Paper towels.

We are a few days in, and I'd like to give a shout out to paper towels. They have been the true life savers of this adventure, and have been cleaning up cat carriers and cat butts since we left. The gratitude knows no bounds.

Today we leave Chicago and head to Omaha, Nebraska for the night. It will be our third destination and it will take just under seven hours to get there. It's been busy so updating this hasn't been an everyday thing yet. I should probably work on that. Let's go back.

We closed the sale on our house on Wednesday after what seemed like a lifetime of packing and then cleaning the house. The final walk through was at 1pm that day and we got out of there at noon. It was a marathon trying to get everything done. We brought our truck and the girls over to Dan's parents where we would be for our final night in Massachusetts. Driving away from the house surprisingly didn't make us sad. It was a happy end to a chapter and we loved that house, but we knew it meant bigger and better things to be saying goodbye. We drove to Cambridge Registry of Deeds and did the closing. Handing over the keys and getting a check was a gigantic relief. This was one of the bigger steps we had to make for this move and we couldn't believe it was done. 

Later that night I ran off to my last kickboxing class to make sure I had a proper last class to close what has been a pretty great chapter for me. I started kickboxing over a year ago when I was feeling very drained by my job and was watching my body change in a negative way, and what I thought was going to be a failed attempt to rejuvenate myself and get in shape was absolutely a success. I threw myself into it and met amazing people, so saying goodbye to that chapter of my life was a truly bittersweet thing. I will likely keep kickboxing and just transfer to a location in California, but there is no way it will be the same. The people are incredible back home. A bunch of them made a special effort to be there and it meant the world to me. The class was a struggle to get through because it had been two weeks since my last one with all the move-related tasks and having to work late at my job a lot in those final weeks.

When I returned, sweaty and drained, I caught the end of a little clam bake Dan's parents had at their house. I happily inhaled leftovers and sipped on some wine. A couple of friends, my sister and nephew, and my parents came by for goodbye hugs and drinks. We ended up going to bed much later than we planned, giving us only five hours of sleep for the big drive the next day, but it was worth it to spend time with everyone. I dipped myself into the tub with a bath bomb that Dan's mom put aside for me, and met Dan and the girls in Dan's childhood bedroom for our last night before the big day.

We woke up at 5am and immediately started getting bags together and re-packing the truck. We sat down for breakfast and coffee with his parents and sister, and his amazing mother made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the drive. Bless her - she literally saved our butts with all of the additional help and food she provided for us, including offering to return our Comcast equipment. As we all know - that's a HUGE help. Once we finished up, we packed the girls up and walked out to the truck. We got some goodbye hugs and waves and we were off.

As triumphant as that sounds and looks, never fear. Olive pooped in her carrier within ten minutes of us taking off and ended the glamour of our exit. We had to pull over so I could quickly grab her mess out of there with (cue the lifesaver) paper towels, and then layer the bottom of the carrier with a few long strips of paper towels so I could easily tear away a layer if needed. Foreshadowing. We ended up having another Olive poop accident once we crossed into New York, and then later she peed. This resulted in us getting a new carrier for her two states later. More on that later. I know this isn't really what anyone is interested in hearing about, but it's pretty relevant to our whole experience. No shame!

Dan drove for the first 6 hours with a few stops, and then I took over when the lack of sleep came crashing down on him. I got a nap in there somewhere in the first five hours, so I was happy to drive the daunting pick up truck to give him a rest. He slept for a little bit and I drove for two hours and listened to musical theatre until we eventually switched back.

The girls were champions for such a long drive, though we have noticed that anything over 65MPH is too much for Olive to bear. She freaks out. Emu, or Mu, just kind of slept and ignored everyone as if to say "just wake me up when it's over."

Our first stop was Cleveland, OH. We hopped on the La Quinta bandwagon for most of the stops on our trip because they're everywhere and so pet friendly, and it was actually great. We got the girls settled, freshened up, and headed over to Andy and Lindsay's house. Andy is Dan's childhood friend, and Lindsay is our friend and his lovely wife. It was the perfect night after our first big day of driving. We sat out in the backyard and had a little cookout and had some wine and beer. I had up and down moments of being exhausted, as did Dan, but it was really great. We had some great talks, caught up, and just relaxed and listened to music. We wish we got to spend more time with them because the four of us get along so great together. Andy luckily travels to LA a lot for work so we may see him more now, oddly enough, now that we are going to be living out there. We headed out after probably four hours to check on our babies. They were good, and we passed out.

We woke up the next day and immediately started prepping to hit the road. I had soaked Olive's carrier and dried it out overnight, so I reassembled that and we got back in the truck. We found a Panera and got some much needed breakfast and coffee for the road. We were not worried about the girls for the day because the previous day went so well, but Olive was very unhappy and wouldn't stop meowing. Emu again was stoic and not interested. We quickly realized that Olive's carrier smelled terribly of cat pee (yum) and that my efforts to clean it had failed. Disappointing, but we vowed to find a PetSmart and get a new one in Chicago so she could be a bit more comfortable. 

The ride was pretty good aside from the meowing, and we stopped only once. We both were feeling pretty good about our progress and successful driving day. We finally pulled up at this weird inn we were staying at in Chicago and I went in to check us in while Dan stayed with the girls. My mood quickly changed when we were told that they were dog friendly, not cat friendly, and we could not bring them in. I explained our situation, that we had been driving and needed a place to stay. She agreed to let me lock them in the bathroom for our stay, and showed me the room. I said I would be back and met Dan at the truck. I certainly wasn't locking my children in a bathroom for two days, so that absolutely wasn't going to work. Nor was I willing to lie and take the risk of letting them out. It just is never worth it to me to lie about anything. She claimed the $150 pet deposit "wouldn't even cover" the clean up of cats, which we really think is just insane. If you have a vacuum, you can clean up after a cat very easily. They have a litter box that they're very good at using, and I prepared for any other accidents with cloths and Shout spray. To say that a dog is any less messy than a cat is actually just not correct. And for the record - if you google cat friendly hotels in Evanston, IL, that inn is one of the very first to pop up. I, of course, made them aware of that. Their website said nothing of being only dog friendly and I never would have booked it if it wasn't clear. And I digress. She was very nice, I just don't agree with the policy. And for the record, we called every other hotel we are staying at to make sure this doesn't happen again.

We spent the next hour calling hotels and talking to my friend Elissa, who we were going to be visiting in Chicago, about potential back up plans. THIS was the first time I cried since we left. Many predicted the ride out would make us both emotional about leaving but surprisingly this hasn't been true. We found a La Quinta 30 minutes away and agreed to stay there for one night and then join Elissa at her apartment for the second night just so we weren't so far from the city. We had to drive an hour through rush hour traffic to get there, and this was definitely a low point in our trip. What was a six hour drive ended up being an eight hour long thing, and we were both hungry and tired. The cats were fed up and just slept through it. We finally got there and ended up deciding to stay both nights at the hotel. It was nice to see the girls all settled and comfortable and the 30 minute drive seemed like nothing compared to how stressful it would have been to worry about having the cats in Elissa's apartment. It would have been a lot to dump on her. 

Our first night in Chicago we met Elissa, her sister Sarah and her husband David at a restaurant called Farmhouse. We had such happy hellos and hugs when we got there. I hadn't met David yet so it was great to meet him finally. We were definitely exhausted but it was nice to be settled and have a good meal with some drinks. We caught up and got some very sweet engagement gifts from them. After dinner, we got ice cream/custard at Andys Frozen Custard next door and sat outside. We chatted more and took a group picture to send to Elissa's parents, Jeff and Leslie, who we so wish were there. Jeff was off running a marathon in Colorado and Leslie was there with him, otherwise they would typically be in attendance. After ice cream, we called it a night and said goodbye to everyone. We would be seeing Elissa the next day. Dan and I walked around for a bit and grabbed some stuff from CVS and tracked down the closest place to get beers before we hopped in an Uber back to the hotel. We got room service and were lazy and "poopy" which is exactly what we needed. 

Our second day we took our time getting up so we could hang out with the girls. They seemed super comfortable which did a lot of good for us. We went out for breakfast to Walker Brothers Pancake House, a Chicago classic, and then ran to PetSmart for a new carrier and some training pads, or "pee pee pads," something that I had on my list of things to get for weeks and somehow had let them slip my mind. The carrier ended up being a bit smaller than the original, which we obviously hadn't noticed and were bummed about. Emu is smaller, so we decided we could put her in that one. After we went back and dropped everything off at our hotel, we headed into the city to meet Elissa and Whitney, another friend from Suffolk, for lunch. The three of us hadn't been together since our senior year of college so it was great to reunite. We had lunch at Chicago Diner, which is a delicious vegetarian diner. We ended it with a vegan chocolate peanut butter shake, which was fabulous because it didn't hurt my stomach! Score. 

We headed over on a nice walk to the aquarium. It was 80 degrees and gorgeous and sunny. We waited in a very long line in the sun for tickets. The aquarium is right on the water so we had a gorgeous view to enjoy before going in.

Overall the aquarium was great. For some reason it was just a little tough to navigate and I think we were all starting to get a little sleepy at this point. After a couple of hours walking around and checking things out, we walked back to the truck and brought Elissa and Whitney back to our hotel with us so we could feed the girls, refresh and get dinner. Elissa's been my friend since freshman year of college but hadn't been back to Boston in a while, so this was the first time she had met them. They're my children, guys - this was a big deal.

We took an Uber back to the city and grabbed yummy dinner in Evanston at a place called The Stained Glass and had some great talks, and grabbed a beer at World of Beer afterward. We all were exhausted so finished up and said our goodbyes. It was a really fun day and a great way to finish out our second stop. Got some amazing hugs from those amazing ladies and we headed back in an Uber with a lunatic driver. Made it back safely and passed out.

This morning we got our stuff together and were planning to hit the road by 9am. I've had tough mornings every day since the day of our closing with a really sore throat and a lot of gross stuff kicking around back there, and it just wasn't improving. I had no idea if a CVS Minute Clinic would be available in Nebraska, and assumed probably not, so we tracked one down. Waiting to be seen was so frustrating because there were only two people ahead of me and it felt like they were in there for a half hour each. We were also both dying to hit the road so I was staring at the time just thinking of what it meant for our arrival time in Nebraska. After all that, it ended up just being allergy-related. She recommended some Flonase and saline spray and sent me on my way. I think it probably will end up helping me and the peace of mind is more than enough for both of us, but of course it's annoying that I don't have a prescription that gives me some sort of light at the end of the tunnel.

Phew. Long post. That's what I get for not having updated each day so far. Now we are en route to Omaha and there are just corn fields everywhere. From what we hear, it only continues and the drive is boring. We have been driving for about three hours and just made our first stop, and the girls collectively have not stopped meowing. It's irritating, sure, but we are both just bummed that they have to get used to it all over again. Apparently only staying one night per place is better because they're already kind of used to the drive, and Chicago was basically like a reset button by staying there for two nights. Olive pooped in Illinois. I'm sure she is just trying to set a record, so of course I will keep a tally on her behalf.

We are about 1/3 of the way through both our total journey and today's trip. We just entered Iowa a while ago.

Wish us luck for a safe arrival at the next destination!

Olive Poop in the Car Tally:

Massachusetts (7/14/16)

New York (7/14/16)

Illinois (7/17/16)

-A