Smuggled Kitty

And the winner is....

It took us 16 hours and 5 minutes to get from Columbia, SC to Toronto. So, Kirstin in the winner with her guess of 16 hours!

I actually woke up before my 5:15am alarm (a HUGE feat for those who know me well). Picked up Jill and we left at 6:45am. Yes, I made her drive first and did take a short nap. The car was completely loaded up - my stuff, my cool new wine glasses from the Charlotte clan, the great pictures Wendy gave me, and the cat. Yes, I was embarking in a 16 hour car ride with a cat.

The vet told me the tranquilizers can take 2 hours to work, and will last 6-8 hours. Start with 1 pill, give her 1/2 more if needed. So, I gave her the first pill at 6am. Right about 8am it started to work, a little bit. I could tell a difference, but she wasn't knocked out or anything. At about 11:30 it started wearing off, 6 hours after I gave it to her, normal according to the directions. So, we have her another one.

Poor zonked, drugged-out kitty. She couldn't keep her 3rd eyelid open, she couldn't walk straight, and she couldn't even jump on the seat. It was funny and pathetic (pictures coming as soon as I find the cord to my camera). And lasted HOURS.

We stopped in Pittsburgh to see Sam and Brenda. I've never seen quite an entrance to a city before. The tunnel is amazing. They live in a quint neighborhood in a great old (1905) house that will forever be in some state of reconstruction. Brenda actually cooked for us and we all had a very nice visit. Sheba didn't mind a drugged-up kitty, but Koshka wasn't having any of it.

Then it was back on the road. We really had no issues. There was the freeway being closed in Rock Hill, me missing our exit in PA, but that's it. The cat was good and the ride easy. It must have been the company.

We get to the border in Buffalo. No line. We had our passports and story ready. The Canadian border guard asks us our citizenship (US), where we were going (Toronto), staying with friends or hotel (hotel), what's all the stuff in the car - and then answers that question for us (is that your personal items - yes) and then waves us through. He NEVER asked to see our passports and didn't even give us a chance to mention the cat. We were laughing hysterically that we just smuggled a cat into Canada. (If any Canadian customs agents stumble upon this, I did have all the correct paperwork/shot records for the cat.)

So we head to Toronto. I had picked our route to go through downtown then up the Don Valley expressway. Unbeknownst to me, they CLOSED the ENTIRE 20 mile Done Valley expressway for the weekend. So, now we are stick downtown. Some quick mapreading later, we head up a city street the whole way. I must admit, we did meander through downtown and sightsee a little.

We finally got to the hotel and unloaded the car and settled in. no elevator by the way and my room's on the 2nd floor. Oh well.