An unexpected going away gift - from Komatsu

Before we left Oregon, on the 22nd of May, we had to swing back up through Hillsboro so I could say a final goodbye to some of my fellow workers from Komatsu Silicon.

Of course we started off the day running about 1 1/2 hours behind schedule because...

I lost the keys!

Not just anywhere, mind you. They were safely stashed just under one of the bags right there with all the rest of our stuff. So after going through every single bag twice, then checking over my Dad's place twice, and then pouring over every inch of the truck... TWICE, Christy simply lifted one of our bags and discovered the keys sitting right there.

OK, back to the story. We're running late to Komatsu to say goodbye, and we're super late when we finally show up.

Komatsu is having this big sales meeting, so I'm planning to just slink in real quietly, and say goodbye to a few friends.

But they had other ideas.

They stop the entire sales meeting, and have our entire family stand up at the front of the room, and they present us with a bunch of sweet camping and travel gifts, as a goodbye gift for me.

Bungee cords, pens and journals, and Swedish fish (which were super tasty, and are already gone - I might add).

Most amazingly, they gave us a KILLER Garmin GPS unit for our trip. This thing is absolutely cool. I would have never even considered buying something like it. It was a total shock, and really, really nice. Here it is in action...


Garmin GPS

Although Miss GPS and I don't always agree on directions, this has been an absolutely helpful tool for our trip. It knows exactly where we are, sometimes when we don't have the slightest clue. And it can tell you where to find almost anything you might need... like food, shopping, gas, camping, etc. For the road, this GPS gets my top vote.

Al