I knew something was up, as just a few weeks ago we got everything out of our Oliver Travel Trailer and put it in another vehicle, drove a while and then unloaded everything.

But I [...]]]> Back in May while I was hiding under a bed, my people left me at my grandmeow’s in St. Louis.

I knew something was up, as just a few weeks ago we got everything out of our Oliver Travel Trailer and put it in another vehicle, drove a while and then unloaded everything.

But I wasn’t expecting my people to leave me!  Every morning I searched the house for Chris & Cherie.

Grandmeow would chase me around the house with her iPad, trying to tell me that my people were in it.  I could hear their voices, but there was no cuddles and scritches, so that couldn’t really be them.

It’s not so bad at grandmeow’s house tho. There are birds to watch, sunbeams and I have my own room.  Plus, I have grandmeow trained to give me treats whenever I want them.

And then late one night, Cherie & Chris arrived!  I was so happy.

They started packing up stuff, and I was going to make sure they took me with them this time!!

They packed up tools, clothes, electronics and bunch of stuff. And then finally… Me!!

Off to the airport we went.  I know the drill now.

I get in my carry around cave, a nice person at a check point gives me a scratch on the head and declares me not to be a terrorist. And then I lay down for several hours looking at Cherie’s feet (pssst… time to repaint your toe nails!!).

My people keep saying they book us direct flights so we only have to have one landing and take-off. But I don’t believe them. This time there was an unscheduled fuel stop in Kansas City so that we could make it back to Las Vegas.

After a long drive, they plopped me inside a bus and said we were home.

It hasn’t felt like home yet, because everyday we’ve been here – I’ve been supervising projects. It’s tough work.

But at least I’m finally back with my people!

They took me to the beach one day. It wasn’t fun.  Do I look amused?  Those waves are scary!!  But there are fun things to [...]]]> Oh boy.  Sure. My people post all about their amazing adventures on the beaches around St. John here in the USVI.  But have they told you about *my* life here?

Kiki's adventure to the beach

They took me to the beach one day. It wasn’t fun.  Do I look amused?  Those waves are scary!!  But there are fun things to pounce in the forest behind the sand.

But my biggest struggle?  I have a bully.

Meet, Alfredo.

He owns the people down the street. And he’s just mean.  He comes over several times a day and howls and hisses.  Sometimes he picks fights with me.  Sometimes through our screens when my people are out exploring.  He’s never nice.  I just lay there, sometimes showing him my lovely belly to tell him I want to be friends.  I think he wants to steal my food.

And he’s most annoying.

Alfredo. Terrorist.

His people brought a special gift to my people a while back – a super soaker water gun.  It sure chases him away.  But he always comes back.  And he’s not making my experience in the Virgin Islands a treat, that’s for sure.

Tonight however, he crossed the line.  Cherie went out on the porch when he came over, and he let her pet him for a bit.  And then he viscously attacked her – clawing up her leg!!    I haven’t even done that to her since I was kitten – and no one else touches my humans!

This means war, Alfredo!

We had intended to have our friends in Sacramento cat sit for Kiki while we’re at Burning Man. Previously, Kiki and their cats have gotten [...]]]> **EDIT:  We have found a new kitty sitting home for Kiki.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped us get the word out, and for all the awesome suggestions**.

We had intended to have our friends in Sacramento cat sit for Kiki while we’re at Burning Man. Previously, Kiki and their cats have gotten along fine. But they recently got a new cat.. and he and Kiki are constantly fighting. Things are getting worse, not improving. We can’t in good conscious leave Kiki here stressed out, not to mention the stress on their household, for almost 2 weeks.

So, scrambling to find other options. We’ll be calling around to boarders in the area tomorrow, but the likelyhood of finding a good one with availably on this short notice for Burning Man (which is also over Labor Day weekend) is slim. Not to mention, we’d really rather not leave her that long in such a small space with little interaction. She’s been extra skittish and stressed since her rattlesnake encounter, and seems to not be as easy going around other animals right now.

Is there anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento or Reno area who might be able to take Kiki starting Thursday (tomorrow) through likely Sept 8th or so? Not opposed to paying for cat sitting either.

If not.. looks likely we’ll have to cancel going to the burn. And considering we’re hosting a camp of almost a 100 folks and have a Center Cafe art project, that would be a tragic shame.

(An no – pets are not allowed at Burning Man, and this is a very firm rule that they will turn you back at the gate for trying to sneak one in. And it’s a rule we agree with, it’s an extremely harsh environment to subject an animal to, and we wouldn’t even attempt it if it was allowed.)

Last Friday was a crazy day.  We were in Loveland, Colorado staying with some friends up in the pretty mountains.

My humans were gone most of the day, apparently Cherie had to get a wisdom tooth taken out. She came home mumbling at me, something was wrong with her mouth. Or all her wisdom [...]]]>

Last Friday was a crazy day.  We were in Loveland, Colorado staying with some friends up in the pretty mountains.

My humans were gone most of the day, apparently Cherie had to get a wisdom tooth taken out. She came home mumbling at me, something was wrong with her mouth. Or all her wisdom got taken out.  But  I was stir crazy and didn’t care, I’d only been able to watch the horses outside my window and little hoppy things jumping on the ground.   I wanted outside to play and pounce!!

So Chris put me on my leash while he attended to Cherie.   And there was a grasshopper taunting me, so I was chased it!  It’s what us cats do, afterall.

Then I heard rattling in the nearby brush. My curiosity was distracted by that darn grasshopper, so I pounced on it.

But before I knew it, something had bit me on my face! Ouch!

I rolled and flopped around on the ground to make it go away, I howled.

Chris saw me all distressed and came over, picked me up and handed me to mumbly Cherie.  She checked me all over while Chris played in the bushes too – guess he was pouncing grasshoppers too?

He came back in and I remember them both talking about my face bleeding and rattlesnake bite!  I don’t know what a rattlesnake is.. but it sure bites hard and I was in lots of pain.

They picked me up, put me in the truck and we made a long fast drive down the mountain.  I laid in Cherie’s arms as she pet me and made calls on her iPhone.  They were scared, and Chris was driving like a crazy man. I guess being bit by a rattlesnake is serious stuff (it turns out that us cats generally do pretty good with rattlesnake bites long term.)

We arrived to this big building called Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Ft. Collins, CO. I guess they knew we were coming, cuz as soon as Cherie and I entered the building everyone was on alert.  I was handed over to a really nice lady who took me into a room and put a needle in my paw and started injecting things and taking blood out.  I started to feel woozy and the pain faded away a bit.

I remember seeing Cherie and Chris, they came back and visited.  And then they left me there overnight, and I had lots of people checking in on me.  My face got really swollen!!  I was scared not being with my people in my home, and I didn’t know what was going on.  Everyone was so concerned.

In the morning, everyone seemed relieved – and my people came and picked me up. I was all groggy and slept a lot for a couple days. I couldn’t walk very well either, apparently I was on something called pain drugs.

But, in just a couple days I was all better.. and back to pouncing on things!  I’ll stay away from rattlesnakes, thank you.

- Kiki

I saw a shuttle launch in Titusville! I even tried to run away and climb onboard. Wouldn’t it be cool if I [...]]]> Hi everyone! Sorry I haven’t been posting much. It’s been a very exciting week as I’ve lead my humans around Florida on an exciting adventure!

I saw a shuttle launch in Titusville! I even tried to run away and climb onboard. Wouldn’t it be cool if I was the first cat in space? But I got caught before I could blast off.

And then we headed south to look at boats. I don’t know what is up with my humans, but they seem to think I would like catching fish at sea. That sounds like work.

And then we met some really nice people in Jupiter, and made I some new friends.

This is Porkchop – she is a pig. She makes funny sounds. And if you scratch her belly, she rolls over!

And then there were chickens!! I liked the chickens a lot, they reminded me of where I was born.

Well, that’s my week. What have you been up to?

Oh.. one more thing. These blog posts are a lot of work, and I’m a cat. Play and mischief is so much more fun. So I finally convinced the humans to let me have my very own Facebook Page. Come see my latest art projects!

2009 was my first year – and I spent it entirely growing up on the road!  I’ve been [...]]]> My people keep posting all about their adventures.. but what about me?  It’s about time for some kitten!  Anyone else notice how readership on Technomadia went up after Chris & Cherie added me to their lives?

2009 was my first year – and I spent it entirely growing up on the road!  I’ve been all over the place, hiked in amazing places, visited lots of people and made lots of new cat, dog & bunny friends!

Here’s some of my favorite pics from the year:

I’m now a year old, so technically I’m not a kitten anymore.  But I’m still cute, right?

Look quick.. they scroll content quickly.

We’re so completely honored!

They also included [...]]]> We got back this evening from dinner with friends in the San Francisco Bay Area – to find an e-mail from the staff at Lonely Planet. They featured our blog post about Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens on their home page!

Look quick.. they scroll content quickly.

We’re so completely honored!

They also included a note: ‘Special love to Kiki – we’re big fans of her!’  Wow… our kitten is known worldwide!

Once the sun set though, the road wasn’t nearly so scenic. We saw a road sign indicating a campground in the woods off to our left, so we headed down a dark dirt road [...]]]> After our stay at Hot Spring National Park, we headed north following the beautifully scenic highway 7 through the Ozarks.

Once the sun set though, the road wasn’t nearly so scenic. We saw a road sign indicating a campground in the woods off to our left, so we headed down a dark dirt road in search of a place to stop for the night.

The sign hadn’t made any mention of how FAR it was to the campground, and at night in the dark the five miles seemed like thirty – particularly since there were many steep sections and there was no easy places to turn the trailer around should we decide to retreat.

But in the end, we found Erbie – a beautiful remote campground located right along the Buffalo National River.

Not surprisingly considering how remote it is, Erbie has no hookups. The campground is clean and well maintained though, and the spots are fairly widely separated along a large gravel loop. Even though there were two other sites occupied, we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

Kiki here – I loved camping at Erbie. The river was swollen and scary, but there were trails to explore, trees to climb, and even bunnies to chase. I did get wet paws though from all the morning dew – be warned!

Erbie is often used as a base camp for people venturing out via canoe or kayak to explore the pristine Buffalo National River. Recent flooding had closed the river, but there were extensive trails to explore nearby.

One of the trails leads from Erbie Campground to the nearby Parker Hickman Farmstead – a glimpse back in time at turn-of-the-century rural life. I thoroughly enjoyed an early morning hike upstream to explore this place.

Down the road from the Parker Hickman Farmstead I came across this sign. And as you can see, it wasn’t lying! I am sure glad that the campground was on the near side of the river, or our late-night arrival might have turned into a slow five mile backwards retreat!

The most significant thing lacking at Erbie was wireless network access of any sort. They did have this museum quality ancient communication device on display however…

Overall, Erbie was a wonderfully tranquil place to spend the night and get away from it all. If only there were at least some network access, I would love to return and explore the area further.

Summary Details:

View: Woods & hills!

Sites: 30+ sites, several large group areas.

Facilities: Pit toilets, boat launch.

Hookups: None.

Cell & Data Coverage:

AT&T – Nope.

Sprint - Did I mention how far down a dirt road this place is?!?

Cost: $10/night

[geo_mashup_map]

When Chris and I set out for our first seven month trial run of traveling together in 2007, we decided that my cat Alma was not meant to be a traveling cat. Alma never enjoyed car trips (or Hurricane evacuations!), and it just didn’t seem right to [...]]]>

Kiki explores the US

I’m a cat person, and always have been.

When Chris and I set out for our first seven month trial run of traveling together in 2007, we decided that my cat Alma was not meant to be a traveling cat. Alma never enjoyed car trips (or Hurricane evacuations!), and it just didn’t seem right to try and force an outdoor free-roaming cat to try and adjust to living in a confined space.

So we left Alma behind with my former housemate who loves her dearly.

This series has been greatly expanded - and is now available as a convenient 'pay as you wish' eBook!

The trial runs for both of us went well, and both Alma and I thrived in our new homes. But there was a furry void in my life, and Chris and I agreed that we would stay open for a travel compatible cat to join us on our journey. We knew when the time was right, the right cat (or kitten) would purr into our lives.

And indeed she did!

While visiting some friends on a ranch in Oregon last December, a seven-week-old bundle of cuteness named Kiki stole our hearts. A quick test trip proved that she was travel and allergy compatible, and she had been traveling with us ever since. Having literally grown up on the road, she has grown to be a natural traveler. We could hardly imagine a day without her now!

Pets are part of the family to many, and it’s quite understandable why many folks make lifestyle compromises to keep them part of their lives. When I was first contemplating joining Chris to live on the road full time, the idea of giving up my cat Alma was actually harder to imagine than giving up my house!

As we have discovered – if wanderlust is your calling, you don’t necessarily have to give up having pets in your life. Here are some ways that we have seen people making it work…

Take Your House With You

The easiest way to integrate a mobile lifestyle with pets is by selecting a style of travel that keeps your house with you so your pet is always at home. This might include an RV, like we’ve chosen, or a boat.

It’s not uncommon at all for folks traveling about in mobile homes to have pets onboard.  Here are some examples:

In RVs:

• Mara & Stewart - This duo is traveling the US full time in a T@b teardrop trailer (similar to what Chris and I traveled in before we got our Oliver). And they do so with 2 dogs!
• Cat & Bryan – This young duo is traveling the US full time in a fifth wheel with a cat, two cockatiels, a bearded dragon and hermit crabs. Wild!
• Rene & Jim – This duo took off in a fifth wheel after their dog Jerry was diagnosed with cancer. They enjoyed two years on the road with him before he passed on (warning, if you read the full story, bring a box of kleenex).
• Emmy & Lex – Two self describes weirdos in an RV also travel with their cat Mushroom in their motorhome.

In boats:

• Steve & Sky – The original technomad Steve Roberts and his partner Sky are finishing up preparations on their geeked out sailing vessel, Nomadness. Onboard will be Steve’s cat Java and Sky’s dog.
• Jessica – Jessica has been sailing with her pooch, Kip McSnip – and together they wrote the book, Doggy on Deck, on sailing with dogs.

As with having pets in any sort of home, there are things to keep in mind when traveling with animals.

1. Always be aware of temperature and make sure that your home is comfortable for your pet, particularly when you are away from it.
2. Make sure your pets get enough exercise – most mobile home have far less room to play and run around in. We trained Kiki to walk on
   

   Taking Kiki for a walk.. on a leash

   a leash and harness from the time she came to us at age 7 weeks – she doesn’t think anything strange of this, although we often get chuckles from nearby campmates.

3. Lining up vets, grooming and pet sitters across the country can be a challenge. We tap into friends, fellow travelers, and Yelp for recommendations.
4. Realize that everywhere you take your home may not be a welcome environment for your pets.  Many festivals we attend have strict ‘No Pets’ rules. Kiki protests this.
5. Pick brands of food & litter that are available nationwide, and keep close tabs on supplies. If you run out, you may not be nearby a pet store to run in and get more.

Other Forms of Travel

Living in a RV or a boat however is not the only form of full time travel that folks explore with their pets. It is more difficult but still possible to travel with animals via planes, trains, buses, backpacking, bicycling, and more.

Our friends Curtis & DeeAnn actually took a six month road trip with their two cats, Jasper and Bayla – in a Prius! To balance the needs of their cats with their desire to see as much of the country as they could, they had to carefully worked out the logistics of their trip so that they would always be staying at pet friendly hotels. The four of them (yes, the cats blogged too!) chronicled their adventure here.

International travel is also possible with your pets, but quarantine laws are often prohibitive. The added levels of cost and complexity make finding an extended pet sitter a very reasonable alternative. Almost Fearless addresses a lot of tips and issues for traveling abroad with your pets.

Other Options For Pet Love

If you are craving the love of a furry companion, there are alternatives even if it isn’t practical for you to bring your own pet on the road.

During our first 7 months of travel without a pet, we sought out opportunities to pet sit for folks as we traveled. This gave us both a home base to explore cool cities from and quality time with great animals. It worked really well!

Whatever path you choose, you should be able to find some way to integrate pet love into your travel. It may be difficult, but the snuggles and purrs are so worth it!

Many thanks to Matt Bell for traveling along with us a couple of days and taking the above pictures of the three of us!

—-

This series has been greatly expanded - and is now available as a convenient 'pay as you wish' eBook!

They’ve gotten to take *our* house to remote locations and climb on wooden structures, burn things up, meet awesome sounding people and show off our nomadic lifestyle.

All of [...]]]> Chris and Cherie have recently been attending these really cool sounding festivals.

They’ve gotten to take *our* house to remote locations and climb on wooden structures, burn things up, meet awesome sounding people and show off our nomadic lifestyle.

All of these events have a ‘Leave the pets at home’ rule… which seems totally discriminatory to us nomadic kittens! And very confusing, because if my people left me at home.. I’d be at the event.

Instead, I get to stay at other people’s house and look out the windows wishing I could be out having fun too!

What is it with people and their cameras always pointed at us kittens? Shiesh.

My people say I’m now old enough to start surfing the web. Today,I started my own twitter account [...]]]> .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

I can twitter!, originally uploaded by Serolynne.

My people say I’m now old enough to start surfing the web. Today,I started my own twitter account and here Cherie is teaching me how to update it. For those wanting to follow the mischief of a nomadic kitty – you can follow at http://twitter.com/kikinator.

Kiki “helped” me put away laundry.

For those wondering, this drawer represents 90% of the clothing I [...]]]> .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Kiki helps with Laundry, originally uploaded by Serolynne.

Kiki “helped” me put away laundry.

For those wondering, this drawer represents 90% of the clothing I carry with us in the trailer. The drawer goes under the bed, and can be relocated to other places if we ever convert the bed up to a table. Aside from a few hanging pieces I keep in the closet, some costuming stuff I keep in a duffle in the Jeep and undergarmets in an upper bin.. this is what I had to reduce my wardrobe down to to fit. Chris keeps the majority of his clothes in the closet, as he has far more hanging stuff than I do.

How do I handle it? I thrift shop every so often to get new-to-me clothing and cycle out pieces that have gotten boring to me. It’s been working well.

And the final test…

While we were up in the Seattle area, [...]]]> Travels well in Jeep.. check
Chris not allergic.. check
Snuggles well.. check
Photogenic.. check
Types on computer.. check
Adaptable to multiple situations.. check
Bounces off walls.. check

And the final test…

While we were up in the Seattle area, we made a visit to Camano Island to visit with Steve Roberts, the man who coined the term ‘Technomad’. Steve has been Chris’ inspiration for technomadism since his days in college, and befriended Steve many years ago. I had only heard stories, and finally got to meet him. It was awesome.

Steve also got to meet Kiki, and seemed thrilled that she found us. She actually looks a bit like a miniature version of his nomad kitty, Java.

So.. with Steve’s seal of approval for her being fit for technomadism and all other tests made…

.. we skipped stopping back in Lebanon on our way back south, and kept Kiki. She is now an official part of our technomadic journey.

Be looking for her own blog and twitter soon.

Her brother Simon and sister Bear have already started their own blog to keep in touch with Kiki.

We reorganized the Jeep before departing Oregon, and made it so her new cat carrier would fit nicely (and securely) in the middle of [...]]]> We have arrived in the Seattle area, and have now spent roughly 36 hours traveling full time with Kiki the Kitten.

We reorganized the Jeep before departing Oregon, and made it so her new cat carrier would fit nicely (and securely) in the middle of the back seat. She and her siblings had been raised with a carrier being their safe place, so she was already quite comfortable retreating there. She would cry for about the first 5 minutes of leaving on any leg of the trip, and then fall asleep. I didn’t let her out while we were in travel, as it was dark during our travels and I didn’t want to risk anything. As we start some daytime travel, I’ll start experimenting with having her on my lap, or shoulder, or wherever else she wanders. But so far, I’d say in transit motion is a success and Kiki-compatible.

She seems to be quite happy in the trailer. I suspect it’s like a giant cat carrier on wheels to her. Hmm, and the Oliver kinda looks like one too now that I think about it. She never seems to be distressed inside. When we leave her alone for a bit to go out to dinner or such, when we come back she’s either zonked out waiting for us on the bed, or sitting on the front seat so she can see us come in the door. She’s yet to make a beeline for the door to escape.

She is definitely a kitten, and has her spazzy play moments of intense hyper activity. Pouncing, playing and her attentions quickly diverted to whatever is shiny. I think our biggest challenge will be finding ways to disperse the kitten energy in such a small space. We’re working on some kitty-proofing, and training that power cords, sync cables and human legs are not kitten play toys. It’s only partially successful so far.

But all and all.. things are going well. Tomorrow will be her first day all alone, as we’ll be onsite at a client’s teaching classes. Let’s hope there’s not much damage a kitten can do to a fiberglass trailer!