YUP, I finally did it. For months I've been wanting to get this thing organized. I have been nordic skiing pretty much every day to get into shape and by that I mean not the shape of a potato. Couch potato, that is.

I digress. Some time about a week ago I went onto the Air Canada site and finally bought a ticket from Timmins to Faro and back from Lisboa to Timmins. As it stands today, that departure is a week from today! Then over the course of a few days, I organized my first week of accommodations meandering from Faro toward Spain then north somewhat following the Guadiana River. In fact, this is some of the route my family followed when I was a teen and all four of us came to Portugal on the suggestion of one Mr. Harris Bernstein. The rest was history and now history in the making.

Part of the decision to go to southern Portugal was that I had been anticipating leaving in late March rather than into April. You see, the region is one of the sunniest in the world. Thinking to myself that I am not too terribly fond of riding in the rain, I believed it to be the perfect destination. So when I looked at the forecast for Faro to find rain in the forecast pretty much every day from today onward... I am hoping things change; otherwise, I'll be a few weeks in wet socks.