (fried doughnut with banana chunks and cinnamon covered in glaze, drizzled in chocolate and peanut butter with peanuts and chocolate chips), Dirty Snowball (chocolate cake doughnut with pink marsh-mellow topping and dipped in coconut, with a dollop of peanut butter), and the lemon chiffon crueller (french crueller with vanilla frosting, lemon dust and three marsh-mellows). When I left and was walking back to my vehicle a young homeless man came up to me and asked for a doughnut but I said sorry and just kept walking. I never really know what the appropriate response or action is.

In my vehicle I ate the lemon chiffon and the dirty snowball which I did not like though the lemon chiffon was delicious. I then called my mom to tell her I was staying an additional night so I can plan out my trip some more. I then was able to pay for an additional two hours at 11:00 so that I could be at the gardens until 13:00. All in all I paid $8.00 for parking versus $30.00 for a cab back and forth.

The Lan Su Chinese Gardens were pretty and with it raining outside it put a new look and feel to everything. Though it was small it is amazing this oasis exists in the center of downtown Portland. I truly liked how all the walkways were made out of little stones and moss. I would like to have something similar at my own place one day. I learned that everything but the plants were brought over from China. Per a gentlemen's suggestion, who worked there and had begun talking with me, I joined a tour for about five minutes and then vanished for I could barely hear the woman and I wanted to have tea and do calligraphy. Turns out the calligraphy entailed just watching someone so I didn't stay. I did sit down by myself and ordered some Jasmine pearls tea which are tea leaves rolled into pearls and then heated with jasmine flowers giving a flavor profile of roasted chestnut and wild honey aroma with a delicate, lingering honeysuckle sweetness. It was so good I had to spend the money and buy some for its the best tea I have had so far in my life.

Leaving the Lan Su Gardens I drove back to the RV park to pick up my shopping list and drove into Washington to shop at a Trader Joe's. From there I went to a Walmart to acquire containers, a steamer and a few other things. It's still raining by the way. Finally, back at my camper for good I began prepping for my meal prep not really knowing what I was doing. Since it was raining my cmaper was leaking so I went about putting out containers to collect all the water. Then my one burner on my coleman stove was creating huge flames instead of the low burn so I had to finish boiling my eggs before looking into that. As my eggs boiled, which took about twenty minutes, I began making hte mango-lime dressing only to find out the mango I bought was not a good one. I salvaged what I could of the mango, then realized I also needed a blender so since I do not have one I just tried to cut it up as best as I could and the dressing will just not be smooth but clumpy.

With the eggs done, I found the cause to the burner issue to be a web of sorts in the burner so I removed that using a Q-tip and it worked. While I cooked up the chicken in my frying pan I also cooked quinoa in my pot. Then I divided that into three containers with one serving each of protein and a carb. From there I cooked up the steak flank and steamed some broccoli. Note that during all of this I do not have a "sink" so I am catching rain water with my dispenser and rinsing my pot and pan between each meal using some soap for a quick clean. To also conserve my water I took the water that I used to boil the eggs to cook the quinoa with. When the stead was done cooking I let it sit and put 1.5 cups of kale in three containers and .5 cup of shredded carrots in there also. With the steak chilled and cut up I added one serving to each salad. I then took one serving of steamed broccoli and added that to the containers of chicken and quinoa. Then I sauteed up all the spinach I bought to go in a separate container for an extra serving of vegetables.

Cooking and cleaning took me from about 15:45 to 19:00 to do and I was wet and freezing cold by the end of it all. I spent $65.00 on food for a week though a portion of that went to provisions that would keep longer such as: black beans (canned), tuna (canned), brown rice, quinoa, peanut butter, almond butter, bread and kidney beans. After everything was cleaned and somewhat dry I desperately wanted a hot shower to warm up. It was now dark outside and I drove to throw away a bag of garbage and recycle all my boxes. Then I went into the showers and filled up all my water bottles in the sink and washed my shaker cup. Finally, it was time for a hot shower and I stood under the boiling hot spray for an eternity and could have stayed longer but I was tired.

In my camper, it was around 20:00, I couldn't use my computer for there has been no sun to power my battery. Also, for some reason some of the workout programs wont load so I will have to call tomorrow. In the meantime, I devoured and savored every single morsel of the memphis mafia doughnut for lunch and dinner. With that gone I wrote in my journal while texting some of my friends and my little brother. Then I crawled into my sleeping bag to finally find some warmth among-st this cold, wet day.