Day 2: Twin Falls, ID to Ely, NV
The last 24 hours have been filled with a lot of learning; the good, the bad and the ugly (which I’m sure that movie was filmed in the areas that I drove through today):
While stunningly beautiful and the shortest route to Vegas, I most likely will not taking this route again. Today was a shorter drive and we got to Ely at 1:00 pm. I was really tempted to keep going to Vegas (another 4-5 hours) but I was tired and the weather was getting angry. Plus I wasn’t sure what kind of charging situation I would find here. My room was ready so I took that as a sign to keep to the original plan.
Morning sky over northern Nevada.
As I’ve mentioned before, Penny is an anxious dog (even with her medication) and hotel rooms are not her favorite. She is very sensitive to sound and loud car or room doors slamming puts her in a state of panic. Between a flight or fight instinct, she will always flee, in fact I can’t think of a time when she was aggressive. I have to keep a death grip on her leash because if she got away from me, we’d never see her again with how fast she can run. I now know what her panic attacks look like as she had one last night and again this afternoon. She flees to the part of the room that is farthest away from the sound that startled her and stands there with her ears pinned back, tail between her legs and just shakes. I’ve also learned that no amount of reassuring, coaxing or petting her helps. When it happened last night, I finally just went to sleep and was relieved when she was on the other bed when I woke up in the middle of the night. When it happened this afternoon, I just kept quiet and talked to her soothingly. She eventually came out of it and came to sit with me. I’ve kept up on her meds tonight and will keep the bathroom fan running in the hopes that provides her with some white noice. I think in future trips I may be better renting small homes or condos that are quieter. The noises of people in other rooms, the semis on the highway and the cars in the parking lot just keep her on edge. Chewie seems to be handling it better, he is just glued to me at all times (which isn’t that much of a change). The upside is that they slept like rocks during the drive.
My ideal travel day for future planning is a 6 hour drive where I stop at lunch to charge and walk the dogs, staying at a quiet hotel (off the freeway) with EV charging, or at a rental close to a quick charger. I’m sure I’ll continue to learn more tomorrow and in future trips.
But all in all, the dogs are still doing great considering everything new (and scary) that is being thrown at them. Vi continues to be a champ, making a long day of driving pretty easy. Tomorrow we’ll make it to Vegas, I’ll drop some of Obie’s things with one of his UNLV buddies and then make my way to Lake Las Vegas to stay with my friend Suzanne and her husband. I’m looking forward to seeing them all and it will feel great to be able to fully relax!