Post date: Feb 22, 2015 2:32:08 AM
My next trip to Taos will be by auto with cat, tools, and a few household goods.
The route is surprisingly direct and will take about 25 hours driving time, since it is about 1500 miles. This direct route goes through Ellensburg, Hermiston, Oregon, Boise, Ogden, Monticello, Colorado, and Pagosa Springs to get to Taos. I figure three to five days, depending on weather and what time of morning I can get the cat into the car.
Taking the cat will be an adventure (and no more than that, I hope), since the farthest I have ever traveled with this cat is about a mile to the vet. We have made previous trips with other cats, however.
In 1970 we drove from Seattle to New Hampshire with Samantha draped across our shoulders. In 1975 we drove from Maine to Seattle with Hannah and Wilson (and a crate of miniature tropical Gesnariad flowers) in an ice storm. On that trip the wind was so fierce (and we were pulling a trailer with a 240D) that we couldn't run the car in top gear from Pennsylvania until we were over the Rockies. We did manage transfers to and from motel rooms, warming the car in the morning before we moved the plants (wrapped in blankets) through the cold. That summer we took both Hannah and Wilson camping with us.
But Hope (current cat) really doesn't like to be confined. That means putting her into a crate is hard. She does not like to be held or picked up. She does not like closed doors. I foresee that in the motel room she will dig herself in between the bed and the carpet, resisting the short journey to the car. Once in the car I can let her out of the crate and she will howl, but eventually settle under a seat and be quiet.
The van, however, will be packed relatively full. The place I'm staying in Taos is sparsely furnished, so I will bring things like sleeping bags, kitchen knives, dish drainer, cat litter box, scratching post, vacuum cleaner, radio, computers, breakfast tray - obvious things like that. Plus all my hand tools. So there may not be much room for the cat to roam about in the van.