When Travelling With Cat or Child

Written on 07.23.10

I think you should always keep a cage in the car. You never know what you may want to confine. For instance, a cat that is unused to travel. Some of the most terrifying sounds I have heard have come from a cat that was sitting safely on my lap in a car. Hearing the Yowls of Hell pretty much always makes me wish that I had a small cage. I get that same feeling while travelling with children.

Any happy well-adjusted child can turn into a menace to society once placed in a vehicle for more than 20 minutes. 5 minutes if they know that ice cream is waiting for them. Today I travelled with two lovely young girls, my mother and my grandmother. Our destination was Galveston, a mere 5 ½ hour drive.

Snacks were asked for as soon as the doors and seatbelts were locked. Thankfully, the kids were riding in a van that had at least five different kinds of chips. Mine were of the rice or baked variety, whereas my grandmother brought the much more fun Bugles and cornchips. After a short sampling of all that was easily reached, the girls fell asleep. I swear I waited till the last possible second to stop, but my waterpills are quite demanding. I knew that any break in travel would arouse their curiosity and then there would be no more rest for the remainder of the trip.

During hour 2, I drove and the girls played different car games. There were several rounds of “What Animal Am I?” and “What is Your Favorite (ex: Kind of Hamburger or Kind of Butterfly)?” And then it was time for me to inspect the lady's room of a Shell gas station.

Hour 3 had coloring with crayons and more snacks. I took care of some business at a Bucky Beaver's gas station . Hour 4 had rain that cooled everything down and then gently went on its way. I slept through the better part of the final hour and a half. Sometimes that's the only way to travel.

A large flock of pelicans greeted us at Galveston Bridge. The girls asked everytime we past by water if that was where they were going to swim. We tried to explain that the marshes were really just for fishing and crabbing. I'm still not sure they believed us. We decided to torture them by making them eat dinner before getting into the water, although Mom took pity and they all walked over to the beach while Jackie and I finished up. On second thought, maybe she was taking pity on Jackie and I.

I do have to correct my implication that I ate dinner with Jackie. What really happened was that Mom and I accompanied them while they ate, and when they went to the pool, we went to the Gumbo Bar.

My favorite bar. Oh the gumbo! Delicious dark rich roux. Large shrimp and tender muscles. The perfect amount of okra and rice. To enhance the experience, Mom had a glass of wine, I had a dark smooth beer and we split a big bowl of garlic bread. It's been 3 ½ hours since we ate and I'm still full. There are very few restaurants that I would like to take a cooking class from and this is most definitely one of them.

If I can get back over there, I will have gumbo again on this trip. I'm sure the other things on their menu are lovely, but we are here for three more days and that is just not enough time to eat anything but gumbo.

Now it's the end of the day for us and I can hear giggling in the other room. It does remind me of being here with other girls in my family when we where their age. If you come here with kids you really do need a balcony to throw bread from for the seagulls. I can remember running all over this hotel having fun, always waiting and hoping that it was time to go to the beach. I couldn't understand why you wouldn't want to spend the entire trip in the waves. All we needed was someone to drive us. Now it's their turn to yearn for the waves.

Being an adult, as our family rules dictate, I now get to sleep on one of the real beds. Secretly, I want to toss the kids off of the bunk bed and claim the top as mine. I would be envious of the memories that they are going to take from here, but I am enjoying the experience too much with my more adult perspective. Besides, I get to have a bedroom with an ocean view, eat gumbo at a bar as often as I can stand, and blessing above blessings, I can drive.