Day something in Parma

Hi all —

Haven’t had a chance to do the repair work on Amy’s house yet but have a Lowes run tomoorrow to get the stuff to fix my mistakes.  I’m pretty confident that with the tools I brought and the skills I learned working on the house in Kanab I’ll be able to fix the siding, the scereen will be a peice of cake.

We went to PetSmart today and got a different kind of tension suppliment for Zoe (they didn’t have Rescue Remedy) and hopefully this will help.  She is actually getting better (despite what Debby says) and isn’t whining near as much as she was. She was aggressive towards a new man, she has only been this way with one other guy – a salesman that came to our door when I was living in the Ranchos in Kanab – but I hope this a one off thing, just someone she felt uncomfortable with.  I am getting a bit tired with the distruction and her insanity but I did make a commitment to the old girl and I will not give up.

West Side Market

Amy brought us to a killer market, The West Side Market, in Cleveland.  Man oh man I fell in love!  I haven’t been to a place liike this in years (since I was a chef in Boulder, Co. and hit the Farmer’s market).  This place had some of the most incredible produce, baked goods, ethnic fare and meats that I have seen in years and had absolutly the most remakable cured meats and Charcuterie I have ever seen in one place, there was incredible seafood, a coffee shop and two or three cafes, I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!  I bought a dozen Cape Cod oysters (for $13), and 4 cobs of corn for a buck, I shucked the oysters and slurped them bad boys up tonight and will grill the corn for dinner tomorrow!  I also bought a pound of HUGE grapes that I’ll nosh on tomorrow (well those that survive tonight)!  I’ll be back there before we head south just to stock up on cured meats for the trip to FL.

We got the buns out of their cages today and they all had a great time running around and binking in the grass.  Bogie was first out and boy was he pissed when he went back to his cage, the thump he let out would register as a minor earthquake in a small Latim American country and would probably would have killed thousands.  Zsolt and Halie were out next and they also were not ready to give up thier freedom!  Doc had some more personal attention attention as he needed a butt bath.  He delt with it in his usual manner, not all that happy but let Debby have her way.  Joey and Angie didn’t really want to get out, probably to cool by the time it was thier turn, they will go first tomorrow.

We did have a small bit of bad news today, evidently in Parma you are not allowed to park a travel trailer in your driveway.  We will be speaking with the city tomorrow to see what our options are because it is nearly impossile (I think it is completely impossible) to get the trailer into the back yard here and all of the RV parks in this part of the world are either closed or will be closed by the 15th, one option is a State park but the closest is near Dayton and that would be a heck of a cruise to visit Amy and Oksana, we will work on this tomorrow and hopefully we will have it figured out quickly.

That is it for tonight, I’ll try to post again tomorrow, it is supossed to be sunny so maybe a bike ride is in order!

Victor

Parma Problems

OK so finally in Parma and at Amy’s house – whew!

All I have to say is I cannot believe how close together Ohio houses are! The 39something times I tried to back into Amy’s driveway with no success I finally ended up running into Amy’s house causing damage I will spend my first day not driving – fixing, SERIOUS bummer! If I remember I’ll post pics of the damage but I’ll probably forget!!!

It is good to be here and seeing Oksana and Amy, and getting off the road are both good things but after a pretty smooth day it ended up being pretty crappy.

The buns are fine and went through the back and forth just fine, all were eating, drinking and pooping just fine. Joey gave me a “knock it off jerk” look, Bogie is his usual WTF, Doc is noshing and Szolt and Hallie are just hanging out. Because of the crash we have to leave them in the truck but it is a pretty good deal, warm and dry – food and water, so they will be fine till we get them in the grass tomorrow. Zoe us in her crate in our temporary room, had her water and will get dinner when I head up to bed. So everything is normal.

See you tomorrow
Victor

The stuff we brought

The Medications

I forgot to say in my last post that Phyllis told us about the Midwest BunFest.  It is happening in Columbus, OH on Oct 27.  We decided that we would extend our stay in Ohio and attend the fest.  Debby will have a vendors booth and will sell some of her hand crafted jewelry, I’ll bring Bogie and my guitar and maybe play for tips or just hang out with the bunny folks.

Now for some important info!  Here is a list of the stuff we brought to make sure our buns were ready in case of trouble:

1. Sub-Q fluids
2. Various sizes of syringes and needles
3. Thermometer
4. Hot Water bottle
5. ice bag
6. Gauze and bandages
7. GI Stasis Medications
8. Wound care cream
9. Revolution
10. Metacam
11. Baytril
12. Pen-G (antibiotics)
13. Books
    1. When Your Rabbit Needs Special Care by Lucile Moore
    2. The 5 Minute Vet Visit (for Rabbits)
14. 3 bags of food
15. 3 leaves hay (we will buy more as needed)

We also have enough Fleece cage liners for a couple complete changes of the cages so we don’t need to jump on the laundry at every change.  We do a complete change of litter boxes every other day and change waters as often as necessary (usually twice a day more for Doc cuz he can’t seem to go without pooping in his water bowl).  We have tarps for draft control and we got a heater for our awning room in case it gets too cold.  We have an array of scissors and grooming tools, lots of rags and paper towels.

That is a basic list, we can let you know more details if you post a comment asking for them.

Well off to Parma and almost 2 weeks letting our sore butts relax!  It’ll be nice not having to break down the rig and getting it ready for the road every day.  After Parma who knows, headed south for sure we just haven’t decided on the route yet, I’ll keep you posted and will add pics to this post soon, I forgot my iPhone cable in the truck and it is parked to far away from the Starbucks to run and get it!

Vic

Enon Beach

Ohio, oh how I have longed for you (I know this sounds odd coming from a guy that wants to avoid cold)!

We made great time yesterday and got into Dayton early evening and met up with Phyllis in a K-mart parking lot, the best place for us to park the rig due to it’s size. We had a nice visit, it was great finally getting to meet her in person and Bogie was happy to meet her too! Phyllis told us about this park outside of town and we headed to Enon Beach.

This is a little, private park and is my favorite park so far, lots of grass, a small lake and is a bit “hippie” so it fits us perfectly! I would stay here longer but it’s off to Parma to visit with Debby’s daughter and grandkids for a week or so.

The buns are still doing great, eating their morning pellets and hey

and relaxing before the last part of this leg of the journey.

I’ll post more when we hit a Starbucks.

Victor

Bogie crossed the Missippi (and didn’t get wet!)

We are finally in Indiana!! We should make it to Dayton today and get to visit Phyllis O’Beollain! Phyllis has written several articles about my Bogie and I have wanted to meet her in person for a long time so this will be a treat!

Joy Thomas Gioia, MOHRS

Yesterday we were able to visit with Joy from the Missouri House Rabbit Society. Zsolt was rescued by this chapter so we have a connection with them. This is a very nice chapter and we met some really sweet buns (she has 3 English Lops – Debby’s favorite breed, and 2 Chekered giants – VERY VERY cute – and big – buns). we had a nice visit, got some papaya treats for the gang and got back on the road.

Wi-Fi has been a bit of a challenge the last couple of days, thank God for Starbuck’s!!! the buns are still doing great and if all goes well today on the road I’ll be able to finally post about how we prepaired for the trip, what is in our meds supply, what we brought for food and treats

Szotl and Halie in the sun at Deer Creek RV Resort

We stayed at one of the fancier RV parks in MO called Deer Creek RV Resort a super nice, gated park with real nice bunny friendly grass so the kids got a chance to sit in the sun for a bit. I have noticed that we have had the oldest trailer in every park we have visited so far (but it also has the most character and the best stories to tell)!

Loading and unloading the buns is finally getting pretty routine but traveling with a herd of buns is not for the faint of heart as it takes us about 3 hours to fully clean the cages and changing out the litterboxes when we are hitting the road, good thing we don’t plan on any days with more that 5 or 6 hours driving time.

That’s about it for now, if I have Wi-Fi tonight I’ll post more, chat again soon!

Victor

Lesson 1 from Debby

Lesson one, don’t forget to lock the refrigerator before traveling.  Lost a quart jar of my favorite preserves all over the floor.  It was a grissly scene.  Other lessons, hoses leak and cog pins break so buy lots of extras.  Zoe tried to break the windows of the truck when we tried to go into Walmart.  We did get the heater in the trailer working so that is good news.  We should be into St. Louis, MO. tomorrow.  Compared to having Zoe dog with us the bunnies are a breeze.

Debby xo

Kansas

Well we are about halfway through Kansas and it has been a bit of a frustrating day so far.  The cotter pin on the trailer’s tongue broke so we had to go to a hardware store to get a new pin.  With that done we headed to Selina to look for hitch pins to replace the pair I lost in Denver, so far no luck next stop is Abilene to stop at a different RV place, hopefully we can get a pair there so we have our anti-sway back in operation.  We wanted to get as far as Kansas City today but that doesn’t look like it will happen, good thing we aren’t on a real schedule!
We woke to a windy day and the buns were not impressed!  Bogie, as is normal for him, simply ignored the wind and hung out in his x-pen, Joey was pretty cool and he is still taking care of Angie.  Angie is starting to come out of her shell.  Joey and Angie were not all that social before we left but Joey has really blossomed being curious and checking everything out!
Doc is being Doc, very mellow and just being cute, as is his primary job.  Zsolt and Halie had a chance to hang in the x-pen this morning and all the buns are happy and healthy!
Zoe still hasn’t quite hit her stride yet, which is surprising as she is usually a pretty confident dog.  I know she will relax pretty soon, this is just a new situation for her, she has never slept in a crate so I have to sit with her as she winds down, never thought that she would be more difficult than the buns!

We are getting better at packing the buns and have worked out most of the kinks of the routine.  now if we can get on the road earlier in the day without any more little stuff slowing us down we will be groovy!

The next post I’ll have Debby talk about how we prepped for the trip, what meds we have along, what is in our bunny first-aide kit and all of that kind of info.
chat soon!
Victor

The Cast of Characters

Well we made it to Colorado and I’m a bit bummed, we woke to a dusting of snow on my Mom’s lawn this morning and it is a bit colder than I would like!  The weather is suposed to be nicer this weekend and we will be back on the road Monday following the front and hopfully will have nice weather across the plains.  We will try to get as far as Salina, Kansas on the leg and maybe stay a couple of days to finish recovering from the mountain leg of the journey.  Then St Louis, MO and points east!

Now for the Cast of Characters:

First, Mr. Humphrey Bogart.  Bogie is a Flemish Giant Rabbit and is a rescue from a breeder in California.  He had EC but is recovered except for cloudy eyes.  He is my pride and joy and is our experienced traveler.

 

Next is Doc Holiday.  Doc is a fat Dutch boy and is a special needs bun.  when he was a baby his litter came down with an unknown virus.  His mom passed and the litter all recovered well except for Doc and his sister Belle Star.  Belle was paralyzed in her rear and lived for a couple years before passing.  Doc is an absolute love and is one of our sweetest Buns.

 

These two buns are Joey Bishop (the fawn colored boy) and his girlfriend Angie Dickenson.  These two little guys came from the Leeds shelter in Las Vegas.  Joey is my first bun and he picked me out (guess he found a true sucker)!  Joey was super friendly when he first came to live with us but when he bonded with Angie he decided that humans weren’t too cool.  he is adjusting well to the trip and is watching out for Angie every step of the way!

The last buns are, Halie Berry and Zsolt.  Halie is another Flemmy and is another super sweet bun.  He loves to be petted and will follow you around until you comply.  Zsolt is an English Angora and is a true character, he love to make noise (specially late at night) and is a recient bond with Halie.

 

I don’t have a pic of Zoë on this computer but will check my external HD later and get a shot of her up too.  Zoë is a brindal Boxer mix and is a bit of a head case.  She is a rescue from Best Friends Animal Society and I’ve had her in my life for about 10 years.  She is slowly adjusting but is being a bit needy right now.  I know she will settle in soon as she has traveled with me in the past, might just be that she is an old lady that is set in her ways, I’ll keep you posted.

Finally us, Victor and Debby, the loose nuts behind the wheel!

 

 

 

All the buns are adjusting well to the trip and weathered the trip over the Rockies well.  They are all hanging out now, are eating and pooping like they should.  We have the truck pretty much figured out now and have the packing and unpacking of the buns just about dialed in.

The next post will be about our supplies and how we are getting the buns in and out of the truck and into thier living area when we are setting up camp.

Hope everyone is well and we will keep posting!!

Victor

First leg of the trip

Hello all --  Well we finally got out of Kanab!

We got a very late start so we are staying in a hotel in Richfield, Utah tonight so we can shower the dirt off our stinky selves, get a nice rest and a free breakfast before we get on the road in the morning.

The buns are all doing very well and all except Bogie are looking at us with a "what the hell..." look in their eyes.  Bogie is cool with the whole deal because he has traveled pretty widely across the western US.

So after three months of packing up our house, getting renters into the house and squeezing all of our stuff, the bunny stuff, the dog stuff and my guitars into the trailer we are finally on the road. (going from a 3800 square foot house to a 24 foot travel trailer is a challenge!)

I'll post more photos and possibly a video tomorrow but I am WAY to beat to get my head around downloading the media off my iPhone and uploading them here to get anything done tonight, chat tomorrow.

Victor

Let’s get this started!

Well, I'm getting this started!  We are 6 days from hitting the road with our gang!  We will start blogging soon but are very busy getting the house done and the rig finished for the big trip! When we are closer we will describe our rig and how we plan to transport 6 (maybe 8) rabbits and a dog on an RV trip through the midwest, down th east coast of the U.S. and spending a winter somewhere in Florida (with a christmas trip to Key West - look out Jimmy Buffet!).  We will also talk about how the rabbits adjust to the RV lifestyle and every thing wee learn about traveling with bunnies. I've got a lot to learn about WordPress, formatting and such - been awhile since I've used a WYSIWYG interface, and will be showing Debby the ropes as we go along so she can share her observations too, this is a whole new journey.  We hope to post pics, videos, links and words about our adventure! Hope you check in soon! Victor and Debby