Traveling is fun!

This is going to be a long post since I've been traveling again, and didn't take time to write while I was on the road. This time we went by car. Not as comfy, but much faster than the motorhome. First we stopped off at my human uncle and auntie's home in Southern California, where I tried my best to mow down houseplants. Above is a photo of me pretending to enjoy lying on the hearth of their fireplace, but if you look you'll see that I've got my eye on a big, green, yummy plant. My auntie, uncle and people are a little smarter than the average fool, so they kept a close eye on me while I pretended to be content to just lie there. (Oops, my she-p hasn't been able to import the photo yet. She'll try later.)

Leaving there on a Saturday morning, we headed northwest to hook up with I-5, but first we went over some mountains that had me wailing for a few minutes. As we approached Bakersfield, my she-p spotted the big red barn she had seen the last time we went through, when my he-p pretended to not hear her say "stop!" This time she was driving, so she swung in and jumped out to buy some fresh produce. Nothing looked tempting to me, so I crawled back in my crate and went back to sleep.

Our first night was spent in Sacramento. Not too much to recommend it as far as I was concerned. My people stepped out to get some breakfast, but before they left, my he-p told me if I wanted to go with them when they got back, I needed to be waiting by the door. Well, I surprised him. I was sitting in my crate when they got back, rarin' to go, thank you very much!

I raised a ruckus again when we went over the Siskiyou Mountains in No. CA and So. Oregon. Something about those downhill curves upsets my system. I don't get sick, but I just don't like them!

We stayed the next night in Albany, OR. Nice hotel, but we were anxious to get on the road the next morning for the rest of our trip. We finally arrived around noon the next day, and that night I got to see the beautiful human nieces. They are so sweet. The oldest is graduating from high school in a couple of days, so that's why we're there. It was cold and raining the entire time we were there, but I stayed in the hotel room and was nice and cozy. Meanwhile, my people wore coats to keep warm and to try and stay dry. And complained, loudly and constantly.

After heading to a restaurant on Thursday morning to meet the nieces, we left there headed to Eastern WA. We arrived there sometime in the afternoon. I slept most of the way, so what do I know about the trip. My she-p stopped once to buy some more produce (cherries, this time), but otherwise, we were just plowing along. It was still raining on and off, even after we got to Spokane. Yuck. I might have been born in this type of climate (I mean, who knows where I was born?) but I do love the sunshine and warm weather in Arizona!

We stayed in Spokane for two-and-one-half days while my people took my he-p's mother shopping and out to eat at her favorite places. The hotel was super, so I was quite comfy staying there while my people did their running around. Mom is 93 and in assisted living now, but she even came to visit me in the hotel. I don't think that was her idea, exactly, but like me, she went where my people took her. When she headed to the bathroom, I promptly accompanied her. I don't think she ever had a cat follow her around. She's not an animal fan! But she did laugh at me and my antics. Hey, I'm amusing. What can I say?

On Sunday morning, we headed east through Montana, then turned south on I-15 through Idaho and Utah. I love Montana, but Idaho wasn't my favorite scenery until we reached Pocatello, where it gets hilly (but not too) and green. We quickly covered Idaho, except that we had to slow down to 45 through every danged town because of construction. Thank goodness there aren't too many towns in that part of the country. We spent the night in Idaho Falls in a motel. This was definitely not my favorite place. It was right across from the falls, but because it was centrally located, it was busy and noisy. And old! We had a kitchen, but I'm not sure it served any purpose since my she-p didn't cook up any treats there. We had stayed in La Quinta Inns up until that night, so I was slightly spoiled by their new, really nice rooms.

We headed down to So. UT the next day, and finally reached Kanab, Utah. This place is gorgeous, and we stayed at a historic lodge--Parry Lodge. It's where the movie stars stayed when they were in the area filming the western picture shows during the 30s to the 70s. The lodge was wonderful. We stayed in the Ray Milland cottage. We found out that in August, Kanab hosts a Western Legends festival,. A lot of old stars show up, and some of their children come if their famous parent is no longer living. Sounds like fun, but we don't know if we can get a room or an RV site since it's only a couple of months away. Maybe next year...

The next morning after breakfast, my people headed out to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. This is a wonderful place that rescues abused and abandoned companion animals. They have a section for horses, bunnies, donkeys, cats, dogs, and various other animals. They rehabilitated Michael Vick's pit bulls that had been used for fighting, adopting the success story dogs out to new, loving families. Some were too injured emotionally and physically to ever be safe in a family home.

Best Friends has lots of volunteers who show up for awhile and help care for the animals in addition to a large, loving staff. They even let children over five volunteer to help with things like feeding, petting, walking, etc. My people want to go back and take the entire tour and maybe volunteer for a few days. There are even a couple of full hook-up RV sites located within the sanctuary, but they are often reserved far in advance. There are also a few RV parks in town and around the area, since this is within a short drive of several National Parks.

Check out Best Friends website at www.bestfriends.org to find out all the amazing things they do. My people joined so they can get the magazine to keep up with what's going on there. They also receive discounts on the RV sites and cabins that are rented out to visitors.

When we left Kanab my people weren't sure if we would be able to make it home without taking a long detour through Grand Canyon National Park because of fires raging outside Flagstaff. We were lucky because the road reopened right before we got there. However, there were still little fires spurting in the woods right beside the road. Let me tell you, that scared me too death. As soon as I smelled that smoke, I started carrying on like someone was choking me. I was choking on the smoke. I was trying to tell my people to get the heck out of there, but they just kept driving until we got through the burning area. Whoo-o-o. What a relief it was to breath fresh air again. We managed to get home by mid-afternoon.

What fun to see my home again and find all my toys just where I had left them. I had some resting up to do, but you can read about my antics once I reached home in the next post. Purr-r-r-r.