Houston, We Have Lift-Off

I slept better last night. But Mike got up saying he couldn’t sleep all night because he kept thinking it sounded like he was in a car wash. Guess, I shouldn’t have said anything about that yesterday!!! LOL

This morning after taking the dogs on an early and quick outing, Mike went to the Johnson Space Center. Here is his write-up of his time there...in his own words.

This is headquarters of NASA, where the astronauts live and train, and where the space shuttle and the International Space Station are controlled. The visitor center, just outside the Space Center, is a very new looking facility with some very nice displays and several movies. A lot of the stuff was very kid oriented however, and even worse, there were kids actually there.

But there was a good museum, with stuff from the history of the space program, such as an actual Apollo capsule,



a full scale Skylab replica,



a lunar rover trainer,



a Saturn V rocket,







a space shuttle cabin,



and a lot of space suits. There was a tram tour of the actual Space Center also. One of the stops was the building that houses the Mission Control Center.

The tour is not allowed to see the current Mission Control used for the space shuttle, but they did let us in to see the Mission Control room used for the Gemini, Apollo and early space shuttle missions.



It has been restored to look just the way it was for the Apollo moon missions. The tour also stopped at the building that holds mockups of the space shuttle and the space station,






where astronauts train and where they develop new equipment and procedures for space. Overall, the visit was interesting, although the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was better.

As soon as Mike got back we made a quick trip to the beach as this is the last time the dogs will get to see the ocean for a long time. Mike and I decided that if the dogs could only do one thing together ever again it would be to play on the beach. They have always loved the beach – together. One at a time – not so fun, but together – well there really is nothing better.

They were a little more subdued than yesterday but not my much. Yesterday when we came we notice horseshoe prints in the sand and some horse poop here and there. We had managed to keep the dogs from paying much attention to it as they were so busy playing.

But when we arrived today, we noticed there was a little horse stable area right on the beach. Yesterday there weren’t any horses there but today there were probably 30 horses – most of which were saddled up and ready to go. It was very obvious from looking at the beach that they had many riders today as Mike now figured the name of this beach must be Horse S___ Beach. We had a lot of trouble keeping the two youngsters from snacking between toy throws. Gross!!

Today’s visit wasn’t the perfect outing like yesterday was. That’s always the chance you take when something is perfect and then you try to duplicate it. In addition to all the horse droppings there were a couple guys that had two dogs (a boxer and a chow) tied up when we arrived. We went down to our empty spot on the beach and started playing. But only a few minutes later the guys came walking down the beach with their two un-neutered dogs off-leash. We saw them coming as we always keep a very close watch on our surroundings. When we saw them headed our way we put all three of our dogs on leash and started to walk further down the beach – following us. So we decided to stop and let them go on by. As they got closer I yelled for them to please get their dogs. Well, these were two young males, probably in their very early 20’s, and their two untrained one year old dogs. They had no chance of getting those dogs on leash. Mike took Sparkie and Slugger and headed the opposite way. I then took Wazzu off leash so she could distract the dogs so they wouldn’t head over toward our other two.

Wazzu seemed to know exactly what her role was as she sparred with them a little bit leading them in the opposite direction from Slugger and Sparkie. Since she was keeping them occupied it gave the guys time to get over and try to catch their dogs. Even though Wazzu was keeping them within a four foot area the guys still had a lot of trouble catching them. They kept telling me not to worry, that the dogs were just a year old and wouldn’t bite. I tried to explain that even though their dogs may not bite that if they charged one of ours they may feel threatened and a fight could start. While I truly didn’t think it looked as though there would be a problem you can just never be too safe – especially with dogs you don’t know. And my number one job is to protect my dogs, no matter what. They finally got them on leash and headed on down the beach. I told them that before they started getting near us on their return to be sure to get the dogs on leash and that we would do the same. They assured me they would and said they know a lot about dog training because they watch the “Dog Whisperer” on TV. I figured we were in trouble if that was their sole source of education.

Sure enough we saw them coming back and got our dogs on leash while they were still well down the beach. But they had no luck (or they didn’t try) getting their dogs on leash. Their two dogs both charged straight at Slugger. Bad thing to do for two reasons. 1) Two charging against one can be seen as potential danger by the one being charged. And 2) Slugger was on leash – that always adds tension to the situation. All the dogs were good but Slugger was definitely on alert. The guys finally did manage to get their dogs on leash and continue on. So there were no real “incidents” but it did add stress to our time at the beach. After the other two dogs safely on their way we were able to let the dogs off leash to play once again.

Mike said Wazzu was being a little B____ today. Wazzu and I both took offense to that comment although it was kind of true. We had two toys to play with. Wazzu would go get one then come about half way back and stand there and wait.



Then as soon as we would throw the other toy she would drop the one she had and go chase the other one. That meant the original toy was still out in the water so we had to try to point that toy out to the other dogs. They would always end up finding it but it took a long time!

Slugger loves chasing toys in the water but will ALWAYS differ to any and all other dogs if it looks like they are going to get there first. But when he goes for the toy he can move a lot of water.





Mike was throwing the toys out farther today than yesterday so Slugger was getting out to where the waves where bigger. But Slugger has no fear. Here the wave completely over took him – if you look closely you can see a small portion of his ear and that’s it. But he came up with only one thing in mind and that was to find the toy.



Of course he always has to keep an eye out for the girls to come steal his toy as he gets closer to shore.



We were at the beach a little later than yesterday and after a while Sparkie got cold. When that happens she just goes up the beach a ways and just sits there and shakes. Poor Sparkie….



Here is a picture of a bird. It has absolutely no story to it – it was just the only picture I took that wasn’t of the dogs!



So long beach. Hey, that may actually be the next beach we go to – Long Beach in Washington. But no matter what time of year we go to Long Beach it won’t be as warm as it was here. I do however think that we’ll probably still have some Galveston sand with us!

Bye bye, ocean.



Debbie & Mike
3/8/07

A Perfect Day

What a LONG night! Between pain, noise, and worry I was wide awake all night long. The park we're at is literally the road width from the freeway. And I guess lots of people in Houston like to drive at night as it was extremely noisy all night long. At first I thought it must have been raining really hard - but I knew there was no rain in the forecast. So then my brain tried to tell me that we were in a RV wash - you know - like a car wash. After quite a few hours I realized it was just the rush of the non-stop freeway traffic.

In addition, we are jam packed in this park like sardines. So much so that we actually had to park our car behind the RV in the road. So all night I was listening for someone to hit our car. I was sure glad when morning came! But am I ever sleepy. Oh well, another night will come - although I'm sure it will be noisy as well.

Mike and the dogs went out to explore Houston parks this morning. They found some nice ones although they were definetly on leash parks. But the walked for about four hours and it is really hot here - oh gosh that reminds me of a funny story. Anyway, the dogs were plenty tired when they got home.

Okay, short break here for the funny story. When I was in high school we had exchange students from Japan stay with us quite often. One guy that came to stay with us, Shusaku, bought a bus pass so he could take a trip around the United States. This was long before cell phones and the internet so every once in a while we would receive a post card from him. As was with all of our exchange students, while they could learn a fair amount of English, they all had trouble learning our sayings. Shusaku got to Houston in the middle of the summer. He sent us a postcard telling us all about Houston and then added "It is hotter than Houston." I'm sure you can figure out what he meant to say. Oh, I guess you had to be there. But to this day when it is really hot all my family members will say "It is hotter than Houston."

Anyway, after Mike and the dogs got back from their hikes they picked me up and we went to Galveston to play on the beach. It turns out you can drive on the beach here so we drove drown the beach a ways until a sign that said you couldn't drive any further on the beach. So we parked the car there. For some reason everyone would park along the beach and then play or fish in front of where they parked. There was absolutely no one on the beach on the part where cars weren't allowed. So we walked there and went down the beach a ways and we had our own private beach.

This was one of the highlights of our trip as all three dogs were oblivious to anything going on anywhere except for playing with each other. Normally Slugger will swim and the girls will go around sniffing or chewing sticks or just sit and watch. But today all three of them chased the toy into the surf all together at full speed. All three were determined to get the toy. Wazzu was so happy and had a big smile and Sparkie was running around like she hadn't played in days...oh I guess she hadn't as we spent the last two days just driving.

I took over 300 hundred pictures and almost every one of them was great! I'll share just a few of them with you so you can see how much fun the dogs had. It truly was continual motion - and nonstop barking from Sparkie. Gosh she was noisy! That means she was having fun.

Mike rarely looks at the pictures I take as he says he was there so why does he need to look at the pictures. Maybe that's why I enjoy sharing them with you. He did happen to glance over as I was going through them and said this one could be in a magazine. Great action and good color - looks better large but you get the idea.



Here they are just playing together like the best buds they truly are. Off they go for the toy.



Ah, Wazzu got it this time! She was actually very motivated the whole time and got the toy fairly consistantly.



Slugger finally got it but Wazzu wasn't about to let him come all the way in with it.



Victory!!



Look at that happy face! I just love it! Here they are anxiously anticipating Mike throwing the toy.



The one place Slugger has no fear is in the water. This is what Slugger looks like when you say "Ready."




Here he fights the waves for his toy.



Victory over the waves!



When the water is deep enough that the dogs have to swim there is no competition - Slugger wins hands down. But here the water was very shallow so there wasn't any swimming unless you got way out. When it comes to running through the water the girls are much taller and can jump over the waves much better than Slugger. So most often they got the toy first. But that didn't stop little Slugger from wanting the toy.



And it sure didn't stop him from trying really hard to get there first.



Even when we held Wazzu so that Slugger could get a big head start that didn't stop her from running out there and chasing him back in to try and steal the toy.



The chase is on!



Sparkie was so happy when she was actually able to get the toy. While she would usually get to the toy first, Wazzu would let her know who's the top dog.



As you can probably tell, a good time was had by all.

Now it was my turn for fun in Houston! Houston is home to Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen. It is the largest church in the United States and is held in what used to be the home of the Houston Rockets - the professional basketball team. As you can imagine it is huge! I don't remember how many people it holds - but more than for a basketball game as there are chairs the entire floor area as well. On Sunday's every seat is full and they have three services! They've really fixed it up so nicely inside. In addition to the arena they have many other buildings as well on their campus. It takes up a few blocks. It really is an amazing place.

Since a number of churches turn me away I almost didn't go at the last minute. But Mike said we should give it a try since I'd really been looking forward to it. On every telecast, Joel Osteen always says "If you are ever in Houston I hope you'll stop by to see us. I promise we'll make you feel right at home." And did he ever keep his word. The people there were extremely accommodating. They found a perfect place for Wazzu and I where we were out of the way and could still see. I think it's the first time I've seen in church in the past seven years! And the usher that took us in met us at the end of the service to make sure we got out fine and found our way back to where we had entered as it is a huge place.

I didn't want to use a flash during the service so my pictures are blurry since I couldn't hold still enough without the flash. But I thought I'd include them anyway so you could get an idea of the place.

Being Wednesday the place wasn't nearly full but that was fine with me. It was still so exciting. The atmosphere was electric and the people were all so nice. From the view in this picture you can only see a small portion of the lower level. There is another whole level upstairs.



I got this whole bench to myself for most of the service so I could lie down and still see. Wazzu, while ALWAYS perfect, was especially tuckered from the day's activities so once she laid down she didn't open her eyes the entire time - even when people wanted to come pet her.



What an awesome evening! Talk about a natural high! I think I might move to Houston....if only it wasn't in Texas! LOL

Debbie
3/7/07

Bumpedy, Bumpedy

Monday morning, March 5, we left Georgia and began the trek west. Too bad our next trial is in Texas and only five days away as this meant we had to scoot fairly quickly. Mike wants to spend a couple days in Houston on our way to the trial so this only left us a couple days to get from Georgia to Houston. The drive on Monday wasn’t all that bad. It was a fairly long day and we hit three states all in one day – Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. We (meaning the dogs) managed to leave our mark in all three states so it counts as being there!

Tuesday morning we left Mississippi bright and early for the LONG trek to Houston. We stopped in Louisiana to leave our mark and to stop by the Visitors Center. This was by far the most elaborate Visitors Center we’ve ever been to. We try to stop at a Visitors Center in each state we go to so we can pick up information and maps.



This one was huge! They had very nice local music playing on speakers outside and a bunch of large rocking chairs both on the deck and inside the building.



Around the outside were numerous covered picnic areas with speakers at each one.



They also had beautiful flowers and a whole outdoor display of the various wildlife you’d be likely to see in this area. You can see a little of that in the above picture. Below if you look closely you'll see a butterfly.



Outside on the back deck along with boats and nets they use for fishing in the marshes they had a huge turtle (taller than me).



Inside, along with the normal handouts you’d find at a Visitors Center, they had numerous displays telling about the history of the area. There was also a little show put on by animated creatures. They also had a little movie theater where every five minutes they showed a four and a half minute movie on the area – even I thought it was interesting.

Here a just a few of the many displays they had. Each display had books open on stands that you could look through that contained many beautiful pictures along with information on the region.







They even served free hot drinks and had pop and various snacks for sale. In addition, they had a free dump station for the RV’s. All this elaborate stuff and Slugger liked the little marsh that ran through the grounds. He had fun hunting for frogs. Actually all the dogs were excited to hunt frogs as that’s one of the very first things Mike taught each of the dogs as we got them. We had deep wall wells along the back of our house and the frogs would sometimes accidentally somehow get stuck down in them. So Mike taught the dogs to look for frogs in the wells and alert him if they found any. They all got very good at that. There was also a pond at the end of our road that had LOTS of frogs. Mike and the dogs all loved hunting for frogs there too. It truly was one of their favorite things to do each day.

Anyway, Slugger found a frog in the marsh at the Visitors Center and then we couldn’t get the dogs away from there as they were so excited to get to hunt frogs again. Between the marsh with frogs and from the looks of what we learned in the Visitors Center we were very disappointed that we didn’t have time to actually spend a few days in Louisiana. We’ll for sure be going back when we have more time.

Quite a bit of the land was marsh land and for miles and miles we drove on a bridge that was just over the marsh. I snapped a couple pictures as we drove.





Then we got back to our least favorite state of all – Texas. I won’t bother telling you all the reasons we don’t like Texas. But I certainly remembered one the second we crossed the border into Texas. Their roads suck big time! You might as well be driving on a dirt road with potholes as be driving on their interstates. I don’t do well at all on bumpy roads and these are bumpier than bumpy. Poor Mike is trying his best to drive carefully but there is just no way – the roads are just crap. Not only did we have a very long day of driving but it was a very uncomfortable day for me as well. Hopefully it won’t take too many days to recuperate from these horrible Texas roads.

To top it off, we got to the RV park well after closing time. Even though I told them the length of our coach and car, they assigned us a short spot versus the longer ones they have. Since our coach takes up the entire length of the spot we had to park our car in the road. I sure hope no one wants to leave before we get up!

Debbie
3/5-6/07

SEA

All of you back home think this stands for Seattle. But nope, not this time. In this case it stands for Southeastern Agility – the name of the group that put on this weekend’s agility trial.

The trial this weekend was held in Marietta, Georgia at the Cobb Equestrian Center. It was a very pleasant place for a trial if you don’t take the weather into consideration. Wouldn’t you know a cold front came through just for the weekend. Low’s were in the 20’s the high’s were in the 30’s – not too bad (ha ha) until you throw in the 30 mph winds. It was downright cold. Sunday was the worst and fortunately we got to meet people on Saturday as on Sunday people were so bundled up you couldn’t tell who anyone was – just big bundles of clothes. And on Sunday most people just worked out of their cars so even though there were plenty of dogs to run it seemed pretty empty.

We arrived Friday mid-day and were the first ones there. On the upper level is the huge covered arena – probably just about big enough for three rings although this trial only had one. That left lots of room for crating and vendors on all four sides of the ring although everyone seemed to set up on the ends. There were very nice bleachers on both sides (but not the full length of the arena - just in the center) although I only saw two people ever up there. I’ll tell you about them later.



There were a few spots for RV’s to park (with electric and water) probably only 20 yards from the arena. But that isn’t the main RV parking area there. About 10’ from our RV was a hill that went down to the lower level. There is a very large pond there with lots of geese and turtles.





As Wazzu and walked back and forth the length of the pond the geese kept following us. I guess they thought we might feed them. But no such luck.



While Wazzu and I were taking a little walk on Friday we came across these goose eggs.



Along the length of the pond on one side, there are 40 concrete RV spots complete with electric and water. However, to get to the arena you had to walk up a hill so we parked on the upper level to be near the arena. The pond was very pretty and a nice spot to let the dogs run and swim. We had hoped to let Slugger swim but it was just too cold. Wazzu did fall in while chasing something on Friday but fortunately the cold spell hadn’t quite hit by then.

This trial was the first one this club ever held and I must say for a “first time” this club did a pretty good job. As with most places back east, the ribbons were small flats. It was help yourself which I think is the better method – not that we take ribbons anymore but it just seems so much easier. They posted the scores on the inner arena railing which worked well as many people can look at the results at one time. They got the results up in a very timely manner.

Workers weren’t given lunch although they did bring in pizza and sub sandwiches with chips and drinks which you could purchase for $5.00. They did bring in donuts and bagels both days along with coffee and tea which was free for everyone.

They had a nice photographer there but man were her pictures expensive! She took a number of pictures I really would have like but at those prices there was just no way. There were two pictures however that I just couldn’t pass up. One was of little Slugger jumping. We have no jump pictures of him since we rarely enter him in any events that have jumps. But he was running so fast and clearing the bars by a lot and in this particular picture he had such a look of determination on his face that Mike and I both thought we needed that picture.

The second picture we couldn’t pass up was a very unusual shot. She only got two shots like this and it just so happened one of them was Sparkie. You can’t actually tell it is Sparkie as she is inside the tunnel. But it was a clear tunnel and the lighting was just right so you can see her silhouette just perfectly with Mike running along side.

The vendors here held nothing back. They brought huge trucks – like half semi size trucks full of their goods. They set it all up and it looked like real stores! And they had numerous items I’d never seen before so it was fun to look around. Wazzu however kept leading me to this one store in particular so of course I had to buy her what she wanted. She picked out some really nummy Buffalo Bites. The lady said these are also fine for people and that a lot of people buy them for themselves. But I think I’ll let the dogs have them as they are crazy for them. Wazzu also picked out a huge bone for herself and one for each of the youngsters as well. They think she is a good shopper!

Oh yes – we did do some agility while we were there too! As you might imagine, I was freezing. However, Wazzu thought this was just the perfect temperature and she loved the big wind gusts that would ruffle her hair. She was so “up” for every run. She was speedy and she was happy. However, I must say that didn’t translate to anymore Q’s for us. In fact, we were under our average. But I just couldn’t keep up! I couldn’t get to where I needed to be sometimes. To be fair however, there was a time or two when Wazzu just thought she just had better ideas. LOL. But we both had big smiles every run and just had a blast running together. I just love it when Wazzu is so happy and goofy. She has quite the sense of humor and really let it show this weekend.

I didn’t really think this was possible but Sparkie is running faster and faster all the time. And this is causing some trouble in the communication between Mike and Sparkie. When Sparkie speeds up like this, Mike has to get his commands out even earlier which is hard to do without practice. On Saturday, Sparkie thought she was Superman. You know, faster than a speeding bullet and can fly though the air. And fly she did. On her first run she was called for flying off the teeter, and missing both contacts. And none of those three things left anything to the judges imagination as she launched WAY early. The next run Sparkie once again flew off the first two contact obstacles. So when they got to the next contact obstacle, Mike ran as fast as he could to beat Sparkie to the end. He then started to bend over to catch Sparkie and make her stop in the yellow. Instead she launched herself and jumped all the way over Mike and through the next two tunnels before Mike even knew what had happened. The crowd all gasped and then laughed. Yup, she thought she was Superman.

Sunday, she seemed to remember that you were supposed to tough the yellow and never missed a contact all day. But she was running faster than ever. On the second Regular run of the day she and Mike were having a total run of beauty. At the very end of the course they had to make a turn then do the last two obstacles. The second to last obstacle was a discrimination as well as the distance challenge. Just as they made the turn a huge gust of wind came up and blew Mike’s hat off. His natural reaction was to grab for his hat. That lift of the arm gave Sparkie the clue to go out – unfortunately the correct obstacle was the “in” obstacle. So a most beautiful run was blemished right at the very end.

Little Slugger may not have had a great weekend on paper but he was great. For the first time in a long time we entered him in Chances. It is a big chance to enter him in that event as it could have the dreaded teeter included. And this was the case on Saturday. So even though the did the challenge and the rest of the course they had to run by the teeter. But it was a positive experience for him and he worked so hard. Sunday we lucked out as there was no teeter. Once again he did the distance challenge perfectly but he and Mike somehow got tangled up on the third to last obstacle. But both runs were great showings for him. He ran fast and acted very happy to get to participate.

The last run on Sunday was Tunnelers and it was a very nice flowing course. So it was fast and furious! All three dogs did great and ran just as fast as they could. Sparkie blew everyone away. If you blinked you would have missed her – although if Will had been there she definitely would have had a run for her money…..and Will most likely would have come out on top!

We also had visitors! When I realized we were going to be at a trial in the Atlanta area I contacted my cousin Joan, who I haven’t seen in probably 15 years, to see if she might be free to come visit with us while we were in town. As it turned out, she was available and lived about an hour from the trial site.



So Saturday, Joan and her friend Margaret came to visit and watch the dogs do some agility. They arrived in time to see each of the dogs run twice. They had never seen agility before and seemed to think it was quite interesting. Margaret is a long time breeder and dog trainer so she was very curious about agility. I was very impressed with her vast knowledge of dogs and really enjoyed visiting with her.

After the trial ended for the day, Mike ran out to Chili’s and bought dinner for all of us and brought it back to the RV. We ate and talked well into the evening getting caught up on many years worth of events and reminiscing about old times. (Her oldest son, Baz, was the ring bearer in our wedding almost 24 years ago!) It was a great time and I feel so blessed to have had this great opportunity to spend some time with both Joan and Margaret.

Joan enjoyed our time together so much that she called on Sunday afternoon and said she was coming by again. Once again she arrived in time so see each dog run twice and we also had plenty of free time to visit some more. Then after we were all done running and pretty tuckered out, Joan was kind enough to run out to O’Charleys and get dinner for all of us. Mike and I had never heard of this restaurant but the good she brought back from there was fantastic. I don’t know if we’ll ever come across an O’Charleys in our travels but if we do we wouldn’t hesitate to eat there!

Joan’s visit was a spur of the moment thing that we put together just the day before we arrived in Georgia. And while I was eager to get to see her I had no idea the true blessing this would turn out to be. Certainly one of the highlights of our trip for me. She tried to convince us to stay longer but we politely explained to her the numerous reasons why we really don’t like Georgia and why we are anxious to leave just as soon as possible. She may have to come farther to see us next time as we are making plans to make sure we don’t ever come to Georgia again!

I think the closest we’ll come to Georgia is maybe eating a Georgia peach some time! Mmmm, that sounds good.

Debbie
3/2-4/07

Memories

When we started out today we knew it was going to be a day of not very fond memories – but we had no clue what was in store for us.

You see, 15 years ago was our very first RV experience ever. We were living in Ohio near Mike’s family. Mike’s dad had just purchased a new RV and had taken us for a couple hour drive. We had a lot of fun and thought what a good way to travel with our dog. So we asked if we could borrow the RV and take a trip down to Disney World. A few short months later we were on our way.

We were having a great time and our 85 pound German Shepherd, Mandy, was just the perfect RV dog. All was going well and we were anxious to get to Disney World so we were driving well into the night. Suddenly the engine just quite – no sputtering or noise of any kind – it just quit and we coasted to the side of the freeway. This was before the days of cell phones and we didn’t have a tow vehicle. It was close to midnight and since we were out in the middle of nowhere there weren’t any lights of any kind. As we were trying to figure out what we were going to do we notice some parking lights from a vehicle in the median. We thought we were in luck when we realized it was a police car. We started flashing our headlights and honking our horn but there was no response at all. After a few minutes the police car started to move and we thought we were in luck. But instead he just made a u-turn and left. Our faith in the police force certainly went down a notch. We truly had no idea what to do.

About half an hour later a police car came by and stopped – we still don’t know if it was the same policeman or not. But anyway, we explained that we had broken down and needed help. After much discussion he said he would call us a tow truck. A couple hours later we got towed to a truck stop just south of Cordele, Georgia. Of course, you can’t stay in your vehicle when it gets towed so the driver, Mike, Mandy, and I all had to squish into the front of this very old and dirty tow truck. Once again Mandy was perfectly well behaved even though she was squished.

Before we broke down we hadn’t seen anything for miles. And when they towed us to the truck stop we saw nothing in that direction either. We spent some time sitting on a bench at the truck stop until some guy finally came and said nothing would happen until morning. When we inquired about a place to stay for the remainder of the night he said there wasn’t any place around but he was fixing up some rooms over the truck stop that were going to be hotel rooms and they were all done other than some decorating. He offered us a room for $25 a night (remember this is 15 years ago) so we decided that was just fine. We have never seen such a garbage pit. It was filthy and wasn’t close to being done. There was a very old mattress (no sheets) and a sink that kind of sort of drained but the water looked so very dirty. It really was gross.

As it turned out, the motor was completely shot – it couldn’t be fixed. So they towed us to a nearby RV park where Mike then found someone to hitch a ride with to go rent a car. We were a little upset to find that only a couple more miles up the road was a real hotel where we could have stayed for LESS than we were charged at the truck stop.

Anyway, we ended up staying in the broken RV’s for a number of days until we were rescued. So when we saw that we were going to be passing through Cordele today we decided we were going to go fast. Funny thing is the truck stop and RV park look exactly the same as they did all those years ago. We made it through the area with no problems and figured that our luck with Georgia had changed.

We pulled into our RV park in the pouring rain. Oh well, we’re only here for the night so we’ll just stay inside and watch TV and get a good night’s sleep before another day of driving. The rain stayed steady when suddenly the satellite stopped working. We thought it was really odd as the satellite only goes out when the weather is really bad and it just didn’t seem that bad. Only a minute or two later we heard sirens and saw flashing lights out the window. Just as I was getting up to look out and see what the commotion was there was a knock at our door. We were told to turn on the TV to the local channel 13 as there was storm cell heading right toward us with potential tornados. Sure enough we were in the direct path but it looked as though it was still a ways off. Even so we weren’t real worried at this point. But it wasn’t too long before they came by with the sirens again and told us to get to the Bath House NOW. The cell was coming directly toward us and was getting close. At this time it was about 9:30pm.

We quickly got ready and off we went – with the dogs of course! There are two Bath House’s at this park. I saw everyone headed to the one farthest from us. Even the people at our end of the park were heading toward the other Bath House. I asked the worker if there was a reason for this and tried to find out which one we should go to. He said the one most people were going to was built of blocks. The one closest to us was also built of block but had wood siding over that. He figures that most people were heading to the one that looked like block. So we headed for the one closest to us.



When we got there the bathroom was stuffed with people. It didn’t look like there was any chance of fitting two more people and three dogs in there. But at times like this I figured I was going to make a way! But I was very surprised when the people all said “you can’t come in – there just isn’t room.” Wow, I really thought people would be more considerate and caring during an emergency. So we went around the building and noticed there was another bathroom there. Turns out those people had all crammed into the Women’s Room but no one had gone around to the Men’s Room – it was hidden I must say. Anyway, when we got there a guy was just going in dressed in his jammies. He was a guy about our age – and I must say looked very good in his jammies! We were in there just a minute or so when Mike decided to walk the two younger dogs around outside for a few minutes leaving Wazzu and I alone with Mr. Cute Jammies.

The guy started talking to me and after some small talk mentioned that he’d been near a couple hurricanes but never a tornado. You know I was really calm until he said that. Suddenly all the emotion and memories came back from the hurricane we went through in Fiji. Our hotel was destroyed and we had to be evacuated to another place which also then had to be evacuated. During the first evacuation we were literally within just a few feet of being killed. We just made it but the people just a couple feet behind us were killed. That was by far the scariest thing we’ve ever been through and suddenly now I felt my blood pressure going through the roof, I felt shaky, my head started spinning, and I got very scared. I realized that this wasn’t helping one bit and that I needed to collect myself and calm down quickly. The reason I felt this was so important was I didn’t want to scare Wazzu anymore than she already was. Plus I knew I needed to be at my best so I could react appropriately should a tornado touch down. Within a couple minutes I was once again clam and rational. Interesting how quick your adrenaline can get pumped up just from some memories coupled with impending trouble.

Mike came back inside as the weather outside was getting worse. More people kept coming in to join us and hunker down. It was very interesting to see how each dog handled the stress. As always in times of stress, Wazzu gets even more subdued (if you can believe that) and really withdraws. The doors to the stalls were all closed and she crawled under the door into one of the stalls as that felt like a small safe den to her. She laid down in there with just her head sticking out so she could keep a very close eye on me. All traces of a bold, loud Pointer quickly left Sparkie. All that was left was a very scared Whippet. She was wet and cold and was shaking and crying. She wanted Mike to hold her but he couldn’t do that as he had to keep track of Slugger too.

Slugger thought this was GREAT! More and more people kept coming in to join our little party. How fun that so many people kept coming in to see him! His tail was wagging so hard and he was just so happy. I really think this helped to calm many of the people as they would pet him and smile and you could see their minds were distracted from the potential danger.

About 40 minutes later the workers came by and told us that a tornado had touched down at the local hospital. We were told the cell had passed us by and we were free to go back to our RV’s. But there was still a tornado watch in effect until 5:00am. They told us to sleep in our clothes and keep our shoes right next to the bed. If another cell was heading directly at us they would go around with the sirens again.

We stayed up until 1:00am watching the weather and seeing the various cells going just to our right and left. Since Mike has to drive again tomorrow we decided we’d better try to get some sleep.

We feel very fortunate that the tornado spared our RV park and our feelings and prayers go out to the friends and family of those that were killed and injured in the local hospital.

We’ve also decided that Georgia is just not the place for us. We’ve only been here twice and both times were much less than pleasant. We’re here until Monday and then I think maybe we’ll try to avoid Georgia at all costs.

Debbie
3/1/07

My Little Helper

Since the next two days are just going to be very long driving days Mike wanted to make sure to get the dogs really tired today. So they started the day by going to a small island where the two girls could be off leash the whole time and Slugger could be off leash a little bit near a swimming hole. They were gone for quite a few hours and had a great time.

When they got back I was ready to do something. So I took Sparkie for a little walk around the RV park. We didn’t go far but did walk over to the pond for the first time. It was a very pretty little pond and the water was very clear.



We could see a lot of little fish and frogs in the water. It was interesting to me that when Sparkie would stand in the water, little schools of fish would come swimming toward her. Don’t know what that was about but Sparkie thought she might make a good fisherman. So she would put her face way down in the water and blow out bubbles as she tried to stay under long enough to catch something. I don’t think she ever caught a fish but she did come up with a few leaves.

We then decided that since this was our last day here that we really should take Slugger swimming one more time. And since we wanted everyone tired we took the girls along too. What a perfect time we had. We decided that Slugger should wear his life jacket to help keep his head out of the water a little bit. Yesterday he had swallowed so much water that he threw up a number of times – just water but we still feel sorry for him. So much of his body is muscle that he doesn’t float real well. He is a VERY strong swimmer but doesn’t really stay far above the water so he ends of swallowing lots of water. The life jacket helps hold him up a little.

Anyway, Mike usually carries the life jacket. But today he handed it to me to carry. I didn’t have the life jacket in my hand two seconds when Wazzu came over and gently took it from me. I guess she thought it was too much for me to carry.



She carried that large life jacket to the boardwalk, then the entire length of the boardwalk, and over to the swimming area. She didn’t drop it until I told her we needed it now to put on Slugger. What a sweet caring girl I am fortunate enough to call mine.



Let me try to describe the swimming area to you. The only reason I’m doing this is because this was the most perfect swimming area we have ever come across. As usual, there was no one else around at all. No matter how far you can see on our side of the river or across the river from here you can’t see any homes or buildings of any kind. Just wilderness as far as you can see. And the only noise of any kind are the various birds singing their songs.

We walk down the trail a little bit as I showed you yesterday. Then on the left side of the trail you look down just a few feet and there is a nice little beach.



Another great feature of this swimming area is that there are unlimited sticks. Many places we go there aren’t any trees so it is find to hard something to throw for Slugger to chase. But here that was not a problem at all. If you look closely you can see Mike gathering sticks so he’ll be ready when Slugger goes charging out into the water.



I don’t know if those of you with dogs have experienced this but the bigger the stick the better. The only time Wazzu will even pretend to chase a stick is if we get a really big one. Well today I found a really large stick – actually I think it would qualify as a branch. Anyway, Wazzu swam for it a couple times and then Slugger decided he was “the man” and could certainly fetch it too.

So Mike threw it as far as he could. When little Slugger grabbed it he got it by the end. This branch was heavy and he had to use all his might to try to turn. It was so interesting to see him use his tail as a rudder. I’m not kidding his little tail went in circles just like a propeller as he tried to steer his way back to shore.



It’s interesting to us that Slugger won’t chase anything on land. He’s strictly a water retriever. And he won’t come back without the stick. If for some reason he loses the stick (happens when we throw a stick that sinks!) he’ll just swim around looking for it or just tread water waiting for us to throw something else. It doesn’t matter how long it takes – he will not come in without a stick. If he sees two sticks in the water he won’t come back until he can get both sticks in his mouth. This is actually very helpful as often times Wazzu will pretend she wants to chase one. But when we throw it she doesn’t go after it. So on Slugger’s way back in from getting his stick he’ll gather up Wazzu’s stick as well.

After getting back to shore he ALWAYS takes the stick away from the water (in this case back up to the path) and tears it to pieces – no matter how big the stick is. Of course the big ones he just works on the ends for a while.



When he’s done destroying the stick – only takes a matter of seconds – he charges back down and dives into the water watching over his head for the next stick to go flying. That’s why Mike has to have sticks ready!

This river has quite a current but that is no cause for concern. Slugger totally understands current and knows which way the stick is going to go and adjusts he course accordingly. Sparkie and Wazzu however have no clue. They swim to where they saw the stick land and look amazed that when they get there, there is no stick.

And distance is not a problem for Slugger either. He can easily swim HARD for over an hour so swimming for sticks for an hour or two is nothing. When he used to do hydrotherapy we’d hook him up to cables to hold him in place while he would swim against the jets turned on full blast. He would swim all out for over an hour with no problem at all. So he is definitely a strong swimmer. Look closely and you'll see him way out there.



The girls like to play in the water for a few minutes but then would rather move on to something else. So while Slugger is swimming Sparkie will usually just lay around chewing on sticks and Wazzu will just wander around.



But today, even after hours of hiking Sparkie got silly. When they were younger, Wazzu and Sparkie used to play together a lot. But Wazzu rarely plays anymore. So when Sparkie can get Wazzu to even pretend to play a little bit she really is in heaven. When we used to have a yard we had many huge oak trees in the front area. All three dogs loved playing in the leaves as we raked them up – which really made for a long day of work!

Anyway, the path here was thick with dead leaves as it seems that no one has ever used this trail but us. So Sparkie got silly and she tucked her bottom (as only a whippet can do!) and started racing around darting at Wazzu to get her to play. And Wazzu took the bait. They would each do huge prolonged play bows to each other. Then Sparkie would charged Wazzu and run way down the trail. Wazzu would just wait for Sparkie to come back and then would pretend to go after her – when in reality she would only take a step or two. Sparkie would run past Wazzu just a few feet and turn and slide seven or eight feet backward in the leaves. She just loved the “leaf slide” and spent a good 15 minutes running back and forth doing leaf slides. Then after a brief rest she would start the game all over. I should have taken pictures but I was way to engrossed in watching this rare game between the girls. I think this is most fun Sparkie has had in a long time. And I must say it was a real boost for me too.

It’s too bad the afternoon had to end - and our stay here at the Suwannee River Hideaway has to end as well. It really was the perfect place for our little family. And from the looks of the dogs it seems as though Mike accomplished his task of tiring out two of them at least. Sparkie truly is the real life version of the energizer bunny. It seems as though it is impossible to get her tired. The minute we finish one activity she is in Mike’s lap punching him and crying wanting to go do something acting like it's been days since she's gotten to do anything!! But once we’ve had dinner she knows the fun is over and she settles down very nicely and goes to bed to dream of all the fun she had.

Sweet dreams.

Debbie
2/28/07