Day One, morning

The kitties and I pulled into Marfa yesterday evening around 6:15, just 45 min over the 6 1/2 hr drive time that we quote the many friends who ask. Not bad considering my unhappy passengers! The drive was beautiful, as it had just rained in most of the area and things were nice & green. I passed a huge field of giant sunflowers somewhere around Fredericksburg that made me think of Paul and the fields he described from his trip to France. It was raining in Austin that morning, and I spent most of the drive turning on & off windshield wipers, taking on & off sunglasses, and turning on & off the A/C to give my car a break on the hills. We stopped only for gas (Ozone per Paul's recommendation) and for restroom and stretching breaks (Junction & Fort Stockton), if you don't count the couple of times I had to stop to restrain Baby in the first 10 miles. Let's just say that if I had kept with the plan to 'test drive' them around town to see if the long road-trip would work, I probably would not have brought the cats. I decided, instead, to just go for it, not wanting to know if it would be smart or not, as is my style! It turned out to be just fine, and 6 hours after our arrival, they came out from hiding and are actually eating, drinking, and purring (well, Baby is purring; Butters isn't growling). 

I got to work immediately on setting up the casita. I was warned that it would be 'dusty' and a bit of a mess. Within a few hours I had it mostly dust-free and set up with things from my bedroom at home to make it feel more cozy. I brought my portable turntable for music, and in the last minutes before leaving Austin had to choose just a few albums to keep me entertained in this first week before Paul arrives. I chose Cat Stevens, George Harrison, and 'The Harder They Come' to be the soundtrack for my first days here. The familiar music seemed to comfort the cats, and they began to venture out from under the bed to the soothing reggae. The wireless internet from Padres reaches across the street to the casita, and we all enjoyed our ritual South Park episode from Netflix at bedtime. 

The air feels amazing on this first morning. I've got the sliding glass door open and there's a nice breeze blowing. The backyard is too messy and dangerous for the cats, but they aren't quite ready to venture out yet. Butters is enjoying looking at her potential new territory through the safety of the screen, while Baby has figured out how to get in my underwear drawer from under the dresser. Bad kitty! I had to borrow a glass pan from Padres to heat water in the microwave this morning, so think I can do without the electric kettle I didn't have time to buy. My coffee tastes good here-I think I'm going to like it