Adventures of a Dog, a Bird & a Turtle
Our first indication an adventure was afoot was our fifth wheel trailer is parked in the driveway, rather than wherever it hides. Excitement mounts as our humans drag clothes from the upstairs closets to the trailer. Next the delicious aroma of food is carried out. I sure hope we get some of whatever it is. Oops gotta make a pit stop out back and grab a couple of favorite toys to take. Be right back.
There she goes, that silly dog. What if our humans sneak out the front door while no one is on guard. Guess it’s up to me. I’ll just move over to my other perch and keep an eye out. Thump, thump, thump a human with a basket of goodies comes bounding up the basement steps. “Hey guys don’t forget my freshly made breakfast s and frozen dinners.” Pop! The fridge opens, containers of my food are tossed in the basket, yep we’ve trained the humans well. Whew… we’re all set. “Hey wake up Sammy. It’s time to go.”
“What… who… where?” Sammy turtle peeks grumpily out of her shell. “I better get out and play this camping trip. Last time I was stuck in my travel home the whole time, just because it rained. Our humans need to carry a shell with them. Besides a little water ain’t going to make them rust or melt.”
“Oh hush,” says Taco the parrot. “They got our travel homes and Mystic’s leash. It’s time. Oh, yum, I’m getting dinner in my travel home, must be a longer trip. Yippee!”
Thwack. The dog door closes after and exuberant Chow dog rushes in. “Are we ready?” With a bang, our human drops the dog door panel in place and locks it. Then he bends down and hooks the leash to my harness, grabs Taco’s travel home. “Hey, where’s Sammy?”
“Already gone. She’s in the trailer.” Taco says around a beak full of food. “You know she gets car sick if she rides in the car.”
Loaded in the truck, my head out the window, Taco’s carrier hung in the other window, we’re off. Other vehicles wiz by, birds fly overhead and wow something smells good. “Hey why are
you rolling the window up. We’re not going that fast.” I plop down in the seat with a grumble and watch out the closed window. Miles and miles go by till we reach a mountainous area, with lots of trees. Pass through the ranger’s tiny house in the middle of the road. My window is back down, I hear a bugling sound, wait… WOW what is that beside the road looking at me?” Sniff, sniff, whine, whine, woof.
Human says “Leave it Mystic.”
Aww that’s no fun. “Taco, did you see that.”
“It’s an Elk, saw it on the Discovery Channel. Told you to stop chasing squirrels and watch my television.”
“Taco that’s boring. No smells and doesn’t run. How am I supposed to chase it? Whoa, chipmunk.”
“We’re here guys. Rocky Mountain National Park,” the humans chorus. “Out you go.” Humans carry the Taco’s Travel home into the fifth wheel and hook up my leash. “Hike in ten minutes.”
*** Yep, we just broke all the writing rules ever written. We can do that because we are a dog, a bird, and a turtle on an adventure. ‘Yes, I got out, see pictures above and right,” said Sammy.
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged box turtle, camping, Chow Chow, Eclectus Parrot, Elk, hiking, Rocky Mountain National Park, RV, RVIng by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Ever Been on A Road Trip From Hell?
I never had such a road trip until the last two weeks. The first day out, we made it to Gallup, New Mexico relatively unscathed. The next day, sustained 55 mph winds with 75-86 mph gusts derailed our plans, nearly derailed our fifth wheel, and put us a day behind, not to mention destroying a window in the trailer. After a pickup truck and trailer were flipped over ahead of us by the wind, we pulled off in Flagstaff, the wind was way to scary to continue.
The next day we made it to Las Vegas where hubby attended ConEx, a construction conference. At the trailer, I did a final check on A Warlock’s Secrets and sent it back to my editor. Should have a release date soon. A reveal of the swoon worthy cover and exciting blurb are on the horizon! I can’t wait for you to read it! We played tourist with friends, local to Las Vegas, visiting the dancing fountains of the Bellagio and attending a performance of the Cirque Du Soleil show KA. Fantastic show! After we finished up in Vegas, it was on to California and disaster struck again.
As we headed down the highway, passing through Bakersfield, a trucker pulled along side us and waved — pointing to our trailer. We pulled off at the next exit to find smoke rolling out from behind the right front wheel of our trailer. Thank God for truckers. Upon further 
examination the bearing had failed and melted to the axle. Now these bearings had less than five-hundred miles on them. It was Friday at 5:00 p.m., all the parts places were closed, so we limped our trailer on three wheels to A Country RV Park approximately 2.8 miles away. What luck to find one so close! We couldn’t have asked for a better place. The staff were friendly and very helpful!
Saturday morning bright and early hubby started calling RV Parts places. He learned that an axle needed to be ordered and would take a few days to arrive, since the warehouses wouldn’t open until Monday. Being a glass half full type of guy, hubby went outside and re-inspected the damage, made a couple of phone calls and yanked out the trusty tools he always packs on our travels. After a visit to an RV parts place and several hundred dollars, he had the parts to fix the damage. Yea!!
Nope that was not all. As my hubby began work on the axel, I received a phone call informing us a good friend had a heart attack and was being rushed to the hospital. My heart sank. Back to the mechanical situation – a few bouts of expletives from hubby and four hours later we were on our way again.
Finally we arrived at our destination in California, visited a few days with relatives, and traveled on to Riverton, WY to meet up with friends, then home to Colorado without further complications. The daffodils, crocus, hyacinth and tulips in our yard are bravely poking their sprouts above ground. Spring is here along with it a lot more camping adventures (as soon as we get a new window). FYI, our friend survived her heart attack and is on the road to recovery! So as they say, (never figured out who they are… but…) all’s well that ends well. Thankfully! Have you ever had a road trip like this?
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Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged A Walrock's Secrets, California, Colorado, Heart Attack, Las Vegas, New Mexico, o, Road Trip, RVIng, Wheel bearing by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
