The number one advice I can give travelers is to first, bring a plunger!!  We found out as we weren't too far into our trip to the Pacific Northwest that not all commodes flush equally.  Some areas were into the ecological aspect of conserving water and some were just bad plumbing.  We contributed to the problem, too, of course!  So, we bought a new plunger and were so glad we did!! Mike says to also remember to buy a suitable container for it - at first we could find only a medium sized sand castle bucket.  It served its purpose.  Oh, and bring a good sized trash bag to surround the whole thing - that way when you are parading through the hotel lobby pushing a luggage trolley it doesn't announce to the world what's really going on!!

That advice being given, now about the road trip.  We were scheduled to be in Sequim, Washington, on April 23, for a day of memorial services for Mike's dad who passed away in January of this year.  The 23rd was on a Saturday.  We figured to leave the preceding Friday, the 15th.  But no, we had an electrical problem at the house that needed taken care of and that led to some unexpected delays.  Sooooooo, we didn't leave till Monday afternoon.

Now, those of you who know us fairly well know that we have been  hopelessly nocturnal for a couple of years or so.  Leaving the the afternoon wasn't so bad, except it set the pattern for driving into the night.  We had some 2750 miles to go and a short time to get there as the song goes!  Driving at night had its perks - very little traffic mainly.  Drive on we did, staying at hotels for just a few hours during the day, then back to night driving.  However, several states on our routes had speed limits of 75 and 80, so we covered a lot of ground quickly.  Mike is a steady driver and doesn't seem to get sleepy or anything - grab some caffeine here and there and he's good for a bunch more miles!  Me - not so much!!

We slid into Sequim late on Friday afternoon-evening, having cut some time by taking the Bainbridge Island Ferry from Seattle.  The events were scheduled starting in the morning the very next day.  We cut it close, but made it with a bit of time to spare!!

Now before I go to the next chapter in this saga, the ceremonies, donkeys, and such, I want to mention two other bits of advice.

One, please remember to notify your bank or credit union that you will be traveling out of town for an extended period of time.  Why?  They do take notice when your credit charges start coming in from parts unknown and most institutions will call you to see what's going on.  Advice notice avoids such calls. And, they may have to adjust how many times you can extract how much money per ATM visit, cash advance plans, purchase limits, etc.  These precautions can avoid embarrassment, warranted or not, at the other end!  We had done that based on previous experiences, so we had smooth sailing on that regard.

Secondly, have a good GPS type system, either as a separate entity or within your smart phone.  We actually couldn't find  our trusty Tom-Tom, and so relied on Siri, that mysterious voice from your phone that knows where you are!  She was extremely reliable and got us in and out of places quickly and handily.  Usually.  She did have her moments - twice she routed us all over two respective towns only to wind up a block or two from where we started!!  That was a little disconcerting at 2 or 3 in the morning!  The other thing - we realized that while she knows all and you can ask her anything, even for the  joke of the day, she does not know how to spell Sioux as in the Indian tribe - not Sue, a girl's name. We thought we never would find Sioux Avenue - had to go to Google Maps - success finally!!

Thanks for reading this first installment - lots more interesting stuff to come.  I mainly just wanted to kind of lay the background story here.