Scott is somewhere out in the Pacific, though there is a bit of a discrepancy; the blog puts him at 175W while the Pacific Seafarer's Net roll call sheet has him at 175E (http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/pacseanet.php, Scott's call sign is KF7AJX). Regardless, he should be around 500 miles out of Auckland. The Pacific Seafarer's net is a radio net to provide support and assistance to boats at sea. Scott, and a dozen other boats in the Pacific, calls every day to give position, course, sea state, and wind direction/speed reports. The net uses this weather information to inform other boats and forecasters throughout the Pacific and in return keeps tabs on the boats at sea. If a boat isn't heard from over some period of time, the net will initiate a "search" or if a boat experiences trouble at sea, the net can contact vessels in the vicinity to aid the boat in distress. In short, it makes me feel better for having abandoned my husband.

Scott's intended course is to head east to longitude 155-150W to take advantage of the prevailing westerlies, at which point he will turn north and sail all the way from latitude 38S, passing Tahiti and Hawaii, to 40N where he will turn east, heading into the Straits of Juan de Fuca.....hopefully. Depending on where the Pacific high pressure is sitting he could end up anywhere between Alaska and SF, but that's close enough. He'll only stop if he needs provisions (can't imagine he will -- the boat is packed with food) or repairs, which is much more likely.

As for the rest of the Whisper crew, we arrived in the US last Saturday, the same day and 7 hours earlier than we left. Crazy when you travel east AND cross the date-line. It was difficult to get the kids off the airplane because it was such a nice flight - the boys were debating whether Quantas was better than Air New Zealand. Lots of room, their own television and as much food as they wanted. Finn kept referring to the snack bag as the "goody-bag", probably because it resembled what he might get at a birthday party -- a cute little bag filled with chips, cookies, mints and a candy bar (Whittaker's no less). They were in heaven.

We flew into LA and within 24 hours had experienced much of what we missed and alot of what we didn't -- PB&J sandwiches, Cheetos, Costco, driving on the right side of the street, Trader Joes, baseball in the park, trampoline, a movie in a theater, Costplus, 6-lane freeways, Play-Station, strip mall after strip mall after strip mall, lightening speed internet, lots of land and even more people.

We are now in Bakerfield visiting Scott's mom and her husband at Amberhill Farm and completing our re-entry into American life -- McDonald's, Fox news, organic food, Rush Limbaugh, acres of vegetables, target practice, acres and acres of uninhabited land (America's a big place), the cereal aisle (more choices than all the countries we visited combined), good Mexican food, Calvin and Hobbes. I'm sure this is only the beginning.

Anyhow, we are home safe and sound, enjoying the company of missed family and friends. Hope to see you all soon.