Monday, November 07, 2005

Amarillo By Morning (Or Evening...Whatever)

Well, we left Lafayette this morning at 9:00 am without a hitch. We drove up I-49 to Shreveport, then I-20 to Dallas, and highway 287 to Amarillo. We made four stops, two for gas, one to eat, and one because I wasn't sure if I was going the right way and I needed to consult my map. Turns out I was going the right way after all.

We arrived here in Amarillo at 10:00 pm. I hoped to make it in 12 hours, but 13 isn't bad either. Our hotel reservation was already made here at the La Qunita Inn in Amarillo, so it didn't matter too much. Mapquest said it should be 12 hours, but I think 13 is fair when traveling with a cat.

When we started out, Mojo sat up in the front seat with Lindsey. He's always been great in the car, and we just let him sit around and move about as he likes. The only place that's off limits to him is the floor by my feet. He roamed about for a while sitting on both of our laps, and eventually decided that he wanted to sleep in his litter box. It's disgusting, but he calmed down and finally fell asleep so we left him there. He pretty much stayed there all day. Tomorrow we're going to make some changes to the arrangement of all of our stuff inside the car so that he can sleep inside his pet carrier. Hopefully he'll like that.

Our goal for tomorrow is to drive from Amarillo, Texas to Bakersfield, California. Mapquest says it should take us 15 1/2 hours, so I'm hoping we can make it in 16 1/2 - 17 hours. It's going to make for a seriously long and rough day, but by doing that we can arrive in Portland on Wednesday with only 13 hours of driving. That means we can get there early and start our lives again officially on Thursday.

So, wish us luck!