Road Trip with Tuva (formerly known as Mikasa)

Tuva and I set out last Sunday for a road trip to Maryland. Tuva is going blind and an Eye Vet in Maryland offered to donate his aftercare following surgery to correct the problem.
With my Ipaq loaded with TomTom Navigator 5, we set out from Tennessee to Hagerstown, MD.
Tuva was a fantastic travel companion. One small problem... His collar was on a little loose and he pulled away from his collar at the first rest area. I guess it was a minor blessing that his vision was impaired. He didn't run. I just picked him up and put him back in the car.
He had a plain Jr. Whopper somewhere in Virginia and seemed content to just lay in the back area of my Toyota Matrix. We reached Hagerstown around 5:00 and I dropped him off at Megan's house (Vet Technician).
I then proceeded to the suburbs of Philadelphia to visit friends. After lunch with a good friend the next day, I started to head back and I received a call from my wife.
Bad News.
It appears Tuva's eye problems are a little more severe than orginally diagnosed. They would not be able to do the surgery. It would cause him to be completely blind within a few weeks to one month.
Well, I had to go to the Vet office in Gaithersburg (north of DC) to pick him up to take him home. Again TomTom on the Ipaq to the rescue. Megan really wanted to adopt him, but he already has a couple from Knoxville waiting for him. Even without the surgery, Tuva has a new home.
Tuva seemed happy to (kind of) see me when I got there and happily jumped in the back of my car for the drive home.
He had another burger on the way home and enjoyed his return trip.
I had won some beer from a basketball bet so that case of Yuengling next to Tuva was for me not him. I did check the case when I arrived home to make sure he didn't snag a few.
Anyway - it was sad to bring him back without the surgery but I think Tuva will be fine in his new home. No cats please.