So today is Father’s Day and unfortunately I am a long distance from my dad. He and my mother are back at home keeping things in Nevada running smoothly. Yesterday, they had a tough job to perform for Gary and I. Our cat, Tugger, named after the famous character, Rum Tum Tugger, in the play Cats, passed during the night.

He had been moving a little slower lately and did not have as much of an appetite as before. When Gary and I had left this last time we had hoped that Tugger would be there when we returned home for the western swing, but left Mom and Dad some instructions, just in case. Friday morning, my dad found Tugger in one of his favorite spots, curled up under a chair in our bedroom. He knew instantly that “Tuggs” had passed during the night.

Tugger was the last of the four animals that Gary and I have had since we were married. We had Max, a 100-pound Doberman Pinscher that thought he was a lap dog, Kona, a mixed breed terrier and pit bull, and then the sibling cats Dity and Tugger. There were a couple more adopted pets along the way, but over the years they have now all passed. Tugger lived the longest, and that was about 18 years. Max was next at 15 years.

Really, Tugger will have a legacy in our home. You see, my mom, who is an avid crafter, designed a beautiful quilt of a garden with a stone walkway, and on the stone walkway is a cat sitting and taking in the landscape. Mom took a digital picture of Tugger and printed it on material and then quilted it in. For dimension, she added stuffing. The amazing thing is, I think she captured his personality perfectly in the quilt.

Tugger will always be with us. Here is a picture of mom’s quilt.

We had some interesting activities take place during the Chicago race weekend. Geico had a booth there and, for the first time, the gecko made an appearance at the NHRA POWERade races. He was a big hit with all the fans and racers alike. We made a special visit to Antron Brown’s pit where Arianna and Anson were ear-to-ear smiles, as they got up close and personal with the Gecko. We’ll have to see if we can get him at attend a couple more events, because he sure was a big hit.

We also had a career best ET with our GEICO Motorcycle Suzuki last weekend with a 6.953. Gary really had the bike tuned up. Unfortunately, we had a malfunction on the clutch that costs us the second round. We stayed and tested on Monday and it appears as we fixed our problem.

I went back to work in Ohio for a week, and now I am back in Indianapolis with the team, were we are performing some much needed upkeep to the rig. I attached a picture of all the experts and Chicago analyzing what repairs needed to be done. We had a shock that broke that impacted the air system on the truck. We were able, due to all the experts viewing the situation, to repair the truck enough to get it home safely, and then perform the permanent solution.

Well, all is repaired and it’s time to load up, so Happy Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.