Heading North - the first day

I had this grand plan to make the departure go smoothly.  First on the schedule was to put the calming collars on the cats.  This was not easy as they were suspicious.  I'm not sure what tipped them off.  Maybe the furniture piled in the Arizona room.  Or maybe it was bikes in the middle of the room.  Anyway...the cat wrestling began early.  Whew.  Now that that was over it was time to go visit Sandy and take a look at her newest paint color and say goodbye.  By the time I finished packing the car they would be totally mellow.  Sure...right.  They are slippery little buggers but I managed to find them and carry them to the car.

The pop up cat carrier is missing the pad that was in the bottom, so the puppy pads were sliding all over the place.  It was only about 15 minutes of listening to them serenade me with the songs of their ancestors when it reached a new fever pitch.  First pit stop to remove the pad that got peed on.  Onward.

I barely turned the corner on the Bush Hwy when they started in with a panicky sounding (and very loud) duet.  Pit stop # 2.  They huddled to the back of the carrier in horror as I stuck my head in the crate to see what the problem was.  It was literally under my nose.  I did remember to pack a roll of paper towels (thank G-d) and removed the offending fecal matter.  I also remembered they travel better with a blanket over the carrier to block out the sounds and light. Onward.

After a bit all was quiet.  I proceeded through the mountains with all the hills and curves that keep the speed limit at 45 mph.  It is beautiful scenery but my mission was to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible for the sake of the kitties.  There's not a lot of places to stop along this route so I pulled over near Payson for the first gas station I found.  I had to pee so bad I was dancing as I started up the pump.  I decided to turn it off and use the restroom first and then finish pumping.  No such luck.  Bathrooms were not open.  I asked and learned that the Circle K down the road had bathrooms.  If I'd known that I would have given them my business instead.

So, gas pumped, legs crossed and cats quiet I continued down the road to the Circle K.  Oh sweet relief, I'm almost there.  The ladies room was blocked off.  Two men were in there with drills and said it would "be a while".  NOOOOOOO!  Thankfully a man was just exiting the mens room and I asked if there was anyone in there.  There wasn't, so I asked him to please watch the door.  I ran in and took care of business.  Onward.

Not too much further I saw a McDonalds.  Not the most convenient to get to, but breakfast was needed so I joined the drive in line.  Onward.

Continued on for quite a while and again the need to stop became urgent.  Must be all this soda and water I'm drinking.  I wanted to be sure I did not need to stop anywhere near the Navajo Nation as they have a serious Covid-19 situation.  So I took care of business again.

After a long stretch of time I finally got to I-40 and could kick it up to 75 mph.  Now we're making some better time.  I noticed when crossing the border into New Mexico that the overhead signs stated that wearing masks was mandatory in New Mexico. When lunch time came I chose McDonalds again because it was there and I also need to find a quick source of food when traveling with my furry travel companions. 

They are taking precautions very serious here.  A man stands at the door to open it for you as he monitors if there are too many people going in.  Thankfully the bathrooms were open.  This is no longer something to take for granted.  It was marked clearly where to stand when ordering and there were Plexiglas shields protecting the workers, who all wore masks and gloves.  You couldn't fill your own drink, so had to go over there for someone to do it for you.  All the inside seating was blocked off.  So, there was no dine in, but you could at least use the facilities.

I finally arrived at my motel in Tucumcari after 578 miles and nine hours of driving.  Tomorrow's stretch will be ten hours, but I'll be able to hit the road earlier since it's just leaving a motel and not the house.  I like this motel location since it's right at the juncture where I leave 40 and get on 57. 

The only thing that didn't go as planned was using their pool.  I brought my suit along thinking it would be nice to stretch out by swimming before I went to bed.  Pool is closed until whenever.  Oh well.  I did find CNN Live on the TV, something we don't usually get so I'm watching Chris Cuomo and his interviews.  It's fun to see how he bickers with his brother.

I have no idea what what time it actually is, but that's not really important anyway.  I'll go to bed and read in a bit as it's getting darker and when I wake up we'll hit the road again.

Long Live the Queen