Travel For Charlie Kathy Brown Sutton   © Copyright 2025 by Kathy Brown Sutton

Photo by Loan on Unsplash

Trips home were few and far between. There was always too little time or money and when my daughter was born it was even more challenging. But now I’m making up for lost time and returning home for every reunion, funeral or fun filled event that comes up. The Fourth of July is the major celebration of the year in my hometown of Faith. There is a huge parade and our tiny park is full of carnival rides and the smoke of pit barbecue. It’s the one event I really look forward to each year.

My sojourn this summer commenced the last week in June with an overnight break in Beckley, W.V. It is the perfect halfway mark for the eight hour drive and makes the trip a lot easier. I arrived at my mainstay bed and breakfast with brilliant sunshine bursting through a cloudless blue sky. It was good to be home.

The first night I invited a good friend to come over for a drink in the suite attached to my room. It was tastefully decorated with a comfortable midcentury couch and a black and white framed picture of Louis Armstrong. I was able to unwind with good wine and good company but by 10:00 we were both tired. I walked my friend downstairs and out the front door of the restored Colonial Revival house. I was immediately startled when a small tabby cat rushed out of the darkness meowing loudly and heading directly toward me. He followed us to my friend’s car parked in the side lot and would not leave my side. When I reentered the house he desperately tried to follow me inside.

The next morning I mentioned this strange experience to the proprietors and they said he was on the patio when they first got up. This was a cat unfamiliar to them and he was obviously starved for food and affection. The owners said they could not have a cat at the B&B and had no intention of feeding him. I left for my sister’s house and relayed the story to her. She has a long history of rescuing animals. We discussed what to do about this small hungry cat and drove back to the B&B to see if he was still around. He seemed to waiting for us when we arrived and practically ran into the cat carrier we had brought that contained a plate of cat food.

My sister has a rental property that was empty so our new rescue got a private room with regular meals. My goal was to find a home for this overly friendly guest since I was on home turf and knew lots of people. But fate played a hand the next day at church when I learned a close friend’s mom needed an emergency caregiver. She’s 85 years old and her husband had fallen and was hospitalized. I ended up moving into her house for the next two weeks and calling an ambulance for her the day before I left. She was overdue being placed in assisted living where she now resides.

The rescue cat had been cared for by sister and the best option I had was to take him back to Pittsburgh. I had three cats waiting for me at home but one more was soon to join the clan. Now that he was becoming a permanent fixture I had to come up with an appropriate name. The trip home would take over eight hours and I planned on breaking it up by spending the night in Beckley, W.V. again. I wasn’t sure how he would do in the car but this cat needed a traveling name. I am an avid reader and a big John Steinbeck fan. I loved a book he wrote entitled Travels with Charley about a cross country trip he took with his poodle companion whose book title name seemed like the perfect fit.

The day of departure I loaded Charley in my sister’s cat carrier and positioned him in the backseat of the car so he was facing the front seats. It was early afternoon on a beautiful day with a brilliant sun and cerulean blue skies to guide us. We were a little more than an hour north when the smell hit me. It seems like my car companion had taken a bathroom break. The carrier was lined with an absorbent pet pad but I knew I needed to change it out quickly. I took the first exit that indicated a gas station nearby but I drove for miles before pulling into a seedy looking quick mart. I pulled up to the closed gas tanks and noticed two shady looking men looking at me through the windows of the closed store. One opened the door and motioned me to drive toward him so I got back in the car, hit the gas and high tailed it out of there.

I drove at least three more miles before coming to an intersection and seeing a gas station right past the left turn lane. I pulled into the gas pump section and opened the back door to inspect the damage. It was an easy mess to clean up and Charlie was very compliant. I was so focused on taking care of my sensitive charge that I failed to notice the dog excrement that I stepped in with the heel of my shoe. I guess this was a popular stop for travelers with pets. I used hand sanitizer and paper towels to clean up my shoe and resumed my long drive home.

Charley grew quiet after this pit stop and eventually went to sleep. It was much like traveling with an infant. The view was beautiful as we entered the Blue Ridge Parkway and our ascent offered endless views of rolling hills tinged with a blue haze. The weather can turn on a dime in the mountains and it wasn’t long before we were enveloped in a lingering mist and fog warning lights flashing along the road. It can be treacherous to say the least with just a narrow edge to pull over and huge trucks dominating the road. They barely make it up the mountain then come barreling down on you with incredible speed. There are also several long bridges to cross that carry you over huge gorges with an incredible drop. I had just entered one of these bridges when I noticed a change in the road. My car started vibrating and the traction sounded different. As soon as I cleared the bridge I pulled over on the narrow side of the road and discovered a flat tire. I couldn’t believe it. I had not had a flat tire in years.

My first thought was don’t panic. My second thought was whether my husband had renewed our AAA. Large semis were trundling past me so fast my car was actually shaking. Little Charley must have sensed my panic and starting plaintively mewing. Luckily a mile marker was in view so it was easy to give my location when I call 911. I was told to stay in my car that a State Trooper was on the way. The skies were growing darker and my nice weather was long gone. I kept reassuring Charley that things were going to be alright and before long I saw blue lights behind me.

The State Trooper that approached my car said he had been on the job for 30 years and that this was the worst possible place to break down. He told me he saw me pull over and knew I must be in trouble because no one stopped where I did if they had a choice. I had called my husband while waiting and he had not renewed AAA. My reassuring Trooper said not to worry because the closest AAA would take hours to arrive. He told me to call Walmart and asked if they had the tire that I needed. He read the tire number off to me and then called a tow truck that he knew was reliable. That was when the downpour began. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Traffic was speeding past with little regard to me and my stranded vehicle. The State Trooper returned to his car during the downpour and I felt we were both in jeopardy. I will make a point to always pull over into the left lane when I see anyone on the side of the road. The tow truck finally arrived and the driver was a lumbering mountain man who reminded me of a character from a Western movie. My faithful Trooper brought me a rain poncho and walked me to the passenger side of the tow truck. He told me to leave Charley in the car although I did so reluctantly. He was about to get the ride of his life in a tilted car on the back of a rambling large truck. The rain was relentless and so was the traffic. The driver barely got the car chained down when he raced back to the truck and said he was almost hit. He announced we were getting out of there and sped off as fast as he could. He pulled over at the next exit to better secure my car since he wanted to finish the job properly in a safer area. I kept thinking about Charley and hoping he wasn’t too scared.

By the time we reached Walmart the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking out of the clouds. The tow was $300 cash which apparently is common due to problems with chargebacks. I carried my cat carrier into the tire center while they changed my tire and Charley was a huge hit. One employee was particularly enamored and showed me pictures of his cat at home. The whole staff was great and the guy changing the tire showed me the huge bolt that was in my tire and said I was lucky it did not damage the rim. I was relieved that we were all okay and my car was now ready to drive.

It had been a long day and I decided to stay put where I was in Bluefield, WV for the night. The tow truck driver had pointed out a hotel along the way that he recommended. I do know when traveling that it is always wise to listen to the locals. This roadside hotel was perched up on a hill and was straight out of the 80’s. There was an aging lobby with textured brown carpeting, puce green walls and a sprawling restaurant with the lights off and no customers. It was bleak but safe and there were people seated at the bar. After checking in and getting settled in my room I returned to the bar to order dinner to go. There were two friendly young guys there who were traveling for work and invited me back later for a drink. I declined. They were going to check out a Mexican restaurant and then head back to the back to the bar. I did tell them about my adventures so far and they asked to see a picture of my traveling cat.

Charley liked our accommodations and sat in the window gazing out at the pool. He dined with me on the canned cat food I brought and slept on the bed with me that night. The next morning we headed to Pittsburgh and arrived incident free in about four hours. He was a bit of a surprise for my three cats at home and my largest cat Toby was a bit aggressive. After two weeks of having to separate them unless supervised I feared it would not work out. But finally there was a breakthrough and now the two are best friends.

It turns out Charley has a few birth defects and some quite unusual traits. His teeth are tiny and not fully developed. His claws do not retract and his head is a bit pointy. But he won the hearts of my family and is a travel souvenir I’ll never forget.

 I work full time for the Pensylvania State Attorney General. I graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a BA in Professional Writing but never got my career in this field off the ground.