Here we come Tennessee!!! Stressed!
 

Looks like we are getting stationed in Tennessee. I'm so nervous and excited! It's going to be a big move. About a 24 hour drive. Actually a lot more counting the amount of stops we will be making for Bentley, Charlie, and Dixie. Dixie our boxer, will be a bit of a handful but Bentley and Charlie are amazing travelers. They sleep most of the way. Dixie is still quite young and has never made a trip like that. I'm nervous about trying to contain all that boxer energy for so long. It will be n September too. So at least it will not be hot. And thankfully, family will be watching our skin kids so they won't have to make that trip in a SUV. Anyone here from Tennessee? I know nothing of the area. Does it snow, is it really hot in the summer? Does you yorkie like it? Is it fairly dog friendly? We will be in Millington. Any advice for such a long trip with 3 dogs.....and a tabby cat (who will be really angry the whole way no doubt). How often should we stop? On our last trip Bentley refused to sit up front and insisted on sleeping on an ice chest in the very back. It was pretty hot and so he got sick. They will have the whole backseat this time as all our stuff will be in a moving truck. Should I get him his own seat? Any suggestions on calming a nervous rider (Dixie)? Im worried she will try to stand the entire way. I just want to try to make this trip as easy on them as possible. I know it's a ways away...or so I think ( they could tell us to leave now if they need us to) but I am just a very organized person and want everything to go as smoothly as possible. I figure to do that I better get started now. We are getting everyone their health certificates and all. I want to make sure everyone has an up to date tag on as well in case anything crazy and unthinkable happens. Sorry for the long post. I'm so nervous and getting really anxious. There's so much to do! I have to get this house ready, pack, get my skin kids ready to stay with their grandparents (which stresses me out too!....I will miss them terrible even if it's only for a week), and make sure the animals are ready. Then I have to get everyone settled in our new hometown. It's an operation to say the least. Haha! Any help from people that have made big trips with their yorkies and other pets would be greatly appreciated. Calming words of wisdom are also welcome. Haha! I think I may be over thinking this but I can't seem to calm down. My mind is racing so much I can't sleep tonight. Hope it's not this way until September. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Welcome to TN!!! I live on the opposite end of the state from Millington. I don't think the Memphis area gets very much snow. It is usually hot and humid in the summer and we have fairly mild winters. There is lots to do in our state. We live near the Great Smoky Mtns and it is very touristy in our area. Not sure about dog friendly, because I live in a small town and there is nothing around here for the kiddos to do.
Good luck and I hope you like our state:)

I would have to say the same.... We live right at the smokey mountains too. Mild winters and hot/ humid summers. Your also probably glad you weren't here last night.... Bad storms!!

I hope your trip is pleasant and uneventful. You may want to consider getting some Rescue Remedy for your nervous one. It is all natural and safe.

Original Bach Rescue Remedy now alcohol free for Pets

Cool!! I live in Newport...are you close to me?

:thumbup::thumbup: I was going to recommend something like this...Safe travels and with all of the planning it should go somewhat smoothly.:)

I think you should look into getting a snoozer car seat. They will be more comfortable and safer!! Good luck!

My husband and I like to visit TN. It's very beautiful. We visit mainly the Smokie Mt. area when we do. We absolutely love it. Hope you will be happy and safe travels for you and your family.

My Husband and I love to visit the smokey Mountains every year and we have vacationed with the Rottweilers without any problems. Tennessee does get some snow but it is usually really mild in the winter.

Do get yourself familiar with the snakes in TN and watch out for them!! We had a close call at a rest stop once. I was taking my male out to go potty and luckily My Hubby saw a snake that I didn't. We were heading right toward the snake before the Hubby yelled at me. My Husband thinks it was a copper head.

Welcome to the south! North Carolina here....

good idea gypsyville had about learning different snakes here....don't know what you have in California....but we have a lot of hawks, snakes, and FIREANTS!

safe trip!

First off, I feel your pain when it comes to change of duty stations...been there...done that...with kids and animals. Moving to Germany meant flying alone with a 5-month-old and a 4-year-old...9 hours on a plane...tons of luggage to hand carry, passports to produce while carrying all those bags and holding a baby and a 4-yr-old's hand at customs, then jet lag. :eek: But, we all survived it! :p

Net...Congratulations! I have traveled through TN from DC to OK and back and from FL to OK and back on several occasions. What I have seen of TN has been very pretty, but my experiences with Memphis are, with one exception, getting lost 'cuz the road signs were not helpful in pointing the way...so much so that I avoid going through Memphis when traveling now! :p The first time, people downtown Memphis couldn't tell me how to get back on the highway I was pointing to overhead, so I saw quite of bit of that area. :D Our last trip through, we ended up going back over the river again and had to turn around to get headed back Florida-way...we were following printed directions and highway signs the whole way. :rolleyes:

However, I hear it's a great BBQ area, and TN has the Grand Ol' Opry, and a bunch more stuff, and I'd love to have time to just get lost and wander around aimlessly there for a while.

I traveled from OK to DC/MD with my Yorkie-Poo, Stormy, from OK to MA, then from MA to OK, and finally from OK to TX. I traveled from NH to FL with a Shep/Lab. There were lots of shorter trips. :p On all trips both dogs did really well with normal gas, food, and potty stops.

One tip I would offer...get any shots, etc. at least a few days ahead...or wait until after you get to TN. I did not have that opportunity once, and my poor little love Stormy was not feeling well for 2,000 miles...I broke my trip in half to give him an overnight break. I felt so bad, but didn't know he would react badly to the shots.

I know it doesn't seem like there's time...so much to do, but you sound like me, and I believe you'll have all your lists made, and calendar set in no time and be completely ready...but maybe you won't be like me and organize yourself into funny stories for later on! :rolleyes::p:D

I'm originally from Northwest Alabama, but visited Tennessee many times throughout the year as I grew up. We went to the Smokies on our honeymoon. Tennessee is a beautiful state. We always enjoy traveling there. Now that we are in PA, we go through TN on our way home to Alabama and it is always my favorite part of the trip. All of the times I have been there, the winter has been very mild. We went to Dollywood for Christmas one year and it was beautiful weather. And the colors in the trees in the fall...gorgeous! The summer time can be a little humid to me, but not too bad. Friendly people in TN too! Good luck on your trip! You'll love living in the South! I know I sure do! Now that we live in PA, I miss that good 'ol southern hospitality! Most people in PA are so rude and not friendly at all. They look at you mean if you attempt to hold a door for them or say hello. Soooo not like that in the south! Everyone is friendly and pretty much just enjoys having a good ol' time. :)

We moved back to CA. from TN. but maybe your experiences will be better ones.

As for traveling with the fur kids, we always stop every two hours and walk them around a little, give them a drink and off we go again. If you have room for a small cooler, then take along some water, sandwiches and fruit. (this will keep you from having to leave the fur-kids in the car while you go inside somewhere to eat and saves a lot of time traveling. No sweets as it will make you very tired and sleepy. Don't feed the dogs anything in the car as they could get sick. A very light breakfast an hour before leaving and nothing till you stop for the night. I don't use dog seats for our girls. We have the small straps that hook to their harness and snaps into the seat belt clip. It gives them more room to stretch & move around some. Pet Auto Safety Restraint Strap - Black | 12-17"L
If you do have a nervous dog, then I'd suggest giving Rescue Remedy an hour before you leave, and take it with you for traveling. Make sure you take a couple gallons of water for the dogs and in case there is an emergency.
Look for a pet friendly hotel around 5 or 6 so you can put the dogs in the room and go have a nice hot meal, then relax, watch some TV and get to sleep early. The marriott Residence Inn does a great breakfast if you find one to stay in. This makes the traveling so much more pleasant on you and the dogs. By the time you get to the Naval base, your dogs will be broke into traveling and will enjoy going again.

I forgot to mention about shots in TN. The area I was in required the dogs get Rabies shots every year. And be sure to use all the repellents you can on your guys to keep the bugs off them. The south is very well known for millions of insects. We even had wood bees that actually ate on our house. Anyway if your not into all the dangerous chemicals that are sold to combat fleas and tics, then here is a helpful site. Maybe you can mix up a flea and tick spray and use it on your babies during the trip.

Chinaroad Lowchens of Australia - Ticks, fleas, bees, flies, snakes and other gremlins! And how to deal with them!

I really do wish you all the luck and happiness in the world, but I also know your going to miss CA. and our perfect weather more than you know.

Yorkie daze gave (IMO) great advice. Millington is an hour north of us.

When we first moved here from Louisiana, it took me a while to get used to the difference in weather. We've been here since "96 and I don't think I'll ever get used to the strong storms and threat of tornadoes (at least with hurricanes you can see it coming). This has been a unique year weatherwise... but we usually have our first snow the first week of January, and our last snow is uasually the first week of March with a week or two of freezing temps in February. Summers are hot, especially with the airport in Memphis and all the blacktop they insist in using on roads and parking lots :rolleyes:

I would add to take some deep breathes ;) the calmer you are, the calmer they will be ;)

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.

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

Wishing you a great trip and new home:D
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.

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.

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.

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.