Chicago Move: Cross-country drive, day 3
Sep. 28th, 2013 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseOh thank god we're almost done with the driving.
Actually, today wasn't bad at all. It definitely felt less stressful than yesterday, despite the fact that the drive was only an hour shorter. Some of that might have been the fact that we weren't losing an hour to time-zone changes - even though it's just a psychological effect, there was a definite impact. Also we got a somewhat earlier start today and therefore weren't driving far into the night like last night. And then there's the "this is the last full day of driving" part to look forward to.
The landscape was much more pleasant. Missouri has lots of farmland, but also lots of trees and rolling hills (and no feedlots that we saw). I was a little nonplussed when I started seeing all the signs for Mark Twain Historic Sites (I didn't think he lived in Missouri, but perhaps I'm wrong?), until we broke through the trees and onto the bridge over the Mississippi River. Holy crow. I mean, I'm from Alaska, I'm no stranger to large bodies of water (or larger-than-life geographical features in general), but...damn. I may have to come back down this way for a long weekend sometime so I can properly appreciate it, rather than just sneaking glances over the side of the bridge.
No major curveballs today, thankfully. We did discover that rural gas stations often don't sell premium gas, but that wasn't a big problem as there were plenty of truck stops that did. At one point Leo's carrier fell off the blanket and tipped slightly sideways, enough to alarm him even through a full dose of sedative, but a bit of repacking (along with propping-up help from my new favorite hoodie) got him righted again and he settled back down. Other than that, things were pretty uneventful, and we got to Lincoln just fine.
Much to my surprise, the cats have been adapting to the various hotel rooms with almost no trouble at all. When we took Dexter and Leo from Juneau to Sierra Vista by plane, they kept us up almost that whole night, yowling and rattling cupboard doors and generally making their displeasure known. I'm not sure if it's the presence of drugs or the lack of issues specific to plane travel (maybe cats really hate pressure changes?), but while they certainly haven't been happy about being stuck in their carriers for hours on end, they've generally settled right in once we let them out. (Tripp is actually snuggling up with Brian and purring like mad right now - it's pretty adorable.) Which isn't to say that I'm not glad they're getting a break, too. They've been such troopers - Bast knows they deserve it.
I'm probably most pleased with this place of the various hotels we've tried. For one thing, it's the only one that has actual conditioner (as opposed to "conditioning shampoo") in the rooms, and for another, the furniture/paint is newest and the bed's probably the most comfortable. Also the front desk girl is super-nice, and (perhaps most importantly) the room doesn't smell like dog pee covered up with cheap air freshener. (I mentioned this to the front desk staff at the last place, and they apologized, but said that they were full up last night and wouldn't have had another room to give us, so I guess it's good that I was too tired to raise a fuss.) But then, my perceptions might also be colored slightly by the fact that WE DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE AT ALL TOMORROW. And then it's all of a three-hour drive to our new place on Monday. Thank God.
Actually, today wasn't bad at all. It definitely felt less stressful than yesterday, despite the fact that the drive was only an hour shorter. Some of that might have been the fact that we weren't losing an hour to time-zone changes - even though it's just a psychological effect, there was a definite impact. Also we got a somewhat earlier start today and therefore weren't driving far into the night like last night. And then there's the "this is the last full day of driving" part to look forward to.
The landscape was much more pleasant. Missouri has lots of farmland, but also lots of trees and rolling hills (and no feedlots that we saw). I was a little nonplussed when I started seeing all the signs for Mark Twain Historic Sites (I didn't think he lived in Missouri, but perhaps I'm wrong?), until we broke through the trees and onto the bridge over the Mississippi River. Holy crow. I mean, I'm from Alaska, I'm no stranger to large bodies of water (or larger-than-life geographical features in general), but...damn. I may have to come back down this way for a long weekend sometime so I can properly appreciate it, rather than just sneaking glances over the side of the bridge.
No major curveballs today, thankfully. We did discover that rural gas stations often don't sell premium gas, but that wasn't a big problem as there were plenty of truck stops that did. At one point Leo's carrier fell off the blanket and tipped slightly sideways, enough to alarm him even through a full dose of sedative, but a bit of repacking (along with propping-up help from my new favorite hoodie) got him righted again and he settled back down. Other than that, things were pretty uneventful, and we got to Lincoln just fine.
Much to my surprise, the cats have been adapting to the various hotel rooms with almost no trouble at all. When we took Dexter and Leo from Juneau to Sierra Vista by plane, they kept us up almost that whole night, yowling and rattling cupboard doors and generally making their displeasure known. I'm not sure if it's the presence of drugs or the lack of issues specific to plane travel (maybe cats really hate pressure changes?), but while they certainly haven't been happy about being stuck in their carriers for hours on end, they've generally settled right in once we let them out. (Tripp is actually snuggling up with Brian and purring like mad right now - it's pretty adorable.) Which isn't to say that I'm not glad they're getting a break, too. They've been such troopers - Bast knows they deserve it.
I'm probably most pleased with this place of the various hotels we've tried. For one thing, it's the only one that has actual conditioner (as opposed to "conditioning shampoo") in the rooms, and for another, the furniture/paint is newest and the bed's probably the most comfortable. Also the front desk girl is super-nice, and (perhaps most importantly) the room doesn't smell like dog pee covered up with cheap air freshener. (I mentioned this to the front desk staff at the last place, and they apologized, but said that they were full up last night and wouldn't have had another room to give us, so I guess it's good that I was too tired to raise a fuss.) But then, my perceptions might also be colored slightly by the fact that WE DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE AT ALL TOMORROW. And then it's all of a three-hour drive to our new place on Monday. Thank God.
