When I found myself dreading the move and all the chaos it entailed, I resolved to change my perspective and to look upon it as an adventure.
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The last sunrise from our yard
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We woke up at 5 am and loaded the cats in the van. Skinny got out of her carrier and was loose in the van for a hectic fifteen minutes. After stenuous pursuit around and among the contents of the vehicle, I was able to grab her and stuff her back inside her carrier. But not before she bit me through the leather gloves I had put on, and peed on me for good measure. Once she was safely secured, we were all more relaxed.
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| All loaded and ready to set out. |
With the cats out of the way, Denny and I cleaned the house and finished loading. We took one last look around our home of the past 29 years and were ready to leave Homer, about 10:50 am.
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Denny behind the wheel at Blackwater Bend, approaching Anchor Point. |
We stopped at Anchor Point to fuel up and check the post office box one last time, then headed north toward Anchorage on the Sterling Highway.
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| The back of the van with eight cat carriers stacked along one side. |
After rough roads dumped Curious George's carrier face-down a few times, we decided to strap the cages together for stability. For some reason, I thought I needed to use lightweight cat litter to save on cargo weight. The advantage in weight was negated by the downside. In the confined space, the perfume was overpowering and after a few good bumps, the lightweight litter permeated the van. Regular litter would have weighed the litterpans down better, as well.
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| Curious George is curious about all this. |
We could have used two more large carriers so everyone could have their own. As it was, Lumpy and Sammy, and Lola and Clarence ended up riding double. Lumpy was mellow enough to spend a great deal of time out of the cage, so Sammy was less cramped. Sammy was less adventurous but came out a few times. Lola and Clarence wanted nothing to do with the world outside of their cage and hunkered down in their litter box most of the trip. And Curious George was too curious to be out of his cage for long.
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| Fall colors in the Kenai Mountains. |
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| Snow on the Kenai Mountains at Tern Lake. |
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| Winter is peering over our shoulders as we head for warmer climes. |
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| Fall colors are still showing along Turnagain Arm as we approach Anchorage. |
By 3:40 pm, Anchorage was in our rear-view mirror. Next stop, Wasilla, where we bought dry ice for the cooler and snacks for the road.
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| Snow was on the tips of the Chugach Mountains along the Glenn Highway. |
From Wasilla, we took the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, where we refueled and checked all the cats around 10 pm. We called it a day about half-past midnight and camped along the road just past Porcupine Creek on the Tok Cut-Off . As the northern lights danced overhead and the frozen grass crunched underfoot, we popped up the A-Liner then crawled in for a few hours of sleep.
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| Day One: Left Homer. Camped on the Tok Cut-Off. About 480 miles traveled. |
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