…give ’em a try
Critter Con 15
Day 0: In which we get ready to leave and acknowledge that one era has ended and a new one begins.
As most of you know, our girl Sasha died back in January after a brief illness. I’ve written about the changes rung by her passing before, so I’ll not repeat them here. Suffice to say that Sasha made the trip to CritterCon 10 times and she is deeply missed. An era ends with her. We love you, Dr. Cross, wherever you are.
But life goes on and the old girl insisted that we attend this year, so we are pretty much ready to go. As I write this, it’s 2:00 in the morning and we will be hitting the road in about an 6 hours.
However, as has also happened in the past, we adopted a new dog. About 10 days after Sasha died, we adopted Yoyo Brian Cross and he’s a Jack Russell Terrier mix. He’s a great little guy and we love him. He recently turned 3 years old and is looking forward to this con trip.
(Yoyo: Hi there, everybody!)
But wait, there’s more!
On June 15th, we adopted a 10 month old, 43 pound, male Basset Hound! His name is Duke Alan Cross and he is still a big sweet babydog. Thanks to Mara, he’s fully sapient and relatively up to date on our family, though still a kid in many ways.
(Duke: Hello! I’m Duke and I’m going on this trip in the Bus with Mom & Dad and everyone!)
Speaking of which, our crew for this year includes…
Grace, Yoyo, Duke & myself
Spike & Mary Jones
Avis Crane (The original, this year. Her double will be packing for GenCon) and her cats, Lettie & Leon
(Lettie: Hello everyone!)
(Leon: Hi there!)
Ginie Murphy and her cat, Roxy
(Roxy: Hi! Glad to be here again.)
Our grandson, Brownie (a mutant raccoon), and his wife, Mara (an otteroid alien from another Earth)
(Brownie: Hi!)
(Mara: Hi there!)
Brownie & Mara’s best friends, Omar (mutant raccoon), and Amy (mutant savanna cat)
(Omar: Hi, folks!)
(Amy: Hello!)
We will meet a bunch more friends at the con. Our granddaughters, Cupcake and Tucker, may meet up with us along the way or maybe the night before we go into the dome. They’re on their “summer after graduating university” trip around the world.
(Mara: And they are both newly minted PhDs.)
(Duke: I like Cakes & Tuck. They read me stories.)
As for our route this year is pretty straightforward, because it’s one we’ve taken often across the Southwest. It was always one of Sasha’s favorites.
The first leg will take us from Sacramento to Barstow, mostly via Highway 99.
The second leg goes from Barstow to Critter City by way of Interstate 40 and selected Texas State Highways.
As always, we’ll be stopping at roadside attractions and interesting places along the way, many of which we’ve hit before.
(Brownie: There needs to be at least one Giant Jesus. Mara has been working on her snarky Sasha-esque comments.)
(Yoyo: Giant Jesus? I think I read about those in an old Con Report.)
(Duke: What is a Giant Jesus?)
(Mara: I’ll explain, Dukie)
And now, it’s time for a bite to eat and a big mug of tea before we leave in a few hours.
More reportage later.
Starting Destination Sign: Lullaby Land
Radio Station: KRZY…Doctor Demento, all the time
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