Rainy Wednesday

Napping was the quadruped sport of the day. After a morning's sprint up and down the stairs, Jack and Gill crashed out... and so did Tag.





I unpacked a couple of boxes (yay me) and web surfed mostly. Noah needs more dress shirts for work and man is he picky! But I found some clothiers for him to peruse... and in the meantime shopped Ikea for some much needed bookshelves and kitchen shelves (not quite enough cabinet space in the new abode). I also *nerd alert* downloaded the trial version of World of Warcraft... yeah. I'm curious, what can I say?

It's raining steadily now, and I leave to pick up Noah in 10 minutes. Sigh... Good thing I have my trusty raincoat from REI! And Subaruby will most definitely keep me safe on the road.

In other news, we accepted an offer on the house yesterday! That's a huge relief. They're first-time home buyers and want to close escrow by the end of June to get a credit! We're happy that someone else will be able to enjoy our house as a home. It was a good place to live for the 2 years we were there.

Everything continues to fall into place here.

Oh, and I'm reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" for the first time. I have been feeling the "goth" vibe recently and thought I'd give it a go. I mean, it's one of the books I'm reading. I'm also in the middle of "Anna Karenina", if I can ever figure out where it was packed... and I wouldn't put it past me to pick up a Jane Austen novel in the interim. I have no attention span... sigh.

I know I should have read Frankenstein before now.... tsk tsk.

Mary Shelley's life was so fascinating! I'm going to have to read more about her, too. I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction to the book. If anyone knows any good biographies on her, fill me in!

Off to pick up Noah from work!

It's Monday and there are boxes everywhere

Noah starts his new job today. He's upstairs catching a few more winks before waking up and being nervous about his first day. I think he's going to be fabulous at this... nothing to worry about.

We only have one car right now, which means he's going to drive away this morning and leave me with the unpacking. I can't help but envy him a little.

I thought I'd share some pictures of the house with stuff in it... in the hopes that once I've unpacked I'll be able to share pictures of the house with no boxes in it! So here we are... and here's hoping I can get through a lot of this relatively quickly!

A little bit of settling

It's warm and humid here... and we are slated to have thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. I love this kind of weather :)

We are staying at this quaint little place, Westport Inn, right now. It's pet friendly and a LOT nicer than La Quinta in our area... still it has its quirks. The air is either off or on... and you have to man-handle the thermostat to make it turn off. The door to the room also requires a very strong arm to open and close... the digital clock in the room is connected to a plug that is affected by the lightswitch by the door... so you have to reset the time every time you turn on the light... I think we've circumvented that weirdness by turning the light by the bed on and off at the lamp and not messing with the switch.

Even with all this it's nicer than La Quinta in Stamford.

Tag is with us and the kitties are at the house trying to get adjusted. They're hiding anytime anyone is around that makes noise. Once the house is full of familiar smelling furniture I think they'll come out again. Poor kitties.

Tag is a champ. He just wants to be with us and has traveled really well! We're getting him groomed on Sunday for the first time. I'm nervous... I'm sure he'll be fine, though. We found a GREAT off leash park for him to play at. It's as nice as a golf course!

Our stuff arrives tomorrow... and thus begins the mad time of un-packing and making ourselves at home. Today will be full of errands... gotta get the oil changed in the car... get curtains and curtain rods for the house...

Here are some pictures of our new home for you to see. Just renting, but it's super nice!

We made it!

We made it to Connecticut today. It was a long journey and we're happy it's over.

The house looks great. I'll have pictures for you soon.

Tag has been a bit sick today. I think it's just been a long time without his regular schedule. No horrible incidents to report.

In other news, the La Quinta in Stamford is not so classy... tomorrow we'll be depositing the cats in their new home (checking on them daily until we are moved in) and moving to a classier establishment.

It's been stormy all day. I love storms!

I'm looking forward to getting to know the area better. And can't wait to go explore NYC!

For now I'll leave you with a picture of the George Washington Bridge and of Tag enjoying a traveling bully stick... the last leg of our journey is complete!

Last leg tomorrow: Updated

We're outside Cleveland tonight... everyone is snuggled up on the bed together. I think they're pretty tired. I know I am. Tomorrow we drive from Cleveland to Stamford where we'll be staying in a hotel for a few more nights. Our stuff doesn't arrive until likely June 7... which, incidentally is Noah's first day at the new job.

We're ready to be done driving. It's been a long journey and we are glad to be getting to the end of it.

Tonight we're watching Bones re-runs and a thunderstorm that is rolling past the window.

I'll leave you with a few random pictures of the Midwest.

*Updated: I forgot to mention I ate at Cracker Barrel twice in 2 days... sigh. Love CB!

Pet ownership: Not for the faint of heart

Today was a big day! We drove across Iowa



and across the Mississippi river



to Illinois.

Iowa, by the way, has tons of windmills generating large amounts of renewable energy. Way to go Iowa!



Around the 4th hour of the journey today, Bangs woke up from his drugged slumber... this is never a good sign. He began trying to escape his spot in the lap of the front seat passenger (me)... and even meowed a couple times (a sign he's stressed). We pulled off at the next exit, poured litter in the litter box, and shoved him inside. After a shocked second of sniffing, he pooed in the box, looking quite relieved. Sorry I don't have any photos to share with you :)

At the same exit, what should we find but a Culvers!



We are both, sadly, vegetarian, so no butter burgers for us, but we did have yummy krinkle fries and Noah got a chocolate shake (their chocolate custard was coming out in liquid form so we couldn't have any of that). Happy memories of times shared with our Madison, WI, friends :)

After arriving at the La Quinta in Tinley Park, IL, just south of Chicago, we decided to take Tag out for a walk/run about, so we checked on-line and found a wilderness-ish park area nearby. We hopped in the car and drove over.





Our enjoyment of this outdoor adventure lasted all of 20 minutes. About then 2 things happened. First Tag stepped on my shoe and I walked out of it. As I was retrieving my shoe, Noah began flapping me wildly with his hands because I was covered... yes, covered... in ticks. Immediately I thought "O my god, the dog..." Indeed, he and Noah were also covered in ticks.

Now, in normal circumstances, this might not be so horrifying, but... lest we forget, I have a collie... a long haired collie... I have no flea/tick shampoo with me in Illinois, and I have 4 cats back at the hotel that could also pick up ticks from the dog... I panicked mildly.

We nearly ran back to the car, grabbed Tag's brush, flipped him over, and started searching him for ticks. I've never seen so many!

We then proceeded to a PetSmart where we purchased flea and tick applications for the dog and the cats.

5 angry animals (they hate flea/tick medicine), one shower and 2 loads of laundry later, I think we can relax a little now.

Tomorrow, Cleveland!

Driving Miss Daisy

This is a quick video of what our drive was like today.



NNK had to stay in her crate today. She was too noisy and unpredictable... at least in the crate we knew where she was the whole time. :)

Traveling with animals

We had a better day today. Nobody pooped in their crates. There was no hail... in fact it was sunny and warm the whole day of driving.

We are safe in Denver now, with a free upgrade to a suite... lovin' La Quinta!

Let me tell you a little bit about what it takes to get 4 cats and a dog into and out of a hotel every day. I'll start with packing the car...

Back of Subaruby: Bottom layer, a baby gate and a fold-able soft crate. Next suitcases and cat litters. 2 crates with cats on top of that, then litter boxes, food bowls, and a scratch post crammed in last.

Back seat: The Ark (food bin with supplies for all the pets), lock box, lap top, blankets, dog bed, dog.

Front seat: miscellaneous essentials... passenger, driver...





When we get to the hotel, we unload the crate and gate, the Ark, litter boxes, litter, scratch post, food bowls, crates with cats, and dog bed onto a hotel cart, and bring the dog with us up to the room. While Noah is unloading the cart, I put up the gate in the bathroom door and set up the litter boxes. We release the cats in the bathroom with the litter box to make sure they know where it is... they can explore from there... we use a gate so that Tag doesn't go digging for buried treasure.

While the cats are exploring, one of us goes back for the rest of our stuff (suitcases/laptop, etc.) and the other begins doling out pet food. Once everyone has eaten, Tag gets a walk and we start thinking about dinner.

In the morning, we do the whole thing in reverse, loading the cats last to make the torture as short as possible.

Today we tried something different. NNK spent the first hour or so wailing in the crate. I think she was protesting being put back in the same crate as Mr. Poopy (Bangs).

After a little while of this, we decided to pull over and let the cats loose from their crates. Bangs was still pretty drugged, so we put him in Noah's lap.



NNK needed to be re-drugged after a while before she calmed down... but then she was out like a light.



The kittens spent a while looking around and then crashed out on the back seat with Tag and we had the calmest, quietest day of travel yet.









Tomorrow we're off to the Iowa side of Omaha... another long day but without the mountains. I'll leave you with some pictures of the drive today.

A somewhat traumatic day

Everything started out well today. I woke up just before the alarm went off and got up to begin preparing to depart for Salt Lake City.

I fed everyone and took Tag for a walk... then Noah and I had breakfast. La Quinta is awesome by the way. SO pet friendly and free continental breakfast all for less than $100 a night!

When packing up the cats, Bangs was more grouchy than he has been the past couple days. He growled at NNK a lot and was pulling on the crate door trying to get out. I was hoping that wouldn't be a sign of things to come.

We got on the road a little past 7. Today we drove around 8 and a half hours to get from Reno to Salt Lake. Until further notice, our in-drive entertainment will be "The Silmarillion" complete and unabridged, written by J.R.R. Tolkein and read by Martin Shaw. Tag chose to sleep through it all.



Bangs and NNK received their tranquilizers as planned. I don't think the 1/4 tab has any effect on NNK, by the way... so we may not use it at all tomorrow and see how that goes... although we may use it anyhow.

About 2 hours into the trip, we were coming along a broad valley in Nevada. It was rainy off and on all morning. We could see a storm coming up a few miles away. Noah saw lightning a couple times. I was looking back at animals in the car both times and missed it. Oh well.

A few minutes passed and it started raining VERY hard. Noah turned on the wipers and we continued on. Just as we were passing a big rig cab that was hauling 3 other big rig cabs, things took a turn for the worse. The rain became hail that was piling up like snow on the road and we began to hydroplane. My life flashed before my eyes. The cats lives flashed before my eyes... Noah handled the whole thing very expertly and thank god we didn't slide off the road or careen into the big rig cab driving next to us. A minute after we regained control we drove out of the weather and the roads cleared up. Needless to say, we were a little shaken up by the whole event.

Around 4 hours I took over driving and Noah took some pictures.







I'd been driving about an hour when Bangs started rattling his cage and getting testy. We pulled over and I re-administered tranquilizers. Before we reached the next exit, Bangs had pooed all over himself and NNK. She did NOT appreciate this.

(side note: last time we moved across country we had the exact same issue with Bangs on the first day of driving)

We pulled off at the next exit and cleaned up on the side of the road.

Finally we were back in business. Bangs's tranquilizer kicked in and he slept the rest of the way there. And there was hardly a peep from NNK, who was not too keen on getting shoved back into the crate with Mr. Poopy.

The Great Salt Lake Desert is pretty interesting. It was pretty intensely dusty and my allergies kicked in even with medicine!







It's hot here in Salt Lake. And hazy. And dry. I don't really like it. But we're getting the hotel living routine down now... and we found a park to take Tag out to run around in.

We had greek food for dinner. And we're all relaxing.









It's another long day tomorrow... hopefully we're done with drama for this trip!