Going out west

Day 10 (last day)

2007-09-10T08:36:00.001-07:00

This was the longest and last leg of the trip.

We got an early start and saw a nice sunrise in Salt Lake City

some rain that we missed out on in Utah

Great Salt Lake

Utah

Can anyone tell me what this is because I don't know? It was in the salt flats of Utah

The salt flats

Utah was like this for the last 100 miles or so

Biggie in Nevada

the family (notice ray getting some front seat time)

Nevada in the east

Nevada in the west

then we hit the windy, hilly, bumpy roads of Tahoe

and Ray started to get nauseous

but fortunately we made it into Berkeley without incident

the backyard from our deck

Well, that's it. Thanks for following along and providing comments.
Make sure to look us up when you are in the area.

Day 9

2007-09-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Nothing to really report from today. Ray was good again. He even had some time out of his carrier. Biggie may be getting a bit stir crazy, but tomorrow is our last, but longest day so hopefully he cooperates tomorrow.

Here's some pictures from the day

a face in the rocks

Lincoln in Wyoming for some reason

Wyoming looked pretty cool in spots

more Wyoming

Day 8

2007-09-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

The day was fairly unexciting all around. We had about 400 miles in Nebraska that had absolutely nothing going on in it.

We decided to try something different this time, no drugs for Ray.

Biggie was up to his usual self

as was Juicebox

Ray was not his usual self. He was pretty much like this then entire 9 hours. Not a single thing came out of any of his openings.

It was so uneventful, it put me to sleep

Here's some pictures of the day

that's something you can hang your hat on

This was right past the State sign and really showed them up

this seems to be the thing out here. regular gas costs less than premium although their definition of premium is a bit different

Iowa was kind of cool looking in places

Day totals: 0 craps, 0 yaks, 0 pisses, 2 happy people

Day 7

2007-09-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Back on the road again.

Things started out good as usual. We dosed only Ray this time.

Ray is in his carrier under the sheet that Biggie is sitting on.

Then Biggie started whining and only calmed down when Kristy let him sit up front

Then the real trouble began

that's Ray yakking in his cage

Soon after he crapped and pissed himself (sorry no pictures to share).

He eventually started to relax

We then made our first stopped and gave the boys a chance to stretch their legs. The rest stop was very loud with trucks and the boys immediately wanted to run under the car. Needless to say, neither ate, drank or used their litter box and it was no trouble to get them back in the car (we opened the door and they jumped in).

Then things started to repeat themselves

Biggie looks really happy here doesn't he.

Fortunately, Ray didn't repeat his actions (good news for those who bet low)

The next time we stopped and let the boys out, the place was quieter but it didn't seem to help their nerves. At one point, Ray basically attacked Kristy.

So we eventually arrived in Iowa City and went looking for a place to eat, not having high hopes and we found this place

all organic and vegan. quite a surprise, but not as good as you might hope, but good enough.

Some other interesting pics from the day

we entered the Indiana turnpike at exactly 12:12:12. weird.

weird sign in Indiana

crazy hairy-backed biker

lastly and most important

we noticed this chunk of rubber missing from our tire. Should we be concerned about this?

Day totals, 1 crap, 1 yak and 1 piss
trip totals 4 craps, 3 yaks and 2 pisses.

Day 6

2007-09-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

The last day in Ohio. Biggie has made himself very comfortable here.

he scratched the hell out of the bathroom wall after crapping.

While Ray has lately been spending half of his time in hiding

Some pictures from the day

I think this lady wanted to throw a water balloon at us.

if you don't see what's odd about this sign, keep looking

not something you see everyday at a 7-11

another family cat nap

Day 5

2007-09-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Some of you have begun to wonder if we will ever leave Cleveland. Ray and Biggie have settled in so nicely here...

and Biggie scratching the furniture.

But then while we were outside, Ray got scared by a lawn mower and tried to take off while attached to a plastic deck chair. He ran off with the chair until it got wedged between a car and a wall and was stopped in his tracks which happened to be underneath the car. At that point he really started to freak out and almost threw up.

So now that he's lost his cool again, we thought it would be a good time to put him back in the car.

We are going to continue our trip on Thursday. We will spend the first night in Iowa City, Iowa, then Sidney, Nebraska then Salt Lake City, Utah and then Berkeley on Sunday night.

Here's some other happenings from the day

this is from our scuba diving trip

this is ray emerging from his hiding place in the depths of the earth

here's a gang of deer that tried to run us down on the road

you can take guesses on what this is

Here's an exciting video of a Rummykub game with a soundtrack by Cyndi Lauper

Day 4

2007-09-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

Things were really slow in the morning

Ray finally got the teeth cleaning he so desperately needed

Every time I see this guy at my grandma's nursing home, he asks me if I'm his nephew Kevin. It didn't seem to matter that I was with these people he didn't know. I was thinking that next time I will say yes and see where that goes.

When he tried to have a conversation with us, my grandma said to me, "I don't like that guy, he rubs me the wrong way." Which reminds me of the time Kristy and I ate lunch with my grandma and a lady at a nearby table said very audibly, "I feel like I'm at a table with enemies."

Nursing home parking lot phenomena
Another license plate oddity.

getting some more relaxing in

and then things got slow again

Day 3

2007-09-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

A day filled with excitement

that about sums it up

Day 2

2007-09-01T17:48:00.001-07:00

Well, we tried to do something exciting to give you something fun to read about. I'll try to make our day sound as exciting as possible.

We visited my 92-year old grandma in the nursing home.

I had my birthday this week so I asked her to guess how old I am. After about 20 minutes, I gave up on trying to get an answer from her. The closest she came to an answer was, "3 minus...". I don't know where she was going with that.

Here's some of the things we saw today

a sign outside my parent's place

just a few spots from the other car.

Guess how much these thrift store looking pants are going for at the local department store

and that's 50% off the original price.

some local products. notice the 'hot cheese' flavor.

this isn't Hoss's, but it is an all-you-can sundae bar

no, this is not the same sundae.

The Trip Begins

2007-08-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

Day 1

The trip started out at noon on the 31st. We dosed the boys with acepromazine, a tranquilizer from the vet who said it would help with nausea which Ray has a big problem with.

saying goodbye to philly

We started out with both boys out of their carriers, but held to the seat belt with their leash. Things started off well.

By the way, they had the whole backseat to themselves.

45 minutes in, the problems began.

Ray threw up on his brother and Biggie didn't even flinch.

15 minutes later, he crapped himself.

Note the stains on the sheet. Yeah, it's gross. Poor Biggie.

Switch to plan B

Although plan B did not make Ray any better, it did contain anything that came out of his system. He soon threw up and crapped himself again.

At the next stop, we let the boys out of the car to walk around and use their litter box. Biggie peed immediately, but Ray had no interest.

This is Ray having no interest.

I soon realized why when I pulled the newspaper out of his cage. It was soaked with pee.

Plan C
At that point we upgraded him to a larger carrier so he had more room to move around.

As soon as we started off again, Ray crapped in his carrier.

Yes, that is what you think it is.

And then that was it. They would cry here and there, but no more excitement and for the last 2 hours, they didn't even make a peep.

So to sum up Day 1, 3 craps and 2 throw ups. I am taking bids on the final totals.
The next few days will be spent at my parent's house in Aurora, OH.
We will try to find interesting things to post.

Some memorable quotes from the day (all from Kristy)
"How much crap can he have in him"
"Oh no, I touched it!"
"Oh, he's getting into position."

The Dilemma

2007-08-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here's the dilemma...

How to get 2 cats from Philadelphia to Berkeley in a car.

Exhibit A
Biggie

He's the cool cat. Has no problem being in the car.

Exhibit B
Ray

He's not known as leaky by accident and he's getting worse as he gets older.