Tanya tells all about the trip

The pictures above are of my kitty carrier.  Fay and Bob liked it because it folded up so small in the car.   I only had to be in it a few minutes when they took me into a hotel.   It is in the garage now and I hope it stays there.

I am so glad we are finally in our new home.   We went 1563 miles in Fay’s 2005 Toyota Corolla.  Fay and Bob are really excited on the mileage they got with the car, 35.77 miles per gallon, whatever that is.  I can’t believe all the stuff they got in the car and still left half the backseat for me to sit in.  I rarely sat there.  Almost all of the time I just sat on the arm rest.  I think that Feliway spray really helped me stay calm.   Those 3 different hotel rooms didn’t bother me much at all.  I always found my food and water and litter box and even got catnip and my pounce treats.   I am still a little scared and don’t want to get very far away from Fay and Bob.  They say I am under foot but I don’t think they mind very much because they pick me up and hold me and pet me all the time.

 My new house has lots of rooms for me to explore.  I’m not sure if I like the pool.   I never saw one of those before.   So far I like to sleep on the living room chair and on a pillow on the floor in Fay and Bob’s bedroom.   When I am too scared to go outside I sit in the window and can see Fay and Bob only a few feet away by the pool.  I think I will like this place. 

My bed

I let Fay and Bob sleep here too.

                                                        

Me in the window watching Bob 

Don’t go out through the garage door

We had our first minor glitch yesterday.  We are really aware of security so lock everything up good.  We left the house through the garage door, pulled it shut and it locked.   We ran our errands and came home to unlock the front door but because I has locked the dead bolt and there is no key for it we were locked out.  No key for the garage door either.  Fortunatly we had the phone number of the caretaker in Bob’s cell phone and she had a key for the garage door so we only were locked out for about 30 minutes.   We are so used to using the garage door opener at home that we never gave it a second thought that the front door was locked. 

Day 3 – next 350 miles Feb. 14

A shorter day today just 10 am to 4 pm.  We stopped for the night in Valdosta, GA about 25 miles from the FL border.  Stayed at a very nice Country Inn and Suites.  Nice big room, little refrigerator, microwave, breakfast.  Our nicest room so far.  Too bad they don’t take pets!  It is finally 60 and feels like much warmer.   We celebrated Valentines day with a nice rib dinner and a bottle of wine.   Fay fell asleep, as usual, before 9 pm.  We are getting pretty excited now that the weather is warmer.

When does winter stop?

It was 3 degrees when we left on Tuesday and southern IL was still only 20 on Wed.   We had to get to Chatanuga TN on Wed. night before the snow was gone and it was above 32.   That is about 1000 miles from the Twin Cities.

Favorite choice for travel shoes – Crocs

I know these shoes have been out for awhile but Bob and I just got ours a few days ago and they are the best travel shoes, even when it is 11 outside.

Day 4 last 150 miles Feb. 15-Kissimmee FL

As planned, our last day is a short one.  We left at 8:30 and arrived at our place at noon.  Our place is just like we expected.  Found a great grocery store and liquor store close by.   Made a nice salad for dinner and ate outside.  Sat in the hot tub, although it is not real hot, and relaxed.  It is really hard to believe we are here!  Although we are close to a major highway, there is very little traffic so it is quite except for the pool pumps running.   The houses are very close together but since most of the people are tourists there are not many people around.

Day 2 Wed, Feb, 13, 2008 – 1000 Miles

Much better weather today.  Fay drove the first 5 hours and Bob finished up.   We are at a Marriott in Dalton GA, about 1 hour north of Atlanta.   We missed a huge ice storm in southern IL by 48 hours.   We drove through 60 miles of iced covered trees but the roads were good.  We are getting close.

Day 1 Tues. Feb. 12 – First 500 miles

We left at 7:15 and drove until 5:15.  Had 3 hours of very bad snow and icy roads south of Madison.   1 hour delay for a traffic accident in Rockford IL and lots of cars in the ditch.  Bob did not like that much, he was today’s driver.  Spent the night in Tuscola IL at a Holiday Inn Express.   This towns claim to fame is a huge Tangers Outlet area.  We are both exhausted.   Tanya is just being a perfect little cat.  She said I should tell all of you that she will give you an update in a couple days.

A clean room

I read in one of our travel magazines that certain areas of the hotel room are VERY contaminated with germs, like the grocery cart handle so I brought with Lysol Sanitizing Wipes for the TV remote contol, light swithes, door knobs, etc.  Seemed to make sense that they could be dirty.

Welcome to Life Part Two

The postings on this blog will give you some insight into what happens to two young at heart 57 and 59 year olds  and their 16 year old cat Tanya as they see what life is like when you leave the 9 to 5 job scene.  We hope you find it entertaining and interesting.