TRIBUTE TO ELOISE .... posted July 4th, 2007

Sadness has entered the Jackson household. Eloise our 18 yo Maine Coon Cat has made her transition as of July 3rd at 4:48pm. Today she is enjoying her independence from the physical. She was at peace when she took her last breath. My wife Lisa was away visiting family and I was at home caring for Eloise as we knew her time was near. I held her in my lap and she garnered one last purr that told me she understood and it was OK. This was the hardest thing I have had to experience since 1969 when my Father passed on with an unexpected heart attack.

Eloise was my cat since she "found" us the first week we were on the road beginning our RV lifestyle back in Sept 1989. She was a kitten that had been abandoned in a campground on the Oregon coast. Lisa's cat "Kirby", now 15 and still with us, found us in 1992, also as an abandoned male kitten from a Colorado campground.

Eloise has been an outstanding companion over the years and just a month ago was walking with us and still catching rabbits on our ranch. It was hard seeing her decline and July 3rd it was obvious she could not go on much longer. Her diagnosis was a tumor attached to her bowel and spreading into her chest, plus kidney failure, so we had no other choice but to allow her to pass as peacefully as possible. Kirby just does not yet understand where Eloise is as he has only known his life with her in it. He is sleeping in her spot and calls out to her plus seems to be looking for her.

Eloise has taught us a lot about life and we are blessed to have had her share her life with us. Cats live in the now and have no worries about the future which is how we have lived our life on the road in an RV. Freedom is and has been a large part of life now for 18 years. Freedom to go where we want to go, freedom to experience nature, freedom to do nothing or freedom to do anything we choose. We had no early private retirement and have worked on the road, earning income as we go. However since I turned 62 in 2002, we have learned to live off of our Social Security and enjoy a relatively stress free life. Life without her will be challenging for awhile but her spirit will live on with us forever.

Thank you Eloise, we will forever be grateful to you and love you.

Closing with Love, Bryce and Lisa ..