The following is a recap of our 2,100-mile road trip from Houston, TX to Coeur d’Alene, ID as told through the eyes of our wise, 17-year-old cat, Charlie.

How It Started.

I started to get suspicious back in Houston when boxes started appearing out of nowhere. Any time I see one of my staff members bringing out something you can put stuff in like a suitcase or a box, events that I am not particularly fond of start happening. Such as one or more of my staff members disappearing for a week or so. I must say, when that does happen, I am well taken care of by a neighbor.

My “sister” cat Annie oddly enough loves boxes of any kind. If she sees a box, she is getting inside of it. She loves the arrival of Amazon shipments. A frantic effort was underway to put things in these boxes. Seemed random to me. Along with the packing, people I had seen many times before, mostly at parties, would walk in and look around the condo. Most would walk out with some item never to be seen again. I suppose that is one less thing to put in one of these boxes.

Where did the boxes go?

I became increasingly concerned. Then one day, there were no more boxes and not much of anything else. Next thing I knew, my Chief of Staff, Lisa, was putting me into the car, my least favorite thing to do. I initially thought I was headed on a short trip to the dreaded vet.

Boy, was I wrong. No sir, you are going to Idaho. Aside, from Texas, we would cross five states before arriving in Idaho – Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

And so it begins.

I had a rough start. Frankly, I was a wreck on the first day. I could tell because everyone was looking at me with concern. Someone mentioned I looked the way people sometimes do on the morning of January 1. Annie was struggling as well. She took solace by taking a nap in the floor of the car directly on top of my head. Imagine a double scoop ice cream cone and I was the bottom scoop. I sort of look like butter pecan ice cream in color. She needed the comfort, so I did not complain.

Oklahoma and Kansas.

We spent the first night in Oklahoma. The next day we found ourselves in Kansas. I will say one thing about Kansas. It is bigger than you think. We were in Kansas so long I was beginning to think I would never hear, “You are not in Kansas anymore” as in the Wizard of Oz. But eventually we exited Kansas and entered Colorado.

What do you mean when you say pet-friendly?

Each day we would estimate how far we would drive the next day and book in advance a pet friendly hotel at that location. You would think with all the hotels out there, it would be easy to find a pet friendly hotel anywhere. That is not the case. It is harder than you think. You need to book in advance, and you cannot just show up anymore and walk into the first hotel you see. We learned that the hard way on the first night in Oklahoma City. Continuing with our journey, we arrived at our booked in advance hotel after driving over 550 miles that day. When we went to check in, Wes acknowledged that he had the two pets we had included in the booking, noting they were cats.

To our surprise, the hotel manager responded, “We accept dogs but not cats.” I have never been more offended in my life. You would accept a dog but not a cat? The horror. Wes was aghast at this. He had driven the car about 550 miles that day and did not want to spend one more mile driving around looking for another hotel. If we could even find one in this small town. I thought we were going to have to peel him off the floor. The hotel manager was sympathetic to our situation and made an exception after Wes agreed to bring in a take-out dinner for the night crew. We could stay. Wes resumed breathing. In reflection, yes he did not want to drive around looking for another hotel but he also knew I was stressed and needed to settle in for the night. High five to you man.

OK, now I get it.

I hit my stride in Wyoming. There is something about that wild west look of Wyoming that gives you a jump in your step. There is a Tecova cowboy boot commercial with two people riding on an Amtrak train. Looks like maybe the mom and her young son. They are looking out the window of this train in awe watching a vast and endless landscape go by that is someplace out west where I was. The line in the commercial at that moment is, “We may not need more people in the west, but maybe we need more west in the people.” This cat was feeling some of that “west” going through Wyoming and Montana.

Idaho.

We eventually arrived in Idaho and out come those boxes again. They were all over the place. One by one, the staff members emptied the boxes, and the empty boxes disappeared into the garage. About that staff, all the sudden there were now four people living in this house in Idaho. I had doubled my staff! I had twice as many people to dote on me and dote they do. Maybe the 2,100 miles was worth it. I also have double the floor space and an upstairs and downstairs. I have a rocking chair to sit on.

We continue to settle in. I have seen a few neighbors in the front yard or on the front porch conversing with the team. Looking out at the front yard and the beautiful golden leaves on the ground, I am glad I cannot operate a rake. Even Annie is warming up to the place, waiting for that next Amazon package.

We do hope that friends and family from Houston visit us here in Coeur d’Alene. Although I do recommend flying.