BC2BC: Here We Go!

Sabrina and I drove our first day of the BC2BC All Electric Vehicle Rally yesterday.  In total, we covered  340 miles going from Bellingham, WA into Canada (more on that in moment), and south to Cornelius, OR.

To start the trip, we stayed with Dave and Ilene Green in Bellingham on Friday night.  The stay with the Greens was such a nice visit.  They afforded me plenty of time to evangelize and promote electric vehicles, and stretched my thinking on other sustainable endeavors.  Sabrina and I had two fantastic vegan meals while at the Green's house!  

After putting Sabrina to bed, Dave and Ilene stayed up late with me to go through our 17 day itinerary.  There was a point when we each had our phones/computers going while searching for fun activities and sights to see while Sabrina and I are in California.  I am so excited to show Sabrina the Morro Bay Rock on the central-California coast.  Dave actually let us borrow his binoculars to maximize the viewing opportunities!

In heading to the Peace Arch Park in Blaine for the start of the rally, I accidentally ended up driving into Canada.  This, of course, is not a problem unless a daddy does not have ANY identification showing that the child in the backseat is, in fact, legally his and that they are not on the run.  It took us about 45 minutes to get back across the border and into Blaine.  The border patrol agent that we worked with was very thorough, and rightfully let me have it for attempting to take a five-year-old across an international border without the appropriate documentation.  

The start of the rally fun, as a few dozen EV owners showed up to show their support.  I was extremely nervous in those couple of hours leading up to the rally start, and sure appreciated everybody's excitement and enthusiasm to help keep my mind off of the challenges of the trip itself.  Sabrina and I departed Blaine at about 12:15 in the afternoon.  

The 13 hour drive yesterday was a definite haul.  Something that I did not expect was the comradery from fellow EV drivers on the road and the fun bantering with other rally participants all competing for places to charge.

Yesterday helped me realize that I may not be in this thing to win it.  Actually, last place is all but guaranteed.  This is fine with me because this trip is really all about the memories I am making with Sabrina (as I write this, Sabrina is playing with her cousins and uncle and having an absolute blast).  

Today, we will be covering less than 100 miles.  Every summer when I was a kid, my sister and I would spend a week at our Grandma and Grandpa Coram's house in Salem, and the highlight of the trip was always the trip to the Enchanted Forest.  I am sure that this will be a fun time!