There are so many last minute things to do when you leave a place for the last time. It's not like I could do it later because I was going to be thousands of miles away - not something I could see to in a few days. I had set 11 am as my "leave no later than" departure time. Haha!
It took awhile to figure out where and how to pack everything even though I had drawn a diagram ahead of time. I had planned on taking Doug's mom's rocking chair to his sister's which was my first stop on this trip. I couldn't figure out how to get it in the car so I figured I could do a Beverly Hillbillies and tie it to the top. Rats! All my "stuff" was on a moving van somewhere between California and the east coast - no rope. I finally made the decision that, if she wanted it badly enough, Doug's sister could make a trip to LA.
It took awhile to figure out where and how to pack everything even though I had drawn a diagram ahead of time. I had planned on taking Doug's mom's rocking chair to his sister's which was my first stop on this trip. I couldn't figure out how to get it in the car so I figured I could do a Beverly Hillbillies and tie it to the top. Rats! All my "stuff" was on a moving van somewhere between California and the east coast - no rope. I finally made the decision that, if she wanted it badly enough, Doug's sister could make a trip to LA.
I did finally drive away almost 2 hours later than I had set as my "latest" time to leave on Thursday morning. I hit the road at 12:45 pm instead of 11 am. The drive to Las Vegas was uneventful although quite hot. Over 110 degrees going through the desert and the desert (from a car at least) is pretty boring with nothing but sand and scrub brush. Things changed dramatically when I hit the CA/NV border. There in the middle of nowhere (except it was just over the state line) was a bunch of casinos.
Driving through the desert to Las Vegas
State Line - Welcome to Nevada!
Drove into Las Vegas at rush hour - it was crowded but the traffic did move. Still hotter than blazes. I stopped twice on the trip so Bella could do her business. She wanted no part of the heat - she was pulling me back to the car - without a drop of pee leaving her body. She knows more than I do about conservation of energy.
Coming into Las Vegas
I made it to Doug's sister, Linda's, house and Bella got to socialize with 3 dogs and 2 cats. She did really well with the dogs and did her usual with the cats (must stick nose up kitty's butt and then run and bark when the kitty turns on her and hisses). We got to visit for a little bit before she had to go off to work. She works at one of the casinos from 7:30 pm to 3:30 am so we went out to breakfast this morning. I had a much too short but very enjoyable time with Linda. And then I hit the road so she could get some sleep before she had to go to work again.
Doug's sister, Linda
In case you were wondering why you hadn't heard from me on my first day of travel, Linda doesn't have any internet access so I had to wait until I got to the motel tonight to do my first email.
So I set out on Day 2. I left Las Vegas and headed north on US 15. More boring desert for awhile but then it got interesting the closer I got to Utah. Different colors and shapes of rocks and more climbing up and down good-sized hills. It goes pretty quickly with the speed limit of 75 mph. It was still pretty hot with the temperature topping 100 but was high 80s by the time I arrived in Richfield, Utah.
Awesome Utah landscapes
Bella threw up in the car yesterday, then didn't eat anything last night or this morning although she continued to drink water and then threw up again mid-morning today. She finally ate mid-afternoon and has kept it down. I stopped 3 different times today to walk the dog - no fertilizer for the soil from the Bella girl. At the last stop I decided to call my vet back in LA because I was tired of cleaning up puke and knew Bella wasn't real happy either. I got the scoop on what over-the-counter medicine I could give her so her stomach settles down. Then I drove around until I found a store, dosed her up and hopefully that won't be a problem any more. She must have a pretty good bladder because she waited almost 9 hours before she finally peed. She's in the habit of just going out the back door and doing her business and not used to doing her business while she's on the leash. But she's a quick learner (I hope)!
End of Day 2 - one tired girl
Here's the link to my route - the cities along the way may or may not be where I spend the night but that is the route I hope to be able to stick to. So far Bella and I are holding up well despite little hiccups.
Click on "Eastward Bound" on the left hand side of the page.
And here's the link to all the pictures I have so far. It's been too darn hot to pull off for photo ops so I've been doing the majority of the shooting from the driver's seat. Hopefully I'll improve my "on the fly" photography and stay out of the way of other vehicles in the process.
Until tomorrow...
