Off we go!

We (Brenda and Cassie) have begun our journey! The general plan is an 8,000 mile+ road trip through about 34 states. For a (slightly) more detailed explanation you can check out Brenda's Blog

We both plan to keep our blogs updated thoroughout our trip as well as posting on Facebook and Instagram @cassiegi on a daily basis. (If you don't enjoy posts about travel/ happiness, now would be a good time to "unfollow")

It is currently 9:54 pm, night number two of three en route to Bellingham WA. Yesterday was a whirlwind of last minute errands and goodbyes. We stopped at daycare to give them our parting gifts (tissues for when they cry from missing us so much, a map of the U.S. so the kids can follow our journey, and the first of many postcards that we will be sending back to them). The teachers had put together a goodie bag for the ferry filled with snacks, games, coloring books, magazines, and since they know Brenda so well-- alcohol.

After daycare we headed to the Evans' house to visit for a bit. Of course they had put together a gift basket also. More snacks, games, and oh-- more alcohol (you guys know Brenda will be driving, right?) We had one more stop on the way out to the ferry terminal at Grandma Carolyn's house. 

When we got to the ferry terminal there was no time to wait for boarding, they had us drive right on  before our people got there to say goodbye. So we ended up doing quite a bit of running up and down stairs before we decided we'd just see if they'd let us back on after we hugged our friends. 

I had my camera, but in the commotion of trying to get to everyone and the slightly grumpy ticket agent I didn't get a chance to take any up close. Paul, Lindsay, Dane, Annie, Jennifer, and Taylor-- sorry for the frantic hugging, but thank you so much for coming out to see us off. 

We definitely felt the love. Sitka is a fabulous place, but it's the amazing people there that made it the hardest to leave. 

We ate dinner in the ferry cafeteria (uh, hello quality food, where have you been all this time on the ferry?) and sat with Danielle Perkins and chatted for a while. After dinner we headed to the Purser's counter to ask about movies and an hour later we had pulled out the road atlas and I had a whole list of restaurants, sites and travel advice from Kurt, the purser from M/V Malispina. He's a fun guy to talk to; he travels a lot, plays guitar, and isn't a stranger to a selfie.  

So far we have walked 3 miles (8 laps around deck = 1 mile) and will do 3 more tomorrow. We've gotta do something to fight the cabin fever! Although, we are more than halfway there and I still haven't even broken out the Crayola twistables and Hello Kitty activity book (whoever that was, thank you! I was so excited to find those). 

Today was a lot of staring out of windows (the ever changing view is nice), magazine flipping, napping, and some letter writing. We spend all day tomorrow with no stops and no cell service (we will be passing through Canadian waters and to avoid international charges the phones will be in airplane mode) and by Friday we should be waking up in Bellingham! Ready to get rolling and officially start the "road" portion of this trip.