« Deadwood Season 1 | Main | Morning update »
July 23, 2007
Strange days
One of the best things that happened on the road trip out here is when we stopped in Billings.
It was our longest day on the road, it had been over 100 degrees all day, the "crunk" that my car developed was getting more frequent and we were all exhausted.
We got to the Comfort Inn and there was a bus in the parking lot. Didn't think much of it. Gretchen jumped out and grabbed the luggage cart for the cats and all of our bags. We loaded it up, and I was careful to put the sheet over Ichabod's cage. He's terrified of everything normally, and anything that we can do to make this move easier on him is worth doing. If he can't see out the windows as things are moving, he feels safer.
We get into the lobby (where we subsequently discovered that there was no elevator and that our room was on the second floor) and it is absolutely filled with Amish people. Probably about 40 men and women.
We couldn't get through and I said "Excuse me." One gentleman heard me and seeing our cart, tapped the other people in the hallway on their shoulders so they'd notice and move too.
We started chatting with everyone as we were walking toward the hallway, and one of the women asked what we had in the cages. "Two very scared cats," Gretchen or I replied.
"Oh, what color?" (What a strange question, I thought.)
"One of them is black and white and the other one is all black."
"Oh! What a lucky cat! Can I see the black and white one?"
Suddenly, we were completely and utterly surrounded. Gretchen held up the sheet to Ichabod's cage, and every single Amish person filed by to see poor Ichabod. Someone went and told the people who had gone to their rooms, and soon even more Amish people came to see Ichabod.
It turns out that they were the busload of people, and they were going to the Canadian Rockies. Along the way, they were doing a scavenger hunt, and one of the items was to see a black and white cat!
Everyone was incredibly nice, and I'm smiling thinking about it right now. One man told me I should have charged a buck to see the lucky cat, hehe. Everyone was sooo polite, and smiling, and friendly.
It was really fun, and Ichabod took it surprisingly well. And we never did see anyone else staying at that hotel who wasn't Amish, which meant that walking by the swimming pool was an interesting experience!
Posted by Heather at July 23, 2007 12:07 PM