Okay, I'm doing a 3 month internship here in Minnesota. My fiancee is back in CA. She's coming up with a number of excuses on why she won't be able to join me for the last 2 months here. The biggest issue (which is a genuine one) is transporting the pets here. She has a small dog (~15 pounds) and a cat. Her vehicle is a Mazda RX-8, and she doesn't think she'd be able to get both pets and the luggage and office stuff she needs all into that car for a 3-4 day drive.
Any alternate thoughts on how to relocate pets halfway across the country?
If she gets them out here, getting them back won't be too tough, since I came out in a van, and it was not loaded to capacity.
The Pets in the car.
The Stuff ships easily by any of a number of means.
Price out what www.upack.com would cost for the stuff.
Harbor freight trailer on back of RX-8 and sell when she arrives for very little loss?
Too bad she doesn't have a Rambler wagon with a roof rack! /flounder
Is there anyone trustworthy enough to watch them for a couple months out in Cali?
bastomatic wrote:
Too bad she doesn't have a Rambler wagon with a roof rack! /flounder
Is there anyone trustworthy enough to watch them for a couple months out in Cali?
Only one of our friends/family come to mind, and she's been dealing with a lot of emotional and health issues lately. As I understand she absolutely wouldn't be able to take the cat.
Transporting the dog shouldn't be that big of a problem, though, shouldn't it? She might need a roof rack (not for the dog, for the other stuff) but I can't really see the cat being too fond of travelling in the car for 3-4 days.
Might be worth looking into sending the pets by air so you can pick them up the same day at the other end. Not sure if airlines do still do unaccompanied pets though.
Another option might be to find a boarding cattery for the cat, just not one where the cat is stuck in a cage for most of the time. There are a few around where several cats share a large room, but I don't know of one down Sacramento way.
We normally use pet sitters for our furballs but that's on short trips only as it gets prohibitively expensive otherwise.
Good luck. I forget how my family dealt with it for the 4 days between moving out of our house in VA and moving into the trailer in NY. After leaving our house, we spent 3 days in the base motel before our drive north.
how about tell her to sack up and make the drive in 2 days like a real man? 
Beer Baron wrote:
She's coming up with a number of excuses on why she won't be able to join me for the last 2 months here.
Maybe I'm outta line here, but maybe she doesn't want to. I'd be damned if I would drive cross country with my three dogs and four cats to just stay for two lousy months in Minnesota. 
I know someone who chartered a private jet to move their pets from New England to Florida. I realize that isn't much help but it illustrates how big a challenge it can be.
Tranquilizers and UPS Next Day Air early AM? 
I have nothing constructive to add other than talk to a local vet. I'm sure it's been done before.
Like many things, you can use uship.com for either the stuff or the critters. I'll second that she probably just doesn't want to go to wisconsin (can you blame her?)
Yeah, ship by air, it can be done. 3-4 days? Thats a slow 3 day at best. I've done San Fran to Detroit in 32 hrs w/ 2 drivers and a dog. 55-60hrs on a lazy solo drive stopping for the nights.
bludroptop wrote:
I know someone who chartered a private jet to move their pets from New England to Florida. I realize that isn't much help but it illustrates how big a challenge it can be.
I flew a charter like that one time. The Mr. and the cats flew in a Cessna 310. The Mrs. and the kids drove. We flew 2 hours, they drove 18 hours. I thought it was ridiculous.
In reply to EastCoastMojo:
I think the biggest issue was her needing to get off her "wimpy petrified ass" (her words) and call her boss to confirm it was okay. Response was about what I expected, that it's fine as long as she's just as effective working remotely from here as she is working remotely from CA.
So, now it is down to logistics. The biggest logistical issue is getting the pets out here.
The trip is about 28-30hours drive time. It took me 3 days to drive. 2 long days and one reasonable one. It would probably take her 4. If we wait 4-5 weeks, my dad can possibly fly her and the pets out in one day.
If you wait 8-9 weeks she won't even have to go.
Just kidding. I hope the trip goes smoothly. Maybe rent a car that she can turn in once she gets there and all come back in the van (loaded to capacity this time, of course). That would give more room for everybody to spread out vs. the RX8.
In reply to EastCoastMojo:
I like the renting a car idea. If she gets a minivan or wagon, that might be a good way to go.
As far as 4-5 weeks. She has to take a business trip to Des Moines Sep. 17-21. We were planning that she'd stick around so I can drive down there to visit for the 21-23. By the time she gets back, that's about the 4 week mark. So she either needs to hurry up on being able to get herself out here (and she's not good at hurrying things) or we'd be waiting until about when my dad could fly her out.
Abscence makes the heart grow fonder!
It's only three months. She'll love you even more or replace you. It's life.
