An Account of Sept. 18 -- MOVING DAY. Dad arrived at 3:20 AM while I was still cleaning out the litter boxes and Annabelle was still asleep on the bed. Dad had brought me a travel mug of coffee! He packed the car while I took out the garbage and double-checked my list. I went upstairs to get Annabelle, who was instantly awake, alert and MAD. I struggled to get her into her harness, then Dad held the carrier vertically while I tried to drop her in as she yelled and clawed at the sides of the carrier. I drove to the airport and Dad tried to drown out Annabelle's yelling with classical music and talk. I managed to get a few sips of my coffee on the way. Did I mention how much I appreciated the coffee? Check-in was uneventful, although my suitcase that weighed 46 lbs on the shipping scale at home had somehow gained weight on the trip and barely squeaked by at 49.5 lbs. When I was standing in line at security with the noisy cat, a friendly TSA agent told me to ask for a private screening because we would need to remove A from the carrier in order to x-ray it. Just in case I was planning to blow up the plane with my cat, I guess. I am quite sure that the other passengers in line were all praying that I was on a different flight than they were. I sent my shoes and backpack through the x-ray machine and stepped into the scanner while an agent held the cat carrier. Then we went into a small room with 2 agents. I clipped the leash onto A's harness and took her out of the carrier. She explored the room a bit while one agent took the carrier to be x-rayed and the other stayed to watch us. She was fine until it was time to go back into the bag. One agent held up the carrier while the other agent and I tried to stuff her into it. Have you seen cartoon animals with all 4 feet spread out in a doorway? I got a nasty scratch on my arm, but the agents emerged unscathed. On the first flight, from Albany to Chicago, I sat on the aisle with no one in the middle seat. On the floor by my feet, A. wailed plaintively whenever I moved my legs, when there was any bumping or turbulence, when anyone walked by in the aisle, and at other random times. I could hear the other passengers saying, "A cat." "Yes, it's a cat." I pretended it wasn't my cat and put in my earbuds so my ipod could partially drown her out. A. cried through O'Hare airport and complained while I purchased coffee and a bagel. The man in front of me in line couldn't quite figure out where the sound was coming from since the carrier is black mesh and A is mostly black. It looks like a regular duffel bag unless you look very closely. I looked around like I didn't know either. She quieted down for about 15 minutes before we boarded for the second flight, but then she started up again. It was a much smaller plane and I was by the window with a seatmate who fortunately was a cat lover and a very friendly and kind person. Our flight was early arriving at the Albuquerque Sunport, so I texted Stephen while we waited for our luggage, and he drove over from the office. A. was louder and more upset in the car on the way to the apartment than she had been on the plane. Once we got into the apartment, I let her out of the carrier and showed her where her litter box, food, and water are. She calmed right down and explored and as the evening went on she ate and drank and settled in just fine. Stephen and I left her in the apartment while we went to his office to pick up the boxes of stuff I had sent via UPS. I unpacked, we had Chinese take-out, Stephen set up my computer. Day one of the excellent adventure was complete!