Drive to California

Tuesday, July 29, 2003, Moving Day

The day starts early, 5:30am. We shower and eat breakfast. The first order of business is to take the cats to The Cat Loft where they will spend the day, the night and most of the next day.

The movers arrive at 9:30. This crew will just load the moving van. I don’t know who will haul the van to California. Another crew will unpack it there. The van is not marked in any way to show it is a moving van. A little disappointing. There are four guys, one stays in the van to pack it, the other three tag all our boxes and furniture and carry them out to the van. There are many things that you can’t put in the van. No aerosols, no cleaning fluids, mowers must have the gas burned off and the oil drained, no fire extinguishers. The list goes on.

We pack the car. Most of the inside back part is filled with the cage the cats will ride in. We bought a Thule roof top carrier that was supposed to hold all the things we wanted to carry with us while driving. We discovered that there just wasn’t enough room for everything. So we had to take a lot of the little comfort items (pillows, etc.) we were hoping to carry with us, pack them in a box, and put them on the van.

We are shipping my truck by separate carrier. He is a little late but by 4:30 the truck is loaded and gone. The truck will be taken by a single car carrier to a staging area where it will be put on a multi-car carrier and hauled to California. It will there be unloaded and again put on a single car carrier to be delivered.

By 4:30 the van is also packed. We take a last walk through the house. It looks so much different when it’s empty. If we weren’t moving we just might buy it.

5:00 pm we leave for the motel. We stay at the Comfort Inn in Herndon.

Wednesday, July 30, 2003, Closing Day & On the road, Day 1

Up at 9:30. The Comfort Inn is not that nice and we didn’t sleep well. We had breakfast at the Amphora Diner in Herndon. One of the things we wanted to do before we left Virginia was to eat at all our favorite restaurants. We actually managed to do that. The Amphora was the last one on our list. Definitely a happy and sad breakfast.

Closing is at 2:00 pm. We meet our realtor at about 1:30 at the Starbucks in the Galleria and head for the closing location. We both get lost on the way but so does the seller’s realtor so we all end up getting there about the same time. Closing goes pretty smoothly as closings go and we finish up at 3:15.

We stop by Wendy’s in Tyson’s to get some of our favorite fries. Then it’s off to pick up the cats.

We have the cats loaded in their cage in the back of the car by 4:00. The staff at the Cat Loft gave us a nice Good Luck note. Lizzy is standing up looking out all the windows like a little kid. Pinky is having a panic attack, panting hard and eventually throwing up. He has retreated to the enclosed litter box where he feels safe.

Our plan is to take it easy this first day. Our target is Somerset PA which we make with no problem. We stay at the Ramada Inn and have room service, tenderloin tips, for dinner. We are obviously in coal mining country as evidenced by the exceedingly large lump of coal in the motel lobby.

189 miles the first day.

Thursday, July 31, 2003, On the road, Day 2

This is our first day getting up with the cats. We keep them in the cage in the car and in the motel room, carrying them back and forth in the cage. It took us two and a half hours to get ready, have breakfast, and pack the car. We had breakfast at Mc Donald’s, not too bad. On the road at 9:00am.

Passed from Pennsylvania to Ohio at 11:00. Took a short break and switched drivers. Started seeing triples, i.e., semi’s with three trailers. I’ve seen doubles before but never a triple. The trailers are smaller than with the normal 18 wheelers, but I don’t see how they can be stable in a quick stop or if they have to swerve.

The long ride nemesis showed up today, my butt is getting sore. However, the cats are doing much better.

Nearing Sandusky Ohio around 1:15. The land is getting very flat. The sky is overcast and hazy.

1:30 we break for lunch and gas up. Back out on the road at 2:30.

Saw a sign for the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Which president was he?

Ft. Wayne, Indiana is our destination today. We pull in to the Ameri Suites in Ft. Wayne at 4:30. 417 miles today for a total of 606 miles.

Friday, August 1, 2003, On the road, Day 3

Spent the day visiting. The cats came with us but were very scared. We put a sheet over the cage to help keep them calm. Heard lots of thunder and it started raining by the time we headed back to the motel. When we got to the motel the power was out and the elevators weren’t working. We had to carry the cats and cage up two flights of stairs. The power came back on just as we got to the room of course.

More visiting. Returned to the motel around 9:30pm in another torrential downpour.

Saturday, August 2, 2003, On the road, Day 4

Had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel.

Stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up two plant rollers. Those are the round plastic “plates” with rollers that you put under large potted plants to be able to move them around. We put them under the cats’ cage to roll it from the car to the motel and back. It works pretty well and saved our backs. We also looked for some soft pillows but didn’t find any.

Back out on the road at 11:00. We took route 30 from Ft. Wayne to Chicago where we picked up Rt. 80. Just south of South Bend the sky partially cleared and we had beautiful blue sky and billowy white clouds.

Stopped for lunch at Burger King at 2:30. Switched drivers and were back out on the road at 3:05. Picked up Rt. 80. We will be on Rt. 80 from here all the way to Sacramento.

Saw the same group of bikers on three different occasions crossing Indiana and Illinois.

We pulled in to the Steeplegate Inn in Davenport, Iowa at 6:10pm. 322 miles today.

We had good room service and the cats are acclimating well. Our Do Not Disturb sign disappeared from our door. This happened both nights in Indiana too. Very strange.

Each night we figure out where we will be the next night and call ahead for reservations. We are getting a little smarter every day and now request a ground floor room. No more taking the cats and cage up stairs or in elevators.

Sunday, August 3, 2003, On the road, Day 5

On the road at 8:40. The land is pretty flat across Iowa. There is a different kind of pine tree we don’t see on the east coast. Lots of irrigation for corn.

The speed limit is up to 75 mph but the traffic isn’t moving any faster than when it was 65 mph. The trucks are going a little faster but I guess 70 is the top end of the comfort range for most people. It’s thinned out too. Traffic was heavy from Virginia all the way through Illinois. It’s still heavy around the big cities but in between it’s downright nice and we can relax and enjoy the ride and the scenery.

The cats have completely settled in. They sleep all day now. They are quiet all night too which is a blessing. Keeping them in the cage at night I think keeps them quiet.

My mom called while we were about 30 miles from Lincoln, Nebraska. Isn’t technology wonderful.

The sky is very clear and the sun is hot. We run the car air conditioner all the time but we now have to put pillow cases on our bare legs to keep from burning.

Saw two flocks of geese, one large (~80), one small (~40), that kind of side swiped each other. Then the weirdest thing happened that I have never seen before. The two flocks merged and appeared to lose their way. The combined flock stayed together but started flying around in no particular direction or lineup but staying in the same general area in the sky. They were still doing this when we lost site of them.

We arrived at the Best Western motel in Kearney, Nebraska at 5:30. 490 miles today.

Monday, August 4, 2003, On the road, Day 6

On the road at 8:30. The day started out cloudy but by 9:30 it was mostly clear. Sky is very blue. Around 10:00 we passed into Mountain Time.

It’s beginning to feel like we are getting to the real west. Saw ~30 long horned cattle. Didn’t get a picture though. Turned out to be the only long horned cattle we saw.

Saw a crop that looked like pineapple only taller around Ogallala, Nebraska. It could have been some kind of corn I guess and we just had a momentary hallucination. That can happen when you’ve been on the road for a while.

We picked up a wicked cross wind which made driving difficult.

Stopped for lunch in Kimball, Nebraska at 11:35. Back out on the road at 12:25. Started seeing oil wells just outside Kimball and a different crop with purple flowers and deep green leaves.

Started seeing mountains in the distance as we passed Cheyenne, Wyoming. They are part of the Rocky Mountains. Each small range seems to have its own name. These are called the Medicine Bow Mountains.

There are always interesting travelers on the road. Today we saw a biker with his small dog. He had a small animal carrier strapped on the back part of the seat in which the dog rode. We also saw an old US Marine truck with a dog behind the wheel.

We passed a huge wind generator farm. There we also tons of wind breaks. For those of you that didn’t grow up in the Midwest, wind breaks are fences constructed along the sides of roads to help prevent snow from forming big drifts on the highway.

We are up around the 6000 foot level now and the clouds seem very close. Passed Elk Mountain, 11156 ft., the mountain, not us.

Reached the motel, Best Western Cottontree, Rawlins, Wyoming, at 4:00. 476 miles today.

Tuesday, August 5, 2003, On the road, Day 7

The shower didn’t work so we took sponge baths and washed our hair in the sink. They did give us 10% off the bill. On the road at 8:40.

Crossed the Continental Divide, elevation ~6900 feet.

It really looks like the west right out of the movies I saw as a boy. Took a break at 10:45 at Little America, a not so little restaurant and gift center along the road.

For some reason Lizzy is spending most of the time in the litter box today.

We stopped for lunch at the exit for Park City. The ski jump from the 2002 Olympics is on the hill right in front of us.

Back out on the road. The clouds just seem to hang there in the sky. You can see some wispy clouds forming just above our heads.

We are now crossing the salt flats. A stretch of road 50 miles long, absolutely flat with no turns. We can see the ancient level of the Great Salt Lake on the mountains. At the western side there are signs warning of possible severe cross winds with damaging dust, but we are spared.

Pinky just woke up and meowed as if to ask “Are we there yet?”.

5:10 pulled into the motel parking lot in Elko, Nevada. 527 miles today.

Wednesday, August 6, 2003, On the road, Day 8

Today and tomorrow will be relatively short days. We hit the road at 10:35. At 12:30 we stopped in Winnemucca, Nevada for a break and ice cream.

We see dust devils all the time now. They appear to be about 6 to 8 feet across and maybe thirty to fifty feet high. They are very weak and harmless. The most interesting part of this stretch of road is how uninteresting the scenery is. Everything is dead and brown, no animals, no rock formations, just an occasional dust devil. Over the eons these mountains have been broken down ‘till now they are almost gravel.

We arrive at Reno at 3:50. 302 miles today. There appears to be some sort of classic and custom car show going on. They are everywhere.

Thursday, August 7, 2003, On the road, Day 9

This will be our last day on the road. We leave the motel at 10:15. We expect to be stopped at the California border to be inspected for illicit plants and to see if we are smuggling in exotic animals. However, the inspection station is closed today. No strip search, darn!

The road from Reno to Sacramento is through the mountains, very curvy, and heavily traveled. We also drop 4000 feet in altitude down to almost sea level in the Sacramento Valley.

Arrived in Gold River at 1:00. 2900 total miles from Virginia.

Friday, August 8, 2003, Gold River, Day 1

We bought a medium priced self inflating air mattress to sleep on last night. We didn’t have enough room in the car to bring the really good air mattress so it is on the moving van.

Very nice crew. The unpacking went well and there was only some minor inconsequential damage.

All in all a very nice and uneventful trip. Everything went as planned.

Next time though I'd like to have some time to do a little sight seeing.