DEPARTURE TONIGHT FROM K.C.

After a week of visiting friends and family in the Kansas City area, I leave tonight on my great westward journey.  My flight from MCI to LAX departs just before 8pm and after a few hours in that airport, I board a China Airlines plane bound for Taipei which lands just after 6am tomorrow morning local time.  My next flight takes me to Bangkok (with a stopover in Hong Kong), arriving around 1:30pm Thursday afternoon and I make the 70-minute hop to Phuket shortly after that.  If all goes well, I should have retreived my checked bag and found Tim waiting for me sometime before 6:30 in the evening.  She recently told me that "at airport, I not shy" so I have a very nice greeting to look forward to.  We plan to spend my first night on Phuket at her tiny apartment in Kathu before moving over to a bungalow she found where we'll stay while we search for our house.

The past week has kept me very busy visiting with people and seeing the sites of Kansas City.  I've taken many photos of "ordinary" things that I believe Tim will find fascinating.  A major theme of my time here has been one of eating.  We've eaten at so many great restaurants and had some nice meals at both my sister's and my dad's homes that I'm going to have to diet as soon as I reach Thailand.  I told Tim that I'd be fat when I got there and she said, "I like you fat."

I've really enjoyed spending some quality time with my sister Marilyn, brother-in-law Keith, nephew Spencer, step-mom Lyn, and Dad.  I've also had fun with friends such as Bryan, Melissa, and Bob.  I'm going to miss everybody but I really look forward to beginning my new life on Phuket and, eventually, to hosting visitors from the States.