Forgetting about the time change we found ourselves at the border crossing at 5 am instead of 6 am as planned. The border crossing was surprisingly easy, after hearing so many horror stories we were prepared for the worst. We then decided that Portland would be our destination for the evening and called up Rob?s great aunt and uncle to see if they were up for a last minute visit; we ended up being invited to the diner party that they were hosting that evening.

The neighbours that taunte Betty and Om Bob were having over for diner were two very interesting couples- we chatted, debated, discussed so many interesting things, mostly around energy and politics. Rob had a very captive audience keen to hear his perspectives on world fossil energy supply, renewable energy, politics, and conspiracy theories. Overall it was a fun evening and we made some great contacts- one neighbour was on the board of the Oregon Energy Trust, an organization dedicated to funding clean and renewable energy projects in that State.

Another highlight of the evening was the opportunity to view the lunar eclipse and the planet Saturn through a telescope. It was surreal to actually be able to see the rings around the planet.