Everyone has a checklist when they set off on a long road trip with their family. Luggage. Check. Medicines. Check. So when one family in Maine went through their checklist, they were sure they had everything taken care of. Off they set for the 900-mile trip to Wisconsin for an air show.

The family of five left Maine and made the first day a straight drive all the way to Toledo Ohio. When they stopped at the campground, the family opened the camper and found out they had forgotten one thing on their checklist: Leaving the cat at home.

Andrea Scholten and the rest of the family realized that with all the running around to leave that morning, their cat Delilah had managed to make her way into the camper unseen. “I open the door, and there’s Delilah,” Scholten recalled.

I just screamed ‘Delilah!’ and my husband and the kids were like ‘Delilah!’ So, we went to Target, we bought her food, litter, a collar that we could write her name on because we were completely unprepared for this.”

The Scholten family’s cat, Delilah, recently invited herself along for the trip to an airshow. The pet snuck her way into the family’s camper without being seen. Photo courtesy of the Scholten family

In a Facebook post, the family said that “the plan so far is to see how she does as a camper cat, if she doesn’t do well we’ll have to find a kennel.” But shockingly, the cat took to traveling like a seasoned veteran. The family had promised to share their trip to the air show on Facebook, and created a tag for their cat, #stowawayoshkoshcat. Surprising the family, the post created a sensation, especially on the air show page.

“We put a story up with a photo of her and people thought it was hysterical,” Scholten explained. “They were commenting ‘We want more Delilah,’ so we did. Every day a couple of times a day I would put up a post and we used the hashtag. People loved Delilah.”

Organizers of the airshow surprised the family once they arrived, splashing a huge skywriting drawing of a cat in honor of Delilah, which the family shared on Facebook. In another post, Scholten posted photos of Delilah watching the air shows. “Just in case anyone doubts us when we say she watches the air show!” the post read.

The Scholten family’s cat, Delilah, recently invited herself along for the trip to an airshow. They embraced the idea of traveling with their cat, and even took her to Niagara Falls. Photo courtesy of the Scholten family

On the way back to their home in Maine, they took Delilah by Niagara Falls. The family cat seemed to enjoy traveling nearly as much as the family loved having her along with them. They already plan to bring Delilah along with them for next year’s trip!

Sources: Inspire More | People