Pumpkin

For those of you who’ve followed a while, you’ll know I lived in my camper for a few years and vowed never to have pets again. Mr. Virgo’s little dog died just three months before he did and it was all just too much. I didn’t want to lose any more beloveds. Then, when I came off the road, I inherited a farm cat I dubbed “Boy Cat”. When I was gone on a trip over Thanksgiving, I came home to a tiny little kitten with exactly the same markings as the long-haired big boy except he had a short, sleek coat. I named him “Kitty Boy”.

While Boy Cat eventually warmed up to me and marked me as his by rubbing his face on my legs, Kitty Boy was as wild as wild could be and took off like a shot if he saw you. No rubs and chirps, but he came back every day to be fed and slept soundly through the winter in his bed box complete with an electric warming pad. While not a terribly enthusiastic cat person, I came to love them and watching their antics around the farm.

Boy Cat and Kitty Boy

When the time came to move to join Mr. FixIt at the Ponderosa, the farm kitties moved quite happily to my cousin’s barn down the road and adjusted well. Fast forward to Halloween 2019. Mr. FixIt and I had been married a year and I took off for several weeks camping all around the state of West Virginia in the Girl Camper Raffle Trailer. When I returned, here was this little black kitten someone had dumped and Mr. FixIt had been feeding him. I wasn’t thrilled to be tied down with another pet, but when this little thing shot straight to me like she’d been waiting forever to see me…well, let’s just say…she’s home.

We woke up yesterday morning and decided it was THE day to take TOW-Wanda down to Setzer’s World of Camping to get some leaks fixed. We haven’t moved that camper for at least two years…maybe three. As a matter of fact, we weren’t really sure when we camped in her last…save for sleeping out there in the field at the Ponderosa. All four tires and the spare were low on air so I got them pumped up. Mr. FixIt struggled and finally got the big tarp off of her. The battery was dead so we had to plug her into shore power to raise her up with the electric tongue jack.

Towing TOW-Wanda to Setzer’s

It was already near noon by the time we got her completely hooked up and ready to go. I went and closed the doors to the car. Mr. FixIt went to close the doors to the bay. We were sweating buckets. We grabbed a couple of electrolyte drinks and hopped in the truck for the three hour drive to Huntington.

When we got there, we went inside to register with Matt in the service department and told him all the things we wanted fixed. We visited a little while, then went back out to unhook the camper so the tractor could pull it into the shop. I needed a tool to unhook the weight distribution hitch so I went over to the storage compartment in the belly of the camper. When I opened the hatch door, I stood there so confused for a few seconds. There was Pumpkin! She cautiously peeked her head out and looked around…sniffing the air.

Now, Pumpkin is like most cats I’ve ever known. She’ll let you pet her for a few seconds then when she’s had enough, she’ll turn around and bite you a good one! Not this time. I picked her up and she literally climbed me and planted her head under my chin. Bless her heart! It never occurred to us that she would have jumped into the belly of the camper. And she’s black as night so you would never see her in there with all the gear and cargo we carry.

Pumpkin Peeks Out From Her New Roomy Carrier

Fortunately, she was no worse for the wear. We gave her a drink and sat with her for a while in the truck, running the air conditioning so she’d cool off. We stopped at the first Walmart we came to and bought a collapsible pop-up pet carrier and got her settled in on a nice clean blanket and hit the road home. She does really well in the car on the interstate. And she does fine for the short ride to town, which she often makes with Mr. FixIt. But you put this poor kitty in the car and go very far on these twisty turny West Virginia roads and she lets loose from every orifice. I don’t know what to do about that. The only time we ever go far is when we have to take her to the vet…or, when she’s a stowaway on an illicit adventure, apparently.

From now on, we’ll double and triple check compartments on the camper when we leave for a trip. This could have had disastrous results, and should serve as a warning to others, but fortunately…all it left us with was a very snuggly kitty…and some blog fodder!

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“The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.”

Psalm 145:9 ESV