Wednesday, May 11, 2005

That's my cat on Fox News! And on the front page of the Ashtabula Star Beacon this morning! But we haven't found him yet. We spent most of yesterday afternoon and just about all of today trying to find him, with the help of Mary Stouffer, the local volunteer firefighter who came to our rescue with her sons, Matt and David. They were among the first responders to the 911 call, which came less than a minute after we crashed. After we had convinced the ambulance crew that we were OK and talked to the state troopers, we set about gathering our stuff, which was strewn about the median. Mary and her sons went home and came back with a half-dozen cardboard boxes and a box of heavy-duty trash bags, which we filled with our belongings. When the guys from Kingsville Towing brought us and our stuff to the Kingsville Motel, the Stouffers helped us get it in the room. We spent most of Monday evening calling family and friends and just unwinding from the ordeal. Tuesday morning, you already know about. Tuesday afternoon was an adventure! The land on both sides of the Interstate here is pretty wild. Steep ravines, several small creeks, pocket wetlands and thick brush are anything but welcoming to a 15-year-old cat with cancer, but he had to have gone either north or south, crossed two lanes of traffic, and then what??? Because we had to start somewhere, we chose the south side of the freeway. We hiked east on Fox Rd., which parallels I-90. Shivani knocked on doors, while I hit the woods. We stayed in touch via the Motorola Talkabout radios I usually use when hunting. I hiked about a half-mile in both directions from Milepost 236, which is where our caravan came to rest. I found four deer carcasses, one dead dog, a possum skeleton and half a skunk, but no Bobby. "There's lots to eat out there," said a man named Dwayne, who lives close enough to Milepost 236 to have heard the crash. He watched the entire cleanup from his back fence, but said he never saw Bobby. I met a woman and three kids who asked if I was looking for my cat. They were looking for Bobby because Mary Stouffer had given them a flier that told our story, but they were also looking for two other  lost cats and a female beagle with a pink nylon collar. The dead dog I had seen was their Clyde, who had been hit by a car a month ago. I should have asked if the female was Bonnie. I crossed under the freeway through a 6-foot culvert and continued my search on the north side, with the same results. Dead critters, but no Bobby. East of Milepost 236, there is a steep ravine I doubt he would have tried to cross. To the west, there is Nelson Sand & Gravel. I was finishing this sweep, when a thunderstorm hit, so I put on my raincoat and headed up the exit ramp, where a Travel America driver gave me a lift back to the motel. Shivani had just been interviewed by Ashtabula Star Beacon reporter, Mark Todd, who planned to do a story on Bobby for today's paper. I emailed him a photo, which he used in color with the story on Page One! *************** After dinner last night at Kay's Place, we struck up a conversation with owners Kay and Dave Conley about the all-50s music they play. In fact, it's all late-50s: Rickey Nelson, Richey Valens, Buddy Holly and the like. They told us it was a Sirius subscription. They kindly offered us the use of their second car to search for Bobby, and that's how we spent this afternoon. Well, that is after Cleveland's Fox TV 8 reporter Gary Stromberg taped an interview with us and Mary Stouffer, which aired on tonight's 10:00 news. If Bobby doesn't show up after this media blitz, then he just might be gone for good, but we're not about to give up just yet. Bedtime. More later... 10:52:06 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Dan Small. Last update: 5/11/05; 10:52:24 PM.