Moving Cross Country
 

My husband is in the airforce and we received orders a while ago to move from Washington state to Mississippi, and we are okay with that BUT... we will be driving in two seperate cars to MISSISSIPPI. My concern is this is the first time we will be taking lexi with us, it is going to be a seven day trip with many stops along the way. However, does anyone have any suggestions about the long car ride and how to keep lexi occupied. She is 6 months old now. We have booked all pet friendly hotels...specially at grandmas when we stop in IOWA. We have got gallons of water from home ready, all her toys, clothes, and blankies that are important to her. I am just nervous for her. THe whole process of moving...finding a new vet, leaving friends and family, lexi's trainer and all. Wish us luck. Our last day on Yt will be wednesday, the movers come thursday a.m. then our trip begins....then house hunting when we get to MISS. so who knows when we will be back on.
talk to you all soon
laura and lexi

But we still have the next 2-3 dayss..hehe..You must be really nervous about finding new people to be acquainted with and all that stuff. But don't worry it will be great!

We'll miss you while you're gone, but you'll be back up before you know it. Good luck with the move.

Good luck with the move. Maybe she'll be like little kids and sleep most of the time she's in the car.

Aw. Good luck with the move. Take care of yourself and come back soon!!!!! ;)

Maybe you could find YTers that happen to be on your path or not to far out of the way. and try and stop once a day and let her out and play with a new friend. Just a thought.

That is hard....my boyfriend was in the Marines and they were constintly sending them somewhere....he finished active duty almost 2 years ago...and I finally feel like we can PLAN something...lol, also another reason we only got Maximus recently!!

Good luck with your move! We just took Rocky on his first road trip and it was great! He slept most of the time! When he wasn't sleeping, he just wanted to be held and cuddled. He had his own little area in the back seat with his toys and blanket but he preferred to stay next to me! If you happen through Arizona, stop and play for a while!

I haven't taken Kacee on any long trips yet, but when we had Muffin and we went any distance at all then she slept most of the time. At least, she slept when she wasn't eating or us taking her to the bathroom along the way. :D

I moved cross country with my dog a few years ago, just him and me. had him strapped in the carseat in the back the whole way and he did just fine. He slept the whole way. The only problem I had was the Mcmuffin I let him eat one morning---we needed a rest stop fast that afternoon! I would go out and have some ID tags made, Petsmart and Petco have engraving machines, with a contact number (your moms perhaps) so if the unthinkable happens you have a better chance of getting him back. But NEVER open the car door if he is unleashed!!! They can be disoriented and gone in a flash! Good luck on your trip-sounds exciting!

You are going to BILOXI aren't you?! It's a great town. My mother grew up there and I visited there every summer for 32 years! You are going to meet great people that are so nice. And being already in the military, I'm sure you know there are 'groups' for people to get accquainted in.

I don't know of any dog parks but there may just be some. If you are a member of Dogster, you might meet some nice dog people on there in addition to YT.

I will try to find out who my grandmother used as a vet when she lived there.

And for good food, go to Mary Mahoney's on the beach. Great Po-Boys & Beignets!!

You'll be fine!!! :)

Laura, I wish you and yours a very safe trip! How terrifying and exciting at the same time!!! I see a lot of people say their pets slept quite a bit, Lexi probably will too. You HAVE to get back on YT once you are there and not even quite settled in yet! Let us know how it went and how you like your new home and state. Wishing you the very best!!

Good luck ! I am sure you all will be doing fine. As far as advise I really don't know what to say.

Wow! I know you must be totally overwhelmed with such a long and complicated move, but everything will be fine. When i was a kid my family moved cross country like three times and that was with three young children! It was rough but we made it through. It sounds like you have everything arranged and organized so that is what I would recommend. Just to be as prepared as possible. Good luck.

Good luck! I hope your move goes smoothly and you are quickly settled.

We just moved from Illinois to Florida in July...my husband drove the truck and I drove the car. We kept our walkie talkies with us so we could keep in contact at all times and he stayed right behind me all the way. I had Jo in his kennel with me...he had his Benadryl (for car sickness) in the morning and he slept the whole way. I kept a small bag of his toys, treats, food, water and bed with us for hotel stays and he was fine. Just remember to have your babies secured before anyone opens a car or hotel room door. Now that we're here we're learning our way around and it's kind of fun...we get lost alot but that's how you learn to find your way home too! We called the local hospital and they have a 'New Neighbor Coffee' where they meet with a group to tell you about the hospital and give you a tour and have a light breakfast and coffee...it's a question and answer time and you get lots of information on local doctors and specialists. I asked our realtor who her vet is and Jo saw him this morning...I hope he works out for us. Most places will give you a tour and courtesy visit before you obligate yourself to their services so be sure to check things out. We didn't have a house picked out before we moved either...I got tired of looking online...but we were lucky to find one that was empty and the owner let us move right in so we got out of the hotel...thank goodness! Anyway, good luck with your move...I hope all goes well.

That brings back the good old days! RetiredArmy!Our dogs seem to do ok! Good luck! lily

We took a 3600 mile trip in our pickup pulling our 5th wheel trailer this summer. We put a towel on the seat between us and put Rowdy's blanket and toys there. He was 4 1/2 months old and he would play for about 5-10 minutes and then he would fall asleep and sleep for hours. But if you don't know whether or not he will be carsick, you should take along some benadryl or antiemetic from the vet. Occasionally, he would wake up and start moving around a lot. This always meant he needed to go potty. The advice to never open the car door without the leash on is a good one - Rowdy never tried to dash out of the car - but I can see that some dogs might. Even if the dog gets out, you can step on the leash much easier that catch a dashing dog. We kept a little plastic dish with a lid full of water, but he rarely drank in the car - he didn't eat much either in the car so don't let that freak you out. Keep nutracal with you and give her some of that periodically. One thing you must be wary of when you stop to let her go potty are the cigarette butts that are inevitably in the grass where you are walking her - and of course, there may be other gross things in the grass so be vigilant when you are walking her and don't take your eyes off her or anything they might try to put in her mouth. You will find yourself stopping at lots of fast food places because it is too hot to leave her in the car and go into a restaurant - you'll get sick of fast food, at least we did.

We are leaving tomorrow for a 2-day there and then 2-day back trip and I have absolutely no qualms at all. These little sweeties are great travelers.

I drove from Alaska to Virginia with Simon & Hallie and what I learned from our big adventure is that they sleep in the car A LOT! I made sure to stop a lot, give them water, walk them and then at night in the hotels it was mayhem. They slept all day and wanted to play all night. I would take them for long walks at night (in safe areas of course). She will be fine in the car. I also found that when Hallie was awake (she doesn't sleep as much as Simon) I would sing to her and talk to her. They were fabulous company and we had a trip to remember. Good Luck and have a safe trip!

Just finished a trip with our two, it was our first real trip with Turbo. We did not encounter any problems at all. I put the back seats down in the Jeep, put their sleepy bed, water bowl, toys, blanket etc in there and they were happy as clams. Turbo tends to sleep most of the way, but Bear needs to know what is going on at all times. Because the seats were down she was able to roam and look out any window she wanted.

I kept their harnesses on all the time they were in the car, as I have had a toy poodle do the dash in the past. Another tip if you park at the far end of the rest stops you'll encounter less garbage strewn about. Folks tend to want to park up close to the washrooms.

I cut down on the amount of food I gave them for breakfast so their was less on their stomach travelling in the heat. I also cut their treats in half during the day.

I also wet them down on the days it was really hot. Even though we have tinted windows in the Jeep the sun can be scorching for them.

Good luck on your move, as an Army wife I know what you are going through. If you need a reference for a vet contact the SPCA in your new town, they'll be happy to help you find someone.