Kat in a Tin_Can

Planning a road trip in our RV, always presents us with a dilemma: Do we board our cat, get a pet sitter or neighbor to come in, or take her with us.?   

We have tried all four solutions and none of them are entirely satisfactory.

Boarding KAT is the least desirable option.  She absolutely goes nuts in a cage, is terrified by the other animals at the animal hospital, won’t eat, and shows sign of post traumatic stress syndrome for weeks after we return.

A pet sitter and neighbors  coming into our home works out a bit better, but it is expensive (for the sitter)  and feels like an imposition on the friendship to ask of a neighbor   Plus, at best,  the caretakers only come in for a few minutes once a day so KAT gets very lonely, and acts very neurotic and needy when we get home.

Taking her with us usually works out the best  as long as it is not a long road trip

The good news is that unlike most cats she doesn’t yowl, scream, and fight to get out, or hide.  Instead KAT actually seems to enjoy traveling with us in the RV.( or maybe she just remembers how unhappy she is with the alternatives.)

As soon as we take off she hops on the back of Bruce’s head rest and settles down to watch the road.   

If we come to a city or other stop-n-go traffic areas she hops on my lap to look out the window. (I always take a clothes brush when traveling with Kat)

A full stop (like at this Florida toll booth) will have her stretching to look out the front window.

And she loves to smell at the air vents for the different scents of the areas we are travel through.

When we arrive at our destination she settles down in the front  window of the RV to sleep or enjoy a sun bath,   

or she looks out the side windows, 

and  even ventures outside with us  (on her leash and harness). I usually take her for a walk on the leash and harness at both dawn and dusk, which seems to satisfy both her curiosity and her need for exercise.

Taking KAT with us seems to work out well as long as the trip is shorter than a week, she gets exercised regularly, and we are not around other animals.

The bad news is that the longer the trip the greater the odds that we won’t be able to keep her mentally and physically stimulated.  Then she starts behaving like “a cat in a tin can” (That’s what one of my friends calls RV traveling with her cat.).

I can’t always walk KAT… sometimes there are too many kids and/or dogs in an area, or too much traffic and she gets scared and wants to get back in the RV.  Sometimes the weather doesn’t permit us going out, and/,or we don’t arrive until late at night.  Unless she gets exercise she gets antsy, and keeps us awake at night trying to see out the windows next to the bed.

She also gets upset if she scents other animals on us.  She meowed all night after we visited ever so briefly with a friend who had multiple cats in her home.

And worst of all, she seems to get bored with being inside and wants desperately to go outside and explore without a leash.  I swear Kat used five of her nine lives on this last trip to Florida when she escaped from the RV three times.    The first two times were in Key Largo where she hid in a mangrove thicket.  Eventually she came home on her own volition…. But not before I got chewed up alive by mosquitoes trying to coaxes her out.

The third time was in St Augustine FL where she got away from Bruce at 5 am.  at got fed up with being confined to a "tin can" and ran away.  It took us another five days or searching door to door, and calling until we were horse, and two thousand additional miles of travel, but Yup, we did get her back.. Another RVer who travels with cats recognized her from the descriptions we had left and managed to trap her in their animal carrier.   We drove back to St Augustine   in the middle of the night to rescue her.  So at least the story has a happy ending

The Kat clinker

BJ  helping Kat jail break in the middle of the night in St Augustine FL

She is one lucky kitty.  She could be alligator or crocodile’s snack. 

St Augustine FL 11 '08

St Augustine Lighthouse

 After a short drive across the state of Florida, we arrived in St Augustine quite early the next morning.

Fort Mantazas

  We had plenty of time for site seeing so we went to some of the oldest and most historic areas first... like Fort Mantazas.

St Augustine City Hall

 Then we headed off of the old Spanish portions of the city.  For the most part the shops were hawking  a boring collection of tourist souvenirs, but the architecture was worth the visit.

Flagler College

Staug Museum

After a really lovely lunch we headed to our RV campsite which was outside of the city positioned on a small barrier island  between the marsh and the Atlantic Ocean..

We had time for one more beautiful sunset before  settling down for a good night sleep before the long drive home

Kat changed thos plans on us, but that is a story for another blog post.

RIP, Harold Jacobs 11 '08

We departed New Port Richie late evening on the evening of the 23^rd,  and drove through central Florida  to Ocala where Bruce’s father is buried.  As soon as the National Cemetery opened its gates we went to his gravesite to visit and to pay  our respect.

In spite of the smile he put on for the camera,  Bruce was very somber for the remainder of the day.

RIP Harold Jacobs

Ft Lauderdale FL to New Port Richie, FL 11 '08

St Petersburg Bridge

Sunday morning we headed due west across the state.  The trip took us through the Everglades, where we saw lots of Alligators and American crocodiles basking on the banks of the highway.  Arriving in Fort Meyers, we turned and followed the Gulf Coast North to New Port Richie (just a little North of St Petersburg, FL) which is a Greek fishing port. 

Robin, Cheryl and BJ

It is also home to two of Bruce’s childhood chums: Robin Low Salis and Cheryl Coopersmith and their spouses Teddy and Hal.  We all met at the “Sponge Docks” for a delectable Greek seafood dinner and lots of reminiscing about growing up in Hull.

Dinner and reminiscing at Paul's Shrimp

For Bruce and Robin and Cheryl, the walk down memory lane was fun, for me (as an outsider) it was a fascinating live example of how one builds a “Memory Palace”.   First the three of them laid out the major geographic features of Hull:  Here is the ocean and here is the bay and here is Strawberry Hill. Then they would agree upon the major streets joining these features e.g. here is Beach Ave along the Ocean, and here is Kenburma Street crossing the peninsula.  Then they each added the street where they had lived and populated it with other mutually known families and chums e.g.  Bruce provided Touraine Ave and placed Alice Cohen as living across and down a couple doors from him. They coached each other on their neighbor’s childhood persona, and then caught each other up on any current news they had of that person.  Having agreed upon their own block’s population, they began to systematically work out landmark by landmark, street by street, building by building, and friend by friend.  They added lesser - known but agreed upon landmarks (like the Jewish youth center) as physical reference for where their childhood friends had resided e.g. Michael Colton lived across from the lot that was used for a winter ice skating rink Then they began to include other family and community members in the map.  Joey and Lenny Silvas’s grandfather, who built many of the houses on Touraine Street, lived in the house behind Michael Colton , and the high school history teacher, Charles Whiner  lived over nearby.  By the time the dinner was over, the entire town and all of its 1960s residents had been brought back to memory and their history lovingly updated.  To all those who grew and loved one another in Hull, may you live long and prosper.

Robin, CC and BJ

Key West, FL. Nov 20th - 22, 08

Nov 20^th- 22, 08 Key West, FL.

Bruce was wrong about the seas being calmer.  Small craft warnings kept the dive-boats docked all the way to Key West.  Fortunately, he was right about the weather being warmer so we were able to at least walk around and enjoy the sites.

Key West Light House

Key West is an artist’s delight….lots of beautiful vistas, unique architecture, and brilliantly pure light.   

Hemingway's House

Key West Fl Architecture

I had been there on a business trip some 15 years ago.  It had grown and become a little more commercial, but much of its laid back charm remained. 

Denny's Key west Fl.

  Even its Denny’s restaurant looked quaint.
Bruce had never been to Key West at all, so he was happy to walk around seeing all the “southern-most” tourist sites,

Southern most tip of contiguous USA

Southern most Key West Fl  Mileage market

Art Galleries and Shops in Key West FL

and visiting all of their art galleries.

 One of the things we enjoyed the most was seeing all the roosters wandering around loose.

 One of the things we enjoyed the most was seeing all the roosters wandering around loose.  They were everywhere.  I even saw one standing in an open door of a Catholic Church.  He looked so proud and red against the darkened interior.

The RV camp ground we stayed in at Key West was lovely and peaceful. 

BJ relaxing at our RV camp in Key West FL

Both of us enjoyed watching the fishing boats bobbing in the harbor,

Pelicans on the dock of the RV camp

  the pelicans begging for fish, and again some wonderful sun rises and sunsets.

Key West Florida Sunset Nov 21 '08

Scuba Diving , Key Largo FL 11/19/08

Here are some photos Bruce took while scuba diving off of the coast of Key Largo, FL on Nov 19,'08

Angel fish

The selection is not a lot different than what we find in South Carolina, but the water is a lot clearer in Florida.

A Ray

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Coral

 

Sea fan

Barracuda

Sponges

Grouper

Lobster

Puffer