Two weeks ago, Kyle came home and told Layne he had to go out to the field for at least a week the next day (insert not so happy Layne). So Layne didn't want to just sit around in Houston for a week by herself (boring!) so she packed up a good three weeks worth of clothes and drove to Tulsa with the cat & dog in the back.
That Wednesday morning, with the dog happy as ever in the back seat and the cat not-so-happy in her crate in the way back, Layne started the trek to Tulsa. Houston to Dallas is super fast and easy (that's the part Layne always drives when her and Kyle go back up north) so she knew exactly where to go. But then came the problem. This was the first time she had ever driven that far by herself and she had never even driven to Dallas from Tulsa in all those years she could drive and so she was pretty worried about the part from D up to T-town. Luckily, she made it to Tulsa and didn't get lost. In 9 hours.
There was a hiccup in Dallas though. Back when we moved down to Houston at the beginning of this year, we had the cat in her crate the whole time. And every couple hours when we stopped to get gas, drink, eat, etc. we would take the cat out and have her try to go potty in her literbox. She never needed to (we also gave her the amount of drugs the doc prescribed, so maybe she was just couldn't.) So the morning Layne started to drive she gave her the same amount of drugs and the cat seemed normal the whole time. The usual random discontented meows filtering through Layne's cheerful jams. So when she stopped halfway from Houston to Dallas at a park to let the dog roam, she thought the cat would be fine for another two hours. She gave the cat some water and then went and threw the ball to Char to stretch her legs, go potty and get tired. Once Char was panting and slobbering uncontrollably they packed up and started the drive again to Dallas. About 30 minutes before hitting Dallas, the cat started to meow even more tiredly and pissed off sounding. Layne just thought "the drugs are wearing off, I'll give her more when I stop in Dallas to eat and fill up." So 30 minutes later Layne pulls up to a gas station. Starts to fill up. Takes Char out to potty. And then heads to the back of the car to let the cat out to try to potty. She opens the door to the back and boom. The cat had pissed and crapped in her crate. Wait, not only just pissed and crapped in her crate. Rolled around in her urine. A lot of emotions and thoughts were running through Layne's mind. What in the heck?! What do I do?! I feel so bad! No wonder she was pissed off meowing... Dammit cat, it better have not gotten on the carpet. Wow this smells so bad. I will never get another cat. Once she's in Tulsa SHE'S STAYING! How do I clean this up?! Poor little kitty... Among other things.
So Layne got paper towels from the gas station cleaned it up and wiped it down. Then she proceeded to wipe down the cat since she was wet from pee. Layne was too flustered to remember to give her another pill, so the rest of the drive to Tulsa consisted of a faint smell of urine and poo, with a cat meowing in the back, and a bored dog not wanting to sit down, trying to lick her face. She got to Tulsa fast.
Now if that experience with the cat wasn't enough, Layne had another one that she swears the cat will never come near her again. After the accident in the car, Layne called her mom to ask her to run to the store to get cat shampoo because she was going to have to give her a bath before she took her to Kyle's mom's house. Once she pulled up into the driveway in Tulsa, she took the crate and cat into her mom's bathroom and gave the cat a bath. The cat hated it. And hated Layne. Giving cats a bath is awkward and just not normal. They are afraid of the water, then once you put the soap on them they tend to try to get away, all the while scratching you with their awesomely sharp claws. Layne quickly rinsed her off and then tried to dry her with a towel, but she gave up. The cat was too mad and Layne was too tired. One good thing that came out of it: the cat smells great now because of the shampoo.
Honestly this was disturbing enough that we thought it needed its own post. Next post we'll get to the actual trips.
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