Travels With Roxy

Roxy and I have never made a trip longer than an hour together, so this cross-country scheme of mine was wildly untested.

I'm the gypsy sort, cavorting about the country ceaselessly while Roxy has slumber parties at the kennel.  I return before she turns feral and organizes a gang and gets all street.

I had a teeny glimpse of what it must be like to travel with children. The "package deal."

Granted, Roxy did not once ask, "Are we there yet?" but I had to plan pretty much everything around her.

While children are allowed in most hotels and restaurants, dogs, sadly, are NOT.  Since it is summer, there was no leeway for leaving Roxy in the car while I ran in to a Panera for a salad.  She also could not be left in the hotel room more than five minutes before barking her fool head off, thus alerting the staff that I broke the rule about leaving Roxy alone in the room.  Narc puppy.

Thank God I bought protein shakes and bars before I left town.

Most days, I had a protein shake for breakfast, a couple protein bars for lunch, and fast food for dinner, drive thru, thank you very much.  Most of the small towns I drove through (aka, scenic route) didn't have fancy curb service. My evenings were spent deciding where We were going to spend the next night, so I could try to find a dog friendly hotel in the vicinity.

I let people just give me the stink eye in gas stations when Roxy came in with me so I could use the bathroom.  I also casually strolled through a brewery restaurant in Columbia, MO to get to and from the back balcony, where dogs were allowed. To be fair, I was with family and was just too lazy to walk the long way around the building.

Roxy slept for the most part while we were in the car.  We only took one really long walk. Columbia, MO has the world's best dog park, and we loved it. I was getting restless from lack of exercise, and Roxy was ready to chew through the seat.  She met a few new friends, specifically Hazel and Daisey Mae, while I got caught up with their moms, dear friends of mine I never get to see.

I arrived in Ferdinand, IN sporting some sort of illness, so mostly slept and let Roxy get to know her cousins, my cousin Denise's two Ocherese named Bailey and Marley.  Denise spoiled her rotten with lots of cuddles and treats.

Roxy has been a trooper through the entire thing.  Almost every night, a new location.  Every day, in the car.  Short walks next to highways.  Lots of strangers.  Thunderstorms. Cats in the next hotel room, making her crazy. Rabbits in the back yard, taunting her.  We have only been out of each other's sight for a few minutes at a time for the past nine days.  I know the meaning of the words "package deal" better than I ever have.

Hotel rooms in Albuquerque NM, Guymon OK, El Dorado KS, Columbia MO, Springfield IL, Ferdinand IN, Wheeling WV, Garnet Valley PA.  So far.

Roxy is asleep on my feet right now, exhausted, not knowing that we are here in Philly for a few days.  She probably won't have to get in the car at all tomorrow, but she doesn't know that.

As long as we are together, we are okay.

2,242 Days Later

On the 2,242th day, she rested.

I spent 2,241 days working for the university.  Six years.  The days after that last day were spent sleeping, for the most part.

The last month has gone by in a whirl.  I kept forgetting to get a photo of me and my trainer, Jesse, and so still don't have one, and I am in Albuquerque now, so it isn't happening at all. Sigh.  How do you spend roughly 600 hours in someone's presence over the course of 4 years and not snap at selfie with him?

I've been to Tubac, Tucson, Phoenix, Monterey, New Orleans in the last month.  All for fun.

My last day in Flagstaff was beautiful and sad, all at once.  I got a shot of hope and excitement from my friends, and a cool tshirt from my trainer, which goes nicely with the boxing gloves he gave me.  Both are packed away in the Jenga of my car trunk, otherwise I'd post a snap. Gail treated me to breakfast at Mix and a lovely long conversation.  Lori let me stay with her and treated me to lunch yesterday and a card that made me cry.

When I picked up Roxy at the kennel, their going away gift was full grooming, so she smells awesome and looks all fluffy!  When we stopped by the vet to pick up her meds, we got to say goodbye to all the awesome ladies there, Kari, Kyndel and Toni came out for hugs.  Roxy seemed convinced someone was about to stick a needle in her.

Roxy slept for most of the drive to Albuquerque.

This post is mostly to get you up to speed.  I'll be writing my normal quirkiness later.

Although one funny thing... A man in the hotel elevator struck up a conversation with me, and I mentioned I am a professional fundraiser.  He then launched into a story about donating money to a scholarship and the student used the money to "gad about Europe studying art history or some such nonsense" and was quite irate about it.  My normal self would have listened sympathetically, made some sort of connection.  You know the rules, ladies, be NICE.

I just looked at him and said, "I'm sorry you had that experience. I'm really tired, so I'm walking away now." Then did just that, leaving him hanging.  Roxy didn't even look back.

Another fun thing, while I was having coffee with my friend Sandra, one of the faculty came in and I got to introduce them and said, You two need to know each other, I think you would be fast friends! and then we ended up chatting with her for quite a while and they DID hit it off.  I love making connections!

My big splurge for the trip has been a cooler that plugs into your charger, so you don't have to use ice for everything.  I mentioned it to Jesse, and he said, that's cool! I used to have one for my protein shakes! Which made me realize that yes, I could probably put protein shakes in there, not just Roxy's meds!  He would be proud, because I have and so far, I'm drinking them.

As I wind my way about the US, I promise most of the posts will have more photos and better stories!

Days In The Sun

So, Monterey has been amazing.  Thank you Athena for your invitation to crash at your place and wander around freely!

A few tips if you plan to travel solo:

1. Bring an iPod to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  You can drown out the shrieks of children excited at the sharks, and manta rays, and jellyfish, and their friends, and their feet and the plushies in the gift shop... Dang, children shriek a lot.  Bliss out to the jellies listening to Ziggy Marley, cause Love IS My Religion. (Thank you to Athena for that little gem of a tip!)

2. Get out and walk around.  It is a gorgeous place full of lovely surprises that you'll only see if you're on foot.  Don't just stick to Cannery Row!

3. Catch the sunset at Asilomar State Beach.  Stunning. All gold and purple and just what an ocean sunset ought to be.

4. For adventurous types, if you want to score a deal on a place to sleep, my friend Athena rents out bunk beds in her apartment for $75/night.  It's a steal when you do price comparisons for anything else at such an awesome location.  Five minute walk to the Aquarium and Cannery Row! You can hardly pay park closer! 

5. Depending on where you are headed, be mentally prepared for San Francisco-esque hills and get your cardio on.

6. Save money and eat healthier by buying much of your food at the grocery store.  There are TONS of excellent restaurants (my favs so far are the somewhat pricey The Fish Hopper www.fishhopper.com which has food you'd renounce your homeland for, and the not pricey at all First Awakenings, www.firstawakenings.net because I'm all about breakfast food!) and the state-required-calorie counts will remind you how fast bowls of clam chowder add up!

Now, some lovely photos... I could not get the videos I took of the jellyfish to upload, so, suffice to say, it was awesome and I'm sorry you're missing it!

Stone balancing is EVERYWHERE!!

Gorgeous, gorgeous day in Monterey.

Sunset...

My only regret is not getting over to Modesto to visit new baby Ethan.