Hi Bill,
Just wanted to note that I managed to meet up with Mike Vena and his crew and enjoyed a couple of awesome classes with them in North Vancouver. I posted a note in the 'locate a dojo' forum, but wanted to mention it here as well.
A couple of Mike's students, John and Jason, I remember working with a couple of times during earlier visits when I attended classes led by Rob Kolenc and Kai Heinonen in Coquitlan (just outside of Vancouver).
Like many here, whenever I travel, I try to reach out and find Uechika in the areas I visit. The community and this website make it possible and consequently I've enjoyed classes all over Canada and have managed to be exposed to a variety of different, sometimes disparate interpretations and ways of teaching. It's been enlightening and fun, and I know it makes me and my students better martial artists.
One of the things I really like about Uechi is the community - lot's of different interpretations, but all sharing a common core and common goals: know the fundamentals and make it work for your purposes.
I've posted this on Van's forum as well...I really just wanted to put this out there and thank everyone for their efforts in making the Uechi community what it is.