The Making of Flat Cat

In June, we will be taking the Motorhome and driving to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend Blogpaws. It will be one of a several stops we make since we will be taking bikes and plan on going to Moab for some good cycling too. Of course tsk will be coming with us, and being that Blogpaws is all about animals he would be welcome at the conference. But even though he is a very easy going kitty, we feel it might be a bit too much of a sensory overload for him. So we made a Flat TSK to take into the conference. It was surprisingly easy to do, so if any of you are thinking of leaving your four legged furbabies at home but want to bring a Flat version of them, here's how:

Items needed

Foam Board (I used one 20x30x3/16, plenty to make 2 flats)

Xacto knife

Spray Adhesive (photo safe)

11x14 Photo of your pet

The above items cost $12.70, before tax

For the photos, I used my photo editing app to remove the background from the image, figuring it would be easier to cut out that way. Also using an image that was taken straight on at them, as opposed to looking down or up at the kitty. Since the photo was going to be printed out large, I made it 990x1260 pixels to ensure a clear image. I used Costco's online photo store to upload and order the 11x14 prints. But Target and many other stores have the same type of deal. Costco was $2.99 for a 11x14 print and Target was $7.99. Make sure you chose a non glossy finish. 

Items at the ready

 

 

I cut a piece of the foam board to the size of the photo to make it easier to handle. Spray the back of the photo and the foam board, firmly attach the photo. I wiped the front of it with a cloth to ensure no air in between.

Using the Xacto knife I carefully cut along the fur line, leaving a flat bottom edge so it would stand. The xacto knife worked well in a sort of semi sawing motion. Here are Flat #AngelPetie and Flat TSK.

Using a piece of scrap foam board, affix with heavy duty tape making sure one side will lie flat for easy transport.

tsk checking out his Flat self!

The finished Flats of #AngelPetie and tsk, ready for BlogPaws!!

If anyone needs help with some photo editing of their pet to make a Flat Pet, let me know.

Last Leg....

...of our trip. Dropping the RV off at storage, then making our way back up the hill.

All in all we had a good time. The weather wasn't always perfect, and the scenery wasn't always pretty we were able to get on our bikes and ride. And we did have sunshine with no snow.

But the best thing of all was that we were all together.

tsk ready to drive!

A relaxed tsk on my lap while we are on the road.

One thing we did see while staying at some RV parks was the real 'snowbirds'. Folks that come from Canada, Montana, Wisconsin, etc and spend 6 months at the RV parks where it's warm. Many of them were starting to pack up and make their way home where the snow is starting to melt.

At our house, sadly, it's been snowing...a lot... while we have been gone. Seems winter is here now. 

Might have to plan another trip soon!

Catching Up...

After leaving Joshua Tree we headed for Palm Springs, Jim had found a route for a ride in the area online and wanted to try it out. 

As we come over the hill into the Palm Everything area, we see tons of these...

Sadly there was no wifi at the RV park we stayed at in Palm Springs, and we didn't even see a single famous person. But there is a golf course on every corner!

tsk basking in the sun

The ride we did wasn't the most scenic, but it was a workout. 

But there were palm trees and snow capped mountains

I guess they really mean Share the Road :)

The plan was to leave Palm Springs and head to the Salton Sea for a boondock night. But in checking the weather there were alerts for all the areas around us for high winds and sand storms. We decided to start making our way back north and try to avoid some of that. Sadly we did see quite a bit of harrowing wind. 

and something that looked straight out of MadMax

But managed to make it to the River Run rv park... sadly the Kern River is dry at the moment. But they do have wifi! 

Talking a quick walk around we saw this thing

wonder what they pull it with? A Smart Car?

A Ride in the Park

Our visit to Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree NP consists of 794,000 acres, three quarters of which are designated wilderness- where the Mojave and Colorado deserts converge.

The plan for the day was to ride from the Twentynine Palms RV park into the JTNP for a bit, turn around and come back. There are only 2 paved roads in the park, so we couldn't get lost.

Woke up to a lovely sunny day, so after breakfast we decided to head out.

But first tsk needed to help with putting air in the tires

Joshua Tree Park entrance

Yucca, Joshua Tree, Hedgehog Cactus

Joshua and Yucca

Jim riding in JTNP

Rocks in the Pinto Gneiss formation

When we got back, tsk got to meet a kitty from Alberta! 

We have had a lovely time here in 29P, but time to move on. Thinking of heading further south to Palm something... Springs or otherwise :)

Stay tuned for more meanderings!

SnowBirds

tsk in his place on the dash, with Mr Pickles

Ok, so we aren't exactly snow birds (what they call the folks that live in cold climes and take their RVs to sunnier places) but we did want to go somewhere warmer where there was no snow and we could ride our bikes.

We are now in Twentynine Palms, a few miles from Joshua Tree National Park.

Last night we spent the night in an axillary parking lot of a Truck Stop near Bakersfield. It was about half way to Joshua Tree, and just a convenient spot.

We got up this morning and had breakfast at Denny's. Jim had his first 'senior' meal. 

The Senior Waffle Grand Slam...in honor of yesterday being "National Waffle Day."

Much of the scenery today was like this. The cool looking vintage/grunge photo effect is actually our dirty windshield.

We stopped here on the way to JT but sadly they were closed... so we were unable to reap it's many benefits.

The Inegratron

 

 

tsk checking out the desert....

Tomorrow the plan is to ride into Joshua Tree. It's 10 miles uphill to get there it should make for an interesting morning. Will post pix tomorrow.

Stay tuned...

After a good night's sleep, tsk under the blankies, and a successful preparation of coffee and breakfast,

it was time to head out on the bikes. A mostly sunny, but cold and breezy day when we started off.

Leaving tsk in the comfort of the RV with sunpuddles coming in the windows we rode off to parts unknown (ok, we did look on a map before we left).

Destinations were West Dry Creek, East Dry Creek, Alexander Valley, Geyserville, back to Cloverdale.

All in all a 53.5 mile ride. That's a big ride for the middle of winter! 

There was a stop at the Dry Creek General Store for a yummy panini, and thanks to another Twitter connection, Alexander Valley Vineyards (home of Sin Zin) for a wee bit of wine tasting
(thanks, Harry!).

Dry Creek vineyards

Jim riding along one of the many scenic roads

Alexander Valley

 

A place Jim would like to park his bike often

Inside the cave at AVV, for barrel tasting

On the way back to tsk and the RV we saw this sign... there are slow pixies here?!?!

We have had a good shakedown trip and have enjoyed our time here. There is some weather coming so we will head back home tomorrow. Not quite ready to tackle driving the RV in the rain.