Our move up to Oregon was anything BUT uneventful, however, when we look back on it, one event stands out. Phantom was our 28# deaf and stoopid longhaired, albino cat. Not deaf and mute, as he was definitely the loudest cat anyone has ever heard.......
That said, my daughter and I headed to Oregon several weeks before my husband and son, and we took twe 2 cats as well as our dog, in our car. Early on, we decided to give the cats a mild tranquilizer, just to take the edge off...Dana sat in back ,separating the 2 cats, who wanted to growl at each other the whole way, so Hawkeye, my sweet schmutzu rode in front with me. We split the trip into 2 days, so we would arrive rested in Oregon, so, at the halfway point( REDDING< CA_ LINNNDA!), we stopped for the night. We brought the cats out of their carriers, Hawkeye sautered in on his own steam, and everyone settled in for a nice evening of popcorn and a movie, then a good night's rest.
Morning arrived, and my daughter and I got dressed and headed to the dining room for breakfast. Our plan was to eat, tranq the cats, and put em in their carriers, load up to finish our trip. Chrissie, our black persian was easy.....loaded in the carrier, no prob, our dog, Hawkeye, was ready for more car time......off he went.........then, to Phantom, the deaf stoopid one.....NOWHERE to be found!!! We tore that room apart, even flipping mattresses off the beds.....pulling the armoire from the wall, I'm so sure Housekeeping thought some really kinky stuff occurred there.......my daughter left the room to look around the area. This was your typical motel........but on a fairly large piece of property...she ran the entire property, pool area(and equipment room), all open doors, then pressed Housekeeping to let her open EVERY vacant room..she even looked around the(OMG!

) street, in abject fear that she'd find him, flat as a pancake, a victim of a car.I got some tuna..and we even called for this deaf cat......we were devastated!! Sobbing, I called Gil, still in CA, to tell him we had somewhow managed to lose one of HIS cats!!!

We decided, since it was now noon and 109 degrees out, IF Phantom were ok, he was resting someplace cool, and he wasn't coming out till sundown. We extended our stay for another night, and, exhausted now, went back to our room to try and rest......we sobbed on our beds for a long time, wracked our brains as to where he might be and were simply overall devastated., emotionally drained.....we finally quieted down. There was no movement in the room............suddenly, from below us somewhere........MEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
WW! (Phantom was LOUD!)
We flew off our beds, pulled the mattresses off the box springs, then the box springs off the platforms....... Phantom had found a nice lil hammock...the fabric under the box springs had ripped, so he let himself in there and was sleeping using the sagging fabric like a hammock............Dana picked him up out of his cozy spot and took a "Victory Lap" all around the motel property, holding Phantom over her head so everyone could see him.....we tranq'd him, popped him in his carrier, and made it into Portland at 3am..........
all the time wondering.........
If someone had not booked their one n only "pet welcome" room for another week or so..................well, nevermind..... just.EUUUUUUUUUUUUW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Phantom is gone now......he had a stroke just last year at 19 yrs of age.....he lived a long, loud life, and I miss him.......but he was always good for a story! He's also the cat in my flaming, flying cat story!!
Cathi