Tom's Travels

On Tuesday, March 20 I left for Spain arriving in Madrid on Wednesday. We took a bus about 3 hours South West to the historic town of Caceres in the province of Extramadura. The conference was held on Thursday and Friday. It was opened by Prince Felipe of Asturias. I spoke on the role of infrastructure, especially information and communication technology on rural development. On Friday evening we were treated to an evening of entertainment by the town of Caceres. On Saturday we were taken on a tour of innovative rural development projects in the area. I returned to Madrid Saturday evening and flew home on Sunday.

I got the call that Amy was going into labor on Saturday March 17. I got up early Sunday and drove to Urbana to see William Henry Wagoner Johnson. We spent much of Sunday at the hospital. On Monday Amy came home with Will, and I left for Missouri.

On Monday I flew up to Montreal to take part in a meeting of the Collaborative Communities Project with several Canadian colleagues. We met on the campus of McGill University on Tuesday and Wednesday. I returned on Wednesday evening.