Last minute preparations...

Things got real busy the last few days, both at work and at home. Lots of crises, mostly related to the ever-shrinking free time left. We've thought we'd try to acclimate to the time change by going to bed early each night and get up early each morning.

HA!

We pushed midnight each night, then woke up early thinking about 27 things we needed to add to our various lists. Annie has a scratchy throat, Rollie has a headache, and we're already looking jet-lagged. Oh well- adventures require sacrifice.

We nearly averted a real problem while sorting all the various items into an accordian file.
Annie noticed that our Rail Europe Pass covered us for Germany, Italy France and Austria per the guidance they gave us as we planned our trip. Then we noticed that our tickets take us through Germany, Italy, France and...

Switzerland?

Oops. A few frantic phone calls and a UPS next day envelope later, all is well, and, so far as we know, we won't be kicked off the train at any high Alps border crossing, trying to sell our iPods for a ticket home.



It has been a GORGEOUS evening; the kind in Portland that make you wonder why you're leaving. As we dashed about for the last minute crossing of items off lists (visions of Lewis and Clark's lists of provisions, penned in delicate script on faded brown paper, in our heads: Blankets - 30; Beads for gifts - 50 lbs.; Lead for shot - 200 lbs), we looked out the window to see our riverfront alive with rowers and kayakers, and wished, for a moment, we could zip around on our Zodiac.

It's 9:40 PM right now, and we're actually close to ready for bed. The alarm goes off at 3 AM, the taxi arrives at 4 AM. Coffee's in a thermos, wish us luck sleeping...