We’re slowly building up to longer outings with them and they do seem to be adapting to it as a second home. They’re also learning to go out for a little exploration in their harnesses. Hera’s become quite the little explorer while Pan is still pretty nervous and reluctant. Neither of them are happy about being in the vehicle while it’s in motion though.
Just some pictures from our first real excursion with Pan and Hera in the Mobile Cat House (aka, Traveling Cat Adventure Vehicle). To the beach (Waddell Beach) for Sunday afternoon and evening:
Earlier this month, Darlene and I were able to get away for a little road trip in Bavaria, the southern region of Germany. Darlene used to work summers in Bavaria and so she organized a little ten-day itinerary for us to see some of the sights. We flew into Frankfurt and visited several locales before flying back via Munich. We ended up skipping Frankfurt entirely when our inbound flight was delayed half a day, but we had a day seeing castles in the Rhine River valley, two nights in Heidelberg, a day visit in Bamberg, two nights in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, day visits to Aalen and Augsburg, three nights in Oberau and the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area, a day visit to Hohenschwangau and then a final two nights in Munich.
Holy cat snacks! I bought an RV!! To be otherwise known as the Mobile Cat House,Traveling Cat Camper, Cat-Assisted Adventure Van, Traveling Cat Adventure Vehicle? The idea here is to be able to take extended road trips and bring the cats along so that I don’t always have to make arrangements for a cat sitter.
I wanted something small enough to be able to take most anywhere (cities, state/national parks, even dirt roads) and yet large enough that the cats won’t go stir crazy and hate it. Darlene and I intend to use it mostly, if not always, “dry camping” (or “boondocking” without hookups for water or electricity); in other words, our intention isn’t to travel to RV “resorts” or campgrounds. We’ll prefer being able to camp out on open national park, forest service or BLM lands.
Now if this wasn’t mostly about being able to bring the cats along, I’d definitely go for a compact 4×4 Sprinter van conversion that would allow us to go anywhere we would have previously gone and still easily fit in city parking spaces. However, to better accommodate the cats (it is the Traveling Cat Adventure Vehicle after all), I eventually settled on the somewhat wider and longer Leisure Travel Vans “Unity 24TB” (Twin Bed) model, built on the Mercedes Sprinter diesel-powered chassis. It’s a little wider and longer than a normal Sprinter van and thus a “class B+ or C” but it should still be reasonably manageable both in the city and in the wild. Unfortunately, there aren’t yet options for electric drivetrains on campervans and motorhomes, but they’re coming. Mercedes-Benz may well have an all-electric option for its Sprinter chassis in a few more years.
While the Leisure Travel Vans build lacks somewhat in some of the technical features I wanted, many of those aspects can be upgraded after the fact. The rest of the craftsmanship, aesthetics and build quality are fantastic. (I’ve posted my shopping/comparison notes here from my RV/campervan selection process as a sort of a review of what’s available that might be helpful to others.)
Anyway, I found and bought this only very slightly used 2016 Unity from a previous owner in Montana, with just 3100 miles on it, before I drove it the 1250 miles back home. It was great to find a relatively new used one, to avoid the immediate depreciation hit of buying new and also to skip the 6-8 month long backlog for new orders. Leisure Travel Vans are hard to come by and dealer’s orders seem to sell immediately. I wasn’t even able to look at one in person anywhere in California.
It remains to be seen if Pan and Hera will adapt to taking extended road trips in their new Traveling Cat House. If it doesn’t work out with the cats, I’m sure it’ll still be a fun adventure and it should be easy enough to sell again if I find it’s not something I want to keep. In the meantime, there’s a number of changes and upgrades I’ll be making to the Traveling Cat House which I’ll document here, to hopefully help out others like myself: RV Tips, Upgrades and Customizations
Update: The cats are doing great and have adapted well to traveling in the RV. Follow this tag (“RV Travels”) to see and read about Pan and Hera’s traveling adventures!
Darlene and I dropped in to see the Polynesian Festival and Outrigger Races at the Santa Cruz Wharf on Sunday morning. Apparently anyone can sign up as teams in advance and compete in the races. We also stopped into the free Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center. It’s a small center with some nice exhibits and videos, including a tank where you can drive around a remote-operated submersible.
Hoan and Quyen came up to visit for a few days with their kids Samantha, Sebastien and Sarah. We went to Moss Landing to kayak on Elkhorn Slough, to the Santa Cruz wharf and boardwalk, to the farmer’s market in Aptos (plus a quick stop to see the dancing chickens at the Glaum Egg Ranch), to hike in Big Basin and then hang out at Four Mile Beach in Wilder Ranch State Park.
Darlene and I made an overnight visit to Pinnacles National Monument last Thursday to catch the Perseids in a clear dark sky again. While enjoying the show, I took a few long exposures and caught a couple of meteors:
