Something I usually don’t think about too much is the temperature. Not because it doesn’t worry me, but because I’m used to the ebb and flow of the seasons, and as the car’s got air conditioning, it’s usually not a problem. But this time of year is hot, and Nevada (being a desert and all) seems hotter than most areas, and sometimes things don’t go as planned!

So, off we go for a good fifteen hour drive to Las Vegas, and all’s well. I’ve got plenty of water for the pets, and we’ve planned our usual stops, but what I wasn’t counting on was the car’s air conditioner starting to fail. The car’s not a bad old thing, but probably is getting tired now it’s nearing the seven year mark. We get it serviced regularly, especially as we use it for traveling, and as the last service was only a month back, we honestly didn’t foresee any problems!

We’d been on the road for four hours (taking enough stops along the way that we’d probably only covered three hours’ worth of distance) when I felt the need to turn up the air conditioning (I put it down to the weather outside, and just assumed it was getting hotter). But after another hour, when the air conditioning was up full blast, I realized we seemed to have a problem. The air was definitely colder than the outside air, but not by much.

“Jim, we’ve got a problem,” I announced. Jim, who tends to zone out when he drives, and who hadn’t spoken for the last hour or so, answered: “What’s that?” I couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed! “I think the air conditioner’s going,” I continued. Jim nodded slowly. “Yup, it’s getting hot,” he agreed.

As we were heading for the desert, and there were still several hours until nightfall, I suggested it might be an idea to find a town and a garage, and hopefully someone who knows a little bit about air conditioning. Frankly, it wasn’t me I was worried about – I’m tough enough to withstand a little heat, but I definitely don’t like the idea of the pets getting too hot! Especially Princess, with her thick, hot fur. I turned to have a look at them, and Samson was looking a bit woeful. Of course, that could have been because he’d rather be outside running around than stuck in a car, but little Fifi was starting to pant. That was it! Definitely time to do something, and time to give the pets some water, a feed and the all important toilet stop.

We’d already planned a brief stop in a town about fifteen miles further down the road, so there didn’t seem like a lot of need to change our plans in that regard, but we did need to find someone who could fix the car, and preferably without too much fuss or expense. Fortunately, the town had a nice park, with plenty of shady trees and a pond. Jim dropped me and the pets off, and went to find someone to fix the air conditioning. Half an hour later Jim returned on foot. “Bad news,” he announced, “it won’t be done until tomorrow.” Great! So here we were, stuck with the pets, and needing to find some overnight accommodation that was not only people friendly, but was also pet friendly! It’s a good thing we’ve got our laptop computers and Internet access!

An hour later we found ourselves lugging the pets and our suitcases to a Bed and Breakfast, which wasn’t one I’d have ordinarily chosen, but which would (for an extra $50!) accept pets for the night. By this time, I was worn out and annoyed. We had to ring up the hotel in Las Vegas and tell them we weren’t coming for another night, and so they’d keep our reservation, we’d have to pay the extra night anyway. Just another one of the trials and tribulations of traveling with pets!