Reed and Nat moved to Philadelphia

Day 1- Start time 4:00pm

We doped up the cats on kitty xanax and hit the road. As we left Eugene, we decided that the cats should probably be freed from their cages carriers. That was a big mistake. Two cats trying to claw their way to freedom. 30 minutes into the drive, I looked at Nat and said, “If I ever say that this wasn’t that bad, remind me that it was hell.”

After 4 hours of driving, we ended up in Burns, Oregon and decided to call it a night. We had been moving all day and the cats had completed gone insane. They couldn’t walk very well from the tranqs, but they could certainly do some damage. They apparently had forgotten that they knew each other. Even though they have been sisters their whole lives. Tofu hid under the hotel bed and growled at Snert Face all night long. Snert Face meyowled all night long until Nat gave up and put her in the car at 6am. We slept pretty well until 7 am when we hit the road again.

Day 2- Start time 7:30am

Nat drove for two hours until we hit Boise, Idaho.

Then I took over. The cats had finally calmed down– however Nat and I were both pretty scratched up and wounded.

We had been stopping every couple of hours to check on the cats. When we hit Boise, we bought a couple of gerbil cage drip water bottles for the cats so that we wouldn’t have to check on them constantly. I think at that point we decided that the cats weren’t going to rule our lives. Tofu slept up front with Nat the whole time while Snert Face justifiably remained caged.

We went through Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, ending up in Laramie, Wy for the night. Snert Face didn’t sleep and was meyowling, but we were too tired to care…

Day 3- Start time 9:30am

The cats were pretending to mellow out.

But as I put Snert Face in her cage carrier, she grabbed me with all of her claws on one hand and wrapped her fist around my mouth. Blood poured and I decided that I wouldn’t speak to her for the rest of the day.

Get me outta Wyoming already, will ya?! But at least Wyoming was attractive. We soon hit Nebraska and Iowa. The two most boring states in the Union to drive through.

We spent the night in Iowa City, Iowa. Snert Face finally slept. We let them off the Xanex and it was almost pleasant.

They ran around the hotel room, but Snert Face was trying to steal Nat’s jerky. I had to calm him down a bit. You know how Nat is about his jerky.

Day 4- Start time 7:00am

At this point, with an excellent night’s sleep, Nat and I are eager to get home- to Philadelphia. We woke up knowing that we would be driving almost 1000 miles (970 to be exact).

The cats were well behaved, it could have been because we were covering them up with prayer shawls that my mom knit.

Illinois had bad roads, Indiana was scary, and Ohio was long and boring. We took the unscenic route because it was the fastest. So we visited truck stops and saw lots of semi-trucks.

We took a few breaks to refresh ourselves. And to give out bug splattered car a break.

Alas, we continued on the road. Philadelphia here we come!

A sigh of relief came knowing that we were only 300+ miles away. When we were crossing the Appalachian Mountains, a thunderstorm began with BIG lightening. The sky was purple with flashes of white. Nat kept talking about the Steven Segal movie (Fire Down Below) where he is an EPA agent in Appalachia. I told him to pipe down after the 10th comment or so.

The drive started to get a little intense when it was pitch black and pouring down rain. We were in a construction area for 5 miles or so that was winding around the mountains. Semis were on one side of me going 80 miles per hour and I was terrified.

We couldn’t take too many pictures because they were all blurry. But we did notice that in Pennsylvania, they just at “burg” or “ville” or “town” on to normal words. We found a McConnellsburg and took a picture for Nat’s sister, Daisy McConnell.

After 3.5 days in the car- we made it and the rain stopped.

970.5 miles in one day.

Would we do it again? Hell, no!