Day 1 (February 7th, 2025)
Day 1. Set off day. Planned time of departure: 9:00 a.m. Temperature -6 C.
The van is already prepped with all of the gear we think we will need for the trip. OK, that comment is coming back to bite us on the ass at some point during the trip when we realize we should have brought something that we haven’t, probably at the expense of some item or items that we will never use and that are taking up valuable space for the item that will be needed. Anyway, without a crystal ball we think we are happy with what we have packed.
So all we have to get done this morning is pack our clothes, toiletries, dog stuff and hit the road.
10:00 a.m. - OK, not quite going to plan. Not sure about you but things in our house take a little longer than anticipated and departure time is always a moving target.
10:30 a.m. - Yes! We are all packed and ready to go! Emma just needs to get her shoes on and we can set off. And it was at that point that Otis decided that he hadn’t eaten enough for breakfast and one of Emma’s socks did look particularly tasty.
10:31 a.m. “Fuck, No, Otis has eaten one of my socks”; “Are you sure?”; “I think so”; “You think so? So not sure?”; “96% sure”; “Fuck"; ”It was a thin sock, not one of those thick Argyle type ones”; “OK, maybe not that bad then?”
What to do? Rush our little furry psycho to the vet screaming he’s swallowed a fucking sock., resulting in an agonizing wait with maybe a very expensive surgical solution. Or set off on our adventure whilst we agonizingly wait with maybe the same very expensive surgical solution only in US Dollars. And that shitty exchange rate isn’t going to help either.
11:37 a.m. And we are off! Piloting the fully loaded van out of the driveway and in the direction of the gas station to fill up the tank. Otis seems unphased by the panic he has caused and we have decided that whatever happens will happen and if we have to stop off at an emergency vet on the way, so be it. Fingers crossed for us Eh!
After filling up with diesel, we hit the highway with a full tank. Onwards to the border. Well, we got as far as 24th Avenue in South Surrey before we took a slight detour to Tim Hortons as we had forgotten breakfast what with all of the doggy excitement. Now with full bellies, onwards to the border.
We crossed into the US of A at the Pacific Highway crossing on 176 Street as it’s only a 45 minute drive from home. As we are not Canadian Citizens, we had to go into the office to get our 90 day visitor visas but we were in and out within 20 minutes. Next stop was Trader Joe’s in Bellingham to stock up on groceries for the US leg of the trip. We didn’t want to get too much as we knew we wouldn’t be able to take meats, cheese or fruits and vegetables across the Mexican border so we only wanted enough to last for about five days. Emma went in (without her phone as it turns out) as there was no way I was going to be able to park the van in the parking lot, it was crazy busy. So I circled the block. Three times. Then decided to wait in the street behind. It was at this point as I phoned Emma to let her know where I was waiting that I discovered she had left her phone behind on the dashboard. Shit. Now I had to circle the block and drive past the entrance every 5 to 10 minutes to see if she was outside waiting for me. Apparently it was very busy so after about 5 circuits I gave up and parked around the back in the loading zone with the nose of the van sticking out around the corner just enough that I hoped she could see me. It worked and eventually, loaded with groceries and snacks, we were back on the road.
We planned to drive the I5 South all of the way to San Diego - this was our only scheduled stop as we had an appointment on Tuesday that we we committed to. More on that in a later post. For the rest of the trip we had a route in mind but we were mainly going to wing it as to where we stopped and for how long. For the I5 portion the plan was to drive as far as we could each day and spend the night at rest stops along the highway, with stops to stretch our legs and give the dogs a walk and potty break.
By the end of day one we had driven down past Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia and stopped for the night just short of Grand Mound at the Maytown Safety Rest Area. We had dinner (Trader Joe’s chicken and rice), walked the dogs and hit the hay.
It had been a long, stressful first day.
No sign of the missing sock yet!
