The Land of Potatoes

We have made it to the land of potatoes- Idaho!  

It has been an incredibly busy and exhausting day. We picked up John's jeep this morning, rushed back to base to load the pets and cargo and then headed to the airport.  It wouldn't be a road trip if I didn't make a wrong turn or miss an exit though! :) Today, I managed to accomplish both!  I gave John the wrong address for the port first thing this morning (which I will blame on lack of coffee) and then I missed the exit to the airport.  On the way to the airoprt, I was following John, and unlike him in his hot minivan, I was unable to cut across three lanes of traffic to catch the exit.  Oh yes, for the past two days we have had minivans as rentals.  I'm pretty sure if we ever have kids, I might be able to sweet talk him into one.  He liked the automatic doors and all the storage in them. ;)

We managed to head out of Seattle by noon.  It was a long drive.  Like our drives to Kenai, I am not the best travel buddy.  I did my best to stay awake, but I kept dozing off.  Around 2 o'clock I had managed to miss a call from some 800 number.  Upon calling it back, it was an American Express number.  I tend to be skeptical of random numbers that start asking for personal infomration, so I waited for an email from the company.  My stomach dropped.  Some bimbo had tried to spend $197,573 for Qatar Airways. Seriously... what the heck?  Did the person think I am made of money??? Even if I had no living expenses or bills, that would take me years to pay off.  Although if AmEx ever did decide to up my credit line... I wouldn't complain ;)  So now I have a new card on the way. I'm glad it was caught, but its a pain in the butt having to wait on a new card.  Apparently I did a little Christmas shopping too (only $88 worth, so compared to the $197K, I can't complain)


The view has been awesome (when I haven't been asleep!)  We made it out of Washington during daylight hours, but unfortunately, had to drive through Oregon and Idaho in the dark :(

Around 4:30 we took a break, fed the pets and let them roam for a bit.  The cat pretty much freaked out when I set her outside on the leash.  She did everything she could to get back in the jeep.  After that it was my turn to drive.  John quickly feel asleep and of course, that's when we hit the winding roads.  I passed a sign for Dead Man's Pass and go figure the roads got super icy, so I was on my best driving behavior!

The pets have been on their best behavior.  Hannah insists on looking out every single window... including the back (which as you can see is hard to get to)

Now we are in Mountain Home, Idaho. Tomorrow we kick off a long drive to Denver, Colorado so we can see the lovely Jenn Shaw!  We are super excited! :)

For now though... it's time to catch some sleep.  I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!

Farewell Alaska!

 

  We have made it out of Alaska! 

 What a crazy journey it has been.  Monday night we went back to the house to complete a couple more things before the tenants moved in this week.  We went to go leave and go figure... my car battery had died.  We had parked it in the garage so it wouldn't die. Thankfully a friend was able to come jump start my car.

Since my car had to be clean in order for it to be shipped, I had my best buddies at Lithia set up a car detail for me. By best buddies, I mean that I'm glad we're moving and I won't have to deal with these people again.   I can honestly say that they earned every penny. I don't think my car has really been "clean clean" since I bought it.  It's not that I don't care about it... it's just that the Alaska dirt doesn't come off when I go through the car wash and most of the year its too cold to wash it myself.  It sparkled by the time they were done! and I was frozen out of my car, but thats another story for another day. 

                                            

Tuesday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with friends.  After we picked Begley up from the groomers we went back to finish packing.  We ended the night with some celebratory champagne.  After the week we survived, we deserved it!
                                               

I did have a minor panic attack Tuesday afternoon when I realized that someone (who shall remain nameless) had packed the cat's drugs in the jeep- which was currently on it's way to Seattle.  Thankfully our vet set us up with a refill.  Despite the fact that we were leaving in less than 24 hrs, I decided to do a test run on Hannah. Oh my word. It was absolutely hilarious.  Imagine your best friend slightly tipsy- has difficulty walking straight, slightly confused, probably doesn't have the best coordination.  Hannah made the time we spent packing our bags very entertaining.

Begley after his trip to the groomer!

Wednesday came too soon and reality set in-I was not ready to deal with Hannah and the flight. I guess Hannah figured out that this road trip was different.  She meowed the whole way to the airport.  I gave her the appropriate drug doseage and waited... and waited... and waited some more. She was feaking out. Thankfully, Hannah's drugged meow isn't as loud as her regular one. Hannah was quiet a majority of the trip (I was definitely counting my blessings). I was appalled when a lady approached me while we were heading to the baggage claim and told me she could hear Hannah the whole time during the flight. Mind you there had been a good 15 rows between us and I had a hard time hearing Hannah meow. I told her she must have mistaken one of the two babies on the plane for the cat, because the cat slept most of the time.

So as I'm telling this lady she is crazy sadly mistaken about the cat- officers are roping off the entire hallway with caution tape. And thats when we came to what apparently was a security breach closure.  We ended up awkwardly standing around for 10 minutes waiting for the officers to take down the tape so we could continue on our way.  Meanwhile, Hannah is proving the lady right by meowing the entire time. *facepalm*
Begley made the trip a-okay. He was probably the most excited  about the trip.  After I let him out of his kennel in Seattle, he didn't really want to go anywhere.  Best I can figure he was afraid he would be put back in his kennel.

I'm enjoying the warmer weather here in Washington, but I can't wait to be back in the south!

Best part of the day- Panera!!

Tomorrow we pick up the Jeep, return the rental, and hit the road! We are Idaho bound!