Traveling with Your Besties

Day 4 10/25

The morning was more relaxed as we took a bit of time to eat the breakfast that was offered by the hotel. Nothing special, but the standard scrambled eggs, sausage, and all the variety that your box hotels offer now, oatmeal, toast, waffles and yogurt. Fruit is always offered along with a fresh cup of coffee or tea to get the traveler awake and moving. Along with the cats, we took our dog with us. No way was I going to leave her in the kennel, not when she can have all this fun sitting in a truck for 8 hours a day! Nope, she came with us, like a part of the family, in the back of the cab. We had a big fluffy pillow that she loved to snuggle in, as she was a full grown German Shepard, that shared some of the round qualities of the cats. Hmmm ...what do they have in common? In any case, we had taken the back seats out of the cab so Juno would have more room to ride behind our seats, and be able to look up between the bucket seats and we could see her too. She was a great traveling dog. But it wasn’t always that way. You see, when we adopted Juno, we met her owner at a large shopping center. The owner told us that her husband threatened to take the dog to the pound if she didn’t find it a home by the time he returned from a weekend trip. She was desperate, and she wanted us to take her. We did. She was beautiful with striking golden eyes. She was alert and confused, but did what her mom asked her to do. Her mom put her into our car, gave us her supplies, closed the door and walked away. She was a strong military person, but we could see she broke down walking away from her beloved dog. My family and I were excited to adopt her, and quickly came up with her name, Juno. But Juno wasn’t sure what was happening and jumped out of the car to a completely new home, new smells, new faces, new animals, nothing familiar. She was nervous. For the next several weeks, we were at home for Christmas break, and spent as much time helping her adjust. Once my holiday time off was over, I took her to work with me, and would visit her and walk her every break and lunch time. This continued for 3 months, while the weather was cool. But she wasn’t comfortable with her new situation, as she vomited every time she drove in the truck. Because the last time she got in a truck, she lost her owner, and I believe she wasn't sure if I was going to leave her somewhere too. I learned not to feed her until I arrived at work. That way she had nothing in her stomach to vomit, so I thought. Instead she salavated so badly that there would be a puddle of liquid under her as she hung her ears down with nausea. I reassured her that she was fine and not in trouble. Eight years later, she is fine driving in the car, as she knows she doesn't need to be nervous about being in a car anymore.

We decided the day was too long, and stayed in a hotel just 30 miles from our destination, in Poteau Oklahoma. We picked a hotel that has a train running closely by but we had to stay somewhere….so this was it. We would start early the next day, and would have plenty of time to completely set up the cats in their new home.