My husband and I are relocating to California with our four fuzzies at the
beginning of September.  We can't bear to leave them behind, so we need
some advice on the best way to get them there.  We will be taking a Ryder
truck towing our Chevy S-10 from Atlanta, GA to Redwood City, CA (bay
area).  The current plan is to get an extended cab Ryder truck and put two
carriers of ferrets and one carrier with our cat in the extended cab, make
sure they all have food and water, and bring along all their harnesses so
they can get out at rest stops.  When we get to the California border we
have a couple of options:
 
1. Just drive through the agricultural station with some other stuff piled
over the ferret cages and hope they don't search us (we're leaning away
from this option since a Ryder truck seems like a likely search target).
 
2. Drive around in the current configuration on an alternate route (How
accurate are the routes on the Ferrets Anonymous web page?)
 
3. Take the truck off the trailer and drive the truck on an alternate
route and send the Ryder truck through the agricultural station.
 
Any suggestions as to what will work best?  Also, are there any special
rules regarding bringing cats in we need to know about?  Any suggestions
for good hotels that allow pets to stop at along the way?  The place we're
renting knows about the ferrets and is OK with them, so hopefully we'll
be all right once we get there.  I also have full copies of all their vet
records to bring with me.  Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
[Posted in FML issue 2764]