Well, this is it. It finally is going to happen. My husband and I are going to pack up our house, ferrets, rats, and gerbils and head south like so many geese in the autumn. Of course, the geese have just started arriving here in Fairbanks and we will be leaving. We are moving the second week of June for Tucson, AZ. We'll start by spending a week in sunny Anchorage. Followed by one last dipnetting trip to the Copper River at Chitina. Followed by leaving the state with stops in Seattle and Portland to visit friends and relatives. Our plan is to arrive in Tucson by July 1st in time to get settled and for my husband to start his new job on July 5th. My question is follows: Awhile back, someone wrote about ferrets living in an R.V. somewhere in Florida. How do you keep the R.V. cool enough in the hot-hot sun so the ferrets don't overheat (or so the rats don't overheat or so the gerbils don't overheat)? We'll be travelling in the dead of summer in a truck with either a topper or camper. The cab has AC, but not enough room for ALL our rodents and mustelids. The topper or camper (depending on what we can find for less than $1000) will not have AC. All the animals will be in cages of some sort (as opposed the the glass aquariums that the gerbils currently live in). Throughout the trip we will have to stop occassionally and turn off the truck, so the AC can't run continuously. When visiting people, I'll try and get permission to move the animals into a cool garage or something. But, I am still slightly concerned. Any other advice for living with ferrets/rats/gerbils in a truck for about a month? We'll be sleeping in the truck bed while in Canada, then staying over at friends' houses. Thanks for your knowledgable advice. Deb (& Tovan) Adams Patch and Lily, the paw-paw ferrets Tiffany and Annie, the rats that throw food at the ferrets Norm, Scar, Mike, Ike, Angel, and Cindy, the gerbils that tempt the ferrets. [Posted in FML issue 3020]