My move has been very exciting for me.  Many new beginnings.  All my
worldly belongings were coming on the truck later that night, but my
most precious possessions were loaded in my car.  This consisted of my
computer, several very breakable objects, and of course my 10 year old
cat K.C. (who has traveled across 2 countries with me many times, and
still hates it) and my four ferrets and their cage.  For anyone that has
ever traveled with ferrets, it is just one big adventure to them.  "Oh
cool, new stuff, new smells".  I loaded their modified Midwest cage on
top of my car, careful to put it sideways so the shelves would not create
a windbreak.
 
I was very cautious the first 50 or so miles of my trip, because I have
an older car, and it is quite mountainous.  Everything was going very
smoothly, car running well, cat quit howling after 100 miles or so, and
all ferrets were napping soundly.
 
I stopped on occasion to make sure cage was still secure, and to wet down
the towel on top of the travel cage the guys are in.
 
Gaining more confidence and getting excited about getting close I threw
caution to the wind and stepped up the pace to a little over the speed
limit.  Life is good....we are getting close....about 20 miles to go.
The euphoric feeling is shattered by the loud thunk from the roof.  OH
NO!!!!!  The cage is gone.
 
The man in the white truck beside me smirks as he points to my roof then
cocks his thumb backwards to indicate the whole cage is indeed somewhere
behind me.  I immediately pulled to the shoulder, but could not see it
anywhere, and checked my roof like an idiot, to make sure it really is
not there.  It is not only gone, but my factory installed roof rack is
broken in two.  I never allowed for very strong cross winds.  Thank
goodness no one was hit by it.
 
I am only 20 miles from my destination, so I decide to go and unload the
car and then go back to look for it.
 
My friend is waiting for me at the new house to help me unload, and we
install all pets in house with contents of car and head south.  There the
poor cage is, on the side of the road with major renovations in place.
Bill says, "lets put it in the car, and we will see what we can salvage."
 
Well, needless to say, we spent all afternoon trying to beat the cage
back into order.  The parts that we did manage to save, added up to
a 1/2 Midwest cage.  The top, and 1/2 the panels were beyond repair.
Fortunately the ferrets are a very forgiving group and are too busy with
the new smells in the kitchen to worry about the cage right now.  I will
see if I can get them another when finances permit, but for now, they
will survive.
 
Just another moving adventure.  This is nothing compared to the ones
Juliana and I had when I moved from Atlanta to Vancouver.  Now that was
an adventure, but a long story.  8 ferrets, howling cat in a Ryder truck!
[Posted in FML issue 4196]