Here we come Tennessee!!! Stressed!

[maggiefromnj]

Definitely make sure they have comfy seats. We got a snoozer (Medium I think) and she loves it. It boosts her up so she can actually stretch and get her head out the window. Of course now we are driving around in the colder weather with the windows open......You might want to switch off having them in the booster and roaming around like another poster suggested. If you are stopping frequently they might be fine just chilling in their boosters. Snoozers are expensive. I got mine when Petco.com had a 25% everything sale. Make sure you're on their email list.

Good luck with the move. I've never moved more than 50 miles.

[Donnainohio63]

I am origianly from Knoxville Tenn. My sister still lives in Maynardville Tenn, and I love the state. I go every summer for vacation. The smokey Mountains and Dolly Wood. When I retire I will be returning to Tn to live out the rest of my life. Summers are hot and Winters are mild. I hope you enjoy the volunteer state as much as I do.

[LoriJC]

I love Tn moved here 21yrs ago from Rqckford Il beautiful here.The weather here is great besides the storms and regardless of them I would never want to live any where else. Pepole are more friendly than where i come from. I live between Nashville and Knoxville.

[Maximo]

I know your move is a months down the road, but I wish you a safe and smooth journey, and I wish you happiness in your new home.

[Lucyana1129]

Thanks everyone. We are originally from Louisiana. I'm not a huge fan of hot humid weather after living here for so LNG. I know I'll miss Ca weather a lot. Thanks for all the advice. Im about to look online for some booster seats for the two small guys and I'll def look into the calming remedy for Dixie and Virgil. I know they are feeling my stress so I'm going to try to take some deep breaths and relax a little. We took a nice long walk on a trail today and I think it helped us all. It's not always easy to find pet friendly hotels. I'll be figuring out exactly where we will stop for the night and find one way ahead of time so we do not have to stress about that. DH insists n driving most of the way on our trips so I'll be fully in charge of keeping everyone happy and comfortable. Thanks again everyone. I have until September so I will no doubt have more questions and will probably just get more and more anxious as it gets closer. I'm a list person and like a very detailed plan. I know not everything will go exactly as I plan it but hopefully I can get it pretty close.

[joann1166]

You will love it in the south. I've lived here in Alabama most of my life minus the 1 1/2 years in Minnesota. The people are friendly, the summers are hot and the winters are mild but the people are super friendly. Tennessee is a beautiful place...just make sure you have your fluffpuppies on heart worm meds and some kind of flea preventative.

[yorkiemini]

Wishing you a great trip and new home
You mentioned one of your pups riding on a cooler in your post - just want to mention the safety thing - having a loose pup in the car can be dangerous for the pup if you have to stop suddenly and such.

Everyone has given great suggestions about stopping often. Be careful of the rest stops - sometimes folks "prey" on travelers there and dogs can get stolen.

[R_Z]

I just saw this thread. I'm in Memphis. In fact, my wife was born at the Millington Naval Hospital. Her dad was stationed here at the time. He never left and is still here.

Millington is a nice town north of here. It does get hot here. It can be down right brutal sometimes. If its real humid and hot, you can be sweating within minutes of walking outside. Doesn't snow much at all. Occasionally in the winter we'll get a snow, but it's rare. We get more ice than snow.

There's much to do here. Once you get settled let me know when you would like a list of places to go or see or eat. Be glad to help.

Can't really say what Bailey thinks of the summer. We have only had him four months. But I'm sure he will be fine.

Welcome to the Mid South.

[Lucyana1129]

Didnt even think about rest stops. Ill be sure to keep them all close. I never ever leave them unsupervised in the car though. Im always too concerned itll get too hot and also that someone may get the bright idea to try to steal them. About the cooler...def not the safest place to be. I wont be letting him do it again. On that particular trip we had our skin kids with us. My youngest was only about 4 months old so most of the trip was spent in the back seat with them and I had easy access to Bentley. He sat right behind me. He occasionally would sit with DH but I have always been a little worried about what would happen in an accident or if we had to make an abrupt stop. I found a good booster at petsmart. Most seem to be more like baskets than boosters and I know he wont have any of that bc he will want to see out. The one I found he can sit higher up and see out and can lay down if he wants to as well. I will feel much better if they have safety belts and can not wander around the whole car. They even make a seat belt for larger dogs. So Im excited about that. Haha! Thanks SO much for all this advice. Thanks for all the warm welcomes to the state too. Not too excited about how hot its gonna get but Im sure after a few months we will get used to it. I just know itll take a while to get used to that when we are so used to the weather here. I was about 70 something out today and I had shorts on and was pretty hot. Haha! So up in the 90s or 100s will be a big change. Ive already started my list and am getting things together. September will come faster than I know it Im sure. Just trying to look at it as an adventure and plan to try to enjoy the trip as much as possible with DH and the furkids. I think if Im well prepared that will be much easier. Im not too concerned with how often we need to stop. I was just telling DH today that we just need to not be in a big rush to get there and to just stop when we need about every 2 hours and let the dogs walk around for about 20 minutes each time. Itll b a long trip but Im hoping a fun one.

[MikaTallulah]

I drive from Clinton, NJ to Nashville, TN in 1 day. All 850 miles took 13.5 hrs. The Yorkies did great. They would start to get antsy when then needed to potty but otherwise slept. My dad is working in TN and the whole family may be moving to join him. My cats will be flying down. They are too old to endure that long in a car and HATE the car. I don't think I would make it. Haven't travelled with Buddy yet but my last Golden would lay down his seat with a thud- Enough to say wake me when we get there.

I would suggest you get the big guy to find th car to be a nice place. When I got Buddy he had to be secured in the car otherwise he was all over the place. I took him in the car everyday sometime multiple times a day to de-sensitize him to the car. He always ended up in fun places- The park, pet store, hiking, walking in town, etc. I think it worked too well. Now every time he sees the car he wants to get in. The car is his Disney land.

I have always done lots of mini car trips with my puppies and dogs so that the car is a nice place. It does not normally mean a vets appt.

Good luck in your travels. TN in my experience is hot but I am in the North.