We're Off Again!

 After a long spring, summer and fall stay at home, we finally left on November 7th for our winter excursion. Mom had spent the summer redecorating and renovating our house on wheels. She spent several days moving stuff from out from the house and packing up for our long trip - dog food, human food, clothes, toiletries, dog food, dog toys (which I don't play with any more but Dora does), bedding, dog food, drinking water, canned goods - all the things you can imagine that humans would use in the course of daily life. Over the past year she has outfitted the RV with its own set of cookware, dishes, utensils, etc., so she didn't have to move those. Oh, and did I mention she packed dog food?

Our first stop (#2 on the map) was Clayton, NY to visit Dad's cousin that he hasn't seen in 20 years. They have 2 dogs, 1 of which became Dora's best friend. They wrestled and chased each other till they both passed out from exhaustion. And they have geese which Dora immediately decided didn't belong in the yard and chased them till they fled in terror across the pond. The other dog, well, sort of got upset with me and bit me on my back. Ouch! That was rude! I'm OK, thanks for asking, although I have quite a bruise. Fortunately the people got hold of the dog right away or an old guy like me might have been severely injured. And speaking of being an old dog, I hadn't been feeling very well for a bit but my people have started giving me Rimadyl every day. I feel a lot better and even have my appetite back.

We really enjoyed our visit and after a few days we headed out toward Kansas City, MO to visit Mom's son. We stopped a few nights on the way (#3 and 4) just to rest up and get back on the road the next day.

When we got to Mom's son, Chris's house in Kansas City, MO (#5 on the map), he and his fiancé had a wonderful announcement. They were getting married that day! Not only did Mom gain a new daughter-in-law, but she gained 2 new grandsons. I think the whole family is pretty cool! 

Again, Dora made fast friends with one of their dogs, and I got to sleep undisturbed in my favorite spot - curled up between Dad's legs on the recliner. I love it when she's occupied with other dogs because she leaves me alone! And Mom thought it was ironic that Dora came from KC Pet Rescue, and here she was back in KC.

We took a trip out to some land in the Ozarks that Chris owns to see his campsite set-up. It was a long, but fun day. The road in was 2 1/2 miles of bumps and ruts but once we got there we got to run around through all the fallen leaves. Mom loves scuffing through dry leaves on the ground. She says it reminds her of being a kid and running through leaves as her dad raked them up.

Since we won't be home on Thanksgiving we tried to find a turkey before we left Colebrook last week so we could roast it up and bring the meat with us. Dad couldn't find any turkeys in the stores. So on Sunday Chris and Kim served us a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Mom was in heaven. She said that although she usually only has turkey at Thanksgiving she didn't want to miss out on the wonderful taste this year. Dora and I had leftovers. We approved.

They also made Mom a new sweatshirt. Pretty cool, huh?

Monday is preparation day. Laundry, shopping, straightening things out, and preparing the trailer for travel on Tues. We go to Pretty Prairie, KS for 4 days, then to a cattle farm in Shamrock, TX for 4 days, on to Placitas, NM for 2 days, and finally to Shiprock, NM for 4 days, which brings us to Dec. 1 when we check in to an RV park in Hurricane, UT for the month of December. Not sure what we're doing after that but I'll definitely keep you posted.

Dora and I "helping" with breakfast.

---Sammy