12/27/15

Mom says that it's been a really strange Christmas.  One of the big things that was different was that Grandma and Grandpa didn't spend Christmas with the rest of us.  Grandma had a seizure Christmas morning while she was eating breakfast at the Assisted Living and Grandpa and the staff decided that she needed to go to the hospital.  They were there most of the day.  Mom, Dad, and I stayed at Aunt Mary's waiting for news, since the ER is crowded and they would have all had to sit in the waiting room most of the time anyway.  Grandma was able to go home late in the day, so Aunt Mary and Dad went over to Grandma and Grandpa's with Christmas dinner and helped Grandma get ready for bed.  Dad says that Grandma has had seizures before and the doctor decided to increase her seizure medication.  We all hope that will make her feel better.

The other thing that was unusual was that my cousin Maverick died.  He was Aunt Mary's youngest son, a fur kid like me.  He was only three, but he has had problems with his heart.  He died on the day before Christmas.  This is Maverick (he's the one with the brown hair) with his brother Dakota and Aunt Mary.  I only met Maverick twice, but he was a really fun guy and I'm sorry that I won't get to know him better.

The weather has been really odd, too.  Yesterday it was 80 degrees here and I had to stay in the motor home at the RV Park with the AC on, because it was too hot for me in the car.  Mom, Dad, Aunt Susan, and Matt went downtown to a place called Sundance Square.  They walked around a little and then had dinner outside on the patio of a restaurant.  Mom and Dad were wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts and were very comfortable.  After dinner they went to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment for a visit.  Grandma was feeling better and they gave her and Grandpa some of their Christmas presents.  When they left Grandma and Grandpa's apartment, it was 50 degrees and raining - HARD.  The wind was blowing, too.  

We are all really glad that we were out of the way of the tornadoes that were east of Dallas.  I feel bad for all those people and dogs who lost their homes.  We even saw pictures of an RV Park where most of the RV's were turned over.  That is scary.  We are having thunder this morning.  I don't like thunder.

Today Mom and Dad are going to get together with some people that they went to church with in Arlington, before they were married.  I'll probably have to sit in the car and wait, but at least it's cooler today so that I can do that.

We had a really nice Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Susan's house.  Dad cooked most of it, since Aunt Susan had surgery on her foot and is having trouble getting around.  Here are the humans gathered around their dishes.  

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the coach

Not a creature was stirring, not even a roach.

The stockings were hung by the windshield with care

in the hopes that Santa Paws soon would be there.

The Poodles were nestled all snug in their beds

while visions of Milk Bones danced in their heads.

Merry Christmas to All!

Doolin

Day 6 & 7 - December 20 & 21

Day 6 - We woke up in Moab.  Here is a picture of us at our campsite.  It was still kind of cold, but the roads were clear and the sun was out.  Really a beautiful day for driving.

Daddy programmed the GPS for Gallup and we were off on the road.  A little way down the road, Mommy and I realized that we weren't going to Albuquerque.  Mom asked Dad why we were going to Gallup.  He said that he couldn't spell Albuquerque.  Mom fixed the GPS and then we were on our way again.  Today was a lot of driving.  The scenery was nice, if you like Utah and New Mexico.  We arrived in Albuquerque and decided to stay at the Sandia Resort and Casino.  It was dry camping in the parking lot, but we had a nice view out of the windshield.

After we got set up, Mom and Dad went to Monroe's for Enchiladas and then we went to Old Town for a walk.  It was really pretty with all the Luminaries and other Christmas decorations.  This is me and Dad in front of the Christmas Tree in Old Town.  It was a really big tree. 

Day 7 - Today we drove from Albuquerque toward Amarillo, Texas.  On the way, we stopped at a place called Cadillac Ranch.  Humans have such strange customs.  I don't understand, but at least it was nice to get out and go for a short walk.

Tonight we are staying in a rest area that is about an hour southeast of Amarillo.  Mom and Dad had Roasted Eggplant Soup with Goat Cheese for dinner.  I had kibble.  After dinner, we went for a walk around the rest area.  There are signs like these everywhere.

I'm not sure what they say, so Mom read it to me.  She says that it says Welcome to Texas.  

Day 5 - December 19

Yesterday we made it 453 miles from LaGrande, OR to Willard, UT and spent the night at the Flying J Truck Stop at Willard.  It was perfect, because it is located between an Interstate and a Railroad.   Willard is about 50 miles north of Salt Lake City.  This is a picture of us in our "campsite".  We got pretty dirty yesterday.  In the morning the roads were pretty sloppy from the slush and sand/salt that they put on the roads.  Then, near Boise, we drove through quite a bit of rain.  Finally, the skies turned blue and the sun came out.  It was a beautiful sunset last night.  Mom and Dad are much happier about the progress that we are making.

We stayed in the motor home for dinner.  They had Smoked Salmon Chowder and I had kibble.

This morning, after breakfast, we went to the Willard Bay State Park.  It is just across the Interstate from the Flying J.  Willard Bay is part of Great Salt Lake and I got to run on the beach there.  It was wonderful.  It's the first time I've been off leash since we left home.   By the way, don't spread it around about the off-leash part.  We were breaking the rules, but there wasn't anyone else there.  This is me at the beach.

and a picture of Great Salt Lake

It was a beautiful morning.  After we left the beach, we drove south and arrived in Moab, UT about 3:00.  We decided to stay here for the night and went to Arches National Park.  Mom and Dad took a hike to Landscape Arch.  It's a National Park, so I had to stay in the Jeep :-(  Here's a couple of their photos of Landscape Arch.  Also, two nice photos of Sunset, including one taken with Balanced Rock in the foreground.  Hope you enjoy them.

They both enjoyed dinner at the Moab Brewery.  Then we came back to the Motor Home and I had kibble.

We are headed toward Albuquerque tomorrow.

Day 4 - December 18

Wow have we been rocking and rolling.  The weather report said the average wind speed yesterday afternoon was 35 mi per hour with stronger gusts.  I don't mind saying that the noise and the shaking scare me.

Dad kept checking the road report.  About 2 pm yesterday they shut down I-84 in both directions out of LaGrande.  It was really windy most of the night.  The wind was the real problem.  As big as we are, it really would blow us around and hard to correct if the road is slick.

 About 6am Dad woke up and checked the road report.  The road just opened, but chains were still required.

It was warming up though.  By 8am, the chain restriction was lifted, so we packed up and are on the road again.  So far, it's mostly just wet with some slushy spots.  We hope to go more than 50 mi today.

Day 3 - December 17

We woke up this morning to strong wind making the motor home shake.  Mom got up and looked out the window and saw that most of the trucks were gone.  Dad looked at the weather report and it said that chains were no longer required and there was just one inch of fresh snow.  That sounded better than the freezing rain from last night.

Mom and Dad decided that we'd eat a quick breakfast and get on the road.  We had to go slow, partly because we were going into the wind and up a really big hill, but the road was pretty good for awhile.  Then we got into some snow.  Here is a picture that Mom took through the windshield.

Yes, the exit is Deadman Pass.  Sounds pretty ominous to me.

The farther we went, the more it snowed.  Here's another picture...

After we crossed Meacham Pass and came back down into LaGrande, the roads got better.  Everything was looking good until we saw another Reader Board.  This one said "Chains Required" six miles ahead.  We pulled into a truck stop and found a place to park.

Dad took me for a walk.  Man it's cold here.  I don't like walking in snow.  I might have to try my boots again.  When we got back into the motor home, Dad checked the road report and the weather again.  It looks like we are going to be in LaGrande for at least a day.  It's snowing here now and the wind is blowing hard.  It's not supposed to let up until tomorrow morning.

We moved to an RV park just down the road from the truck stop, so we have electricity to watch TV and wi-fi to keep the computer charged.  That's why I can write this.

We only made it 52 miles today.  This is turning into a bigger adventure than I planned.

Day 2 - December 16

Mom woke up this morning with a headache and not feeling good.  Dad and I finished loading our stuff into the motor home and then went back home to get Mom.  Mom went in the back and laid down and we didn't see much of her the rest of the day.  Dad drove and I watched.  We drove through the Columbia River Gorge and it was really pretty.  Late in the afternoon Mom came and sat up front with us.  As we were coming into Pendelton, it was getting dark and there was a large reader board over the Interstate.  It said that chains were required 5 miles ahead.  Dad had been planning to drive a little farther, but since we don't have chains, we pulled off the road.  Fortunately, we were at the exit for the Wildhorse Casino, which has a really nice RV Park next to it.  We got a site for the night.  We went for a walk after dinner and there were bunches and bunches of trucks pulling in.  The lot around the truck stop was full.  The overflow lot next to the casino was full.  There were a lot of trucks parked along the side road to the RV park.  Glad that I have a warm bed to sleep in tonight.

Day 1

I'm so confused.  Yesterday Mom and Dad were busy loading things into the motor home.  It was about all I could do to supervise.  It made me very tired watching all their activity.  Today, we got up, and didn't go anywhere.

Dad says that it snowed in Salt Lake City yesterday, but it's supposed to warm up by the weekend.  It's also supposed to be clear in Denver until Dec 23.  He thinks that we can go diagonally across the US.

That would be good, since that will make our trip to Texas about 2,000 miles.  If there was too much snow on the diagonal route, we would have had to go to California and then across through Arizona and New Mexico.  That way is about 2500 miles.

We got these today.  That's me with Mom and Dad at the Vet's Christmas Party that we went to last Sunday.  It was fun.

My Next Adventure...

Oh Boy!  I can't wait.  In just a few days, I will be leaving on my next Great Adventure.  I went to the spa today.  Mom says we have to smell our best, if we are going to be living close together in the motorhome.  Also, a guy has to be looking his best to go see all my relatives in Texas.  That's our first big stop.  It's been over five years since I've been to Texas.  I can't wait!!