When we started planning our road trip to Napa, we knew we would be traveling other our 2 huskies, and the cat. So, we obviously took great pains into making this as comfortable as possible for them. We bought a skybox to store much of our luggage to make extra room in the van. We bought a cat carrier that was small enough for Kruncha to ride up front with us. We routed our trip where we could stay in pet friendly hotels along the way, booking pet boarding where they couldn't stay with us. And the list goes on...
The huskies are great travelers for the most part. They are excited to go anywhere and everywhere with us. No one gets car sick. The worst thing we have to contend with them is the massive amounts of fur that end up on everything (and I mean everything) in the car. And they add a bit of humor to the car ride. With all the space we create for them in the back, they still have a hilarious and ongoing game of "who gets to sit with their head between the front seats". It starts by Jags (our male husky that is as dopey as he is large) generally plopping himself across the floor behind our seats, stretching from end to end. Then Nico(our spunky, problem solving intelligent female) gets stuck behind him and can't reach us. This drives her crazy, so she begins "talking" to us and jags incessantly. She'll lean over jags and sometimes just sit on him to get her head between our seats. Sometimes she convinces him to move, and she is quick on the draw to dash up to her desired spot. Not too long after, jags muscles his way up and will literally push her out of the way (we have also witnessed him sitting on her if she won't move). The game goes on and on.
A first for us in travel is taking our cat along. Our kitty is sweet with us but is one of those that is skittish with everyone else. He hides when anyone comes over. Some friends have never actually seen our cat. Needless to say, we were worried about how he would do with this road trip.
The first car ride from Houston to Tyler started exactly how I thought it would with Kruncha meowing LOUDLY in his carrier for much of the trip. He settled down though, and has really been quite pleasant and easy going for most of this trip. He has been quite chill in his carrier and has gotten comfortable in the hotel each night. Luke and I have commented many times on what a pleasant surprise he's been to travel with.
Then yesterday happened.
It was a long, long day. 4 hours to Dove Creek to see Luke's brother and his wife. Rest for a couple hours there. And then another 5.5 hours to Flagstaff(which took us 6.5 hours with the stops along the way). We let Kruncha out of the carrier in Dove Creek to use the litter box and stretch his legs. But the day proved to be too long for him. We were serenaded with the loud, sad meows for about the last hour of the trip last night. When we arrived in flagstaff, I hurried him in to get him settled. And he seemed to settle down, until about 3am.
That's when the really loud meows began. And never stopped. And got louder. And never stopped. Food? He had it. Litter box? Yep. The only thing I could do to stop it was to pet him. And even that didn't work for long. So, I'm up earlier than I expected or wanted to be today. At least the kids slept through it. Hey- at least he gave me some inspiration to write a blog post about it.
If giving a feline review of our hotel here, I guess Kruncha gives it a paw down. (I don't know why- We actually really like this place). I hope, really hope, that this isn't a sign that he's just had it with the trip. We have 3 more nights of hotels. I'm praying that this was a fluke.
Ironically, as I finish this post, he has finally settled down. The only sound I hear is the ringing in my ears from 3 hours of MEOWWWWW!
Cup of coffee #2 down. 49 to go...
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