My roommate Ace pulled a similar stunt earlier this century. Rather than just hanging around the neighbourhood after being let outside one Friday morning, he somehow got to the Sears store at the downtown Eaton Centre some five miles away. He was discovered by store staff late in the afternoon wandering in the hallway between the parking garage elevators and the administration office! Sears left a message for The MAN at the office but he'd already gone home. A Sears employee therefore took Ace home for the weekend. The MAN received the message on Monday and duly picked up Ace back at the Sears store on Tuesday morning. Ace though has never revealed why he had to go downtown that day. The MAN suspects that Ace caught a ride by sneaking into the backseat of a neighbour's car but Ace hasn't divulged that information either.
At the age of fifteen, Ace's wandering days are now a thing of the past. He's become a porch potato and prefers to wile away the hours in a comfy chair.
Jack, an orange tabby whom The MAN had dumped on his sister in London, had a similar escapade himself about twelve years ago. Jack hitched a ride with the fellow next door and ended up in Port Bruce thirty miles southeast of London on Lake Erie. The neighbour fellow was quite surprised to see Jack in the backseat when he got to Port Bruce. He had absolutely no idea that Jack shared his interest in snorkeling. Jack was out of luck though since the neighbour had no snorkeling gear of his size. Nonetheless, Jack got to spend a pleasant few hours at the beach with the sweet smell of dead fish wafting in the air.