Thank you to everyone who entered my Mizuno Mezamashii Project Giveaway.  I’ve already sent out notifications and have been in contact with most of the winners.  Congratulations!

Today marks the last full week we will be living in our home in Ohio before heading out on our adventure. The past couple weeks have been busy.  We’ve had a moving sale and made 3 trips to Goodwill to donate items.

I’ve also been steadily packing things away, cleaning, and touching up paint.  I’m currently at the “hurry up and wait” point.  Meaning, I still have a week to go so I can’t pack much more, but I’m ready to get the show on the road. The professional packers arrive Friday to pack items I haven’t taken care of and the movers come Monday.

Then it will be time to hit the road in our cross country road trip with our menagerie of animals. When I say menagerie, I mean 18 animals.  I don’t think I’ve ever listed the number of companion animals we have.  But yes, 18. I’ve already introduced our 3 dogs and 3 cats.  But most people don’t know we also have 8 parakeets, 3 tortoises, and a frog.

Hegemone

Hugo

Herbie

Whompy

Along with owning a house, one of the things that has keep us planted in our current location is the number of companion animals we have.  Obviously we decided a move was necessary and we know we can make it…even with the animals.

Traveling with animals isn’t anything new to us since we made many o’ road trips to and from New Orleans when David was in the Marines. However, our clan has increased. Moving our menagerie is going to be quite interesting, but we have a game plan.

We’ve already temporarily down-sized the bird house from this:

To this:

Later in the week the tortoises and frog will also be moved to temporary housing for the move.

Most importantly, we are being moved by professional movers which will free us up to focus on the comfort and safety of the animals.  D and I will each drive separate cars, dividing the animals between us. I plan on taking the birds and dogs in my Chevy Aveo and D will take the cats, tortoises, and frog in his Jeep Wrangler.

Speaking of his Jeep, it does NOT have air conditioning which is going to make for a warm ride. The animals traveling with D are those that acclimate well to warmer temperatures.  In addition, we’ve also purchased this:

Knowing the movers may not arrive at our new location for several weeks we have also decided to tow a smaller Uhaul trailer with D’s Jeep that will contain necessities, especially for the animals.

Per MapQuest, our trip will take somewhere around 30 hours without stops.  Normally people would stop and stay at a hotel overnight.  Not us.  Our plan?  Drive through, stop at rest stops when necessary, and get some shut eye. Once again, having made the trek to and from New Orleans, this is nothing new for us.

Speaking of 30+ hours in a car.  Do you have any music suggestions?  I’m all ears!

Next week I will be out of commission and not writing blog posts.  As for this week? Who knows!  If I can fit them in with all the craziness happening around me, I will.

The best way to follow us as we head into our adventure is to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  Heck, you can even follow D on Twitter and Instagram too!  That way you know what’s going as we travel across the country, following our dreams. I am currently brainstorming, trying to think of a hashtag I can use for our cross country trip.  Any ideas?

Keep Smiling and Be Grateful =)