Road Trip: Day One

Distance: Miles 0 - 360

Location: Falls Church, VA to Virginia - Tennessee border

Appropriate Song: Country Roads

We woke up this morning to a flurry of light snow falling on our moving day. But it really wasn't falling, in the sense of going from up above to down below, because of the swirling winds, the snow was going every different direction other than down giving us our own little inside-the-snow-globe effect. The Tabbies weren't fooled by any of our packing up, and as soon as they finished their breakfast, retreated to under the bed. As if we'd leave them behind...

By 11:30 the car was stuffed to the gills, including the rooftop carrier, and the cats were in their carriers in the back-back of the car. Two hours down the road, we pulled into a gas station for bathroom breaks and to open the carriers for the kitties, giving them free range over the back of the car. I kept an eye on them for Worst Fear #1 - cats diving under the accelerator pedal in the fast lane of the interstate, but nothing near that happened. In fact, it was better than expected, with Daphne immediately making herself comfortable in what I now refer to as the Captain's Seat: her bed on the pile of suitcases, coolers and boxes behind our seats at headrest level. Instead of wild-eyed and freaked out, she was quite relaxed and enjoying the scenery. After not too long, she was even asleep.

To check on how the boys were doing in the back, I had to crawl belly-down over the pile of stuff and scooch as far back as I could to reach them. I could barely scratch behind their ears, but could easily see that they were pretty quietly curled up either in their carriers, or right in front. Awww. Better than expected!

We soon came to realize the one big problem with a six-day roadtrip heading south-west: the sun. As in, driving off into the sunset. It seems the last four hours of our day were spent squinting through our sunglasses, and the last hour wishing we had extra pairs to layer on. See what I mean:

Bright horizons sound good, but this is ridiculous!

We pushed on 360 miles and our nearing our first state border. The five of us are now snug in a hotel room and the Tabbies are no doubt thinking, "So... this is the new house you've been telling us about? Man, you must've lost your job, mom!" But as long as they eat (yup), use the litterbox (yup), drink water (we're watching) and don't howl all night (Toby!) - this trip might just go okay. 

Meanwhile, we'll all watch the scenery unfold outside the window. For now, it's rolling hills, farm houses and barns in frosty hollers, and stands of dead-looking winter trees, huddled against the 23-degree day.