Young Snowbirds » cats

Pump and Boo’s Big Motorhome Adventure

Pumpkin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:36:00 +0000

Meow! Hi, I’m Pumpkin, Rob’s orange cat. I’m about 15 years old and my buddy Boo is a black kitty, who’s 16. This is our side of the story of our current situation.

Pumpkin on the bed

Boo on the couch

We’ve lived with Rob for almost our whole lives. We’re pretty timid and don’t really like visitors much (I hide under the bed and Boo usually hisses at them). We also aren’t all that fond of changes to our lifestyle and home. Being over 15 makes us senior kitties and we’re pretty set in our ways.

How Our Motorhome Adventure Began

That brings me to the beginning of this adventure. We were pretty cozy in our home in Alberta. After moving with Rob into Dar’s house 2 years ago, we had just finally trained her to let us stay upstairs full time and sleep on the bed. We were sooooooo tired of the basement. Dar and Rob started acting all weird and many of the things we were used to climbing on around the house were disappearing and more and more boxes appeared daily. Strangers would came and walk around the house – we didn’t like that one bit! We knew something was going on.

My Secret Hiding Spots Were All Gone

Then one day the house was almost empty and even my hiding spot under the bed was gone and the bed was part of the floor now. Next morning Rob came and picked me up (I protested with my usual loud meows) and took me from the nice warm house, out into a strange place we’d only been a couple of times. It was very cold outside (I heard them says -35c, whatever that means) and my bladder instantly stopped working. I was very upset and cold so I just peed – it just so happened that I peed ON Rob, oh well serves him right!

This new place he put me had more of those boxes and Boo was here too. I think she found a spot in the closet to hide, she’s very good at not being found as she’s black. This is like a house, with a bed and furniture and stuff, but there wasn’t as much room, and nothing smelled like our familiar things. We’d have to fix that really soon!

Eventually Rob and Dar came into the new mini house too. After much cursing and some crying, things started vibrating and rocking to and fro. Now Boo and I were very confused. It was like going on a car ride, but it wasn’t a car. I just hoped we weren’t going to the place we usually go in the car where all the other dogs and cats were and some mean lady pokes me with needles.

Boo and Dar

A New Day, A New Smell

Well, ultimately we didn’t go there – whew! But we didn’t go home either. Every day the humans would move stuff onto the bed in the morning, more vibrating, and then later they’d move it all to the big window in the front. Boo noticed that every day when the big door opened it was different outside. Different smells, sights and sounds – very weird. At first we didn’t want IN this mini house, then we didn’t want out cause we thought we’d get lost or see strangers out there. So we agreed it was best to just hide inside. One night it got very cold in the mini house and I crawled under the covers by Rob while Boo curled up on Dar’s pillow as close to her cheek as she could. They may not be the brightest creatures, but we love them and have to take care of our humans and keep them warm.

Very odd that they don’t have fur.

Great Places To Sit

Oh, the small inside issue gradually got taken care of too. Each day we’d pee in a new spot so everyone would know that was our area. We also discovered some really good places to sit. Boo likes to sit in the big window up front when it’s sunny. She can watch the stuff outside move from there too when the house is vibrating. Rob gave me a pillow and blanky on the couch right behind his chair, so I was happy to sit there. He’d reach back and touch me now and then too, so I’d purr. Lately I’ve been going in the window too and Boo rides on a warm spot on the floor she found.

one of Boo's warm spots

One of my favorite spots on the couch

Exploring The New Places

Finally all the boxes were gone and the ground outside was the same every day, so Boo start going outside to check things out. She’s the brave one so I encouraged her to go scout and report back. She said she could see a dog across the road, but he was tied up so that’s safe – and many other of these mini houses all in rows. Dar and Rob tried to put collars on us and tie us to a table outside – yeah like we’d let that happen. Boo got out of hers no problem and tangled the line around and around a chair to confuse them and wonder how she did it.

Cats thinking about going out

Boo, you go first and look around

At night we heard strange scary howling, so we mostly stayed inside. We noticed too it was much warmer, even hot, outside now. We heard the humans talk about Arizona a lot.

We Pee In The Bathtub – Sort of

So we cats adapted to the new house and got the humans retrained. Our litter box is now inside this tub we have to jump up into – the humans pee in the same room which is kinda weird for us but put up with them and their smells. Sometimes we got locked out of that room so we had to teach them about that. Usually Dar leaves some clothes on the floor by the foot of the bed – so we used that spot to relieve ourselves. She doesn’t seem to happy about it when we have to use her pillow or pajamas though. She should be honored we are marking her with our smell, to show other cats we own her and those spots are where we want to sleep too.

I like to sleep here when Dar's not sitting here

After finally getting some routine again, we packed up and move. We’re smart cats – we figured out the vibrating is the house moving. The new place had lots of birds and the humans often went to neighbors while there burned things at night. Humans do such odd things. Boo went to see what they were doing one night but she got lost and Rob had to use a light to go find her. That was scary for Boo, but she did get to hiss at the little dog over there so all was not lost.

Boo ventures outside

Visitors To Our House

We have gotten used to the new places, but still don’t like the moving too much. We’ve done a lot of that now. One cool thing is we met Kandace (they called it Florida) the lady we’ve heard Rob and Dar talk to on the phone. She brought two small humans of her own with her and a friend of theirs. I sat in Rob’s chair and let them pet me, and didn’t even hide under the couch. Seems some new people are nice too, maybe I’ll be more open and not hide so much now. I kinda liked that Mike guy that came to visit us a few times too, he’s nice and pets me. We thought maybe he was moving in with us, but he didn’t. Just as well, not much room.

Ah a piece of paper to sleep on!

Boo sleeps in the window

Pumpkin and Boo on the beach of Padre Island Texas

To The Beach

One day after moving, Rob took me out far from the house and put me in a large litter-box. Boo came out with Dar too. We didn’t know who’s litter-box it was and we didn’t like how it felt on our feet. Then the earth was moving towards me and my feet were suddenly wet – we I just put it in reverse and backed up. I was about to leave when Dar took me back home. My feet needed cleaning and they tasted all salty – weird. Boo told me her tummy got wet and her feet were stuck (they probably weren’t really, she’s such a drama queen sometimes) and Rob had to come save her. We didn’t like that place too much. They said something about taking the cats to the beach? Dunno.

So that’s about it for now. Rob and Dar often go out all day now so when they’re home we all like to curl up on the couch and watch TV. At night I sleep by Dar’s hip or between Rob’s feet. Boo sleeps in Dar’s armpit under the covers with her feet on Dar’s shoulder, or her her pillow next to her, or on Rob’s neck. We’re very happy.

Boo breaks in Rob's new computer keyboard

I can see you Rob

Day 79 – Taking the RV to the Beach

Darlene — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:32:05 +0000

We wanted a chance to park the RV on the beach and do some beach camping on Padre Island, but since we didn’t take the RV south to Brownsville (and South Padre Island) we decided to drive it over to Port Aransas. Our mission was two fold, to get a photo of our RV on the beach, and to let Rob’s cat experience the ocean. We actually have a magazine article that we wrote being published in Good Sam “Highways” and they may use an image from this shoot so we wanted it to be spectacular.

Taking the RV to Port Aransas by Ferry

Getting to Port Aransas and Padre Island by RV requires taking a ferry or driving all the way through Corpus Christi and around from the south west. Taking Victor (what we’ve named our Winnebago Vectra RV) over on the little ferry was interesting. It only holds about 20 cars and they put us in the middle of two lanes at the front in order to stay balanced. Funny.

Parking the RV on the Beach

We got to Padre Island and found a solid packed spot on the sand for us to park our RV on the beach. With memories of the other RVer getting stuck in the mud back in San Antonio, we didn’t want to risk it. Rob felt it was important that the cats got to experience the beach and the ocean. He took Pumpkin out near the water in the sand and I brought Boo out a few minutes later. They were none too happy about it and I wish I had video of Pumpkin backing up increasingly faster and faster as the water came towards her. (Rob here, um, we DO have video of that Dar) Then she almost left with a nice lady that stopped to pet her.

Cats On The Beach

Rob placed Boo in the ocean in about 1/2″ of water. She just sat there, motionless as the water came up to about 2″ and Rob had to go rescue her. And NO it’s not animal cruelty or cat torture – they are THE biggest chick cats ever and so far their RVing experience has helped them to be more daring and relaxed when things change. Now they will actually venture outside on their own, and not run and hide under the couch at even the sight of another person. So they have grown and this was indeed another experience for them. After the cats on the beach adventure, we got down to the business of getting the photos we came for.

HDR of 3-4 images combined, then us added

The RV on the beach shots accomplished, we tried to find a spot near a marina to get some boats in the photo with the RV. It was hard to find the right angle, decent lighting and access with a 34′ vehicle. Not to mention by parking it in front of the boats – guess what – I can’t even see the boats, so it kinda defeats the purpose.

RV at the Marina

Rob texting while I shoot - or he's playing a game on MY iPhone

Around the corner from there we found some pelicans flying around and Rob even saw a dolphin out in front of a big freighter that was coming in. We love pelicans – find them fascinating birds. They’re so large but graceful and how they can fly just inches off the water is amazing.

Brown pelican possibly with dinner?

brown pelican

Look at the huge wing span of these guys!

I could watch them all day

With the sun setting we headed for Virginia’s (the place with the piles of oyster shells out back that I didn’t get to eat last time cause we found it too late) for dinner. Rob parked in the biggest lot we could find nearby and put a note in the window so people would know we were not planning on camping overnight there. Rob found an online RV Journal that discusses RV unfriendly towns and made note of a few of them. Apparently some towns are not RV friendly at all and in Flagstaff, AZ they may ask you to leave even if you just stop and park to eat dinner. So now I understand why he left the note.

Beach Camping

While the idea was originally to do some beach camping on Padre Island and then go to Mexico for the day (which we did do), we weren’t actually able to pull that one off this time around. We’d both love the opportunity for beach camping, to let go of the tethers, unhook from the sewage line and do what they call dry camping. To back away from the computer, put out the awning and read instead of type so much would be a wonderful experience. Because of our schedule and events as they unfolded, beach camping was simply not going to occur.

Parking the RV on the beach on Padre Island was not only a safe experience, it was great for the cats as well. Dinner was good with a great view of the sunset over the water. A great day in paradise.

Cats On the Beach

Rob — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:37:35 +0000

Ever since we left Edmonton and set out on our 12,000 mile trip through the US and Canada by RV, I’ve wanted my cats to experience the ocean. They’re 16 and 15 years old and rarely ever left the house until recently. I’ve wanted them to experience as many things as possible while remaining relatively safe at the same time. If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll know that our first few days in the RV resulted in so much of Dar’s clothing and our bedding covered in cat pee, so we didn’t know what to expect from their time on the beach.

Pumpkin and Boo on the beach of Padre Island Texas

Pumpkin is the orange cat and Boo is the black one. They’re my Halloween kitties, but born in October and named respectively. Boo is about 16 while Pump is 15.

How did this all come about you might ask?

We took our RV to Padre Island near Port Aransas so we could get shots of our rv on the beach for Good Sam Highways magazine. We wanted good shots to accompany a recent article entry we submitted to them, so on day 80 we packed up and left Seabreeze RV Park for the day.

How Did The Cats Handle It?

Another good question. I’ve had some people tell me that they’ve never seen a cat on the beach, nor pictures of cats on the beach and neither had I. I had to walk them out to the ocean as they wouldn’t leave the rv on their own, but that’s not new. Even with the door wide open, they rarely leave the RV to venture outside.

I walked Boo down to the water and put her in about an inch of water. She didn’t move. Her paws sunk about a 1/4 inch into the wet sand. A wave came in and got her underbelly wet. She still didn’t move. I’ve been told recently that what they experienced was this:

They saw water on one side and beach on the other. They dont know what the water was and just saw it as “moving earth” and couldn’t comprehend it. They thought of the beach as a giant version of cat litter and weren’t too happy about walking in it so much.

I do have video of Pumpkin experiencing a wave coming in. She saw it coming and began to back up, but couldnt keep up, so kept accelerating in reverse as it rolled in . I’ll post it when I have time to edit it (seriously lacking time to travel, experience the US first hand AND process images and blog about it).

It was a long way between the water and the RV, so the only thing of familiarity around them was me. They huddled up around my legs. Boo hunkered down and crept her way back to the motorhome. Dar eventually picked her up and she just looked out at various things before we took them back home to safety.

For the record, I love my cats more than anything. I’ll even swear on their life to Darlene if she thinks I’m fooling around about something. That way she knows I’m serious.

At no time were they in danger and I kept them safe next to me at all times. The worst it got for Boo was about 2 inches of water that touched her belly as a wave came in. That was it.

The “cats on the beach” experience was all part of the day we took our rv to the beach, make sure you check it out.

Day 6 – Two Days in Pahrump Nevada

Darlene — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:56:09 +0000

Drive time today was short and sweet. Left Mesquite without paying (because their system was dumb says Dar, no one in the office and to pay by visa required searching the grounds of their closed hotel/resort to find the open office of the casino) and drove the 2.5 hours to Pahrump, home of Art Bell. We stopped in Vegas to visit the Whole Foods Market and had lunch before continuing up one of the longest and steepest hills Rob has seen so far. He said that the engine temperature reached the hottest he’d ever seen it. What goes up must come down as the saying goes, and it was true here as well.

When driving up hills of this grade, an RV of this weight slows down considerably, not to mention pulling a car as well. Even with the engine gearing down, speeds still slow down to 60 km/h and lower. Once reaching the top and heading back down the other side, it’s important to disengage the overdrive and keep the vehicle below 80 km/h. This is best done by using the engine to slow it down, and using the brakes as little as possible.

We had NO pre-arranged plans in Pahrump, so flying by the seat of our pants, found an RV park called Preferred RV Resort right behind Terribles Casino. Very nice place actually. Fully fenced and secured boasting 3 Laundromats, a pool, hot tub and the cheapest propane in the city!

Pahrump Nevada - Home of Art Bell

Speaking of propane, we decide to take stock of our resources.

As it turns out, our propane tank was sitting at about 1/8^th full. Just enough to get through the night, and hopefully (for Rob’s sake) a 2^nd night as propane fills are limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays for one hour on each of those days.

We found that our black water tanks were full too and needed emptying.

Alas, our sewer hose was too short to reach the hookup. We needed to make a trip to an RV supply store or find another place.

We left the cats alone and took off in search of a propane station that had booster tanks (kind of like a Jerry can for propane) and a new sewer hose.

After getting directions and then driving around “most” of Pahrump to talk to various service stations that had propane, survey results showed that they had no idea what a propane booster tank was. Any taxi driver who drove in the 80’s and 90’s knows what I’m talking about, but here in Pahrump…. Nada.

So, we headed to our RV supply store for the next items on our list.

Closed. (it is Sunday after all)

Obviously, the next logical stop was the local winery for a tasting.

Nevada Wine

The Pahrump Valley Winery located just off the freeway on Winery road, of course, (at the intersection with Rainbow road), boasts a wonderful variety of flavors. Only 2 are made with grapes grown locally while the rest are made with grapes grown in California.

After tasting, and buying 2 bottles of their Burgundy, one of their Symphony and some mulled wine spices, we headed for Walmart.

Walmart in this town, or so we’re told, has a large supply of RV accessories. We found a 20’ sewer hose we were looking for decided to leave. Before doing so, Dar found a compact RV type vacuum she liked and so for $35 we bought it too.

Supper was next on the list and after stopping to look at the Chinese Buffet with the “Make it yourself stir fry station” at the Terrible Casino, we opted for another location.

Mexican again it was, el Cancun.

Dar loves Mexican food as it’s a great vegetarian option. She was really low blood sugar and would agree to anything at this point, but Rob made a decision and Mexican it was.

Turns out that it was a wonderful place and the food was great. Rob noted that the bathrooms were the cleanest he’d seen in the US so far, and that’s GOT to be good.

Food was fantastic. Highly recommend them.

Upon returning to the house, laundry and sewage was first on the list.

Well, remember the cats that had been locked up all day?

Someone, and it wasn’t Rob, had closed both doors to the bathroom where the cat litter box was. Dar wondered “do you think they may have peed somewhere in the RV again?” (just for the record Dar says, “technically they aren’t my cats so ROB needs to make sure they’re taken care of)

Rob began work on the sewage system and the emptying of the tanks while Dar got started on the laundry.

After throwing in a load of laundry and emptying the tanks of human waste, we settled in for the night.

We decided to conserve fuel and not run the propane heating system until we headed for bed, so even though we were in the desert, temps began to fall. Dar decided to layer her clothing.

“Why are my clothes wet?”

Oh ya, the cats, locked out of their cat litter box. Not their fault this time.

Back to the laundry again.

***Things we saw: tumbleweeds, a license plate that said “WAY HOT” and clothes littering the highway at one point. An angry spouse perhaps?

Lessons learned:

that there is a fine line between filling up the propane and carrying too much weight, and running it too close to empty.
That the RV park we are staying at only pumps it 2 days a week and only for one hour, and you have to take your RV to the filling station
That Dar gets really cranky when she’s cold, and is really tired of dealing with cat urine
That a black cat out at night is hard to find, and she was scared that nothing was the same, sounds, smells, etc. the flashlight in her face didn’t help, only the sound of Rob’s voice brought her out of hiding under the RV.

Day 4 – Mormon Temple Square

Darlene — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:47:54 +0000

Got up fairly early and paid for our night at the camp. Actually pulled out of the park just after 10am, got gas and were on our way. Getting gas can take up to 20 minutes just to fill the tank of over 280 liters (75 gallons). Getting into and out of gas stations can be tricky too with the car attached to the back end – we are a long unit with a large turning radius.

After running a couple of tanks of gas through the RV, we had a good benchmark for our initial mileage. We decided that now would be a good time to move the quantum energy magnets from the toad to the actual RV and test the improvement. Rob placed the magnets on various parts of the RV engine and drive train under the “hood” and looked forward to the results.

Back onto Interstate 15 (I-15) which pretty much runs from the border all the way to Vegas and on to Los Angeles.

***Things we’ve seen: outside Idaho Falls was the potato museum. Saw potato cookbooks in the RV office too, they grow a lot of them in Idaho apparently.***

Short drive today, we decided to take a break from driving and stop overnight in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah. We wanted to get scratching posts for the cats who are starting to claw at the furniture, go to Camping World, and see the Temple. We found a KOA opened in the middle of the city and got there by about 1:30pm. Was a little more expensive at $37 a night but had really nice facilities and a big bay car wash so Rob hosed off both vehicles while Dar registered.

Turns out that the KOA campground was a short mile from the temple square, so very easy access to the sights we wanted to see.

After parking and getting anchored we headed off for lunch at a nearby Whole Foods. We hadn’t had much in the way of veggies in 3 days and were craving some good food. Dar had salmon sushi with brown rice and a spiced pumpkin soup, Rob had a big-ass salad that ended up being $14 (pay by weight). Dar also had quinoa juice which apparently has the same energy boost abilities as caffeine. $45 later, and after filling up our big water jug we popped in to Verizon.

We will likely pick up a wireless internet hug in Phoenix once we get there, will cost us about $60 a month, but at many of the RV parks the wifi connection is sketchy at best. But we got the info and moved on to Camping World.

It wasn’t as big as we thought it would be actually. But they sure have a lot of camping stuff and do dads. We spent $199 on a BBQ that hooks onto the outside of the RV or sits on a table and taps directly into the onboard liquid propane (LP) gas. We also purchased outdoor carpet for the step, towel hangers, RV TP, wheel chocks, and a little step ladder for Dar so she can reach the top shelves. The GPS unit said it would take us over 45 minutes to get there, and they guy that sold it to us said he’s never beaten it. We got there in 25 or less – maybe it was taking into account rush hour traffic at 4:30pm when we headed there?

Driving back into the city center, we got to Temple Square and searched for parking. There were people everywhere – apparently this was the place to be at this time of year. It was gorgeous with all the xmas lights. Two missionaries greeted us in the North visitor’s center and gave us the low down on events of the evening. It was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t actually go inside the Temple itself (which was built in 1853 and took 40 years to complete) but we did get to go inside the Tabernacle and take some photos there.

mormon tabernacle

Around the square were horse buggy rides and inside the south visitor center and assembly halls there were high school choirs singing holiday tunes. Dar met two more missionaries, one from France and one from Uganda. She recognized the little flags on their name tags and the Ugandan girl was very surprised and impressed. She talked a little French with the other girl and wished them Joyeux Noel.

***Things we’ve seen/noticed – there is a LOT of Mexican restaurants in SLC! Like one on every block, just like sushi places in Vancouver.***

Back to the RV about 8pm, Rob went in search of a bottle of wine and dropped Dar off to have a shower. It was only 42f (about 5c) inside as we hadn’t left the furnace on when we went out – note to selves to leave it on low. Dar cranked it up to 73f and waited for Rob and heat. After almost an hour and he wasn’t back, she was panicking. He didn’t answer his phone, or text or Facebook. Luckily Melanie was on skype to talk and distract her until he showed up. Seems there is only one liquor store open in the whole city after 8pm and it was the busiest one he’d ever seen with bottles flying off the shelves faster than staff could put them back.

Crawling into bed and putting on her pajama bottoms, Dar found that yet again they were wet. Yup, you guessed it –cat pee! At 1am in the morning, after a long day, one really does NOT want to deal with cat pee in their bed! You cats, seriously, we need to talk! They are likely just marking their territory in a new environment – but does it have to be in the bed?!

Lessons learned:

put the furnace on, even on low, before you leave for the day so that when you get back it’s not almost freezing in the rig
put the stairs up when you leave so people don’t have to flag you down on the interstate to tell you
get something for cats to mark as their own so they aren’t doing it on the bed

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 3 – Cattle Country (leaving Montana to Idaho)

Darlene — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:43:41 +0000

We left Montana, had clear weather most of the way. Dar slept through the only rough bit where is snowed and was foggy, good timing on her part, Rob was thankful.

We stopped for lunch in Butte, MT at a mall and had Chinese food. We’ve decided to eat mostly vegetarian or Oceanarian (only veggies and seafood) while in the US unless we buy the meat ourselves from a local farmer or market and know it’s organic with no hormones, antibiotics, etc.

Not much to note, stopped in a little town called Clancy to stretch our legs and take a 10 minute walk. Things we’ve noticed along the trail were that we’ve seen a lot of cattle outdoors actually eating grass, and we’re quite happy about that.

Got to Idaho Falls about 7:30pm and picked a stall at Snake River RV ($30/night). Dar had called ahead and they had lots of spots. The offices of most parks close at 4pm or 5pm so after that you just self-park and check out and pay in the morning, or put it in a night drop box. Rob was getting set up and putting the leveling legs down on the RV, Dar was inside setting up. As the legs for leveling the unit were coming down, they slipped on snow and ice underneath the RV and the rig fell back onto the tires and the legs bent backwards. Dar screamed and freaked out, thinking they were now broken and we’d be stuck in Idaho for an infinite number of days getting it fixed, need to stay in hotel, etc, etc. Rob just put the legs back up (they went inside fine) and we slept in the unit on the wheels, just a little wobblier than usual.

Then Dar was sitting on the couch doing email in her PJs when she discovered her butt and back were all wet. Cat pee!!! She had another breakdown, couldn’t find any other PJs and went to bed without eating anything. This is the third incident of cat pee, they also peed on the cat bed we bought for them at home – and the first day when Rob was covered in it.

Lessons, things learned this day:

that the washer fluid for the windshield wipers takes a really long time to get up to the window and it isn’t broken
that when putting up the leveling legs you need to start the engine and wait for the rear air suspension to fully inflate, otherwise you end up with the rear legs stuck down.
that when putting the legs down, always check underneath for unlevel surface and ice that may cause a problem, and if in doubt put down the metal plates for them to sit on.
Rob also learned that when you sneeze while driving, the sneeze will not hit the windshield as it is too far away.
Dar is constantly learning that Rob is much calmer at handling any issues that arise and to trust him to do it, and not so quick to jump to the “it’s a disaster” conclusion