Day 2

June 25, 2008

Today’s trip took us from West Lafayette, Indiana to Joplin, Missouri (about 4 miles east of the Oklahoma border). We traveled through St. Louis right at afternoon rush hour, which wasn’t good in terms of traffic and time, but we had wonderful views of the arch and the Mississippi river, which the girls hadn’t seen before. So that was cool, and Emily was snapping photos out the RV window. Unfortunately, this trip isn’t about sightseeing, but just about getting all of us from Michigan to Arizona. So we don’t have time to stop and look around other than what we can see out the RV windows.

The views driving through Missouri were nice too – hills and valleys of the Ozarks. Unfortunately, this RV is so big and weighted down that it struggles on hills. It would kick into overdrive frequently in order to make it up a hill, and every time it did so, I could just imagine the gas getting sucked out of the tank. And I was right. When we filled up in Joplin and I figured the gas mileage for the day, it was 6.5 mpg. Ouch. Filling this baby up takes about $200, and it doesn’t go much farther on a tank of gas than our regular cars do. But this tank holds 55 gallons!

The animals are holding up pretty well. Josie (the dog) seems a little unsettled in the stomach from all the driving. She ate her dinner, but didn’t want her breakfast, which is very unusual for her. She just picked up her food dish in her teeth and dumped her breakfast all over the RV’s floor. That’s her signal that she doesn’t want to eat right now. Maybe the fish tank water didn’t agree with her…

Mistey and Moochie (cats) seem to be doing all right, eating and all. They’ve been good about using the litter box (yea!) and I’ve been good about scooping it out frequently so it doesn’t stink (double yea!) Mistey is the skittish cat, so we have to lock her in the bathroom anytime we’re stopped and someone is getting in or out of the RV’s cabin, otherwise she’s likely to shoot out the door and disappear.

Frinka, the old cat (17 years old) is very calm and seems to be adjusting pretty well. He constantly wants to be sitting on someone’s lap, which is no different than at home. But I’m worried because he doesn’t seem to want to eat now (he did at the beginning of the trip). I don’t want him getting dehydrated (because of his kidney problems), so I’ll probably need to give him his sub-cutaneous fluids soon. I brought all the supplies on the RV (needles, lactated ringers), so I am prepared.

The parakeets stay in the shower (in their cage) so we can shut the shower door most of the way and keep the cats from terrorizing them. I’m not sure if they like the swaying of the moving vehicle, but I hear them alternately sing and squawk, which is also no different than at home, so I assume that means they’re doing ok.

And the guinea pigs, well, Emily has had them out a few times, and they sit there like hairy blobs, which is no different than at home, so I think they’re ok too.

The people? Well, I think everyone is tired, and today was tough because it was following the all-nighter of yesterday and the 4 hours of sleep upon arrival in West Lafayette. I ended up driving the entire way since I felt more or less refreshed and Mark was still feeling dazed from the painting, fixing and driving frenzy of the last 36 hours. So I drove for 9 ½ hours, plenty of time for me to adjust to driving this RV. It was a little unsettling at first, but I did get used to it. As long as it’s straight interstate, it’s not too tough. But construction zones, big hills, and darkness are the things that made driving more difficult at times.

As I drove, I had to get used to checking my two side mirrors to see what was behind me, since looking in the rear view mirror only gives you a view of the back of the RV’s cabin. When I mistakenly checked my rear view mirror though, I would see Sarah lying on her stomach on the bed at the back of the RV, elbows on the bed, chin in her hands, looking out the back window. She was just watching the countryside go by. She’s probably holding up the best of all of us.

We stayed the night in a KOA, so it was our first night of sleeping in the RV. Well, Sarah slept in it when it was parked Monday night in our drive in East Lansing because she thought it was cool, and all the girls and the animals slept in it when we pulled the all-nighter on Tuesday. But this was the first night for all of us to sleep in it. I must say, this RV looks really big, feels really big driving it, and is the largest one available for rent (30-ft long). But when you put 6 people, with all their suitcases, 9 animals, with all their food, dishes, etc., it gets crowded real fast. Real crowded. Once everyone is actually in their sleeping space, it’s fine. But moving around, turning the couch and table into beds, getting the sleeping bags spread out, all while trying not to step on a cat or the dog (or a laptop, cell phone, or other device the kids left lying on the floor), requires a bit of balance and coordination that I usually don’t have. I felt like I was a giant trying to maneuver in a dwarf’s world.

Once settled for the night, everything was surprisingly quiet and peaceful. The bed was comfortable (Mark and I slept in the full bed at the rear of the RV), and other than the really sore back I had from sitting in the same position all day, I slept pretty well. So I guess we’re ready for Day 3 of this voyage.