After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel, and I left Jayne there with the luggage while I walked over to the Avis outlet a few blocks away to pick up our rental car. I told her I'd be back in 15, 20 minutes tops, and she said, "Well, there might be a line."
Which there was. There was also only one man at the desk, and after doing the paperwork for each rental, he left the desk, took the elevator up to an upper level of the garage and drove each car down to street level. (I rented a car at the same place last year and had to drive it down a ten-story ramp myself.) I ended up standing in line for three hours. Apparently the other rental companies in Portland were all out of cars and were sending people to Avis, but everyone in line around me -- we all got to know each other quite well -- had a reservation, for all the good it did us. Also, apparently, in the year since I was there, this Avis has become notorious for long waits and bad service. Most of us just felt sorry for the poor man who was working his ass off trying to get us our cars, and except for one shrieking woman, everyone was very relaxed and remarkably patient.
So it wasn't the relaxing drive out to the coast we had planned. I was tired. My broken foot ached from standing on it for so long. I was on the verge of being grumpy. Then we made the turn south onto 101 and pulled into this overlook.
My beautiful Pacific coast. It definitely feels like coming home.
No comments:
Post a Comment