By John Toth
The Bulletin
We recently escaped to the hideout, all five of us - two humans and three cats.
We have made the trip many times with the cats. It’s fairly routine by now, including the accidents that they surprise us with. When that happens, we stop the car as soon as we can and take care of it.
We’re crazy, right? Traveling with dogs is normal, but who travels with cats? We do. They each have their own carrier, and after we reach our destination, they are let out into the hideaway and make themselves right at home.
The hideaway was their first home. We found them there as kittens, and they decided to adopt us. They are full-time house cats. When we leave them home on shorter trips, they get the best of care twice a day while we’re gone. And, they are spoiled rotten, of course.
When we prepare for a trip, they start hiding from us. They hate being in the car, but that’s a small price to pay to be with us during longer stays. Unfortunately for them, we know their favorite hiding places, so we gather them up and place them in the carriers waiting for them in the car.
We got on the road a little earlier than usual this time. Even before we left the city limits, I started smelling something that indicated that at least one cat had an accident. That would not be unusual. Sometimes it happens pretty early in the trip.
I pulled into a parking lot and started checking the carriers. Nothing. They were all dry and didn’t smell. The smell in the carrier is a dead giveaway that the cat and the carrier need deep cleaning. I have everything I need in the car, placed strategically so that I can get right to it.
Cats hate a soiled carrier, but they also hate traveling in carriers on long trips. So, unless we smell something, we tend to ignore their complaints.
Sharon, my wife and travel editor, couldn’t believe that the cats were clean. We resumed our trip. In a few minutes, I started noticing the same smell.
Could it be my breath? Just in case, we stopped at another convenience store, where I went to the restroom and bought chewing gum.
I started chewing a piece, and I gave one to Sharon. I checked the cats again before resuming our trip - all clean.
The smell persisted.
We still had the bulk of the trip ahead of us and had stopped twice already. The time we gained by leaving early was now gone. I opened a window and smelled a fragrant wax tart that was left in the car from a previous trip. That seemed to do the job - for a while.
Sharon could smell it better than me. Ever since she got her sinus surgery, she can smell really well. Sometimes, too well. I have to be careful around her now.
What’s that smell?
Then it dawned on me. Sharon was in the backyard feeding squirrels and birds before we left. These squirrels are fat and don’t need feeding, but she does it anyway. I figure that I’d rather have them eat on the fence and tree than in my attic, so I don’t mind.
“Sharon, check the bottom of your sneakers,” I said.
She lifted her right foot, and there it was. The case of the mystery smell was solved. All we had to do now was to clean it up.
“Look what you put our poor cats through,” I said. “They are totally innocent.”
For now, they were.
The sneaker sole got cleaned up with antibacterial wipes and a spray can of hand sanitizer. Problem solved. Then we stopped at another convenience store to throw away the soiled stuff.
“Your shoes never looked cleaner,” I remarked.
The cats were the best behaved ever on this trip. They made it to the hideaway without an accident. After they were inspected twice, they didn’t dare.
Overall, it was a nice trip, except for the first part, which was kind of shi… . Never mind.
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