That’s how long it took. Leave one life and start another. Of course we’re only talking about this physical journey here.

That’s me, Thor, from the Thor’s Days blog site. We left town on May 16th for a two day road trip to California. We stopped every 250-300 miles for a potty break, water and snacks. It all went well until we got to New Mexico. Then there was not a stitch of grass to be found (I’m sorry, but I only potty on grass). My caretakers did they best and found me little patches along the way, but it was only enough for #1. Number 2 would have to wait until I got to California on the evening of the 17th. Ugh.

The hotel in Flagstaff, AZ was nice, put still very short on actual grass. We spent the night of the 16th there and then headed out again at 6am the next morning. My caretakers said I road very well, but it was just nappy time all the way for me.

We arrived at the the Sheraton at LAX (only a 4 star (or better) hotel for me!) late on the 17th. Luckily, they accept Caretakers, or I would have had to leave them out in the car overnight! And, GRASS!, wonderful Grass! I was finally able to take care of all my business. It only cost me 50$ per night while my caretakers were over 100$ (they can make such messes after all).

After staying there overnight, my uncle Wen and is son Jim paid us a visit. Because of our late flight on the 18th to China, we had lots of time to visit with Love’s family. And since we were moving to Shanghai, we were not in the need of the Accord anymore, so we handed it over to Wen to buy or sell, however he chooses, with him getting a slice of the profits. All that turned out to be a bit more complicated than we thought, but that’s for another post perhaps.

What was to be a 15 hour flight to GuangZhuo turned into 18. There was some infant in “urgent need of medical assistance” just as we got to the takeoff position. Fourty-Five minutes later we were back at the gate. A long time for something that was ‘urgent’, IMHO. Then, due to TSA regulations, all the luggage from the infant and its parents had to be found and offloaded from the plane, as they had all ‘deplaned’ (I hate that word).

Three hours later we were finally in the air. I was not allowed any food or water during the entire flight and my Caretakers were beside themselves with anxiety. I did have a potty pad in my crate capable of holding up to six cups of fluid – which I took full advantage of,  and it was temperature controlled at comfy 22c.

As the last piece of baggage off the plane and onto the carousel, my caretakers were even in more of a panic. But I took it all in stride. We cleared customs, quarantine and made it to our hotel in GuangZhuo to rest up, wash up and prepare for the final flight home.

A quick 2 hour flight to Shanghai. I was the first ‘bag’ off the plane this time and my Caretakers where there ready and waiting for me. My uncle-in-law picked us up at the airport, and whisked us to our new apartment/home!

Five days and 16 hours total travel time, door to door. Quite the journey. I’m offically a Chinese resident dog, but my Caretaker, Food, has a bit more work to do before he too can claim Resident status here. I wish him luck!