The universe is conspiring against us...

Tomorrow, or should I say today, is the big day when we leave for the trip: The Trip.  The ultimate of all life changing road trips. 2 months. 4,000+ miles. 6 National Parks. Pacific Coast Highway. Car camping. One cute baby. 2 married people. 2 furry super passengers. One Leonard the stegosaurus travel mascot.

But first a brief word on heart worms. That's right friends, two days before we leave and we find out Chomper has heart worms. Two pharmacies, 180 pills, and over $300 later and we finally have treatment for it. Well, the first part...It would appear that the universe is conspiring against us and Chomps, who we're now lovingly calling "Wormy" instead of "Bear Bait". (We have also named our favorite two heart worms, "Squirmy 1 and Squirmy 2.) Come to think of it, this poor dog has more nicknames than I can count and as we were getting his dog tag updated with his new address I briefly wondered whether he would come when called by his actual name, which happens to be Munroe.

Anyway, I digress. Heart worms requires 30 days of doxycycline (insanely expensive), followed by a shot (I don't think our bank account can count that high...) that requires he be on "extremely limited activity" meaning crating him in the house and walking him on a leash long enough to do his business (completely impossible) for 30 days, and following all of this with two more shots 24 hrs apart and another 30 days of strict activity rest. I expect this to be as successful as herding cats into a bathtub.  No one will be happy. Everyone will emerge scarred for life. The problem with this plan is 4 fold: 1) My poor, sweet boy has HEART WORMS! (despite year round monthly prevention, read: we are not irresponsible pet owners), 2) Operation heart worm eradication is expensive as hell, 3) Our 2 month road trip is now one month, 4) Physical activity after the shot could kill him as the heart worms die and can clog up his major blood vessels (Bad squirmy 1&2!). I did not mention his 30 days of antibiotics is not 1 pill daily, but 3 pills twice daily. By the end of this trip Brandon and I intend to herd cats professionally...

After moving my sister to her new place, which is huge and has an amazing wrap around porch, we pulled out all of our preplanned maps/trip tik and set about destroying the hard work of Linda from AAA.  Essentially, we're reworking the entire trip backwards and in half the time. We'll be driving from the Chicago Suburbs to Morro Bay, CA with pit stops in Aurora NE, White River National Forrest CO, and Zion National Park UT. Then we're headed up Pacific Coast Highway (PCH for all you cool kids) with stops in Big Sur National Park, San Fransisco, Point Reyes National Seashore, then up to Eureka to visit Joanie, Nick, cute baby, Thumbs, Not Thumbs, and Also Not Thumbs (I think they have 3 cats and one human baby now...) where I will secure my rightful place as favorite auntie with monetary stand-ins for my absentee love and see Redwoods National Forrest. From there the journey will continue on to Crater Lake National Park, Bend OR, Craters of the Moon National Monument ID, and Grand Tetons WY.  All before Sept 8th when Wormy gets his shot.

We're heading out tomorrow around 7/7:30 and driving about 8 1/2 hrs. Needless to say, I'm currently binge watching the final season of "The Killing" on Netflix at 12:30. I just finished fellowship. I've trained for this kind of sleep deprivation, people.