June 26, 2013: Re-do; Do-over; Rewind...

June 26, 2013:  Re-do; Do-over; Rewind...

 It is 4:45 am and I hear my spouse...  Let's go get that cat.  You heard it right... The man that agonizes over not getting the best deal on gas in the county wants to go back the 300+ miles to pick up a stray cat.  Of course, Ruby is not just any stray cat.  She slept with us!  You all know that once you sleep with someone, it changes the dynamics of your relationship.  And he just couldn't get Ruby off his mind.

So, within 35 minutes, under the special bright moon, Hannah is ready to go.  We debated whether taking Hannah was the right thing, but given that we had no idea what was in store for us, we decided to take her.  At 5:22 am, we head out to beat the rush hour traffic for Salt Lake City and Provo. 

We watched the sun come up and there is still snow on the mountains.  Funny we didn't notice it yesterday going the opposite way.  Spouse was agonizing over potential fates for Ruby.  What if she didn't get a home?  What if winter came and nobody had taken her?  What if a wild animal got her?

Oh, what if we can't find her?  He was devising various plans of operations.  First, we would try and find her and if we couldn't, we would spend the night in our same spot.  I am not sure it occurred to him that the spot might be in use by somebody else!  One scenario after another was pouring from his brain.  Since I was only one step this side of comatose, I did not pay much attention.   I ultimately did wake up and told him to stop agonizing and we would deal with it when we got there.

It took us 5 and 1/2 hours to get there.  I was quite impressed that he did not complain about getting fuel.  As usual, he is always looking for the best deal on fuel.  When he saw diesel for $3.79, he figured he would top off the tank.  He pulled in and was immediately blocked by a delivery truck, and there was a pole on the side and there was no diesel available.  We had to get the delivery truck to move as we could not maneuver around the pole with the truck there.  There is one part of hwy. 89 where the grasshoppers swarm by the gazillions.  It is an all out assault on the truck and Hannah.  Just more of the adventure!

We pulled into Ruby's campground and went to 'our' spot.  We called, we called... no kitty.  We fanned out left, right and center and the next thing you know, Ruby comes running.  Now we must try and capture her without getting maimed.

 Spouse got some food, she was impressed.  We talked to her and she walked around, staying under an RV playing coy.  I kissed for her.  She came, I gently picked her up and we put her in Hannah, thinking this would be familiar to her.  She was not real keen on it.  So we picked her up and put her on Crew's lap in the truck and left. 

 During this cat and mouse process, we checked out her wounds and realized she is a HE.  A few wounds around the base of his tail, but he was rather nonplussed by the whole ordeal, and he settled down on Crew for the ride.  He didn't cry or struggle.  At one point, I put him on my lap and he was so relaxed, his entire body was limp as he slept.

After a few hours of driving back through another grasshopper assault, we got to a city and picked up cat litter and other kitty supplies.  WE put him in Hannah hoping he would go, but he was a little freaked so we all got back in the truck and headed to our camp.  Ruby (we are keeping the name even though it is a male - maybe it is short for Ruben...) crawled under the back seat and went to sleep.

When we got back to our point of origination, we put Ruby in the head with his litter box while we set Hannah up.  When we let him out, he was a little shy at first.  Within a half hour, he was laying on the couch purring.

We have no idea how old he is.  He needs to be fixed.  He has 6 toes on his front paws, so I often call him 'Ruby 6 toes'.  He purrs, he loves to be brushed. We are not sure if he knows what a litter box is.  Spouse took him outside on a leash and he peed, so we may have a disconnect there!   We don't know if this will be a good fit for us, but if it isn't , we will make sure he has a good home.

 After our 13 hour odyssey, I finally got to do a little power walking...  Tomorrow, the road trip resumes!  And maybe I will get some pix of our new addition.