Road Trip 2005

I woke up at about 6:00am and it was sleeting outside. It looked like we had about an inch of sleet on the ground and it was coming down hard. I stood and watched as the little beads bounced just like the original style "Crystal" litter does when Johnny stirs it out of his box and on to the floor in the sunroom. Ray and Johnny were both still asleep. I knew Ray had still been up working when I gave in and went to sleep at about 2:00am, so I wanted him to sleep as late as he could this morning.

It was Thursday, January 13, 2005(Friday the 13th came on Thursday this month.). We had been entered in this show since November. We had looked at the shows and judges for this weekend and decided that the one in Florida, called the "Space Coast Show" was the judging lineup that we would really like to show Johnny under, so we went ahead and entered, even though it is probably around twelve hundred miles away from home. Our next concern was if the count would be large enough to make a long trip like that worthwhile. A couple of people had commented that the show was usually pretty small, but we liked the judges so much that we decided to take a chance and go ahead and enter. We talked about it and decided we would drive the Jeep because the cost of fuel for the Motor Home would be outrageous. Lucille had been bred but at the time we entered it was too early to tell if she was pregnant or not, so we figured we would deal with that problem later.

Well, since it was the Thursday before the show and Lucille, as big as a barrel, hadn't shown any signs of having those babies, I would have to stay home and watch her. A special edition of e-points had come out and Johnny, as of the January 1-2 weekend, was back up to 6th place in the national standings. He had been 8th at the last posting of the e-points so this was a nice surprise. Since he had done pretty well at the St. Louis show last weekend, we knew that he now had just a little over 8,000 points…sigh. What a relief. We thought we can now take some chances and be pretty well assured that Johnny will be in the top 25 at the end of the year even if he doesn't do much else before the end of April.

At around 7:00am it started snowing. The snow was really coming down and by the time Ray woke up, at about 8:00am, we had probably an inch on the ground. It looked pretty but the flakes were big and it was really starting to pile up. It was hard to believe since the temperatures had been in the low 70s the day before. When Ray was awake enough to see, I said, "Look outside." He took a peek, but he didn't seem too concerned. I checked my computer for the weather report and it said we would be having freezing drizzle, freezing rain, then sleet followed by snow. That was about it…we had probably gotten all of it and my fear was that under that pretty snow was a sheet of ice.

Ray needed something from the grocery store, so he left for a bit. When he came back he said the roads were slushy but since the ground had been warm from the day before the underneath stuff had melted. What a relief; the outside air was getting really cold.

Of course, he didn't get on the road as soon as he had wanted to, but he had had a good night's sleep, so I knew he would have many hours of driving before he would stop for the night. If anyone could have watched Ray and I planning and scheming to "fool" Johnny they would laugh. Two "grown-up human type people" trying to figure a way to trick a small brown cat would be amusing to anyone. We live less than a mile from the edge of town and Johnny has developed this habit of starting to scratch in his litter box just about the time we get to the city limits. By the time we turn off the street we live on and get about half way from there to the filling station he has gone potty in his box. We always have to stop and clean him and the box up at the filling station. It is quite a job cleaning his box in the car and the smell lingers for hours. So, we decided that I would put Johnny in another carrier and follow Ray to the filling station in the old Jeep. When we get to the filling station all we would have to do is put him over into the Jeep they are traveling in and I could take the dirty carrier and box home. It worked! We were so proud of ourselves.

Ray and I said good-bye at the filling station and I went home. Even though Lucille was waiting for me, the house seemed empty, without Ray and Johnny.

Ray and I talked a couple of times on the cell phone as they traveled and he finally spent the night in Pelham, Tennessee. He said that was a good place to stay since we have friends named Pelham who show cats. Also, when he went into the restaurant to pay for his fuel at the little truck stop some "good ole' boys" had a shotgun laying across the table and where he paid his bill there were, on the counter, pint jars of pickled quail eggs for sale.

Friday January 14…Ray called at about 8:00am. He and Johnny had had breakfast and were back on the road again. They had lunch at a rest area south of Macon, Georgia. Ray said he figured they were about 300-350 miles from the hotel where they would spend the weekend. They should get to the hotel in time for a really good night's sleep so Johnny will be well prepared to head-butt the judges and Ray will be rested and ready to clerk for Wayne Trevathan. Ray took the large travel cage that is the same size as the one we use in the show hall so Johnny will have his perch and plenty of room to exercise and rest in the motel room, just as he does at the shows.

Friday afternoon Lucille started getting restless. I kept checking to see if she was having any discharge but there was no sign of those kittens. After her pacing the floor and getting in and out of the potty box for about an hour she popped out a kitty. Before I had even finished drying it off and tying the cord, she had another kitten. Then she settled down for a nap, I guess to give me a chance to catch up on drying the kittens, cutting the cords, dipping the cords in iodine, making sure the mouths and noses were clear of mucous and getting them settled on a heating pad. When she finally awoke from her nap I let the kittens nurse. After she nursed the kittens for a while I gave her a shot of calcium. Approximately 20 minutes after the shot she had another kitten. I called Ray to tell him that she had had three kittens, and I thought she was finished. I could feel something on one of her sides, but she had not passed one after birth; I assumed that is what I was feeling. I don't know what time the last kitten was born but I called Ray, one more time, to tell him that I had been mistaken and that Lucille had had one more baby.

Ray had taken a cooler with ice and some sodas in it, as well as a big batch of tuna salad. He had bought a loaf of whole wheat bread for the trip, but after he left I found the whole wheat bread on the kitchen counter. He also discovered there was no bread, stopped at a convenience store and bought a loaf. They didn't have whole wheat, so he had to settle for white bread. By the time they got to the Hotel in Cocoa, Florida, on Friday night, he had had several meals of tuna salad on white bread. I talked with him at about 8:00pm, but since NONE of the phones were working in the hotel, and his phone could not get a signal from the room, he had to sit outside to talk with me. By about 8:30pm he and Johnny were settled in for the night and he had had his evening meal of, you guessed it, TUNA SALAD on WHITE BREAD!

Because of the problem with the phones, wake-up calls from the hotel were not going to happen. I told him I would set my alarm for 6:00am and I would give him a call on his cell phone as a wake up call. He said he thought there would be enough signle for the phone to ring and then he would go outside and call me back. So he went to bed and I kept working with the new kittens to be sure they were figuring out how to find mommy's "titties".

One of the reasons Ray had made reservations at the show hotel was because each room had a small refrigerator, a microwave and a coffee pot. At 5:45am my phone rang. Ray had already had his morning coffee and he was heading for the shower. He and Johnny got to the show hall about 30 minutes before check-in time. He called me from the show hall and gave me some idea of who was and wasn't entered in the show (according to the catalog) and told me he would give me a call at lunchtime. I think he and Wayne must have worked right through lunch, because that call never came. As soon as the finals were over for the day he called to say that Johnny had made all four finals, the placings were: 10th, 4th, and 2nd in AB rings and 8th in the SP ring.

When he got back to the room we had a pretty good talk about the day and he had his, you guessed it, TUNA SALAD on White for dinner. I guess he and Johnny settled down to rest and watch the Rams football game. Just before he went to sleep we talked again and I offered to call him at 6:00am again. I told him not to worry about waking up and to get a really good night's sleep. I know if he is afraid he won't wake up he doesn't sleep well and I knew he would want to drive as far as he could on Sunday night, so I certainly wanted him to get a good night's sleep.

Sunday morning, sure enough, my phone rang again at 5:45am. Ray was already awake and excited about the day's judging. A part of the show hall had flooded and some of the rings had to be moved from where the club had planned to put them. That meant that Ray had a longer distance to "travel" to the rings to show Johnny, clerk for Wayne Trevathan and then get Johnny back to his benching cage. Thank goodness Mona Cherrington had honored my benching request to "put someone nice next to Johnny" to keep an eye on him while Ray was clerking. Bless her heart she benched herself next to Johnny. How kind that was of her; I really appreciate it. Ray's day was really busy and he was having a hard time getting Johnny to his finals rings, but he said that Wayne was very understanding and that Wayne tried to help him as much as he could, by delivering paperwork to the master clerk and by occasionally sorting cards for him. On this day (Sunday) Walter Hutzler decided that he didn't like Johnny, but that was the only final Johnny didn't make. The final placings on Sunday were: two 2nd places in the AB rings and 10th in the SP ring. Time to pack up and head for home.

Ray called at about 10:45pm home time and told me he was south of Macon, GA and he was tired. He was at a rest stop and he was going to take a nap. He said, "If the cops wake me up I will move on, otherwise I will sleep until I wake up."

Monday morning…the phone rang at 6:30. Ray had slept all night. He sounded refreshed, happy and ready to get on the road to look for fuel. One thing about it, I am not sure we should allow these two (Ray and Johnny) out on the road without supervision again. When you get the two of them together, away from home, they just break all the rules. We have always had a family rule that Johnny had to be caged when the vehicle was moving, unless he is on my lap and Ray is driving. Well, chuck that rule. Johnny now thinks he should be able to ride on Ray's lap while Ray is driving. It is such fun to watch him watch the trucks go by. He has always been fascinated with trucks, or anything on wheels, for that matter. At shows we have noticed that many of our cats, especially the Persians, are startled by anything on wheels…wheel chairs, baby buggies, strollers, grooming carts, etc., but quite the contrary, with Johnny. He loves moving objects, whether it is a toy or an "eighteen wheeler". He will sit on my lap in the motor home or the Jeep, with his front legs crossed and resting on my right arm, looking out the side window, until we pass a truck. That is when those eyes pop open and the ears come forward perked to listen to the sound and his eyes will follow the massive moving object until he can't see it anymore. Ray said, "Johnny was tired of riding in the carrier. I had planned that if he got restless I would immediately pull over on the shoulder and put him in his carrier, but instead my arm gets tired before he gets restless." Do you see what I mean? All the discipline goes out the window, when mom isn't there to enforce the rules.

Ray said they have about 800 miles to drive today, but with an early start and barring any unforeseen difficulties, they should be home before midnight. He will check in about noon.

Got a call from Ray when he got into Illinois. I reminded him that I had a Mary Kay meeting tonight and that I would have my cell phone with me if he needed anything. So I went off to my Meeting. Our Daughter was in town to do a combination training meeting and skin care class. It was great; I had two consultants and a guest present and each of my consultants had one guest present at the meeting. On the way home I tried to get Ray on the cell phone. It just rang and rang, but no answer. I figured he had probably stopped for fuel and was away from his phone. Oh well, I thought, I will just call him again on the "land line", when I get home. As I pulled into our driveway at approximately 8:30pm I noticed that the light was on in the front entrance of the house. I didn't remember leaving that light on and about that time I got to the house and there was Ray's car in the carport. I lugged my Mary Kay bag and "stuff" into the house and walked in the family room to see Ray sitting in his favorite recliner eating a, you guessed it, TUNA SALAD SANDWICH, and yes it was on white bread. I said is there any of that left and he said, "Nope this is the last of it; it came out even."

Hmmmmmm, I wonder how many cans of tuna it would take to make a batch big enough to last through a road trip to Alaska…they do have CFA shows in Alaska, don't they?

Anne Edwards

Take Me Home