After getting spectacularly lost on my way from home to the Heathrow Holiday Inn, I only managed two and a half hours of sleep before getting up to catch the 04:40 transfer bus to the airport. Predictably I arrived with loads of time to spare so I sat outside and drank a pint of strong black coffee and enjoyed my last view of drizzly London for a few weeks.
I forgot to pack a book for the journey so while I was in the departure lounge I bought paperback copies of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything and Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.
When we boarded I found myself sitting next to a sweet American called Gracie who was on her way home after a few weeks in England. She noticed that I was tall and volunteered to swap seats so that I could stretch my legs out in the aisle. We chatted for a few minutes while the plane taxied and she told me a little about herself. She was originally from the east coast but moved to Oregon when she got married. There is, as she sees it, a distinct cultural and political divide between the coastal west and inland east of Oregon. Portland is in west Oregon and is typically considered to be 'liberal' (virtually a swear word for most Americans) and secular. In contrast rural east Oregon is conservative and populated by good god-fearing types. Like Gracie.
Needless to say, things got a little frosty when I pulled out the Richard Dawkins...
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