5 cats, 4 days, etc. Days 3 & 4

We awoke in Fresno on Day 3 to torrential rain. Loading the cats in the car as quickly as possible, we got on the road, stopping at a McDonalds drive thru for sausage biscuits and coffee (their coffee is vastly improved BTW). There were a few clementines left that I'd brought from OKC, and I ate one, hoping to balance out my very unhealthy breakfast with a bit of fruit. Once again, trying to so the healthy thing did not pay: I discovered that my allergy to oranges now includes clementines. My throat began to itch and my lips to swell. Meanwhile, we're driving up I-5 in the pouring rain, and Jason is trying to deal with the imbecility that possesses California drivers when rain begins to fall. No offense to Californians, but I'd rather drive on ice in the Midwest any day. I searched my purse for benadryl, which I usually carry, but of course I was out. Endeavoring to remain calm and to avoid panicking Jason while he was coping with traffic, I mentioned that I needed to stop and get some benadryl when we had the chance. This approach was too low-key; we passed a couple of exits without stopping and I began to get scared, because I could feel my lips getting really swollen and feared my throat would soon follow suit. I explained that when I said I needed to stop, I REALLY meant it. We began looking for the next exit, but of course we were in a rural area. After 5 or 10 minutes (though it seemed longer, we saw an exit with a gas station and pulled off the highway. I ran through the downpour into the Shell station and went up to the counter, where the clerk was standing with a man who was just leaning against the counter, looking down. After a couple of seconds, I said, "Excuse me, could I get some benadryl?" I could see the packets of pills behind the counter. The clerk gave me a dirty look and said "When I'm done with him." The other customer was carefully considering which lottery ticket top buy. I had a better chance of dying from anaphylaxis right there than he did of winning the lottery. Finally he made his choice and I was able to get my drugs. I soon felt much better and could laugh at my visions of dying on the side of the road.
About an hour later, we reached Sacramento. We had heard on the radio that I-5 was closed north of Sacramento, so we decided to go through the Napa Valley and up 101 to Oregon, as there was unlikely to be snow along the coast road. After Oklahoma, we figured we could handle the wind and rain with no problem. There was, however, a lot of rain.
When we got into Napa, entire vineyards were underwater. There were a couple of times I wasn't sure we would make it through. The drive was beautiful, but a bit surreal, with evidence of the extreme wind and rain everywhere. We made it to Crescent City, CA -- the last town before the Oregon border -- about 7 PM. I had made reservations at the Super 8 there, but we kept driving up and down the two block area where it had to be, but just couldn't see it, and they weren't answering their phone. Finally, the second time we turned around, I spotted it. We hadn't seen it because it was completely dark: power was out to it and half the motels in town. Most of the ones that had power were full, but we had a Econo Lodge with a vacancy that was willing to take the cats. There was a couple in line ahead of me, but they were put off by the fact that the cable was out! We unpacked the cats in the pouring rain and ordered a pizza. Jason made friends with the other smokers standing under the balconies in the courtyard. It seems power had been knocked out to half the town when the storm hit the night before with 100 mph winds.
The next day we were excited because we would finally get to our destination. I called our real estate agent in Mac for weather reports on the mountain passes. After reviewing our options, we decided to take the route from Newport to Eugene. It wasn't too bad, but at one point we went through a tunnel and came out on the other side in the midst of a snowstorm. It was like going through the wardrobe to Narnia -- so bizarre.
It was all downhill from there. We got into Mac in the late afternoon to find our house stuffed with furniture and boxes. After cleaning up, we went to La Rambla and had tapas -- a nice change from fast food.