"riverman" wrote in message
...
Since the clave is officially underway with 8 of the attendees already in
the north slaying the fish, and I'm willing to bet that no one up there
has
any internet access, I'll post a pretrip report from Umea as I wait for
the
arrival of Vaughan from Kuala Lumpur. I'm also way out of whack with the
time zone, so this will pass some time until the breakfast buffet opens
here
at the hotel.


I flew here from Phoenix over the past two days. Excellent series of
flights; my first flight flew right over the Grand Canyon through clear
skies...I could see all my favorite rapids and identify all the river
camps.
Gave me a real wistful feeling, which was enhanced by my emotions of
having
just spent a few weeks back in the US for the first time in a decade. I
did
some work on my house, saw some very dear friends, got that warm fuzzy
feeling of being 'back among buds', I got to spend a few hours visiting
with
my stepmom and nephew at SeaTac, and was seated between two absolutely
stunning 20-something beauties for the flight over Greenland from Seattle
to
Amsterdam, and really enjoyed the sights and smells.


Human rights and security comments (a bit naive but justified) snipped....


From Umea, the top of the world, and on my way to breakfast...
--riverman



Intuitive PTR, looking forward to the TR when you return

Mike