Rafael's Incredible Journey Part 4 - Coming Home

We were now just over a week away from the trip home so it was time to turn our attention to preparations for the trip. Part of that was anticipating what we would need to get Raffy into the country. The government site was not really clear about what was required. We knew he needed to be vaccinated. That much was clear. He had his first vaccinations on his very first appointment and he would have the second one the day before we would fly home. The vet where he had his big surgery told us he would not be able to get into Canada if he had stitches in so we planned on getting them out just before we left.  One of the big concerns I had was returning from a country that was known for drug trafficking with a cat that had a big incision in his stomach. I spoke to Dr. Val about this and she understood completely. She said that she would provide us with detailed paperwork to explain to customs what had been done. Raffy had to have ultra sounds to check for blood and air in his abdomen the first 2 days he was home from the hospital and then every other day after that. He had a total of four procedures that took us to the Wednesday before we came home.  His final appointment was the day before we flew home. He got his stitches out and was declared completely healthy. We were told he would have a normal life expectancy!  With his  paperwork in hand we left the vet clinic for the last time.

That last week was crazy.  We had to get our Covid tests and say goodbye to our many friends. The government created an app that we had to complete after we got our test results, we had to get our laundry done and then there was packing. Everything had to be done around Raffy's appointments.  

On Wednesday Raffy had his last ultrasound. When we got back from that we went to the grocery store to buy some items we were taking home with us. I felt lousy when we got back from shopping so I laid down. I slept the afternoon away and Rick woke me up to go get something to eat. I was really nauseous so I didn’t eat much. When we returned home I was violently sick to my stomach and a fever set in. That lasted until the next day and then I was ok. We had to get our Covid tests done that day and I was a little worried.  

On Friday Rick had the same thing happen to him. We figured that it was something we both ate that caused this illness. We did have a discussion about what we would do if one or both of us tested positive. Raffy took care of us by snuggling and sleeping with us. The timing was very bad, though. We had plans to meet our friend Jerry for Breakfast at 9:00 am and then Raffy was getting his stitches out at 11:00. Rick had given the wrong email address for my Covid test results so I left early for breakfast so I could stop at the lab to sort that out and get my results.  He received his and was negative. Then the cab I had booked for the trip to the vet did not show up so I walked to the square and got another one. He had no idea where to go, but I knew my way to the Vet’s and was able to help him navigate. Rick was still pretty sick when I got back from Raffy’s appointment so I went around town and visited our friends to say goodbye. We cancelled our dinner plans and then I finished packing. Raffy seemed very excited as I packed. He jumped in and out of each suitcase, inspecting the contents. It seemed like he knew he was coming home with us.

              

                                 

Raffy was the last thing we needed to pack. We decided earlier in the week that we would take his collar off so that he could be as comfortable as possible in the carrier. On Thursday Rick went and bought an Elastoplast bandage and some gauze so about 30 minutes before our transport was due to arrive we wrapped him up and put him in his carrier. The scariest part of the entire trip was going through airport security. Raffy’s carrier had to be put through the x-ray machine and Rick had to carry Raffy through his x-ray. If you have ever gone through security at the Cancun airport you know it is crazy! Thousands (I am NOT exaggerating) of people all trying to get through and, for the first time, I heard dogs barking and cats expressing their displeasure. I knew that Raffy would be scared and want to bolt. Thankfully we got through that without incident and then it was just a matter of waiting to board our flight. Raffy did not like the take-off and we could see him trying to get the top of the carrier open to get out. Rick was able to open the top enough to get a couple of fingers in to pet him and comfort him. He settled down and then I think he slept the rest of the flight.

 


We landed on time and I figured once we got all the paperwork and inspections done we would be at least 2 hours. This was our first trip since Covid hit and we knew that would probably complicate things. So, we presented our passports, answered all the questions asked and then were directed to see the people “through the door” to clear Raffy into Canada. Since everyone had to go “through the door” we were confused as to where to go. We asked one of the official looking guys and, as it happens, he was who we were supposed to see. There were actually 2 gentlemen there and Rick chatted with both of them about his (and their) Jeeps. One of the Gentlemen looked in the mesh window of the carrier and asked me if Raffy was healthy. I told him (honestly) “Yes!” He said “Ok, let me get you your paperwork.” Just like that Raffy was a citizen of Canada. We were randomly selected for another Covid test so we got that done and we were out of the airport less than an hour after landing. It seems like Raffy was given a proper welcome to Canada as there was a major snow storm happening. In spite of this we made the hour long drive home from the airport without incident and we were all relieved to walk into our home. 

Raffy was isolated from the rest of our herd for the first week, while he was still wearing his cone. We were debating taking to our vet to have his incision checked because it was still scabbed over and did not appear to be healing. Instead we decided to use some cream on it to soften the scab so we could get it off without causing pain. We first tried Aloe cream (without alcohol) but that still seemed to sting and cause pain. Then we decided on Ozenol. I have used that in the past to treat cuts on cats. Sure enough, by the next day half of the scab had come off. The rest of it came off the next day and by the end of the week the incision was pretty much healed.

Throughout this week we slowly introduced our other boys to Raffy. The first meeting with Bart was a little rocky but subsequent visits were good. The other introductions went well. We did not introduce the girls. We knew they would be hissing at him and letting them know they ruled the house no matter when they met. When we opened the door and let him out he slowly made his way downstairs and the boys gave him the sniff test. He must have passed because there was no drama at all! As expected the girls hissed at him whenever he got close.

As Raffy recovered more, he realized he could run and play like any young cat. Watching him test his limits only to find out he doesn't have any has been fun and we have discovered he is very mischievous! It is apparent that he is still a kitten inside. We have started to call him "Raffy the Wrecker" for good reason. 

Raffy’s incredible journey started less than 10 weeks ago. In that time he went from a very sick, limited ability cat who struggled to breath, even at rest, and weighed only a kilo to a healthy, active cat in a new forever home in a completely different country. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters that he loves to torment. He now has a normal life expectancy and his incredible journey will continue.

Rafael's Incredible Journey Part 3 - The Big Surgery

We took Raffy back to the apartment and let him out so he could pee and poop in the garden. He was very hungry and he ate like he had never seen food before! His diet became a big focus for us. He was very underweight and malnourished so we needed to make him as healthy and strong ahead of this surgery as possible in just a few days. We went that night and got some Whiskas hard kitten food and some soft kitten food as well as packets of adult food. Kitten food is usually higher in nutrients and things to help a young cat thrive so it was our best chance at giving him some strength in a very short time. He was given packets of soft food every 4 hours through the day and all the hard food he could eat in between. We thought that we would hear from Dr. Val on Friday about when the surgery would be. When we didn’t hear, I sent her an email. I knew that she was likely waiting to hear from the clinic in Cancun but the email made me feel like I was actually doing something useful rather than just waiting. She answered me quickly, telling me she was waiting for the surgeon to get back to her. It was Friday night and we knew we would have to wait at least until Monday before we heard anything.

Monday arrived and I resisted the urge to email Dr. Val again. Rick asked if maybe we should call and see if there was any news. We both knew we just needed to be patient. Meanwhile, Raffy decided to go wandering after breakfast and he did not come back until late afternoon. It was the first time in over 2 weeks he had not hung out with us all day and we were worried that something had happened to him. He finally reappeared around 4:30, covered in lint and cobwebs. Wherever he had been had not been very clean, but he didn’t care. He was very hungry as well, having missed at least 2 meals. We fed him and then he went and cured up on the bed and went to sleep. That night at 7:15 Dr.Val texted us. She said the only opening they had for the surgery in Cancun was the next day at noon. We took it without hesitation, even though it was the one day that we said we were not available. We expected to have more notice, but I think the short notice was actually better. No time to think about it, just enough time to work out how to get him there and to prepare him for the trip. We closed him in the bedroom right away and tried to sneak in an extra meal. He was not allowed to eat or drink after midnight so we left food for him down until around 11:00 pm.

Raffy usually snuggled with me when I first went to bed. I read each night and sometimes I would play a game. He was fascinated with the movement and colors and would just lay there and stare at the screen. That night I whispered to him as he watched. I told him he needed to be strong and fight and to never give up, no matter how weak he felt or how much pain he had. I told him he was loved and he had a new, long life ahead of him where he would never be hungry again and where he would be able to run and play as much as he wanted. I knew this was very risky surgery. The vet was very clear on that when she told us he needed it. The odds were only 50/50 that he would survive it and that was a best case scenario. I spent much of that night wondering if we were doing the right thing. In the end, I knew he deserved a chance at a good life.

 

The next morning I was concerned that he had not been able to poop or pee for 12 hours already and it would probably be at least another 12 hours. I rigged up a litter box using anything I could find and added some dirt from the garden where he normally did his business. He understood right away what it was for and did his business immediately. At least we knew he would be a little bit more comfortable. At 10:15 we loaded him up and left for our friend Jerry’s shop. We had messaged him the night before about the appointment time in Cancun and that we would meet him at 10:30. We got to his shop only to find he was not there. I messaged him right away, but when we hadn’t heard within 5 minutes we headed for the taxi stand. Negotiating a 30 minute trip’s price can be tricky, especially at the last minute. We talked to a driver on the weekend who quoted us 1200 pesos each way. This was expensive but we had no choice. We couldn’t find his contact information, though, so we had to try to get the best price from the taxi’s waiting for passengers. Lucky for us the day was slow and the drivers needed the business. The first taxi we came to was driven by Carlos. He quoted us $1000 pesos return trip and would wait for us in Cancun. What a deal! We gave him the address and off we went. He found the clinic easily and told us to take our time. We assured him we just had to drop Raffy off and we would be right back. Just another instance where we were wrong. 

This Vet clinic was large and very busy. There were lots of people in the waiting room, some filling in paperwork and others waiting to see a vet. We explained who we were and why we were there. The girl at the counter nodded and then smiled and disappeared into the back. Another lady came out and spoke to us in English. They acted like they had no idea what we were talking about and there was not any appointment for Raffy. I explained everything to her, gave her the card for our vet who had referred us. She sat us in a little alcove and said she would be back, that she had to confirm everything with the local clinic. She came back a few minutes later and told us we could not both be in the office due to Covid restrictions. Rick left to tell the Taxi driver that we would be longer than expected and I stayed with Raffy. He came back in about 10 minutes and I left. We rotated in and out for what seemed like a long time. Finally the girl came back and said everything was worked out and she would be taking Raffy to the back now. She said the vet would call after the surgery to let us know how things went. She did tell me it would be later in the evening, after all surgeries were done. Just like that he was gone.

 


Time moved very slowly that day. We had a very subdued dinner to celebrate my birthday and checked the phone frequently in case the vet texted me instead of phoning. The call finally came around 8:30 that night. Raffy had come through the surgery and was resting comfortably. I asked about next steps - if we came to get him in the morning or what was next. She spoke very cautiously and said there was a problem with his lungs and they would have to watch him carefully over night. She said I should call at 10:0 am to find out how he did over night. I spent another night again wondering if we had done the right thing.

 

As soon as the clock rolled to 10:00 am we were on the phone with the vet to get the report on Raffy. They told us he did well overnight, was eating and in good spirits! It is difficult to describe how relieved I was to hear this news! They told us he would have to stay another night so they could monitor him. They had to do a follow up ultrasound to ensure there was no fluid build up in his chest and told us we could call again at 5:00 pm for another update. Our 5:00 pm update was similar to the morning one: He was eating and in good spirits. They told us we would probably be able to pick him up tomorrow morning so advised us to call at 10:00 am to confirm that. We booked our taxi (Carlos again) and prepared for Raffy’s return. We needed to get more kitten food and set up a litter box for him. The vet advised us that he would need to be kept quiet so that he does rip his internal stitches. With just over a week until we left for home, this meant that Raffy would never again be able to walk in the garden or go to any of the places he had, up until now, called home. I found that sad, but knew it meant a completely new beginning for this little guy.

 

The next morning we called at 10:00 am to get the “Raffy report” and get our instructions for bringing him home. We spoke to the vet first and were advised that we would need to bring him to our local vet tomorrow for a follow-up ultrasound. They said that they would inform Dr. Val of this requirement. I immediately sent a text to her requesting an appointment, knowing that the busy clinics could take all day for their communication to happen. We were again advised that he would have to be kept quiet to prevent his internal stitches from tearing. We advised the vet that we would be arriving between 11:30 - 12:00 to pick him up. The vet said fine and transferred us to the reception desk to make an appointment. Reception told us we could come at 1:00 pm and we asked for an earlier time because we had a taxi booked for 11:00. They agreed to set our time for 11:30. We didn’t know if we would get there in only 30 minutes, but we accepted it. Carlos was early and traffic was light so we made it with 10 minutes to spare. As it happens we waited about 30 minutes before he was brought out to us. We were given pain meds as well as an antibiotic for the next few days and we were warned again to keep him quiet for the next week or so. Then we had to put a cone on him to stop him from licking his incision. He was less than impressed.

 

We expected that Raffy would be a little sleepy and not want to move around much. We could not have been more wrong! He ran around, jumping from bed to bed and running from one of us to the other. He was still bleeding from his neuter and seeing the bits of blood was a little alarming. No matter what we did we could not calm him down and keep him quiet as advised. We decided to put him back in his carrier for a little while to contain him. An hour later we took him out. He was a little calmer but still more active that we would have liked. We took turns laying down with him and that helped. 

Once he calmed down a little we took a good look at him. The incision was large, but I expected it to be bigger. His two front legs were both shaved, so it looked like he was wearing socks. His belly was shaved, as expected, and he had a large patch shaved from his side, where they had been doing the ultra sounds. As funny as he looked with all these bald patches, we thought he was the most handsome cat we had ever seen!

Rafael's incredible Journey - Part 2 - Time to visit the Vet

 

The Vet Adventure

So far it seemed like a simple plan. The first step was to find a Vet clinic. Sounds simple, but bear in mind we are in another country where we did not speak the language. Rick did a Google search and, much to our surprise, there were 5 clinics listed in our small town. He went through all of the reviews and determined that we would go to one called La Vet del Puerto. We just needed to make the appointment. Easy, right? No. We contacted the clinic on Saturday and the lady who answered the phone did not speak any English. We asked our friend, Jerry, to help us. We went to his shop on Monday and he called for us. After a lengthy conversation we determined that they would see us that evening and no one in the clinic spoke English. We downloaded a translation app on our iPhone that we use while in Mexico and prepared to take the little guy for his check up. It was going to be an adventure for all of us. Also, some time between our first call on Saturday and the next call on Monday the long term plan changed again. IF Raffy was healthy (No FIV or Leukemia, presence of tumors or any cancer) we would bring him back to Canada with us and find him a home. We had worked with a couple of rescues and would try to tap into their networks. I actually knew then that he would be joining our herd and would not be going to a different home, but I went along with "the plan".

At some point, even before calling the Vet, we decided that he needed a proper name. Tony did not fit and we were calling him by a few different names. I suggested BoB (Bag of Bones. He really was just skin and bones. You could feel every rib and spinal bones when you petted him.) However, Rick decided he would be called Rafael, for the street where he lived. Of course we never called him that. It was quickly shortened to Raffy.

I do not ever recall being so stressed out over a visit to the Vet or having so many challenges to make it happen. Our first challenge was that we had no carrier. There was no chance that we would be able to purchase one before the appointment as it would mean a trip to a big city like Cancun or Playa Del Carmen and we did not have time to make that trip. Rick figured it would be no problem. He would just carry him. I had my doubts. He would probably be scared and if he got away from us there was little chance we would get him back. In the end, we had no choice but to carry him and hope for the best. We tried to wrap him like a burrito and put him in our backpack to ease his stress a little. Our failure to get him wrapped was epic. In the end Rick held him against his chest and I zipped up his hoodie so Raffy was somewhat secured. I feared Rick would be cut to shreds by Raffy’s very sharp claws long before we arrived at the vet..

Our next challenge was finding the clinic. Mexican addresses are not like we see in Canada. The address on line was Calle Chaca, MZ 43, Lt 18, Colonia SM17 CP. 77580. This was in a part of town that we were not familiar with and Google Maps really was not helpful. We hoped that the Taxi driver would know exactly where it was. He did not. Many of the Taxi drivers did not speak English. Some of them did, and we hoped that we got one of them. We did not. So we got in the cab and waited while the driver consulted with the other taxi drivers to figure out where the address was. Finally he shrugged and off we went. We did get on the correct street but he could not find the proper address so he dropped us off in front of a hotel. So there we were, standing on a busy street not knowing where the heck to go. There was a candy shop near the hotel so Rick went in and asked the lady there if she knew where to go. She did not know the address, but noticed it was a Vet clinic and was able to direct us. It turned out it was just a half block away!

There are some places on this earth that just exude a positive, happy vibe. This small Vet clinic was one of these places. There were 4 or 5 cats inside and outside the small reception area acting as greeters. They were unbothered by the barking dogs in their presence. The receptionist was friendly and, through a series of hand gestures and head nodding, we managed to get the paperwork done and Raffy registered for his appointment. It was around this point that we discovered the translator app on the phone required registration and a credit card payment to use it, so we made the decision to use our Canadian phones and just eat the roaming charge. Then we caught a break. The Vet came out to greet us and she spoke English!

The examination was routine, and Raffy bore it like a champ. The vet gave him some food to distract him as she gave him his first vaccine and he didn’t flinch at all. He looked at us for reassurance as they shaved his leg so they could draw some blood to test him for FIV and feline Leukemia. It only took a few minutes to get the results and we were relieved to find out he tested negative to both things. We were also surprised to hear he was around 1 year old, based on his teeth. Lack of nutrition likely contributed to him looking/acting younger. We explained our concerns about his breathing and choking and after listening to his chest she told us his lungs sounded clear. She also told us that his heart sounds should be heard mostly on his left side, but his were on the right. She recommended an x-ray and we quickly agreed. We would have to wait a day or 2 for the equipment and technician to come to the clinic, so we set the date for his neuter and the x ray to be done in 3 days time.

Our Vet adventure was not quite over, though. We asked the Vet to call a taxi for us. Raffy was back inside Rick’s sweater for the trip home, but not really as content as he was on the trip there. We waited on the street with the fidgeting cat for over 30 minutes before we decided the taxi was not coming so we flagged one down and set off for the apartment. Rick unzipped his jacket so that Raffy could pop his head out and look around, thinking that if he could see us it would calm him. Finally we were back at our building and the instant Rick stepped out of the cab Raffy bolted! He ran across the street, right into the path of a guy walking 2 very big dogs. The dog owner decided to act like an idiot (we called him something much stronger so you can insert any swear words you can think of here!)and ordered his dogs to “kill the cat” Raffy bolted back across the street towards our apartment while Rick stared down the dog owner. No words were exchanged but the message was delivered.

When Raffy bolted we were both very afraid that he would not come back to us again, after such a frightening experience going to the vet. It was now getting dark and trying to find a scared black cat was pretty much impossible. We went out to quickly grab something to eat and hoped for the best. When we returned less than an hour later, there was Raffy sitting on the wall waiting for us!

 


Although most nights Raffy came in and slept with us, we were afraid he wouldn’t the night before his X-ray and neuter. He had to be fasting after 10:00 pm so we captured him early and locked him in our bedroom. He really didn’t mind until the next morning when he was not allowed to go back out. We couldn’t take him to the vet until 10:00 am and the five hours between when we got up and had to leave dragged on for all of us. One thing that was much easier this time is that we had a carrier for him. Our friend Jerry had offered to take us to Cancun for dinner one night so we asked if he would mind taking us to a pet supply store before dinner. We found a Petco in Cancun and found both a collar and a carrier that fit the requirements of our airline and purchased it for a King’s ransom. Never again will I complain about the price of a large pet carrier in Canada.

We dropped Raffy off at 10:00 am and were instructed to pick him up at around 5:30 pm. We did our best to have a “normal” day. We went for a walk, spent some time in the pool and tried to have a siesta. We checked our watches frequently and decided to have an early dinner. We waited in the park near the taxi stand for about 45 minutes before it was time to get a ride to pick up the little guy. There were a lot of people in the reception area waiting to pick up their pets. Almost immediately Dr. Val took us aside and said that they could not neuter him that day. The took the X Ray first and discovered a major problem. During his first examination Dr. Val remarked that his heart sounds were on the wrong side of his body. The X-ray revealed that not only was his heart on the wrong side, but so, too were the rest of the organs that should have been on the left, including his lung and most of his intestines. We were informed that he needed surgery to correct this. Without it, he would not live much more than a year. The surgery would have to be performed at a different clinic in Cancun where they had the surgical expertise and the ability to handle the critical care afterwards. We asked how much she estimated that would cost and she told us $6000 - $8000 Pesos. While that sounds like a big number, it actually amounted to $375.00 - $500.00 Canadian. We knew the same surgery in Canada would cost close to $10,000 so we immediately agreed and asked her to contact the surgeon. The catch was that we were going home in a little over 2 weeks so it had to be scheduled quickly. Rick told her the only bad day for us was the following Tuesday when we had a special dinner planned to celebrate my 60th birthday. So we took Raffy back to our apartment and settled in to wait for the surgeon.

Finally Able To Travel Again - Raffy's Incredible Journey

 Like many people, we have been unable to do any travel for the past two years due to the pandemic. This year we decided to go back to our favourite little town in Mexico for 6 weeks. We typically rent a little apartment near the town square and relax in the warmer climate. Although our adventures that I write about typically involve driving in our RV, this trip was an adventure of another kind. It is not so much about Rick and I, but about a little black cat that we met on our first full day in Mexico. 

Rafael’s Incredible Journey

To understand this story properly, you have to understand that my husband Rick and I are cat people. We have a house full of rescue cats - some that we claimed off our local streets and some we got from a local rescue. Our friend gave us a sign years ago that said “Home for wayward cats - no dogs allowed” and I swear word spread throughout the cat community in our little town.

No matter where in the world we go, cats always find us. We took our first vacation in the sunny south 10 years ago and within a day of our arrival the resort cats found us and were visiting. Friends of ours that had gone to resorts for years never knew there was such a thing as resort cats and they certainly had never seen one. Same thing happened a year later in a different country in a different resort. When we stopped going to resorts and stayed in hotels or AirBNB places the cats found us. The past 5 years we have stayed in a little apartment in a small Mexican town. The cats would walk by frequently and we would speak to them. As a rule, we never fed the cats that found us. This is mostly so that they would not get used to a food source that was going to disappear after a few weeks. That would make their difficult life worse, not better, in the long run.

This year we arrived in Mexico on January 9th. After a long day of travel that started at 2:00 am we just picked up some basic supplies for the first day, unpacked, and hit our favorite watering hole for a quick drink before calling it an early night. The next day we planned to do our larger grocery shopping to stock our little apartment.

The next morning over our coffee we discussed what we wanted to pick up at the grocery store. We sit at a little table in our little part of the garden most of the time so I went into the apartment to get a notepad and pen to write down our shopping list. As I am hunting for a pen, Rick yells “you better put cat food on the shopping list.” I was sure I heard him wrong so I went outside and he was looking at this skinny little cat sitting on the wall looking at us. The cat jumped down and walked away. It was skinny with these long legs and long tail. Rick decided we would call it “Tina” because the long legs reminded him of Tina Turner. First full day back in Mexico and our rules about the local cats are starting to crumble.

We did buy cat food that day and little Tina had the first sample of it that evening. She waited on the wall for us to put the food down and then back away before coming to eat it.

By the next afternoon she would jump down and sit under a bench seat at the end of the garden waiting for her food. On day 3 she was talking to us and that night she allowed a pet. She was now feeling more confident and it showed in her body language. Now she would walk by us with her head held high and her tail straight up in the air. It was at this time that we realized Tina was actually a Tony!

By the end of the first week we had made a nest for him on one of our chairs outside......

He was sharing meals.......

and he was sleeping in the apartment with us at night.

What we did not know was that a few months ago he was hit by a car and the injuries he received greatly shortened his life expectancy.

Our discussions about the future of this little cat started that first week. He was young. We estimated his age to be between 6 and 8 months old. We based this on the fact that he was not yet spraying and he seemed to be immune to the calls of the female cats in the neighborhood. We also noticed something was going on with his breathing. It was fast and shallow all the time, almost like he was panting. We watched him as he slept in his little nest on the chair on our patio and we noticed his breathing did not seem to get deep and regular, even when sleeping. He also had little coughing and gagging fits for no apparent reason. That being said he could run and walk without effort and climbed the garden wall with ease.

We decided that we would take him to a local vet, get his shots and he would be neutered. We had been trying to find him a permanent home by asking our many friends in town if they could take him or knew someone who would like a nice cat for a pet. He really was a sweet cat and we thought for sure someone would want him. We even said we would pay for his shots and his neuter, to sweeten the deal. There were no takers so we decided to treat him as a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) and we would solve the feeding issue later. By this time we were at the end of our 3rd week in Mexico. We were half way through our vacation and figured by the end of the week Raffy would be neutered and vaccinated and we would make arrangements for him to be fed. We could relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday. We were so very wrong!

 

Finally Home!

We started today about 550 kms from home. We talked about leaving early and stopping for lunch at one of the Cracker Barrel restaurants along the way. Even with the stop we knew we would be home by around 3 pm. I also suspected that as we neared the restaurant we would make the decision to keep driving and just get home. I wasn't wrong.

The weather called for rain the entire trip, but, although overcast, the rain held off until the last hour or so of the trip
.
Buffalo was the big city we had to go through today and we would be going through there close enough to rush hour to be concerned. I was pleasantly surprised when the traffic was steady, but not crazy.

As we were heading towards the city I spotted this van:

The edge of the Buffalo airport sits beside I90 and as we were passing it there was a big jet waiting to take off.

We really got the sense that we were almost home when we stopped for gas at Corfu, New York and there was our favourite coffee shop at the service center.

It was interesting to note that customer service definitely was not a part of the training at this location as I had probably the rudest person serve me that I have ever had. Being as I was a visitor in the country I did not cause an international incident by telling her what I thought of her attitude but it took all of the self control I had.


We passed through a small portion of the Seneca Nation Territory and I managed to get a picture of the Wampum belt that decorated the one of the highway overpasses.

The symbol represents the 5 tribes that made up the Iroquois Nation, one of which is the Seneca Tribe.


It seems funny to me that we can travel the same stretch of road several times and there are still new things to see. We drove by what I can only guess was a bird sanctuary and were alerted to it's presence by a statue.

We saw several slow moving or stopped cars and other people just walking along the road slowly looking at the trees. I kept my eyes peeled for an eagle or some other wonderful bird but did not see any at all. Maybe next time.

Our path this day also took us past the Old Erie Canal Heritage Park and parts of the canal itself. This will be an area we will revisit in a few years on our boat.

Although New York State still had a lot of green trees, there was still an impressive display of fall colours in some areas.

I spotted this little face in a field at the side of the road. They must have happy people in this state!

We continued on I90 past Rochester and then, to the north of Syracuse we headed north on Interstate 81 heading to Watertown. It felt like we were in our own neighborhood now!

We went past Tinker tavern Road near Pulaski New York and we said one day we would go back and visit the Tavern, just because we liked the name.

A quick check of the internet told me that there wasn't a tavern on Tinker tavern Road for us to actually visit. Bummer.

It was about this point that the rain started and the quality of the pictures got worse and worse as we got closer to home. I did manage to get a few more pictures of the scenic route, though. The sparkles in the pictures are actually rain drops on the wind shield.

When we made the turn off of Interstate 81 we stopped to top off our gas tank and I spotted a camp ground across the road with a cool sign.

We got our first glance of the St Lawrence river to the north and it told us we were getting very close to home!

We finally got to the border and, as always, we expected to be boarded and searched. That did not happen and we happily headed for our home, just 20 minutes away.

Our friend Laurie was waiting for us with a hot meal ready and our house restocked with food. It was great to be home!

Thus ends this years adventures with Meander. In many ways it was almost too adventurous this year but in a big sense I am sad to see it end.

For Rick and I our next adventure will happen in January when we head to Mexico for 5 weeks. We will not be taking Meander with us for that trip, but I think I will still bring everyone along for the adventure by writing about that journey. So stay tuned!!