Road Trip with the Kitties!
Friday, September 27-Sunday, September 29: Sac > Salt Lake City, UT > North Platte, NE > Evanston, IL
As I wrote about in my previous entry for our July 4th travels, Mr. E and I decided to sign a one-year lease on an apartment in Evanston, IL. Our lease officially began on September 1st, but we didn't fully take occupancy right away since (1) we were in Hawai'i at the beginning of the month and (2) I had three solid weeks of work travel for my Finish Line college site visits. However, Mr. E's mid-month trip to Chicago while I was in the Inland Empire served as an early recon visit so that he could take care of the move-in checklist, confirm everything was ready, and get us set up with some necessary supplies to ease our arrival process with the kitties (e.g. airbed from his Mom, small kitchen appliances, basic dishware, utensils, and glasses, etc.).
Our big adventure of the cross-country road trip with the kitties started the morning of Friday, September 27. I had purchased new carriers for the fur babies that are backpacks for airline travel and that have a collapsible extension for more space during car trips. We had gotten them early enough that they kitties could get used to having them around the house, and they even started to use them as napping spots! Definitely a good sign...
We rented an SUV for the trip, since we don't need a car in Evanston and we weren't sure our beloved 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid would be able to make the trip anyway. Also, we needed some extra space for the kitties in the back seat as well as to bring some necessary items with us to the new place. Luckily, the two carriers fit perfectly with the expandable parts open so that the kitties could be safely belted in for the trip.
Overall, they did pretty well during the three days of 10ish hours of driving, although Louis XIV occasionally got a little antsy. And they were both amazingly adaptable to the hotel rooms, having no problem using their litter box or finding their travel food and water. I packed a "go" bag for them with all of the necessary supplies, including a new water bowl that finally outwitted Marlene so she couldn't push it around! Marlene even snuggled on the hotel bed with us when she wasn't curled up on a pillow on the couch.
Our first overnight was at a Residence Inn in Salt Lake City, UT. We managed to get the kitties into the room with no problem and without paying any additional charge (shh... don't tell...). We had a very large one-bedroom suite with a full kitchen, which was plenty of room for all of us. Mr. E found a nearby Thai restaurant for takeout dinner, but we struck out on procuring any wine (umm... yeah... Utah... didn't think about preparing for that in advance!).
Breakfast in the hotel lobby the next morning was sufficient, and then we loaded up the car again with our travel bags and the kitties and set off for our next overnight destination of North Platte, NE. We passed lots of rolling fields of hay and quite a few windmill farms as well.
We had a slightly shorter drive for this leg of the trip, so we got to the hotel right around sunset, giving us a bit more time to find dinner and get the kitties all settled. Louis XIV was particularly fond of the bathtub in this hotel room.
The final day was our longest drive yet, especially given that we had a time zone change, but we arrived in Evanston right around when we had anticipated, just after 7pm. We unloaded the kitties and their supplies first, and I got them all set up in the powder room while Mr. E brought up the rest of our stuff and parked the car in a guest spot in the parking garage of our building.
The next door Whole Foods was still open, so we were able to pick up some dinner there, although we had to eat it on the airbed that we had pulled out into the living room because there were no lights in the bedrooms and no other place yet for a meal! The kitties made themselves right at home on the familiar Badger blanky on the airbed.
posted by jms | 5:28 PM
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