Jueves 06 – Domingo 09 Sep 2012. Oh, why did we do this to
ourselves...4:30am is soooooo early! Carmen likes to get an early
start at the beginning of trips. We had failed to be able to spend
more than a few minutes with Dan's daughter Harmony a couple weeks
ago, so we wanted to stop by her house as we passed there, only a few
minutes off Hwy 90 on Mercer Island in Seattle. The plan therefore
was to leave the house by 5:30. However, it was 6:05 when we pulled
out of our driveway. It just took longer than expected to recheck
all the house and repack all that was in the car around the cat
cases. There was not a spare spot in the Focus. We knew that we had
little time to see Harmony before she had to take children to school.
A traffic jam occurred heading east out of the city, so we now
realized that we had missed seeing the children, but we still hoped
to visit with her when she returned from dropping them off. No such
luck. Chris, her husband was home, not feeling well, and he said we
had missed her by two minutes and that she had to go to a meeting so
would not be home til much later. What a bummer of a way to start
our trip. *NoB – north of the border
Dan drove the first 2.5 hours, then
Carmen the next 2.5, then the same shifts in the afternoon,
throughout the travel. We had mostly divided highways in US, and we
stuck to the toll roads in Mexico. There were some two lane roads,
mostly in Texas and some north of there. At one point on a two lane
country road, there was a sign that said “pavement ends 20 miles”.
Did not say what condition the road would be in – should we back
track 20 miles or take a chance? We took a chance and found but a
wee bit of road repair., but it was a Sunday and the machinery was
all unmoving and parked off to the side. We did have the voice of
“Molly” (our GPS) which tried to tell us which roads to take.
She was not always correct however. Especially where recent highway
changes were made.
The fact we were transporting our two
cats was the only reason we drove a car down to Mexico, considering
we both hate to drive long distances. Would not leave our little
loves behind though. Mexico no longer allows pets on their planes,
and busses south of the border are chancey (they would enforce their
rules that animals in the luggage area had to be sedated—and a week
of repeated sedation would be a recipe for sick animals). So that
left the car. We could not possibly all fit in our Smart Car, so the
ford Focus was the choice of travel by elimination. Two medium size
kennels would just fit across the back seat. Next problem? We knew
from past experience, even on short trips in town, that Gardi cat
screams at full volume when in a car. We bought some spray that is
supposed to be calming, plus spray catnip, plus some tranquilizers
for the him if needed. We had kept the kennels open, in the living
room, for a couple of weeks before the trip, and both cats were used
to going in and out of them at leisure, sometimes even napping there
on the folded towels we had for bedding. We had sprayed the inside
of their cases the day before we left, when they had to be in the car
all day while movers were there. Gardi did a bit of talking – not
too loud shortly after we left home, then one big yowl that could
have blown us out of the car. That was it. There after he would
talk quietly a few times a day. Mostly when he had to use his litter
box. Each kennel/carrier was big enough for a small litter pan in
back, and had food & water dishes attached to the doors. They
were able to stand up and move around a lot more than their people
could, considering the excess stuff packed even around the feet on
the passenger side of the car.
Okay – back to our dreaded road trip.
Carmen took over at Harmony's house. We felt foolish eating our
second breakfast in front of her house, so we drove a few blocks and
indulged in some salmon patties left from the day before and still
cool from being frozen overnight. Got back onto I-90 and headed east
across the mountains and on over the high plateau land to I-82 which
heads southeast into Oregon, then to I-84 across the NE corner of
Oregon and into the SW corner of Idaho. We found a lovely rest stop
for lunch that actually had trees, toilets, and picnic tables. For
our first picnic lunch, we indulged in sandwiches with Goober (peanut
butter & grape jam) which we had not had since who knows when.
Also had a can of pork & beans, eaten cold. On we drove. Dan had
pretty much planned where we would stay each night. The first was to
be beyond Boise, Idaho. But with about four hours sleep the night
before and a later start than planned in the morning, we called it
quits at bit earlier than that.
Found a Motel 6 in Meridian, Idaho.
This chain motel takes pets at no extra charge, and we stuck with
them for all four nights in the US. Second floor. The receptionist
told us not to leave our dog in the room by itself. We did not
correct her, as we were unsure how they might react to two
cats.--dogs are the most frequent companions of guests at Motel 6, as
we can attest. We carried our luggage in first to check the room to
be sure cats could not get out of the room anyplace (plus the two
luggage bags were in the car on top of the kennels—leaving just the
center space between them for rear window vision). Checking the room
out first became the norm, to be sure Smij cat could not get behind
or under anything where we could not get her out. Hiding back in
some unreachable corner or under a bed is something she really likes
to do. Seems to make our little scaredy cat less scared?
Next we carried both cases inside.
Smij is one pound lighter than Gardi, so Carmen carried her. Poor
cat. Carmen seemed unable not to bounce the case all about. Once in
the room, Carmen and cats were closed into the bathroom, hoping the
cats would get used to that room before they were let into the
bedroom. Here the two small litter boxes were dumped together into a
larger bin for the night. Seemed to work well. Dan then went out to
find us some supper. There was a China Wok a few doors away. Buying
a small enough quantity of food for the two of us is always a problem
and we keep forgetting to buy one diner only to share. Dan came back
with two meals and you know how big an Oriental meal can be. Both
were delicious and we saved the rice for breakfast. Our fortune
cookies seemed fortuitous.
Breakfasted after a good night's rest.
Now to get the cats back into their travel cases. Carmen put their
small litter boxes in and then their towels, and next she turns
around wondering which cat to try to capture first. Miracle of
miracles, they both walked right over and into the cases!! Talk
about shock! Off we went, but first Carmen visited the Winco
supermarket bakery here for some fresh donuts to take on the way with
us, as she is always hungry about 10:30am.
Friday we drove thru lots of burned off
grassland. Only once had fire hopped across the road. Did not
actually see anything burning, but did see smoke in the distance. We
saw very little wildlife on the whole trip. A few antelope and a
roadrunner. Saw some tremendously breath-taking country and some
really boring country. Conservative drivers that we are, we rarely
accelerate up to 70, except to pass a few times, and stuck to the
righthand lane mostly moving along somewhere between 60 and 65 MPH.
And, the cruise-control in the Focus definitely made the long days
behind the wheel do-able, being able to remove the foot from the
pedal often. Utah, New Mexico and Texas are pretty barren this time
of year. The rock formations were magnificent (a few arches, lots of
mesas, interesting outcroppings), all very visible with their lack of
vegetation, something we haven't seen much, as green covers almost
everything in the Pacific Northwest we are used to.
As we moved onto I-15 South, we were
rather dreading the drive thru Salt Lake City. As it turned out, we
went thru so fast, we hardly realized it had happened. Did not go
thru the downtown, as we took the I-215 bypass. At Provo, we headed
off on US-6/191, and ended our day in Moab, Utah, between Arches and
Canyonlands National Parks. Most expensive overnight by far. When
we arrived at the motel, a lady ahead of us just could not decide if
she wanted the room or not. Just cost too much. She went back
outdoors to think about it, and we swooped it up, and took the last
room in the inn. Noisy, as it was next to the ice machine, but it
was a room. Cats seem to have adapted well to the in-room routine,
exploring all the corners, windowsills and smells left by previous
occupants, before settling in like real travel troupers.
The next day, Saturday, we headed
further south, leaving US-191 at Monticello, where we took US-491
into SW Colorado and south to Gallup, NM, then moving onto I-40 East.
That day for lunch we were on outskirts of Albuquerque where Dan
spied a sign for a Cracker Barrel store/restaurant, and said that he
wanted to try it. That we did. Well, we walked into it and
discovered the rest of the world was there too and we just did not
want to spend a couple hours eating. We drove across the street to a
Denny's, which we normally would never eat at, except we just wanted
to get food and be on our way. We never left the cats in the car by
themselves for more than a minute or two, on the entire trip. Carmen
went into the restaurant and ordered a roast beef dinner. She
actually went into the kitchen, since no one came out to help her.
She then went to the bathroom. Then came out to the car so Dan could
use the potty. On the way our of the restaurant Dan saw a meal there
at the cash register – it was what we ordered, so of course he
picked it up and brought it out to the car, thinking it had been paid
for. Carmen did the right thing and went back inside, located
someone and paid the bill. Needed gas so decided to eat the meal at
a gas station, where there might be a chance of some shade. On we
drove. We found no gas stations in Albuquerque, visible from the
highway. Our tank was a bit on the low side. On we drove and took
the first gas we found, outside of the city but before the turnoff on
US-285 south. Across the road was a wee bit of shade in sort of a
pull-off where we dined. We spent a pleasant night in Roswell
amongst the statues of extra-terrestrials. Worked a bit on the
spreadsheet for Strom-White, trying to resolve the discrepancies
between our list and what got tallied onto the moving van. Hopefully
we can email this to Teresa before we cross the border. No supper
this evening Still full from the one shared meal earlier.
Sunday we drove into Texas, joining up
with I-10 East at Fort Stockton. Lots of flat, then some trees and
into the rolling hill country Now, Dan never cares what he eats.
But Carmen does, and today she wanted a large milk shake to pick up
some extra calcium. Sure enough the town we stopped in for gas had a
Dairy Queen. Sort of got this meal free, since we used our gift card
from Discover. Actually we used a Shell gift card earlier that we
had had for years, never being able to bring ourselves to use it
before this, knowing how Shell gas always seems overpriced in the
States. But, seemed senseless to carry these cards into Mexico where
they would have no value to us. Doesn't it feel great to get
something for “free?” We left 10 west of San Antonio, heading
due south on US-83, one of the few two lane roads we traveled. Here
was where the “pavement ends” sign appeared, but only 8 miles of
recently oiled/graveled surface to get past. This last night in the
US we spent in Laredo, a few miles north of the bridge over the Rio
Grande. Carmen went next door after all were settled and bought one
Tex-Mex meal. Was the closest restaurant, plus it was nothing like
the real Mexican food we knew we'd get in Fortín. Now for a nervous
night of anticipating the problems of getting across the border. Got
all our papers in order. Dug out our pesos, stashed away since the
last trip. No luck with the spreadsheet, as this Motel 6 did not
have easily accessed internet—it will have to wait until we make a
connection further south. Tried to sleep. This is the last night
when we knew for sure that our cats could go into the room with us.
Travel with pets (mascotas) in Mexico is difficult, and we
were expecting a problem with this for the next two nights before
arriving at our new home.
When we were planning this part of the
trip south, we had some second thoughts about driving down thru
“forest-fire alley,” what with the drought conditions so
prominent in the news earlier this year. The alternative would have
been a longer trip down I-5 and then another decision on where to
cross into Mexico. In retrospect, so far, it seems we made the right
decision, for this first 2000+ miles of the trip.
