As you can imagine, we have had a busy last week in Portland. Here we are with just 2 1/2 more days before leaving Portland on a plane for the first leg of our trip (Tokyo and then on to Bangkok). We’ve been trying to make the most of our time here by visiting with friends for the last couple of days. Here’s what we have been up to………

A few weeks ago, we were asked by Donovan at Bootsnall.com to agree to be interviewed by Fox News, Channel 12 to talk about our upcoming trip, our web log and our connection to Bootsnall.com (BNA). The interview went great and the reporter shot footage for almost two hours in our house! The reporter interviewed both Matt and I as well as Sean with BNA. Our segment came on the air last evening, during the evening news. Here’s a screen picture of us on tv that kind of shows what we looked like. It was really fun to do and we hope that it raises the number of hits to the Bootsnall.com site! For those of you in NY, a videotape of the segment is on its way via US Mail.

For the past four years, a group of our friends in Portland have taken a weekend camping trip out along the Clackamas River. This weekend, we went to Harriet Lake. It was a great trip, the little Lake was a good place to paddle our boats, there was good fishing, (especially for Sean B. who caught a 14 inch brown trout), good food and great stories around the campfire.

Our friends surprised us with a prepaid phonecard and a gift of Thai currency (Baht) which will be used for a nice dinner during our first days in Bangkok. They also gave us a small photo collage of themselves and Portland which we’ll be taking with us to remind us of home. THANKS everyone for thinking of us and giving us such a thoughtful and useful gift!

Yesterday we went to Edgefield with Mike, Julie and Olivia for a round of golf and beers and burgers. Tonight we’ll head over to the Hedge House for a last hurrah and toast with everyone. Tomorrow, we'll have dinner with our friend Joan and then watch the Amazing Race with a group of friends. Then we'll probably be awake for most of the night....

On Wednesday, we’ll be heading to the airport in true Portland style using the Max light rail.

That's it for now, hopefully, next time we'll be posting from Thailand.......