In which our heroine changes plans, again

So as I was saying, things went long. Izaac is a wonderful human being and I cannot imagine a more respectful person when it comes to packing things so they are safe for a long (or even short ride), however he is a tad slow about it. At about 6pm it became clear that we were not going to finish loading the truck that day. We were supposed to go to Ruth’s for a last walk with the dogs and dinner. Since we had been checking in through out the day she wasn’t exactly surprised when I called to give her the less than glowing update. She quickly volunteered to keep Wyatt another night (she had had him since our Sunday late afternoon walk) and we would all do dinner Tuesday night.

TGF and I were both so tired and my feet had been screaming at me a good portion of the day. We foolishly hoped that a night without the dog would allow for some rest but alas and aleck we were oh so wrong. The air mattress was less than comfortable somehow, the living room is a much noisier room than our bedroom and Marcelle decided to play kitty hockey off and on all night. Oh and my left knee decided to wake me several times in total pain. When I woke up I was wishing for a chiropractor to put things in place, or even out – anything to make it stop hurting.

When Alex called in the morning (blessed woman that she is) to see what time she should come but we had barely any consciousness to tell her anything. Izaac also had a late starting gate time, so things started quite late, maybe 1pm? But still I had hopes and dreams of speed, there really wasn’t that much more to load. Again I thought a moment after that prediction that the goddesses were laughing at me. They were. We finally made plans to leave, I think about 6pm, to head to park to meet Ruth and the dogs. It was a short walk as we were both dead tired from the exertion and stress. Ruth cooked us a fabulous dinner of some the best fried chicken either us have even tasted. The end of our time there was very emotional, Ruth was sobbing, we were barely holding it together and Piccolo had the saddest eyes ever and hid under the table refusing us a last hug. Ruth insisted we take Piccolo’s bed so Wyatt would have something to remember her by. See? Totally emotional.

We drove home drained and trying to distract ourselves with mindless conversation. Opening the door to Casa de Cedar was not a happy site. There was far too much that had not gone into the truck. We were starting to get pissed. As previously arranged Izaac had driven the truck down the lot in Oakland since we still needed to attach the car dolly and put the Subaru on it. So there was nothing we could do but steam and gather things for the next day. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was Roger the Neighbor – the best neighbor ever! He was worried about us depending on cell phones so he bought us a set of walkie talkies! So sweet.

Wednesday morning found Roger, Alex, TGF and I struggling to make heads or tails out of our dilemma. Roger, the former boy scout, tied awesome knots to secure the soft pack to the roof of the Subaru. He also brought us a container of homemade brownies with Scharffenberger chocolate. Alex came up with a great idea to load the Sub with things to throw into the truck, then come back to load up the stuff that we wanted for travel. Oh, one other little bit of drama, Joia one of our cats disappeared. Yes that’s right she is not with us. I am choosing to hope that she has found a new place. Roger and Alex will keep an eye out for her. Alex offered to drive down a few times and try to catch her, to then fly her to us. I am less than confident about this happening. Truthfully I have had a feeling for quite sometime that this might happen. I am sad about our Mama Joi not being with us. Very sad. While TGF and Alex were fighting with Izaac about getting things into the truck in the quickest and safest manner I was wondering where they were, comforting the dog who was in an empty house, talking to the cats who was already in carriers in the Purple Beast, cleaning, hauling things close to the front door for easy loading, and calling for Joia in the vain hope she would come home.

Finally TGF and Alex arrived home about noon, and none of us had eaten nor had we had caffeine – not pretty. TGF ran to Mickee D’s to feed us all. Finally we were on our way down to Oakland to hook everything up. That took a very long time and I won’t go into all the details of waiting, driving to where the car dolly actually was which was not in the truck lot, or trying to find TGF when they went to find a gas station to check tires and driving in circles around West Oakland until we finally find each other and barreled on to 80 East – at almost 3 fricking o’clock! SO much later than I had wanted to leave which was more like 11 so we could reasonably hit Winnemuca NV – less than 400 miles.