Back in Lufkin (and a successful road trip with a cat)

The trip from New Braunfels to Lufkin went surprisingly well!

The only real drama was in the half-hour before we left New Braunfels when we couldn't find Monster to put him in the carrier and leave town with him.

We finally found him in the very back part of the property, brought him in the house, and let him sniff around a few minutes. Then we put his new harness on him, placed him in the pet carrier, took him to the car, and drove off. The car experience was completely cold turkey for Monster (as far as we know). We thought about taking him for a few test rides before our road trip, but time got away from us.

Monster meowed most of the trip, but not in a frantic way. We stopped for gas about two hours into the trip, and Sydney got out of her seat to pet him. He started purring right away and hadn't thrown up or gone to the bathroom in the carrier, so I finally started to relax about the trip in general.

My dad met us in a town about an hour and a half from his house so we could have a bathroom break and eat a quick lunch. We arrived at the vet, watched them put Monster in his assigned cubicle in the cat room, and left. (We decided to board him at the vet for the two nights we're spending in Lufkin because my dad has his own kitty, and we didn't want to have to facilitate a temporary relationship between the two cats. My dad's cat is also much older, and we try to not disrupt her routine if possible.)

The longer leg of our trip is tomorrow (Friday), but I'm feeling more confident that we'll actually make it home in one piece (ha!). I'm hoping for no traffic as we travel through some of the busier towns in Louisiana, and that we won't have to deal with any cat bathroom accidents in the carrier (although we ARE prepared if that happens).

We've also thoroughly discussed our set-up-the-cat-area-as-quickly-as-possible game plan as soon as we arrive home, and how it's VERY important to keep Monster contained while we unload the car from our trip so that he doesn't dart outside and disappear forever into the woods.

Whew. I never expected a new indoor cat would be in the picture this summer, in conjunction with our trip from Texas to Mississippi and right before Chet returns from deployment. But the children are delighted. Stay tuned.