An orange house cat missing since 2013 from South Carolina was finally found after hitching a ride on a U-Haul trailer to Riverside County. 
 
 And with that, Kevin's cross-country adventure came to a close. Animal control officers are arranging a flight to return the tabby to its owner on Wednesday morning. 
 
 “We have handled some pets with crazy pet stories, and this is one more for the list,” said Riverside County Animal Services Director Robert Miller. 
 
 The stowaway cat was found hiding in the trailer during a routine inspection at the Arizona border. The female driver was unaware that Kevin was in the trailer she was towing, said John Welsh, spokesman for Riverside County Animal Services. 
 
 During the inspection, the woman opened the trailer and was surprised to find the cat, which meowed several times. 
 
 The dehydrated tabby was transported to Blythe Animal Shelter, where it was discovered to be microchipped. Animal control officials tracked down the owner, Cheryl Walls, who said the cat disappeared in fall 2013 from Anderson, S.C. 
 
 Cat missing since 2013 finally found Riverside County Animal Services A stowaway cat named Kevin, missing since 2013, was found hiding in a trailer during a routine inspection at the Arizona border. A stowaway cat named Kevin, missing since 2013, was found hiding in a trailer during a routine inspection at the Arizona border. (Riverside County Animal Services) 
 
 Kevin was an indoor cat “but acted unhappy,” Walls said, according to Welsh. 
 
 So she allowed Kevin, who bears the name of her late fiancé, to go outside. That routine continued for some time, but one day the cat did not return. 
 
 Walls told animal control officials she was looking forward to Kevin’s return. 
 
 For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA ||||| Kevin the cat was a stowaway on a U-Haul truck. (Photo: Photo courtesy of John Welsh) 
 
 A stowaway cat traveling in a U-Haul trailer somehow made its way from South Carolina to California – and now Riverside County Animal Services is trying to get the orange tabby back to his owner. 
 
 Kevin the cat was very stealth in his travels, making it all the way to the Arizona-California border without detection, animal services spokesman John Welsh said in a press release. 
 
 Here's the story, according to John: 
 
 "His stowaway days ended after a state Food & Agriculture inspector performed a routine check on a U-Haul trailer that was being towed by a woman. 
 
 The inspector asked the driver to open the trailer. The woman complied and that's when the inspector heard a muffled 'meow, meow, meow.' 
 
 The inspector asked the woman if she knew a cat was in the trailer. The woman said no – and also informed the inspector that she didn't own a cat. 
 
 The inspection station worker took custody of the cat and later drove him to Riverside County Animal Services' Blythe shelter. Once there, the dehydrated kitty was examined, scanned for a chip and provided nourishment and water. 
 
 Employees at the Blythe Animal Shelter discovered the cat did have a microchip embedded under its skin – and the presumed owner of the cat was tracked to a South Carolina location." 
 
 "We have handled some pets with crazy back stories, and this is one more for the list," Animal Services Director Robert Miller said in the release. "The good news is we know the owner, she wants her pet back, and we'll make that happen." 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kevin the cat was a stowaway on a U-Haul truck. (Photo: Photo courtesy of John Welson) 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Shelter Transport Animal Rescue Team (S.T.A.R.T. Rescue), the Animal Solutions Konnection (ASK) Foundation and shelter employees have made donations to pay for the cat's journey home. 
 
 Cheryl Walls, an Anderson, S.C. resident and the cat's rightful owner, adopted "Kevin" from her local shelter in June 2013, Welsh said in the release. 
 
 He was primarily an indoor cat, she said, 'But he acted unhappy.' One day she allowed him to go outside. He would come back, but one day in the fall of 2013, Kevin was gone. 'I assumed someone must have picked him up,' Walls told Welsh. 'Now,' she joked, 'He has seen more of the country than me.'" 
 
 Riverside County is coordinating the cat's flight plan. The flight arrangements are still in the works, but a tentative plan has been scheduled for Wednesday morning. 
 
 The departure will happen either from the Palm Springs International Airport or the Ontario International Airport. The cat is currently being cared for at the county's Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms. 
 
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– Another entry in the cat-came-back chronicles, though this orange tabby had some help in doing so. "Kevin" disappeared two years ago in South Carolina and turned up this month about 2,000 miles away in California. He apparently hitched a ride in a U-Haul trailer being towed across the country by a woman, though she had no idea he was inside it, reports the Los Angeles Times. Kevin was discovered during a routine inspection of the trailer at the Arizona-California border, and animal-control officials then tracked down his original owner via the cat's microchip. “We have handled some pets with crazy pet stories, and this is one more for the list,” says an official with Riverside County Animal Services in California. Where Kevin was in the two years before he got inside the U-Haul trailer remains unclear. But he was being flown home to Cheryl Walls in Anderson, SC, today, thanks in part to donations from shelter employees in California, reports the Desert Sun. "He has seen more of the country than me," she says.