BootsnAll Travel Network



One Bad Cat, That Julian

Originally I wanted to make this entry all about what we brought with us on our trip to give you an idea of what it means to “travel light”, but this afternoon was such a crazy afternoon that I figured that these stories were much more blog-worthy. I’ll write about our inventory another time.

Today we had a big travel day – we left Las Vegas and almost made it to the Grand Canyon. Right now we are staying at a KAO about 50 miles south of the Grand Canyon, and a little west of Flagstaff, Arizona. It hurt to pass up a National Forest Campsite just a mile down the road, but the pool, playground and Wi-Fi are too much to pass up. We strategically requested the campsite that was close to the KOA office and kitty-corner to the playground. This way we could let William and Julian run over to the playground and exert some of their pent-up energy while still in sight. After a while, Matthias went over to check on them and comes back a few minutes later –“Where’s Julian?” he asks. I answer “I don’t have Julian, he was with you!” It is immediately clear that neither one of us knows where Julian is and what he was up to. We both do a quick scan of our environment – we peruse the RVs and pick-up trucks mottling our surroundings and we see no Julian, which is not good. Matthias calls his name and we hear nothing. We start running in the direction of the office. When I hear him crying I look up and I can’t even believe what I see. He is on the freakin’ roof of the KOA office. He’s on the ROOF!!!! And he is crying and stumbling towards me with arms wide open like a drunken man. How is this even possible? My frame of reference of what is possible in the world is coming crashing down.
KOA near the Grand Canyon
I rush into the office and push myself to the front of the line, terrified that Julian will fall off the roof any second. “My son is on the roof. How do I get up onto the roof?” No one looks all that alarmed. “He’s 2 years old. I need to get up to the roof immediately and get him down.” The woman in front of me turns to her co-worker who is checking in some new “kampers” and says “Uhh, I think you need to help this woman right now.” I re-explain and this rotund woman lumbers her way up on to the roof. On the way up she is a bit perplexed, “The stairs are on the back side of the building and they are really overgrown with weeds I don’t know how he could have gotten up there.” We get up to the roof and I see what an oasis of hazards it is. First, the stairs have no railings. Next, I see there is only a small narrow pathway that was intended for walking along the perimeter of the roof. If Julian had decided to cut across he might have fallen through the wide gaps between buildings, or even worse, fallen into the pool. When I finally get to him he is standing on the corner of the building, about a foot away from the edge and about 12 feet above a group of approx. 15 RV-ers wondering how in the world he got up there in the first place.
We felt safe back at our campsite, but about 5 minutes later he walks into an open door of the Yoda Van which results in this big gash on his forehead. 10 minutes after that, he falls off the picnic table and lands on his head. Shortly after that, he tried to drink the bottle of dishwashing liquid left on the table (not the first time he has tried that). Later we went swimming and Matthias throws Julian to me in the water (something we do all the time). However, I wasn’t ready and Julian sinks to the bottom. He was under the water for all of 3 seconds, but you should have seen us scrambling to get him up to the top. As I write this he is sleeping soundly (yes I checked that he is still breathing), but one thing is for sure – this cat of ours definitely has more than 9 lives.

In the meantime we went to the Grand Canyon. We spent the night at a great campsite in the National Park. We did a few walks around the park, but the easiest trails were the Rim Trails, and walking along the edge of the Grand Canyon just didn’t seem like the right thing to do with Julian right now. The drive south from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff was really amazing. Next we are going to work our way down to Albuquerque and stay with my Aunt.

We do have some good news though – the knocking has completely stopped. However, we also have some bad news – we appear to be loosing oil. We’re searching the net for good mechanics in Albuquerque and we’ll keep you posted.

 



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