"One Step Closer." I t's kind of been our theme song for the past few weeks as we have really started to move on with the trip. We have made the first big jump and are now in Reno staying at Val's sister's house. We'll be here for about a week and then drive over to Auburn to visit my family before heading out on the 12th for Rarotonga.

We have some pretty terrific friends back in Portland that we'll miss a lot. Vera and Mike who agreed very early on to take care of the details of our lives while we're gone. Two better people you'll never meet. Doug and Barb who opened their hearts and home to welcome us when we found we needed to move out of our house sooner than expected. You guys rock! Michelle and Cate hosting a nice bon voyage. (Click here to see the photos) Everyone who attended to wish us well - Rock on Wild Women of Words). Then, we went out to the Oregon coast with our life-long friends Mark and Lisa (who are currently quasi-residents out there while their house in Portland gets remodeled). and did our final packing, organizing and prepared for our last full day in Oregon. Guys, it was way too much fun hanging out with ya'all :)

The last day was a blur. We woke up at 6:30 on the coast, drove in to Portland picking up mail in Hillsboro, ran multiple errands in downtown Portland, including cutting off cellular phone service. That's a huge string to cut. Suddenly everyone who calls us gets that ugly message 'the number you have called ... and there is NO new number!!! After that it was our final trip to the storage locker. Anything left in the car at this point has to be carried with us while we travel. A bit frightening, but also pretty freeing. After this we went back to Doug and Barb's house to drop off our packs and to try and catch some sleep. Not very successful when your mind is racing with a million details of what you think you still need to do. Finally, we started our final set of errands. Drop off locker keys at Mark and Lisa's house, bring more keys to our property manager's house, stop by the bank for a deposit and some cash, buy a thank you gift for a dear friend and finally dinner with more friends and signing over the pink slip for the Subaru. This was the last major detail we needed to do before we could leave. Since this was the first and only new car I have ever bought, it was a little sad, but that's life and it was time to move on.

After dinner we took the bus home. Very symbolic for us since we will be depending on public transportation a lot over the next year. We did stop at the Sapphire Hotel for a glass of their Chocolate Deco Port wine before actually heading home. If you're ever in Portland you should stop in and try it.

When we arrived in Reno yesterday, a local radio station announced that the band 'The Iguanas' will be doing a free benefit concert here on Saturday so we may go check it out. They are a band from New Orleans that we've seen before. Apparently the band members lost everything when Katrina, and the subsequent flooding, hit New Orleans. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon here in Reno. It will likely be a while before we see any music like this ...

Well Kathy has been joking with her friends that her 'homeless unemployed kin are town'. I guess it's nearly accurate, but we prefer to think our home is where our pack is ... let the journey begin!

Eric & Valerie