Relocation Nation - Legs 2 and 3, complete



Mt. Shasta looms in the distance.



I'm blogging this briefly from my hotel room in Tacoma, Washington. I'm completely exhausted from 3 days of sitting on my butt in a moving vehicle. (How does that even happen?! That level of inactivity is just exhausting!)

Anyway, the second night ended in Redding, California. This was arguably the most BORING leg of the trip, as far as scenery went. HOWEVER, it definately makes me never want to eat standard farm raised beef again! We passed several farms, but the cattle ranches were AWEFUL. It wasn't the smell of "fresh fertilizer". That much I expected. Sure, it stunk, but the cows were kept in such close quarters that they the ground wasn't even the hard tan clay color you'd expect (and see) all over Southern California. It was a deep brown color, probably due to the constant urinating and "fertilizing" of the small corrals. Ew. ew. Ew.

Sleeping in the passenger seat

We passed the smaller cattle ranches and the strangest thing happened - you couldn't smell the cows from 10 miles away. The ground? It was growing tall grasses that the SPREAD OUT cattle were grazing on. I'd feel MUCH better eating one of those animals, than the commercially raised one... ew.

By the time we pulled into Redding, it was late at night. Being exhausted (and sick), I didn't see too much of the place until the sun came up.

Backseat Boxer

Leg 3 of the drive was very rewarding. While it was one of our LONGEST days driving, it was beautiful to drive around Mt. Shasta and into Oregon. Having never been through Oregon before (at least not that I can recall), it was a lovely surprise. I can't wait to explore it more, and I can see why people fall in love with living there. It's so lovely and reminded me of what I think of when I think of "America" - a balanced view of men living with nature, instead of the paving over and transplant of it that I've found to be the standard of living in California. 

I was on the phone with My Sailor when I crossed the bridge and officially entered Washington state! It seemed fitting since he's coming on this journey with me, even though he can't be here right now. (Check out our blog here to get more info on the status of his move.)

Sleeping in the back of the SUV on his comfy bed.

 

So how is Clydas handling the change? Well, he's NEVER been big on eating while on road trips. I let him go 48 hours (and one heartburn episode - which is common with boxers) without eating (though his food in his bowl is available) before giving him some healthy human options. Today he got 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 small chicken breast (considered  6-inches of "double meat" from my subway sandwich), and a few chicken treats. It's healthy and it's "something" (better than nothing)!  I'm sure he'll be "expecting" more "special treatment" when we get into the apartment tomorrow. Well, he'll be out of luck! We've had these "I'm not eating until you give me something special" stand off's better. I've been giving in just a tad and feeding him plain yogurt mixed over his kibble. Seems to work, and it's a cheap healthy way to give him a little extra treat.

Back to work! More of a run down of the new place later.