The ladies group decided to invite my darling wife and yours truly out for a special meal before we head north. A few guys managed to get included and a fun time was had by all. Unfortunately, several left before we had the idea of taking a group photo... Time is winding down as we get all kinds of details taken care of and in order.

In a little over a week we'll be hitting the middle of the U.S. for a few weeks. We'll be in parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, California, Oregon and Washington as well as probably being in parts of Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are on the "perhaps, we'll have to see" list. Anyway, as we travel we like to stop by and say "Howdy!" to folks as a way of enlivening the trip and also to finally put a human face and voice to the internet "handle" that we've known over the years. If you're in one of the above mentioned states and would like us to try and stop by as we pass through to share a cup of coffee, tell you first hand about life in the NW corner of S. America or just shake hands, drop me a note with a phone number and town and we'll see if we can swing through at some point or other as we travel through.