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11/01/07: Reading this now I am amazed at how optimistic we were. It was a wonderful trip, the start of our great adventure here. Dear Woody is now gone. But Dart and Dida are here to add to the dog gang! 6/28/02- It is 4:00PM and we just finished packing the car! We leave in about 12 hours! I'm hot, sweaty and all I have left to do is clean up the apartment, empty the dishwasher, fold the last load of laundry, and so on and so on. ;-) At least we got everything in the car. After reading the customs regs I decided to try to bring a few of the houseplants (with my sweetums blessing!!) so I'll let you know if we get them through. We also had good news on poodle man's last batch of blood work. I picked it up with all his paperwork at the vets this AM. His white count is now almost normal, which means the inflammation of the pancreas is hopefully subsiding. His liver and pancreatic enzymes are also back to normal. He is ready to go! Thanks for all your thoughts and especially your good wishes. Thanks to Steve and Trudy for my cow!! I will hopefully be posting to you all from Ajijic in a week. XXXXOOO Chris 5/222/02- I'm sure no one needs to know how we are going to get from NJ to Laredo! Here is the route we have mapped out from Laredo to Ajijic.- Leave Laredo, cross border get on Mexico Rt 85 to Monterrey. At Monterrey we take Mexico Rt 40 towards Saltillo. Now we come to a divergence! ;-) The map that AAA set up sends us down Mexico Rt 57 towards San Luis Potosi and then Mexico Rt 57/80 down to Gaud. But.. Mexico Rt 54 to Zacatecas, then Aguascalientes then Guadalajara looks like a straighter shot. It is hard to tell from the map but most of the highways marked both ways appear to be the same. I know Harry is still doing some research on this. I will let you know just before we leave. UPDATE: Harry says that even though it looks shorter people who have driven both say San Luis Potosi is better roads and takes less time so.. that is the way we are going. Old News: We expect to leave on or around July 1, 2002. I'm debating what to use as a song on the CD-player as we pull out of the driveway. Not Willy Nelson and "On the Road Again", I am leaning towards an old favorite of mine, Bob Seger's "Turn the Page." I will savor the moment, Harry will just be chafing to get there and being Mr. Classical/Jazz won't appreciate my rock and roll homage. ;-) We will be driving the PT Cruiser with we hope minimal baggage. Just a small suitcase with trip clothes, dog food bag, a water hole travel water dish (won't tip or spill!) the poodle (probably drugged with Rescue Remedy) and one large: 2 and a half feet high, two foot diameter- pot. It is Italian, glazed a beautiful shade of green and it was an expensive gift that I am not leaving behind. I am not sure it would survive the shippers. We will put it on the railed terrace just outside the computer/TV room and look for a double pink oleander to live in it. The trip from Lakewood NJ to Laredo TX was plotted courtesy of AAA. We plan on doing about eight hours of driving time each day. That does include poodle and human potty stops and snack/lunch/gas breaks. I used pets welcome.com to book all the nightly hotel stops. That way I'm sure the places will accept a dog and will not charge extra! We plan to cross at Laredo and if we arrive past noon, stay over an extra night and cross first thing the next morning. That is supposed to be the best time of day with the least amount of hassle. Then we decide how hard we want to push and if we do the rest of the trip in one day or two. You can supposedly get from there to lakeside in 10-11 hours of driving. The dog and just how nutz he is about still being confined to the car will surely influence this. Depending on dog and arrival time in Laredo we plan on 5-6 days of travel. |