On the road ...

They warn you not to lock your knees as you stand at attention as a groomsman at a wedding. You could pass out. Ruin the ceremony. Hit your head on a Bible. Not good for anybody. So that was all I could think about as my good pal from high school exchanged vows with his girlfriend of six years, his high school sweetheart. I shifted to the right. To the left. I felt like I was performing a dance up there.

Fortunately, I'm guessing nobody was looking at me. After all, the bridesmaides were very pretty, and the bride herself was, you know, striking.

So after three days of non-stop wedding-party participation, which saw me decorating a hall for the first time since junior prom, I've moved back into travel mode.

Right now, I'm all packed up, waiting for Mom to get out of the shower and pack so we can get on the road from Pendleton to Portland. We'll stay at a motel near the airport tonight, and I'll check in with Northwest Airlines some time between eight and nine in the morning. Flight takes off after noon, touches down in Tokyo a day later at 4 p.m., and then it's all up in the air.

Will I get lost in Shinjuku, said to be once of the busiest transportation stations on earth? Will my giant Jansport backpack hold together? There's no telling.

But that's the fun of it.