The Journey Begins

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."  ~John Denver


First Leg Complete!!  Yup, I'm in Vancouver, BC now.  Eeeee!!

I had a lovely send off with lots of friends coming and going to say goodbye and have fun (of course!) and be safe (if i must) and take lots of pictures (um...).  Didn't finish loading the car until about 2pm the next day and I wasn't sure I could do it but I donated and crammed and donated and crammed and voila!

Had to run a few quick errands in town then we were on our way! Well...on our way to Lynnwood to drop off the bulk of my orchids to my coworker cause there's no way they were gonna fit and survive the trip :(  But I did manage to squirrel away the few I just couldn't part with and now they adorn my car like a little baby jungle and help keep me company on the road.  And they were very understanding when I had to hide them on the floor by my feet while I crossed the border!  (no missus border guard, I am not smuggling orchids into Canada...you see, my car is american soil and I swear they will not attempt to escape.  In fact, I'm only showing you my passport because I *do* intend to exit my car.)

But of course I had to leave them behind to be sent to meet me in Montana on my return to the US.  ahem

Anyway, first stop was in Bellingham to visit a very dear friend and her co-demon spawn creator (husband) and to give Mischief a break to stretch her legs.

And then of course, this:

Then we were off to the first official stop on the journey.  For those of you following along, I'm now at #1 on the map.  

updated version here: 

https://roadtrippers.com/map?a2=t%217413559&lat=41.29432&lng=-98.06396&utm_campaign=trip&utm_medium=share&utm_source=copy&z=5

I will be staying here for a couple days to celebrate my birthday August 25th, see below for gift ideas ;) And then I'll be off to stop #2 to see +Paul Howard and +Kathleen Milks 

And now I need to shift gears real quick.  Some of you may know that I run marathons to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Well I am currently training looking forward to and raising money for the New York Marathon in November.  This will be my 5th full marathon and I am extremely excited but I can only do it with your help.  I'm still a long way from my goal.  (not like I've had other things going on in my life to distract me from fundraising, heh, not at all) If you happen to notice that my birthday is coming up (see above) and think "you know, it would be nice to do something meaningful in honor of Traci's birthday" please consider making a donation of any size here:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nyc15/traciasaurus

It would mean the world to me.