We got up Monday morning with every intention of hitting the road as soon as possible. Mom and Dad said 12 hours was a good estimate to make it from Sacramento to Palm Springs (yowsa!). I will tell you right now it didn’t happen. We got dressed and the car packed fairly quickly. While we were doing this Steve had been in the kitchen graciously preparing a wonderful breakfast (noticing this we realized we were not leaving in the next hour). He had everything ready to cook by the time we got finished with the car (minus the cats), but declared it smoke break time out back. Feel free to bring your coffee. We did. 20 minutes later we were back in the kitchen as he finished cooking. Finally ready to go…. Where is Thomas? My, that is getting to be a familiar question. He found himself a cozy spot on top of a cabinet above the washer and dryer. For the millionth time in a row I dragged him out of his hiding spot and threw him in the kennel. I was half way in the car when I thought to myself, “where is my wallet?” Thus began the 20 minute search through the car and the house in a frantic attempt to locate it. I was so mad at myself. This wasn’t the first time I’d misplaced it (not too long ago I spent a whole day getting new bank cards and an ID only to find my wallet the next day). Naturally, Matt was frustrated with me. I don’t blame him. Here we are already running behind with a long drive ahead of us and I’m not only delaying, I’m causing much unwanted stress at the start of the day. We finally found it. I can’t even remember where in the car. With all the stress and frustration I was nearly in tears (I was watering) when I got in the car, but I managed to hold it in. Long breaths and calming thoughts.
I’m sure our frantic search contributed, but Lucy (who is very sensitive to our emotional state) was HOWLING and wanted nothing more than to get out of the kennel. Meow. Meow. MEEEOOOOWWWW! She was pressing her face so hard against the bars I thought she was going to hurt herself. MEOWWW! I was pretty sure something like that would leave bruises. Draping a think cloth over the kennel didn’t help. MEOOOW!!!!!! I thought the darkness would calm her down. Nope. Thomas was passed out comfortably within a few seconds of being on the road. We thought maybe she was hot, so we turned up the air. MEOW MEOW MEEEEOW! No change. I tried rubbing her chin through the bars. She liked it but it didn’t change her freaking out. MEOW! IM NOT HAPPY! LET ME OUT! MEOW! It’s hard to describe, but this cat was have an all out nuclear meltdown in the first hour of a long (and sure to be much longer if this kept up) day. A few minutes south of Sacramento we pulled off. We just couldn’t take it anymore and feared she would hurt herself. From the time we decided to let her out and stopping I had decided I was going to put the harness on her and drug her. Well, sort of. We have this “kitty calmer” that’s supposedly a blend of herbal whatnot, but according to the vet also contains some alcohol. The only problem is that they have to drink it for it to work. When we’re traveling they barely eat OR drink OR poop. I did have a bottle that was originally intended to attach to the kennel (but decided to use a dish instead). So I filled up the bottle with water and added some of “the good stuff” and squirted it into her mouth like it was medicine. I was driving now and she was allowed to roam. The stuff must have worked because she spent the next few hours either in my lap or on top of the center console between the front seats- quiet. Thank the Lord for His mercy. We could enjoy our windy, boring view while listening to the book. A few hours later, we were getting hungry and Lucy was up and roaming around. She really wanted to get out of the car. We also needed to top off the tank. So at the next stop we filled up and I attempted to take Lucy out but a semi truck revved up and scared her almost of out my hands. A few new scratch marks. Fun. Back in the car with the quiet and the air conditioner was much better she realized. We got lunch from Jack in the Box before hitting the road again. While Matt had been getting the food, I tried to get Lucy to go outside again. I set her on the ground and she immediately turned back around and hopped into the car. *Sigh*
Around 6pm we started to hit the outskirts of LA.
S.K.T.
Matt taking over the writing…
“Made up my mind to make a new start, Going to California with an aching in my heart. Someone said there is a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.”
-Led Zeppelin
The road was no longer boring, as we started up and down the winding hills heading into L.A. and its northern urban sprawl. And of course, there was a noticeable change in the number of other vehicles on the road with us now. When we punched in our route earlier in the day, Google maps told us to take the 5 until it connected with I-10, and take the 10 East. This sounded like a terrible idea. Why would we want to go further into L.A. than needed? We considered getting off the 5 and heading East on Highway 58 towards Barstow, then South from there. But, in the end we just stayed on the interstates. Caught the 215, rather than staying on the 5 into LA. The traffic got thicker. This is the point where Lucy decided that she was not going to sit still anymore. I couldn’t hold her with me in the passenger seat. She wanted to keep jumping up on the dashboard again and climbing all over Sam. We pulled off the freeway and into a gas station. I took over the driving duties and Lucy was forced back in the kennel. Meow. MEOW. MEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWW! Sorry, Lucy. It is safer to have you loud and caged than quiet and crawling over the driver and the dash. We took 215 to Highway 58, through San Dimas (Excellent!). We caught 10 East from there. It was pretty smooth after an hour or so. The traffic lightened so we pulled over again to let Lucy out of the kennel. She was still stress, so we pulled over again a few miles down the road to throw her back in the kennel. By this time, Thomas was awake and making some noise of his own. Any other day, we would have called it a night and found a motel, but we were about 50 miles from Palm Springs now, so may as well finish the trip. Well into the desert, the cars cleared and the road was mainly full of 18 wheelers doing long haul through the desert. We caught the 111 and finally rolled into Palm Springs around 9pm. Well short of the 12 hour prediction and closer to Google maps 8 hour prediction. We would have been closer to that 8 hour prediction if we hadn’t pulled over so many times due to Her Royal Catness. Sam’s parents, Mike and Sue, were glad to see us. Of Course. The cats were thrilled to be out of the car. Sue had glasses of wine poured for us before we could even settle down. The large guest room, with the king size bed, was all made up and ready for us to move in for a while. We brought in just the necessities and left the unpacking until tomorrow. Some socializing and some wine later, and we were down for the count. The cats were allowed to explore the house a bit, since the birds were already put to bed. Yet again, when it was time for bed and the cats to be in with us in the guest room, Tom was nowhere to be found. We searched the house, and he was eventually found in the master bedroom. Sam tried to pick him up to take him into our room, but he wanted none of it. He flailed and scratcher her pretty bad on her hand. I was dumb enough to try the same thing but I got scratched (though not that bad) and a small hole was put in my Oregon t-shirt. He is obviously having trust issues now, as he probably thinks that every time he is picked up, he is going to be tossed in the kennel. It took both of us to pick him up, by holding his paws together in our hands. He immediately bolted under the bed when we got him in our room. Good night, Tom.
Up Next: This Desert Life (Counting Crows reference)
M.E.
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