Traveling circus

In my lifetime, I have traveled tens of thousands of miles with dogs.

Piper

My dogs,

Emma, obviously

my bosses' dogs,

Mardi and Holiday

my coworkers' dogs,

Jasmine

my friends' dogs.

Tank and Riley

So many miles.

Darcy

So many dogs.

Abbie

I've also roadtripped with horses, but never - not even one time - have I shared a vehicle with a cat...

or a snake.

I guess I was due.

Earlier this month, I helped my son, James, move from Loveland, Colorado to Madison, Wisconsin with his cat, Guppy, and his girlfriend's snake, Mercury. It was a long trip made longer by lack of proper preparations, but somehow, we made it work.

Credit goes to Guppy/Kimmy - she goes by both names - for being perhaps the sweetest, most amenable cat ever.

Props also to James, for consulting with his vet before we left. He was able to administer some light sedatives throughout the trip, which made things easier for everyone.

"I feel goooood."

Guppy rode in a small dog cat carrier between the seats, and was mostly - but not entirely - quiet.

We let her out every time we stopped, and sometimes we stopped just to let her out. 

We were all in this together and we made it work.

Between Loveland and Madison, we overnighted in two hotels.

Kimmy much preferred this to riding in the truck.

She had a big time exploring every...

single...

inch of both those rooms!

As for Mercury, he was a good traveler, too. In fact, most of the time it was almost like he wasn't there. He rode inside a knotted pillowcase, which was placed on a blanket within a plastic tub with holes in the sides. The tub was placed under my seat in the truck. At the hotel, he stayed in the bathroom with a heat lamp. 

in the Colorado apartment before we left

We didn't feed him or give him any water. I am a mammal person, and I found this incomprehensible. As the trip dragged on days, I started to get very concerned about his health and well-being. Fortunately, my concerns were unfounded. He came out of the pillowcase in fine shape and made himself right at home in Madison.

In regards to travel, dogs are always and forever my first choice of companion. However, I have to admit, I enjoyed road tripping with Guppy and Mercury. 

And James, too. Of course.

The road goes on forever

After twenty eight hours of near non-stop packing, James and I climbed into the U-Haul truck and hit the road.

The first part was also the worst part. Northeastern Colorado is flat and empty and the roads are raggedy.

After three hours of that, we were both relieved when we crossed into Nebraska.

A lot of my hobby friends were also on the road that day, heading to Lexington, Kentucky. I snapped a picture of the sign for the Nebraska Lexington in solidarity.

A few minutes later, I waved to Margaret as we rolled past Kearney.

The original plan was to stop in Omaha, but after our extremely late start, there was simply no way. We found a decent roadside hotel in Grand Island, and called it a night.

The next morning we were right back at it. We powered through the rest of Nebraska and crossed into Iowa.

It takes five hours to drive across Iowa, but the time passed quickly.

I waved to Prairie Meadows, where Carol and I stayed during another road trip back in 2016...

and we both oohed and aahed over all the pretty rainbows.

Hello, Wyoming! What are doing out here?

As we neared Dubuque, the skies grew dark and stormy.

Sure enough, it was raining as we drove over the Mississippi River...

and into Wisconsin.

The skies cleared as we drove through the limestone bluffs. 

The last part of our drive was dark and wet.

We were exhausted by the time we reached the trailer drop-off point.

As much as we both wanted to push through to Madison, we decided safe was better than sorry. We found another hotel, and checked ourselves in for the night. The next morning, we made the short drive to James' new home and spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting settled.

In contrast to the first twenty eight hours, I really enjoyed this part of the week. Aside from a bit of rain at the end, the weather was fine, the conversation lively, and James did a really good job of driving. I can be a bit of a nervous passenger, but I was completely comfortable riding with him.

But here's the thing I haven't told you: It wasn't just James and I in that U-Haul.

The other members of our party were Guppy/Kimmy...

and Mercury.

And let me tell you, traveling with a cat and a snake was a whole new experience for me!

To be continued.

First things first

A while back, my friend, Angelo, legally changed his name to Alexey. I asked if I should be calling him that on my blog, and he said, no. He was still Angelo in the hobby, and he'd let me know when that changed.

This week, he let me - and everyone else - know. Henceforth, I'll be using Alexey.

Anyway...  Alexey got home from BreyerFest on Tuesday, and I went to his house after work to participate in the grand unpacking.

Of course, there were some equids.

But also, there were foxes,

birds, bunnies,

chickens...

and - of course! - deer.

He got me a few things, too. 

Here's a studio picture of my BreyerFest 2026 haul, minus the dog who was hiding on the prepping table.

I also got a Flinka, but she's not staying.

Instead, she - and this big pile of miscellaneous loot - will go to one lucky Braymere blog reader.

Entry is simple: Every comment left on this page equasl one raffle entry. Old post, new post, multiple posts, it just doesn't matter, but if you're posting anonymously, be sure to include your name. I will choose a winner on July 25.