Day 1: Richland to Twin Falls
Our first leg (of 4) is done and I’m so proud of my dogs! We are safely tucked into our hotel room and the car is charging just outside the window. The seemingly endless “to do” list was finally complete and we left around 9:30. Good thing I woke up at 5 am or we would have had a later start. We got to the hotel around 6 pm which isn’t too bad with the time change.
They are not roughing it.
The car was a dream to drive, well, I actually didn’t do all that much driving. The self driving function is amazing on the highway, you have to keep your eyes on the road but it feels more like being a passenger. We stopped twice to charge (about 40 minutes each) and also stopped at two rest stops (more for me than the dogs). The total cost for charging was less than what I would have paid for gas. Vi is what I’ve named her and she’s a winner. That is Vi (V-eye, as in Violet) any Fourth Wing fans out there?
Vi is definitely smarter than I am.
The one factor that I have worried about with this temporary relocation to AZ is how my dogs adjust. Penny is a pretty anxious dog and startles easily, Chewie not as much. But they are both terrified of thunder and fireworks and my worry intensified once I got to Arizona to set up the trailer. The RV park is 2.5 miles away from Luke Air Force base which home to the 56th FW which trains pilots in the F‑35A Lightning II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The RV park is in the landing flight path and the jets are circling around in formation all afternoon. It’s really cool to see, but it is quite loud. Luckily, we have the best vet and I texted her to see what we should do to prepare them for that noise. They would either go insane or get over their fear, and I was concerned it was the former. Dr. Thome prescribed anti anxiety medication and I’ve given them small doses for the drive. It’s seemed to work, they were chill and slept most of the time. I could definitely tell when it wore off as Penny got pretty jumpy on one of our charging stops. Thank you Dr. Thome for helping my dogs life a better life through chemistry!
I had everything packed so it would be easy to transfer from the car to the hotel room. One additional benefit of an electric vehicle is that I can have an electric cooler in the car. I had ordered one last week and the only version that wasn’t sold out turned out to be a bit bigger than I needed. I takes up about a third of the back but has two compartments so I can have a freezer and fridge while on the go. I prepacked all of my breakfast and lunch stuff as well as the dogs fresh food. I ordered thai food tonight through doordash (so yummy!) and will have leftovers for tomorrow night. I’m avoiding leaving the dogs alone in the room as I don’t want them to bark. At this point, they are both crashed. Chewie is pulling his typical hunger strike when in new places, he often doesn’t eat the first meal when we go camping. I know he’ll eat when he’s hungry, and he’s getting plenty of treats. One more trip outside before bed and then hopefully we will have a quiet night. I know I’m exhausted!
So far so good, I may wish that I had a king size bed.
Today was our longest day, tomorrow will be about five hours into Ely, then about the same into Vegas for a night at my Suzanne’s house, then the final stretch into El Mirage on Thursday. I’ll keep you posted along the way, thanks for everyone who reached out!