Amazingly enough, we did manage to accomplish quite a bit since we last checked in. Today's blog includes a summary of our move, our trip from the East Coast to New Mexico, and some lessons learned on the road with our well traveled toy Pomeranian and our love to stay at home calico cat, Trinity.
We packed out a small PODS unit before we left Virginia. The smallest PODS held more than I thought we would move to New Mexico. I know of at least six boxes that probably ought not to have made the downsizing cut. They remain unfinished business, still boxed up in a storage unit here in Taos, awaiting a good shake down and sort through.If our plans included a PODS unit at the outset, I might have selected a few more things to bring out West.
Ah, hindsight! My favorite reading lamp, my bedside sheepskin rug, the shoe shelf racks in the master bedroom closets, and my favorite office chair. These things are not as easy to replace as I thought they would be. But that, right along with severe altitude sickness will be shared another day.
Frankly, after nine months of downsizing, we were anxious to return to New Mexico. We were anxious to put the house in Virginia on the market before school season began. We were just ready to roll, and roll we did.
We listed the house in August, and we had an offer within a few weeks. By the end of September, we'd sold the house in Virginia, the Harley Davidson Cross Bones, the Honda Insight, the Ford Mustang, and a great many household items along with a shed full of tools and equipment. Thanks to all who helped us downsize!
We left on August 5th, 2014. It felt good to finally be on the road West. We decided to travel as light as possible, so the car top carrier, the bicycles, and the bike rack were packed up for shipment in the PODS unit. We packed the car with Lokki, Trinity, a six pack of water filled thermos containers, a cooler of travel food, and enough changes of clothes to get us across the country.
We didn't count on 105 degree temperatures as we crossed the states. Fortunately, our hotel rooms were air conditioned for cool sleeping nights. The car burned more gas keeping the car cool during our daily travels. I remain impressed with the comfort and gas mileage of the 2011 Subaru Outback.
To add shade to the interior of the car, I hung sheer scarves on the window in an effort to block the sun without hindering visibility.
It was simply H O T. Hot travel takes an extra toll on the car, the driver, and the passengers. We coped by stopping to cool off the car engine more often, and by drinking more water throughout the day. The four-leggeds were offered water regularly during the trip. Lokki lapped up, while Trinity just waited until we unloaded her from her crate inside of the room each night.
At one point on the trip, it may have been I-40 in Texas or in New Mexico, we stopped at a rest area to walk Lokki and stretch ourselves out. A sign posted near the dog walking area advised "beware of scorpions and snakes". I simply stopped mid step to take in the possibilities that the sign represented for Lokki. It took me but a second to turn back to the parking area to find another place for him to explore.
Lokki relieved himself near the sidewalk edge and trash bins. He did manage to pick up a few goathead burrs scattered near the sidewalk. These little triangle shaped stickleburrs are the sharpest and smallest of burrs.
Goat heads are new to me. I would soon learn that they are in abundance out West, and are easily caught in his paw pad fur. Often. When Lokki happened across a goathead burr, he'd simply stop mid step and lift the affected paw then wait patiently while Paul or I found the thorn to pull away.
Trinity kept to herself, which was her way of being cooperative for the trip. She wasn't always easy to load into her carrier in the mornings before we set off. She managed to hide behind the hotel room furniture more than once, which made for an interesting chase with competing electrical wires and dust bunnies.
During our stay at a newly opened La Qunita one night, she found the plastic sheeting hanging loosely beneath a bench. Plastic is one of her favorite things to lick. The sound of a cat licking plastic in the wee hours of the night is the sort of thing that inspires the use of ear plugs!
Paul and I had a pretty good routine for packing out the room, usually beginning with putting Trinity in her crate once we had our morning coffee.
Once Paul finished loading up the car, he'd install the cat carrier and the dog bed in the back seat, and off we'd go. Trinity patiently and quietly waited in her cat carrier until about 30 minutes into the day's travel, when she'd let us know she was ready to be let out to roam the car.
She usually pushed open the unlocked crate door, then she positioned herself to sit and stare at Lokki for a minute or two. She would then proceed to sniff his ears and his nose while he watched her movements with his eyes. He went along with her snooping with little interest or response. Low Key Lokki.
Each day of travel, she found her own hiding spot somewhere in the car. She used the portable litter box the first couple of days without incident. Thankfully she didn't cough up any hairballs during the day.
When she learned the travel routine included a stop at a hotel for the night (La Quinta rates includes pets for no additional fee), she would wait until we set up her larger litter box in the room and take care of her business in the evenings.
As we loaded Trinity out of the car for the last day of the trip, she gave a hiss and a snarl and left a back claw print that broke skin on Paul's arm. She was done traveling and let him know it!
Things I am glad we did: We arranged for the PODS unit so we didn't U-Haul a trailer in the midst of a summer heat wave. We saved wear and tear on ourselves and on the Subaru. We downsized considerably and were able to use the smallest sized PODS available which saved bank. We loaded up all of the things we didn't think we'd need for at least two weeks in the PODS.
We packed around the pets. Their comfort came first. The first day Trinity spent a good portion of the day laying in her clean litter box. It was on the floor, behind the seat, and it was comforting to her. No luggage was packed higher than the pets in the event of an emergency stop.
We used window shades to shield the sun from the back seat. Not only did this decrease the amount of heat in the car, this also decreased the view our pets could take in from the inside of the car.
Paul did all of the driving, so his visibility came first. To save $$, we bought cheap front window shades, then cut them down to make custom fit window coverings for the side windows. I think the limited view helped to keep the pets calm, and I know it decreased the sun shining into the back seat side windows tremendously.
We stayed with family for two days in the middle of the five days of travel, then we stayed with close friends at lower altitude the night before we drove to Taos. It was good to catch up on our Canasta games.
Our stay in Los Lunas didn't have the desired effect of preventing altitude sickness for me, and Lokki was full of shenanigans with the clowder of cats and the cat food dishes about the house were a bonanza for Lokki.
Paul and I were simply in a hurry to get up the mountain to Taos, and we didn't really know that the altitude sickness would be so severe in my case.
I'm also glad we stopped as often as we did along the way. We needed the break from the road, the pets needed some time to stretch and roam and be out of the car, and the time spent with family is priceless. It was especially good to reconnect with nephews and nieces who grow up too quickly!
To make the trip easier, we stayed in pet friendly hotels. It is such a relief when you get to where you are going to spend the night, to know that your pets are not going to be a hassle for anyone else. At no extra charge.
Things I would do differently while traveling with pets cross country in the middle of a heat wave:
Leave earlier in the mornings. Maybe even when it's still dark, and cooler. Except that would mean I would have to get up earlier. And I am cranky before coffee and a few hours of daylight.
The two days that we were on the road more than 9 hours were brutal, and we paid for it the next day or two. We aren't as young as we think, and sitting that long in the car, even with stretch breaks, is hard on the body day after day after day.
I would have liked to have some pet paw booties that properly fit Lokki. His little paw pads were cracked and dry from the heat, and I know it was hot hot hot on the blacktop he had to walk over to get to places to relieve himself.
We would carry him over the worst of it, but he'd still manage to pick up a sticker burr. I've since looked at a few pair of booties for him, some obviously not to size, and others close in size, but he isn't having anything to do with them. If you've seen any of the video's online with a dog trying to adjust to the feel of dog shoes, that's exactly how he reacted to having boots on his feet.
One person suggested veterinarian gauze and duct tape, I just have not figured out how to make it do able.
Even while we are definitely working on packing less in the car, i.e. Paul would love it if we each had a back pack and nothing more.....I'd bring a large beach towel or small blanket to lay across the top of the luggage in the back of the hatch back. Trinity liked to hunker down in narrow spaces, between the bag of dry goods and the passenger door behind Paul's seat, or in between the luggage spaces in the back.
I think if we had a towel across the tops of the luggage, she may have spent more time perched atop there, as it would have been more secure for her than the slickery pull over cover that Subaru provides with the car.
Perhaps the idea of an electrical plug in cooler fridge for our next more than a few days in the car trip is worth considering. Mom and Dad offered up the use of one they have in the garage in Arizona. Paul and I thought it would take up too much room in the back of the car so declined.
There is an outlet in the back of the Subaru to accommodate such things. We would still have had to carry the unit in and out of the car, but having one would have meant plugging the portable refrigerator in once we got into the hotel room, instead of unloading the cooler contents into the refrigerator each night and back into the cooler the next morning.
In addition, some rooms we stayed in did not have a freezer with the fridge, so some of our items didn't keep as long in the extra high heat. Without a freezer we didn't have the opportunity to put the Freezer Blocks back to solid ice, so the cooler didn't stay as cold the next day.
Trinity made the trip better then Paul or I thought she would. Perhaps Lokki helped just by being there. She was especially glad to be back in her own place when we got back to Taos.
I am grateful our pets stayed healthy, without any wandering off or getting lost shenanigans during the trip. All told, they stayed overnight in five different places over the course of seven days travel from Portsmouth, Virginia through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and finally, New Mexico.
Things I wish we'd done: Packed a few "cold weather" clothes. It was hot when we left Virginia, and hot when we got to New Mexico. I had severe altitude sickness within a week of arrival, which meant we didn't get the PODS unit unpacked for nearly two months after we got to Taos.
I also wish we'd hosted a get together before we left Virginia. There were many people I didn't get a chance/take the time to visit with before we left. It might be awhile before we roll through that part of the country again. Lokki has a fond following, and while I think he misses his green grass of Virginia, all the world is waiting for him to explore, and he seems to have adjusted well.
Trinity, most likely, will want to stay home. Keeping Lokki's bed warm.
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