M&M's First Road Trip

Since I'll be gone for 3 months, I took the cat with to Arkansas -- a 700 mile journey. M&M has traveled well the few times she's been in a car, but never for more than 40 minutes or so, so this was a bit of an experiment. The plan was to keep her in her crate for several hours and then let her roam the van, but after an hour she was rattling her cage, meowing, and pawing the towels on the floor of the crate, so I let her out and put her in her litter box -- just in time!

I had guessed that my golden "Princess" would ensconce herself on the passenger seat as her throne. Within minutes she did jump up on the seat and immediately stood upright, front paws on the side window, and looked outside at all the rapidly passing lights (it was still dark out.) Next she jumped onto the dashboard and walked its length...



... and then wiggled around the steering wheel and settled on my lap. I assumed she wanted to drive, since she then tried to crawl down by the brake and accelerator pedals, but I explained that her legs weren't long enough so she couldn't drive. She then sulked in my lap for a few hours. After getting accustomed to the movement of the van and the rushing road noise, she felt comfortable and went to sleep on the floor atop my jacket between the captains chairs...



.... and later did in fact claim the passenger seat as her throne.




All in all, she did very well over the 11 hours of the drive, and now she is exploring Ellen's place and determining how many of the cabinets she can open with her claws.