Buddy, an American shorthair cat, sits with Laura Emerson in the front seat of her truck Wednesday. Buddy enjoys driving trips, though his efforts to help out aren't always welcome. Once, he shifted his owners' car into neutral while on the freeway. Emerson is among scores of Las Vegans who've had to move their pets by car or plane in recent years. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Rosalind Holland doesn't think she's nuts. She just believes driving her trio of portly pups, tipping 200 pounds total, from Las Vegas to her new home in North Carolina is a good idea.

"I've had more than a few people tell me to get rid of the dogs and move 'free,' but I just can't do it," she said. "I need to buy a new car because they don't all fit in my sedan, so the expense of the move keeps adding up, but leaving my three 'children' behind just isn't an option."

Don't fret, Rosie. There are lots of folks who've driven their doggies or flew their felines from old place to new, despite the hurdles. Like my girlfriend, Kathy Topp, whose tale of toting our flabby tabby, Fred, from the Midwest in 2003 I shared last week.

And there's Laura Emerson, who said her cats have actually enjoyed road trips, though most kitties hate the frenetic pace of travel. "We were so proud of them and called them the interstate cats," she said.

One cat, Buddy, even liked helping with driving duties, but not in a good way: "One time we let Buddy sit on the console between us until he accidentally shifted the car into neutral at 75 mph."

When the Emersons moved here from Colorado last year, her husband, Gary, drove without her, but with the cats.

"With only one person in the car, they both decided they had to be near him, so one sat on the floor in front of the driver's seat -- fortunately not on the gas pedal -- and the other one had to sit on his lap," she said. "He had to pull over and stop at least four times to get everyone straightened out."

Locked up or not, cats find ways to get their way, as one reader learned in 2001. He packed his cat, Shadow, in a cage by the back door to the bed of his covered pickup. The bed was otherwise loaded with boxes and plants.

First night out, during a nap stop in the cab, he awoke in fear: "Something hairy was all over my face! Somehow, Shadow got out of the cage, climbed over the cartons, through the plants and through the windows to reach me.

"I put him back, secured the cage and went back to sleep. Guess what? Yes, he did it again! Don't know how, but I decided that if he was that determined, he could ride by my side. He was a perfect travel companion," he said.

Joe Assalone worked for the U.S. Postal Service when he and his son moved here from Long Island in 1979. But he never delivered a larger package than his huge dog, Samantha, in a rental truck.

"Now picture this: two men and a 180-pound St. Bernard on the front seat for 3,000 miles! We tried to make it here nonstop but had to stop in New Mexico for three hours of sleep," he said. "Had to sneak Samantha into the motel room.

"In Arizona, we made a pit stop for the dog and she stepped in red clay mud," he said. "Now with hair, mud, and two tired guys on the front seat, we get to the border with the fully loaded truck and a new female officer stops us at a checkpoint and told us to unload the truck in case we were carrying plants."

Assalone appealed for mercy. "The nice supervisor saw our condition and said, 'Go, enjoy the rest of your journey,'" he said. "I thanked her and would have hugged her except we were not smelling too good.

"We are all lovers of animals and we sure do a lot for them, don't we?" he said.

When Gina Marie Tillman and her significant other moved here from Illinois five years ago, they opted to fly with their two cats: Christine, who was calm, and Christopher, who'd have seizures if stressed. Gulp.

"So we contacted the airline to find out what their rules were about bringing pets in the cabin, paid the extra fees, had our cats up-to-date on all vaccinations, and the vet provided both sedatives for Christopher and the necessary letters of good health for both cats that we had to present upon check-in," Tillman wrote. "The cats were in soft-side carriers with flaps that could be pulled down to keep them calmer."

The flight wasn't bad. "The cats were pretty quiet, except for check-in because it was so loud and busy," she said.

The woes came when they got here and an apartment mixup meant six days of sneaking the cats into hotel rooms, while armed with only two days' worth of clothes. But that's another story.

"It was certainly an adventure, but one that kicked off our life in Vegas in a fun kind of way," she said.

R.P. Shiner said he had fun driving from Virginia to California in 1974, despite that era's 55 mph speed limit for a station wagon packed with R.P., his wife, two cats, a hamster and four kids.

At a checkpoint, "I had one cat laying on my shoulder and the other was on the back seat behind my wife," Shiner said. "The inspector wanted to know if they were real. Mischief, the male, just opened his eyes and yawned."

Greg Abbott doesn't mind pets on the go. But smuggling a pet into a motel -- as Kathy did with Fred -- ain't cool.

"There are many hotels that have rooms specifically designated for pets, some free, and some with a fee. The most troublesome part is that Kathy brought a cat into a regular nonpet room that will be shared by countless others after her," he said. "Others, like me, who are very allergic to cat dander and have severe reactions, such as impaired breathing, constant blowing of the nose, and eye-closing."

Point well taken, Greg. We'll do better next time. But our pawed pals are comin' with us.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail him at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or OSofradzija@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.