Delilah the stowaway cat hitching a ride with her family, the Scholten’s, from St. Albans to Oshkosh Wisconsin. Courtesy of Andrea Scholten

Andrea Scholten, of St. Albans, and her family finally finished packing up the pop-up camper to head to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022, a giant air show, in Wisconsin. It was long-awaited trip after it was deferred for a few years due to the pandemic.

The Scholten family had driven about 900 miles from St. Albans to Toledo, Ohio, where they made a pit stop. When they went to set up camp for the night, they were shocked.

“We had closed up the camper that Friday night, expecting to leave early Saturday morning. We only opened the camper up once to toss some pillows in, that must have been when she hopped in,” Andrea Scholten said. “We had driven about 15 hours to Toledo and pulled off to a rest area. My husband popped up the camper, and when I opened the door she was staring back at me. I yelled ‘DELILAH!'”

Not sure what to do, Scholten put Delilah in their truck and the family put together a makeshift litter box and discussed what to do.

“That first night we didn’t have food for her, since we weren’t prepared for her,” she said. “She drove well with us, so we figured we’d go with it.”

Scholten took to Facebook to share their journey, creating the hashtag “stowawayoshkoshcat” and posting updates to the “EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022 — Pictures and Video!” Facebook page. Before she knew it, her Facebook posts blew up with likes, comments and shares. Delilah the stowaway cat quickly became a star.

“We thought it was funny,” she said. “I started posting to my Facebook friends and my husband starting posting to the AirVenture and people wanted more. That’s when we started the hashtag.”

Delilah gained popularity so quickly that people attending the events in Oshkosh brought her gifts to the Scholten’s camper. Even one of the skywriters made a cat in the sky for her.

“People came by to the camper to give gifts and come say hello,” Scholten said.

“This threw us for a loop for sure, but she seemed to have fun. We plan to do it again next year.”

To see more posts about Delilah’s cross-country adventure, click here.

Word on the Street is an online-only feature about trending happenings in central Maine. If you have an idea for our next Word on the Street, email Amber Carter at ambercarter@mainetoday.com.

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