3am travel logistics rant

I am ususally very good about planning my trips, packing etc. This does not mean that this is all done in a linear and timely manner. For example: Wednesday morning I will be flying out of Minneapolis bound for NYC, I will visit with my folks for all of 2 days, go to DMV to renew my expired drivers license, pick up some winter clothes and the viola that I claim I will learn to play once I get back to Minneapolis. I spend the weekend at the Princeton Tango Festival where I will be DJing at one of the practicas. Tuesday I fly to Portland for the October Tango Fest. The following Tuesday I fly back to Minneapolis. I not sure what you would think about how the flight arrangements were mad but it happened sort of like this - mid July I found a ticket from NWK to PDX for 115USD (tax incl - US Airways) so I snatched it up, though it requires 8 hours of airtime and a 1.5 hour layover in PHX. Late August I Realized that I still did not figure out how I was going to get to NY to DJ at Princeton so after a few hours of research I found an Airtran flight from MSP via MKE to LGA for $89 on Airtran. I delayed getting a return flight for probably a bit too long becuase i wan not sure if I am going to be resuming the "Monday, Tuesday in Chicago every week" hustle after Portland so didnt know where I should fly to, nor what day I could fly. So i just got my PDX to MSP tix 166USD us airways again. I had been telling people over the last couple of days that if i did not find flights under 150USD then I would take the train becuset the train is 150. But then I realized that the train take about 2.5 days and I would end up spending a lot more than the $10 on food.
So you're asking: "Great, so what is the problem?" well I realized that Portland in just a week away and I have not even begun looking for a place to stay. this is bad, so many dancers go to Portland so competition for couchspace is fierce.
Also, I am trying to decide what to do with the stuff I have here. I would like to leave it here since I will be back in 2 weeks. but where?