Alameda to Raleigh: Day One

I’m really doing this.

Most of our stuff started toward Raleigh earlier this week, and the Boys and I air-mattressed it for a week.

Today it was our turn to hit the road. I had worked right up until Thursday (note to self: don’t do that next time: give yourself a week buffer, for goodness sake!), and Friday and Saturday were both balls-to-the-wall with last-minute donation and disposal runs. I had hoped for a rest day, but it was not to be.

We were up at 4:45 this morning. I spent far too long fighting to get the sleeping bag rolled up and in its bag before I noticed that the tag on the outside of the bag said to cut it off so the bag could open enough to fit (durrrrr!). Since the gabapentin needs to be administered to the cats 2-3 hours before the “trigger” event, I gave them their Special Treats, and made myself a cup of tea. I did my yoga practice and took a shower and finished cramming stuff into the car. Unfortunately, that took longer than expected and we were not underway until 8:00.

The drugs kept things pretty quiet in the back seat for about half an hour, then Charlie started meowing. I decided that this is simply part of the soundtrack of this trip and didn’t try to quiet him. He eventually quieted on his own, and throughout the drive, both boys would meow back and forth for several minutes, then settle down again and sleep.

Since this was the longest leg of the trip I kept the stops to a minimum (just gas, stretch, and restroom). I do have a small camera that sort of works as a quasi-dash cam.

Outside of Bakersfield I saw two MUNI busses (1 California line) pass heading toward the Bay Area and isn’t it just like MUNI. People will have to wait hella long for their bus to show up, then there will be two in a row.

We made it to Kingman in just over nine hours and got checked into the hotel. Clancy seems to have taken this all in his stride and ate supper without needing persuasion. Charlie, however, seems to be processing his anxiety by wandering around the room and testing all of the little places he can hide.

So now we are all buttoned down for the night. I’m about to go to bed because not only do we have to get up early in the morning, I’ve lost an hour from Pacific to Mountain time.