A couple travelled 60,000 miles with their pet goat in an Airstream trailer throughout the United States.
After being highlighted in an episode of the Discovery+ miniseries The Bond, North Carolina content creator Cate Battles recently spoke to CNN about embarking on a trek across 25 states alongside her husband, Chad, and their pet goat named Frankie.
“Frankie is a great travel buddy,” Battles gushed. “She’s incredibly smart, really inquisitive. She’s just one of the most affectionate animals I’ve ever met. She’s our ride or die. She’s our adventure buddy!”
Long before she had received Frankie - a pygmy-Nigerian dwarf mix - as a gift from a friend in 2014, Cate admitted to the outlet that she had “always been fascinated by goats.”
During the episode, Chad explained that he didn’t even know about Cate’s wish to add a goat to their little family, and wasn’t sure a goat would make a good pet. He said: “Before Cate came along, I really was ambivalent about goats. Hadn’t even given it a thought!
“When Cate first brought Frankie home, I said: ‘No goats in the bed.’ That didn’t last long,” he continued, to which Cate laughed and replied: “Maybe a day?”
The longtime couple - who have been married for a decade - decided to take their very first road trip together in 2016, once they became empty nesters after their children went to college. To make their dream come true, Chad sold his bar in Asheville, North Carolina.
“We were thinking about what the next chapter of our life looked like, since we were empty nesters,” Cate explained to CNN Travel. “So we decided that we’d pick out a new town and state and do some travelling.”
For the cross-country adventure, the couple bought a seemingly ancient Argosy-model Airstream from 1976. They turned the camper into a passion project and completely renovated it. Among the renovations included a wrap-around mural on the exterior painted by Cate, who was inspired by the places they’d seen on the road, as well as Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”.
“It was basically a shell,” Cate admitted. “There were no walls. I think we found a mummified bird in the installation at some point.”
For the first Airstream trip, the couple opted to leave their goat Frankie, travelling the country in a six-month expedition. The trip culminated with the pair deciding to move from Asheville to Grants Pass, Oregon, in 2017. Although they were unsure how Frankie would handle the move, the goat was right at home on the road. Throughout their trip, they would periodically pull over to let Frankie graze and snack on grass.
“She’s really easy to travel with,” Cate said. “Since she was a little kid, we had her pretty well potty-trained. So that’s always good too.”
Frankie’s little potty and snack breaks inadvertently led to more opportunities to explore. In the episode, Cate reflected on their nomadic lifestyle, saying: “Part of living this lifestyle is we have such a thirst for learning new things, experiencing new things, new places, new people, new food, new scenery, new flora.”
“It’s not just natural places we like to check out,” she continued. “We also like to go to quirky roadside attractions: the world’s biggest yo-yo, or Salvation Mountain, or the world’s biggest easel.”
In the first few years they hit the road, Cate and Chad brought along their elderly cocker spaniel, Maggie, who unfortunately passed away in spring of 2019. Maggie’s passing reportedly occurred after they adopted Frankie, and she made an appearance in The Dodo’s “Odd Couples” web series. However, a few weeks ago the couple adopted a rescue dog, who they lovingly named Corndog.
The Independent has contacted Cate and Chad Battles for comment.
