2200 miles later...

Recently, we left on a mini-vacation. We went three hours down the road and spent the night. The next day, we got up at 3am and drove to see my parents in San Diego. From where we stayed, it SHOULD have been about a 13-hour drive. With a great visit with a friend, several stops, and lovely LA traffic, it ended up being an 18-hour drive.

We drove back up yesterday, and it was a short-n-sweet (in comparison) 15.5 hours ALL the way from my folk's doorstep to ours. 15 hours of driving, 15.5 hours total. We booked it, baby.

For several reasons (to be discussed in later posts), we drove. This permitted us to bring the dog! Maddie was a real trooper. No car accidents (she never has), no jumping on the driver (she knows better; we take her in the car a lot), no frustrated actions. She did get glazed over eyes (boredom), but mostly, she looked out the window, stuck her nose in the AC vent, or slept.

That is, with the exception of when the humans were bored too. Then she became glam girl:

Chaos happens when there is boredom on the road.

Oh, you know you think I'm sexy.

She was such a trooper. We had her kennel on half the backseat (behind the driver so the passenger could lean the chair back). There was just enough room for her to squeeze through the two front seats in order to go on the passenger's lap when she liked. It was a bit challenging navigation, so she mainly dragged her back legs so she could sort of slither back and forth between the two areas. Again, what a good dog.

So bored!

I think she is glad to be home with her cat friends now, but she did have a ton of fun on vacation.

We arrived home around 8:30 pm. The garden has grown. The peas are blooming and 5.5' tall. The carrots have germinated. My spinach needs to be picked. My lettuces are all coming in. The onions are big. The blueberries are big. My tomatoes are getting larger (and will be planted next week). Our strawberries are getting large! The chickens are all ok. My potato plants are now about 2.5-3' tall. Eeek! I need to build up their beds. What massive plants!

More on all that to come.