7 in 14: Part 2 - US Road Trips
No road is long while in great company.
The "7 in 14" series continues, this time featuring our beloved RAV4 Hybrid. We miss driving, though not enough to get a car and navigate the crazy Kuala Lumpur traffic! We took 2 major road trips during our final months in the US.
Friday, September 26th we left Colorado to go camping for a night in Wyoming at the Powder River campgrounds. It wasn't the most glamorous of sites, but this RV-park did have a nice spot near the river. We stretched our legs and walked around Kaycee, WY, which you could've missed entirely if you blinked. The highlight of this tiny town was a tiny calf in the tiny front yard of a tiny house who greeted us with a tiny "moo".
The next day, rested and rejuvenated, we hit the road and landed in Bozeman, Montana to visit my brother Andrew. We met his girlfriend, Jules, a bunch of his friends, played disc golf, wandered in a corn maze, ate delicious homemade guacamole, and spent quality sibling time. Andrew has lived in MT for a decade (or more?! my, how time flies...) and it was great to visit and see how he's cultivated an adventurous life with wonderful friendships. He's a master at pursuing his passions of skiing, golfing (both classical and disc), fishing, and generally living it up to the fullest in the beautiful MT nature. After a few days, we turned our sites westward and landed in Boise, Idaho.
On October 4th, my cousin, Morgan was marrying Shane, and the entire Commander family was in attendance to celebrate their love. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony with a surprise owl as guest star in the gazebo rafters! It was an especially meaningful weekend for me as this was the last time in the foreseeable future where we would see my entire Commander-clan. After a wonderful weekend chilling, celebrating and taking trips down memory lane, we trekked down to Moab, Utah.
Monday, October 6th we found a campsite in Moab, Utah just outside of the National Park. We pitched our tent within walking distance of the Looking Glass Arch. We climbed a large sandstone rock to catch the sunset and an even more impressive moonrise. The night was topped off with roasting hot doggies and poking the fire (the first flames of our camping journey - commence the fire-dance!) The following morning, we walked out to Looking Glass Arch to scramble up the scree. As we're enjoying the view from the "looking glass", two rock climbers were belaying down! It was a beautiful camp trip to end our ~2-week road trip.
Next venture in the RAV was east-bound towards Chicago. Travel plans were finalized for our move to Kuala Lumpur, and the last piece of the puzzle was shipping our 2 cats, Stella and Caol Ila halfway around the world. We broke up the trip into 2 days, and after a few hours of nervous meowing, the girls calmed down and roamed around the car, peering out the windows at the scenery flying by and ogling other drivers. This was by far the most time they've spent in a car - their last major road trip being an hour to go from Boulder to Denver. We booked 2 hotels along the way, which was an adventure in itself for their furry faces. On Tuesday, November 4th, we met the Starwood Pet Movers in a McDonalds parking lot and said "goodbye for now and safe travels". It was the hardest part of the entire moving ordeal, and luckily Maz drove my weepy face to find an Italian Beef sandwich (it helped alleviate my anxiety). We decided to drive the whole day and into the night and made the 15-hour trip back to Colorado in one-go, fueled by caffeine and podcasts.
CO -> WY: 300 miles
WY -> MT: 380 miles
MT -> ID: 475 miles
ID -> UT: 570 miles
UT -> CO: 360 miles
CO <-> IL: 2,035 miles
Total: 4,120
^ Morgan & Shane's Wedding! ❤️
^ Moab, UT
^ Looking Glass Arch
^ conquered the hole
^ strong woman
^ Pre-Drive Inspection
^ Family Road Trip! ❤️
Comments (3)
Beautiful cats! I have two myself. A boy cat who is 6 this month of May. His name is Magic Salem Victor. My other kitty, a girl cat named Millie, is a grey tabby cat, who will be 3 in July. Both cats were 5 months old when adopted in 2020 and 2023. I have had my first fur baby kitty Emilee Marie Cuddles for 16 years, 7 months, and 2 weeks from 1990 to 2006, then Bing Noel Crosby kitty from 1 1/2 years of age to 15 years old from 2006-2020. All my fur babies have been and are my pride and joys of my life since 1990 when I started having fur babies in my life, and I prefer cats because of their independent nature yet I love doggies, too, of course. I would have my home full of indoor cats of all ages if I could afford it, too. Some doggies, too!
Thank you very much! My fur babies are 13 and 12 years old, but their vet said that they act more like they're 6/7! I also got them from my local humane society - best place to get animals, by far. I am definitely a crazy cat lady - and proud of it! I prefer felines around the house because of their independence and smarts. Although the travel was hard on all of us, it was well worth it to be a reunited as a family abroad! 😊 love to your kitties too! ❤️
Both of your cats are beautiful and gorgeous cats! Your tabby cat reminds me of Emilee and Millie mixed together, and my 2 girl babies were both tabbies. I never regretted rescuing my cats from the Rock County Humane Society in 1990, 2006, 2020, and 2023. I will do it again and again because our humane society is large and animals come and go from there very often.