Success!!

Here is my last video: The Celebration....anyone who knows me well will know this is not just about a car, you will know that this shows a lot that I am passionate about. This shows a lot about me in a meaningful way. I really hope you will watch it. Thank you in advance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApUwV6oPttI

Bye Bye Focus

Well the day arrived when the big truck drove into my neighborhood and they took it away. Yes, I am back to driving my mini-van. No more navigation and MyFordTouch. No more Handsfree phone conversations. It was really an adventure. The final donations/pledges as of today came to $5020.

The Adventure

Here is my first video about my Focus Global Test Drive Participation. Part 1: The Adventure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQydWOwJU0g

Almost to $5000

Tomorrow is the last day I am insured to drive the Focus. It will be picked up on Monday. I got a $50 pledge of a donation today, so I am now $59 short of $5,000! So close! Hopefully tomorrow I will reach $5,000. I have been working on my videos for Ford. I will be finishing and posting 2 more videos for them about the Focus and Love Without Boundaries. Stay tuned for those and for news of getting to $5,000.

New Chip-In

My other Chip-in has expired. I have currently raised $4891. I have a new Chip-in for last minute donations...thanks!

Only Three More Days

I want to thank everyone who has contributed in the last 6 weeks and helped me raise over $4700 for baby formula for babies who have special dietary or Preemie needs. 100% of this money is going to this fund. I know my original goal was $10,000, which was pretty lofty! But, I am hoping now to get it over the $5000 mark. In any case, what a success! Thank you for following me. If you want to donate even a small amount that is great. Every $5, $10, $20 or whatever, adds up and has brought me to where we are today. THANK YOU SO SO VERY MUCH. I am asking for one more post, one more push, one final Tell Everyone...Then we will send this Focus home.

I DID IT!! 10,000 MILES

We left began our trip home at about 1 p.m. on Saturday and drove and drove and drove. We arrived in Eugene Oregon, probably around midnight and stopped for the night. Above is a photo I took in northern California.

Here is another photo of Northern California. I wasn't able to take a photo of the odometer when it reached 11152, which was 10,000 miles. So, I got a photo of it this morning. I got the 10,000 miles finished not too many miles from home yesterday. I have also raised $4262. I still have the car until Friday and my goal 6 weeks ends Wednesday evening. I am still hoping that I might bring in some more donations since this is going 100% to the Preemie and Special Formula Fund for Love Without Boundaries.

Below is my final Capitol Picture, in Salem Oregon. I visited 6 capitols in the last 6 weeks: Salt Lake City, UT. Salem, Oregon. Olympia, Washington. Helena, Montana. Sacramento, California and Boise, Idaho.

Fun in California

Since I last posted, we have been staying in Merced, California with a friend I knew in high school and college. We have had a great time! Thursday, we drove to Monterey Bay and saw the beautiful area there. I am posting a few pictures of our time by the water.

"Hey, honey, have you EVER seen such a nice car as this 2012 FORD FOCUS in Moneterey Bay??????"

Yesterday, we drove to San Francisco and I got to go over the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. We took the kids to Chinatown there and had fun shopping and walking around and eating Chinese food. We also walked along Fisherman's Wharf a little. I am to the point where I need about 1,000 miles, so I chose to leave the Focus and go in my friend's car for this part of the trip, so I don't have any Focus photos in San Francisco.

Today we will leave for home, stopping in Eugene, Oregon tonight and on to home tomorrow. I have received a few more donations and am up to $3912. Thanks to all those who have donated in the last few days! I have the Focus for 6 more days.

What a beautiful day!

Yesterday afternoon, I visited Future Ford in Clovis, California. I didn't have my regular camera, so we got a video instead.

This afternoon, I visited Lithia Ford in Fresno. There was quite a bit of interest in the car and I'm hoping they will post it to their Facebook page and link to this blog! Thanks Folks!

I decided that today I would take a little side trip to King's Canyon National Forest and Sequoia National Forest and I saw some beautiful scenery and beautiful country. This photo was near one of the large trees in King's Canyon (but I had to walk to General Grant Sequoia, so I couldn't get the car with it.) But these are a nice size also. I drove on to see the General Sherman Sequoia tree which is the the largest (by mass, not height) in the world. I touched this tree! To the sides of this, you will see on the left, the Focus with some ORANGE trees...cool. To the right is just a beautiful view! I also noticed some nice wildflowers on my drive. I liked this shot of the Focus reflecting the flowers.

Saturday Event: Tri-Cities Washington

Last week, I did radio interviews and there were ads run on TV and radio about the upcoming event on Saturday, April 2. It was held at Legacy Ford from 10-3. Josh Dykes at Legacy arranged and paid for all the advertising to get the word out about this event. I took the Focus over to the dealership on Friday and left it there for detailing. (Yes that meant I had to drive the not-so-fun mini-van for a little while!)The next morning, I went over to the dealership and the car was sitting there outside the glass doors, shiny and ready to be driven in to the showroom floor. They moved it in. I set up some information about Love Without Boundaries that some of my kids had put together for me the night before and we were ready to go. We did get a few people during the day to show the Focus to and we raised $1240 in funds for LWB. $1000 is from Legacy Ford, so I really appreciated that. Josh did an amazing job of helping me by promoting this event and allowing me to do it in the first place. Thank you so much to him and all the others there that supported me in this. I really do hope it helps them also in the future when they get the 2012 Focuses in for sales.

After the event, I went home and we loaded up our bags and left just before 5 pm for our next trip. I took my 3 youngest girls and we drove to Klamath Falls, Oregon, arriving about 1 a.m. It was a long drive, but it got us around half way to our destination (Fresno). Above is a picture in Oregon at sunset and a picture in Oregon with windmills.

Fortunately, we had the day (Sunday) to rest before the next leg of the trip.

This photo was taken Monday with Mt. Shasta in California in the background. There was some beautiful country up there in Northern California.

Another Day on the Road: Monday

It has been an interesting weekend, actually an interesting week. I got back from Salt Lake over a week ago and then was dealing with illnesses from a cold to an allergic reaction. Since I wasn't driving much, and was sick, I didn't get much posted last week. BUT, this past weekend was very busy, and then today we left for another day of driving. I will try to go back and write about Saturday and the events, but for tonight, I will just say that I was in Klamath Falls, Oregon this morning and I visited the Harvest Ford Dealership. They kindly gave me a car wash and I wanted to thank them!! We drove on down into California and I stopped quickly and showed the Focus to some of the people at Corning Ford Dealership in Corning, CA. We stopped and got a picture of my 5th capitol building of this project...Capitol of California, in Sacramento. We continued on in our travels today to Fresno, where I am going to stay with one of my sisters for a couple days. As far as mileage goes, I am past 8300 now. After Saturday's events, we had $3640 raised and it is still the same as of tonight. Time is short now, with a little over a week until my goal date of April 13. Got to get some rest, but I'll try to catch up tomorrow.