Ahh. We’re now safely in Austin. All of our stuff made it here, our sanity (well mostly) made it here… and all of our pets are here, safe and sound. Moving across the country from Seattle to Austin with a 16′ Budget truck packed with all of our worldly possessions and one pit bull named Iris, an FJ Cruiser packed with two kitties known as Puck and Fey, one peanut butter dog named Clem and one stressed-out road-weary husband was hard.
And if all of the drama that follows that caravan around weren’t enough, our surly alpha kitty Puck slipped out of our west El Paso La Quinta hotel room and went missing. We searched around the hotel and the surrounding businesses for hours, shaking his food bowl and calling his name. Puck is a friendly cat, more like a dog than a cat, and is known to come when called. Puck did not come when we called his name. We subsequently freaked.
After many many tears, lots of hand-wringing and a heavy heart we left town, just KNOWING that if he was there and had heard us he would have come running. We were absolutely crushed… and attempted to drown our sorrows in El Paso’s H&H Car Wash’s tacos. The tacos were fabulous, and the several hardworking Mexican ladies were friendly and warm, but our Puck was still not with us.
We drove nine hours through the desert, from El Paso to Austin, weeping and lamenting and just feeling downright rotten. It was a tough ride, and suffice it to say when we finally showed up to our new house my face was puffy and red from the crying. While trying to maneuver the menagerie of boxes and furniture now stacked in our house, Puck was never far from our mind.
A day and a half later, at almost 1am, hubs got a phone call. On the other end I heard, “Uhh.. did you lose a cat?” Puck had escaped our room, run scared down the stairs to the first floor, slipped into another room and hid in a drawer. When the room’s new tenant arrived and heard Puck’s uncertain meows, he coaxed him out and called the number on Puck’s tag. THANK GOODNESS he had a collar and tag on.
Hubs subsequently got up at 6am, after only about four and a half hours sleep, and made the drive right back to El Paso, nine hours each way. Puck is back, ornery as ever, and causing trouble like he never left. I’ll put up with his drawer opening, his howling and his beating on the blinds for as long as he’s alive. Because even though he’s a royal pain, he’s OUR royal pain and we’re extremely happy to have him back ruling our roost.
