Back home, again.
As you probably noticed, I have taken a little breather from blogging. Laurie and the bunnies and I have been on a very nice road trip for two weeks and two days and just got back last night! I had thought that I would have more access to the internet and be able to blog while I was away, but alas, that did not happen. We've been so busy with fiber festivals, camping, family reunions, and more driving and camping that sitting down at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time when there was internet access just wasn't happening. So, really soon, I'll be posting lots and lots about our trip but right now, I'm just trying to catch up on sleep!
Bunnies' first camping trip
This past weekend, Laurie and I and the bunnies all went camping near Prescott for Sunday and Memorial day. It was the bunnies' first camping trip and something we hadn't done for too long. We wanted to get out of the heat and enjoy camping but we also wanted to see how the bunnies would react to camping before we pile them in the car with everything else and spend over 2 weeks on a road trip to Nebraska and back, camping along the way. This trip was a little mini run and we were able to fine tune the things that needed fixing and really get a good idea of how the bunnies would react to being out in nature and all that stuff. We went to Mingus Mountain, where there were electrical hookups for the oxygen concentrator that I need for sleeping. We were lucky, the campground was apparently full Sunday morning, but when we pulled in in the early afternoon, there were lots of spots!
I'm happy to report that the bunnies did great (and we had fun, too)! Bennett loved being out and in the cool air (he's in full coat right now, but we will definitely be plucking him before we go). He would half close his eyes and lean into the wind and just look totally content. Our set up was having the bunnies in their exercise pen on top of a tarp covered by a rug. We also made sure that they had a place to go hide if they wanted to, so we brought the small carrier to lounge in. At night, we set them up on top of rugs in the trunk section of the car (we have a station wagon). Laurie was hoping that Bennett wouldn't be able to hop over the back seat and get into the rest of the car, but, Houdini that he is, he did. When Laurie went to get them out of the car in the morning, he was up at the driver's seat. We are going to have to rig something so that he cannot escape the trunk. We locked them in the car for safety at night, there is just too much risk from predators and things for them to be left out in the x pen. They had plenty of cool air and hay and the small carrier to hide in, if necessary. When we packed up on Monday to go home, it was obvious that Bennett didn't want to go. He tried to forestall us by "needing" to be petted for as long as possible, after we got his harness on him.
We tried out a new arrangement for travel than usual. Normally, we put the bunnies in the large carrier and strap that in the back seat for travel, but since we're going such a long distance and it's hard to keep the cool air circulating in the carrier, we built a little bunny contraption for long distance travel. We got the largest rectangular laundry basket we could and strapped that into the car via the seatbelt. A cotton rug went in the bottom of the basket and we got a chain link dog leash and attached in to the handle of the laundry basket. Then, we carabinered the bunnies to the leash by their harnesses. It was a long leash, so we carabinered Bennett to the end and Ella somewhere in the middle, so they could still move around the basket, but just enough slack that they couldn't get out of the basket. They could pop up to see out the window (which was partially covered by a towel for shade) or to investigate what's going on in the car. They had hay to eat in a brown paper bag and some toys to chew on. Mostly, they slept as soon as we got underway. This set up really worked well. Bennett could run around and see everything and we could be sure that they were both getting enough cool air to keep them comfortable. I should add that Laurie devised a lovely way to keep air circulating in the back seat (because we have no air vents back there), she stretched a bungee cord across the roof of the car to latch on the dry cleaning hooks and we got two little carabiner/flashlight/personal fans to attach to the bungee cords and turned the fans on. It made a big difference in the coolness of the air back there. Anyways here are all the pictures...
You can just see the snow on the San Francisco peaks from Mingus Mtn.
The lovely view!
Bennett and I lounging in the shade in my camp chair. He's such a snuggle bun. Ella came out once and hung out with Laurie, but she prefers to have her feet on the ground and looks down upon snuggling.
Bennett checking things out.
You can see how the chain leash and the carabiner is set up for Ella in this picture.
Interesting pic of both Bennett and Ella. It's funny how much their fur color looks alike in this photo.
We all had a lot of fun camping and in exactly one week we will be packing up to go off to Nebraska and have lots of adventures!
