Traveling Spike in Durham, N.C.

Spike was a bit perturbed when he arrived in Durham, NC. Seems he had heard talk about visiting some “Duke” and “Blue Devils.” He assumed he was returning to England for a demonic party with royalty.

And then the first thing he sees when he comes out of his coffin is a great white cat, wondering if some little tasty treat was hidden away in the wee coffin.

After a bit of pouting over the lack of party and alcohol, Spike agreed to take a little tour of the area. We started at Duke University.

He agreed, somewhat petulantly, to allow his picture to be taken at some well-known sites. Duke Forest was the first stop.


He asked to forego a visit to Duke Chapel and we headed to Cameron Stadium. Being a soccer fan himself, Spike wasn’t too impressed with being in the hallowed halls of Coach K.



There was a run-in with another animal. Spike jumped on it prepared to do battle, perhaps hoping it was a werewolf. Alas, it was only Kimi, a recently adopted pound pooch.



Next stop was the Duke Lemur Center. It wasn’t too surprising to find out that at some time in his past, Spike had been to Madgascar. When he actually knew it was a Coquerel's sifaka lemur he was looking at, I was astonished. However, he finally admitted that after being up all night, he would watch Zoboomafee, a children's television show. And Spike was astonished when I told him that Jovian, a male Coquerel's sifaka from the Duke Lemur Center, played the part of the lemur Zoboo on the television series.



I could tell Spike was getting a bit bored with academia, so I took him down to the renovated American Tobacco Warehouse district. A reverent look came over him as he spied the old Lucky Strike smokestack. Lucki-ly (insert pun here), there was a nearby pub where Spike could sit with a drink and enjoy the view.



Time was getting short, so I stuffed him back in his coffin which was now full of white cat hair, and sent him on his way. I think he is getting quite tired of the stuffing and mailing.

- Carol