Thursday, January 15, 2009
My first trip of 2009 is to Houston to visit my family. As always I like to make the drive out there in 2 days versus straight through. It allows me time to ease into the trip and the chaos I know will ensue over the next few days. I had a few things to tie up at the office before I Ieft on my trip; so I did not start out of town until 3:00 p.m. On this trip I was taking Zara and Zoe Guinea Pig with me along with Tau and Kali. In case you are wondering; packing for 4 animals for 4 days is like packing for 4 kids. They require a lot more crap than I do. Zara and Zoe require twice daily feedings and care whereas the hamsters store their food and do fine for a few days at a time alone. I was concerned about how Kali would handle having two piggies riding in the backseat with her, but she did really well and did not bother them at all.
Typically I drive I-40 to Clines Corner and head south on 285 to Fort Stockton and then take I-10 east into Houston. But as you all know from past posts this is passage full of memories for me; both good and bad. And when I get caught up in memories I have a hard time focusing on anything else. Besides, I am really tired of thinking and remember past events. So I went the other way to Houston which is I-40 to Amarillo and then down through Lubbock, Abilene, around Ft. Worth/Dallas and into Houston in I-45.
I arrived in Amarillo about 8 o’clock on Thursday night. It was freezing there the temperature was hovering around 20 degrees. I checked into the hotel and got all the critters unloaded and into the room. My first thought was feeding everyone and cleaning the guinea pig carrier. I was not sure how the girls would handle the trip so I eased them out of their carrier in the bathroom and let them roam around a few minutes to get their bearings. They discovered the shower and stayed in there for most of the evening. Kali discovered the girls and seemed to be very confused as to what they were. She has only seen them in their pen and never free. I was happy and surprised that she was in no way aggressive to them, she was just curious and sniffed at them and then wandered off.
This was my first night of no sleep. Tau has issues with strange places and feels the need to growl all night with the occasional bark thrown in for good measure. Plus it was so cold I could not get warm even with the heater on. So it was a long cold night but I survived day 1 of the trip and headed out bright and early on Friday morning.
Next: Day Two – Driving Through the State of Texas