SPOTLIGHT, Travels With Lucifer...

So, let's get this straight... Lucifer was the cat. Not my ex.

i've mentioned Lucifer and Joe and the trip before, but it was mostly about the cat. Lucifer, if you recall, was the better traveler of the two. He neither complained nor whined nor argued. Ever...

So, settle down my darlings. Come and sit here, get comfortable and enjoy the show.

In 1976, at the end of our relationship, Joe and I (and Lucifer) decided to try to find somewhere in the United States where we could get along.. Joe, I mean, as the cat and I got along just fine. One of life's great lessons was learned on this trip: If you can't get along here, you can't get along anywhere, especially in a Volkswagon Van with a black cat.

The trip, however, if you filter out the fights, was actually very enjoyable for me. I don't know that Joe liked being on the road. If I think about it (and I rarely do) it wouldn't appeal to his needs for security and some sense of belonging. It was just another proof to me that what I love to do best is truly wonderful.

We headed around the country for almost 4 months, which is a major amount of time. We hit the edges of the United States, mostly, and I'm thinking it was about 30,000 miles. We went to Zion National Park first, and divested ourselves of a lot of ideas for traveling the first few days. We then headed north through my lovely Oregon, and then east clear to Maine. South to Florida and west again to home. This was my first major trip out amongst the English, and I will always remember the good stuff. The VW was a good traveling method, except that Joe drove, as it was a stick shift. The good news was it made him feel macho (because I never let him drive), and yet he didn't have the power in the van to actually chase down and kill anything... or anyone.

We dug for clams in Washington state, and used them for food clear over to the Grand Tetons, where we turned the last of them into clam chowder. We met a bunch of really super people in the campgrounds where we didn't argue, as Joe could be quite charming when he tried. He was the only one catching fish in Yosemite. We had a little brown rooster tail lure that we fixed up every night. He was a GOD in camp.

The argument in the Tetons took a while to figure (I had to decipher what the causes were, or repeat the scene over and over). It was based in Yellowstone. It seems the second time we hit it, it was not as great as the first, and it broke his heart... or something.

sigh...

One of the great things about that trip was the year: 1976. There were 200 year celebrations all over the country, and each little town had their own festivities. Then there were the tall ships in New York, and a lot of stuff near the birthplace of this country. It was a lot of fun.

We stopped in New Jersey to visit Joe's family, which, although EXTREMELY enlightening, wasn't enough to make up for ALL his problems.

We visited Carlsbad Caverns (amazing) and a lot of little 'off the road' places. Shiprock New Mexico was a bit of a letdown, but then you know how I feel about the south west... or south in general (grin).

I'm still looking for some pictures, but most of what we took were slides... Oh what I would have given for a digital camera.

And to have lost Joe somewhere along the way.

The cat could have stayed..