13 Hour Road Trip with 2 Cats Journey Wrap Up

Well, my hypothesis was correct. Driving a 13 hour road trip with two cats was not for the faint of heart. Sure, I had plans. I was prepared. But my cats and Mother Nature had other plans. And those plans did not coincide very well with my plans. You know what I mean? 

The Morning of Departure

Our apartment was completely empty except for the cats and their carriers, and my husband and me. The jig was up. They definitely knew they were about to be forced into those god forsaken crates, so they darted. One at a time, my husband and I tracked them down, scooped them up and lovingly yet forcefully secured them in their carriers. For the record, neither one of them seemed particularly comforted by the cozy blankets or catnip toys inside. 

Anyways, my husband and I each took a carrier and made our way down the elevator and out to my car. We put both the carriers in the back seat area, along with the cat food, water, and their litter box. I got in the driver’s seat, buckled in and listened to my husband shout “good luck!” as he walked away thanking his lucky stars he wouldn’t be in the car with us for this trip. 

Instead, the cats and I were to follow him, as he had to drive the 14 foot u-haul filled to the brim with all of our junk. I hadn’t even put my car in reverse yet, and the cats were already meowing so loudly and so frequently, you would’ve thought they just discovered their voices. It didn’t sound great. 

The First Accident

We were on the road but 15 minutes when Doug, our youngest, had an accident. The type of accident where I had to pull the car over, take him out of his carrier, and throw it and its contents away. In a dumpster. Gone. Mostly because I didn’t have what I needed to clean up the accident, but also because I couldn’t allow that mess to remain in the car with me for the rest of the 13 hour trip. Yes, that kind of accident. 

It was at this point I decided I should also let Dave out. I did this because I just knew deep in my soul that he was not going to be cool, calm and collected about being locked up while Mr. Poopy Pants was allowed to roam free. So to avoid having to make another stop, I released Dave from his carrier prison, and we got back on the road. 

Now we were cruising. Dave totally loved exploring everything the back of the car had to offer! He also very much enjoyed getting to sit on my lap and look out the window at the other cars driving past. Doug on the other hand, was paralyzed out of fear and embarrassment, and stayed under the driver seat for literal hours. And then the snow came. Awesome. 

When Weather Joined The Party

It was quite a bit of snow, actually. Enough for us to have to track down a pet-friendly hotel in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and extend this crazy trip one more day. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. 

Despite the snow storm conditions, we were able to get the cats and all of their necessities as well as ourselves and our things into a relatively decent hotel room by nightfall. All I could think about at that point was, “I can’t believe we have to do this all over again tomorrow.”

As expected, Dave immediately began exploring the new digs, while Doug burrowed his way into and under the wooden platform bed frame. Great! I prayed we would be able to get him out in the morning because I simply didn’t have the energy to figure out how to get him out that night. We desperately needed sleep, and I think we passed out in record time. 

We were up with the sun the following morning and ready to get this trip behind us. We coaxed Doug out from underneath the bed and got him and Dave situated back in the car while we packed up the rest of the room. By 8am, we were back on the road. Thankfully, the snow had stopped, but the loud, frequent meowing had started right back up where it left off, JOY. 

We made it!

Several hours and meows later, we finally made it to our new home in Minnesota! We brought the cats in first, and we lost Doug in the dry wall within the first half hour. Moral of the story: if you have cats, just don’t move, okay?

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