Prep Day 9 — January 11th

We’re still at the extreme eastern end of this route.

Lots of packing and getting rid of stuff and the house is now nearly empty. The cats are freaked, but Maya and I are mostly excited.

My main focus has been insulating the trailer against the cold. I addition to putting foil-covered bubble wrap in ann the windows, I’ve lined the floor with those foam tiles that you sometimes see in garages-the ones that lock to gether like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Later today, I’ll put a rug over top of these . This is partly for more insulation but mostly to fill the trailer with a familiar smell that’ll help the cats feel at home.

The rubberized flooring will help hold warmth. We’ll lay a rug on top.

We were careful to leave space around the heater!

This picture is SIDEWAYS, but shows how we’ve put foiled bubble wrap over the windows. I just used the sunshades that you put under your windshield when it’s hot out, cut to fit, and attached with velcro.

We took each of the cats out for a “visit” individually. The tortie was excited and ran all over the interior, exploring and looking for places to climb. The tabby found a comfortable corner of the bed and curled up against the wall. This was pretty good for him, but he was definitely “on alert”. Fortunately we’ll have time for several more sessions before it’s time to leave.

The screen house we got them has been a big hit and they play in it every day. We set it up in the dining room and Maya somes times climbs into it to hang out with them. Since this’ll be how they travel in the car-it fits in the back, enclosed, bed-its good that its a place that feels familiar.

I also bought heater wire that I can wrap around the exposed water pipes to keep them from freezing. This stuff has to plug into a 110V outlet though, so I don’t think I can run it while we’re traveling, only when we’re on city power at a camp site. So, if the pipes start leaking we will use bottled water for everything. I’ve got to research the likelihood of the the black-water tank freezing and what to do if it does. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Yeah, me neither.

Update! We took the cats out to the trailer after dark and were very happy to find tha tthe new insulation makes things much more comfortable. The cats are starting to feel comfortable too, the tabby actually explored the space this time and the tortie started to identify perches for herself.