I have tried several methods.  If I am bent on making time, then I
will lay down fresh water and food for them during gas station stops.
If I am camping along the way, I will stop for a full-blown picnic
lunch and get the cats out too, and put them on a leash, but that
almost resulted in near disaster once in the Rocky Mountains when I
thought I was stopping in the most abandoned picnic area in the
world...and out of the blues a yapping family with screaming kids came
out of the woods (walking) at the same time as a bloody garbage truck
with screaming gears and brakes came in off the highway for a pickup.
The cats were so freaked out they managed to back out completely from
their full-body harness (it takes a desperate cat to do that if it's
fitted properly) and took off into the mountains.  I couldn't even
look for them till all the nuisance was gone, and then it was sheer
cat psychic powers that made me find them, I have no other
explanation.  Anyways, the moral of the story is be very, very careful
about removing your cats from the car or their carriers on journeys,
because it is like no other form of lost.  They can't radar their way
home that easily, contrary to popular opinion.

The safest method is to check into a motel/hotel that allows pets and
let them settle there for the night and hoof it onward the next day.
Even that can be dodgy, however.  On the same trip I mentioned
earlier, someone (housekeeping, I think) opened the windows of the
motel room.  When next I came back to the room looking for the cats
they were long gone.  Again.  More cat psychic powers (I found them on
two different floors of the motel, one cowering behind a wall
radiator).

As uncomfortable as it is for them, the safest thing is to keep them
in their carrier at all times and when you need to, let them out to
pee or drink/eat....do it in your car with the windows firmly closed
or the room.  They should be able to handle it for two days, if you
are using a hotel at night.  It's only misery, not threatening to
their health.  Keep in mind, by the way, that they likely will not
each much, if anything during that time....but stopping the car for
them to eat doesn't seem to encourage them either, so it's six of one,
half-dozen of the other.  They won't relax till you get there (Are we
there yet, are we there yet, how'bout now, how'bout now?)

Good luck

--tension

"Diana" <imdianawithoutspam@bellsouth.not> wrote in message

How much space will be available in the vehicle that you will be travelling
in? If there's room, I'd go with a cage (as compared to a carrier). It's
bigger and more open and has room for a small litter box, water and feed
bowls. Much less stressful than a carrier and the cats can look around as
you're driving.