Living Our Dream

Freeway Gets Clipped and Snipped

Summerdale, AL - Events of Monday, April 16 to Wednesday, April 18, 2012

On Monday, we decided Freeway was long overdue for a haircut. We had him groomed the first two times at PetSmart at their discounted rate of $16 for puppies under 5 months of age. Now that Freeway is a little over 5 months old, we would have to pay the full price for grooming, which starts at $40. Therefore, we bought a new cordless dog-grooming clipper so we could groom him ourselves. We used to groom our previous dog, Molly, so we figured we could learn to do Freeway as well. The clippers even came with a DVD showing how to groom different parts of the dog and how to groom different breeds. We will probably stick with a puppy cut for Freeway, which is the simplest type of cut where the dog is essentially clipped to the same length all over.

Freeway's coat is very fine, and it tangles easily. The tangles eventually turn into knots, so we need to brush him often. Grooming starts with an extra-thorough brushing so the clipper doesn't hang up on the tangles.

Grooming starts with a thorough brushing.

A short time ago, we ordered an arm to mount to a table to hold Freeway still for grooming. We found it works well for the thorough brushing as well.

When we had Freeway groomed at the PetSmart in The Villages, the groomer mentioned using a slicker brush, which we have, to help get out tangles. She also advised getting a metal comb. The metal combs that are available for dog grooming have smooth, round, metal teeth. Unlike plastic combs, the metal comb glides through Freeway's coat. What a difference! The metal comb really makes it easy to keep the tangles out.

The brushing was followed by a bath to remove dirt and grit in Freeway's fur that could dull the clippers. After blow-drying Freeway, Paul started clipping.

Paul grooming Freeway

The hardest part of grooming Freeway for the first time ourselves was deciding how much to take off. The clippers come with several comb attachments that make it easier to maintain an even cut, and we used the longest one for Freeway. We finished up trimming Freeway's face with scissors. That part is going to take a little practice because he fidgets a lot, especially when you stick a pair of scissors in his face. It was hard to get his face trimmed evenly, but we thought he looked pretty good for our first try.

Freeway's first home grooming

Freeway got clipped on Monday, and he had an appointment at the vet to get snipped on Wednesday. When Margery was a little girl, her family always had female dogs, and our first two dogs were females. All the females were spayed. This is our first experience with a male dog, and Paul was feeling a little uneasy about having freeway neutered. However, we had no plans to breed Freeway, and we want to be responsible pet owners to help reduce a pet population explosion. Neutering also eliminates potential problems with aggression and marking in males.

Finding a vet in an unknown area is almost as challenging, if not more so, than finding a hair dresser. Our first year on the road, we had to take Molly to the vet numerous times. In all, we visited at least 6 vets between Pittsburgh and California. Each visit included the first-visit exam (at the going rate for new patients) in addition to diagnosis and treatment of her problem (which ended up being a deep-seated bladder infection). It was a very expensive first year! About a year before Molly died, we discovered Banfield Veterinary Services which is a national "chain" available at most PetSmart stores. Now, Freeway's records are available at any Banfield in the country. It makes the continuity of care from one city to another so convenient...and cost effective. We also took advantage of the Puppy Early Care Plus Wellness Plan. For $39/month, we get unlimited office calls/exams, vaccinations, diagnostic testing, and neutering services. We don't know if we'll continue a plan after Freeway's first year, but it has been definitely worthwhile for his first year. 

We had to have Freeway at the vet before 8:00 AM, and we dropped him off a little before that time. We took advantage of the early hour to stop at Panini Pete's for breakfast after we dropped him off.

Although breakfast paninis are available, we wanted to try Panini Pete's beignets. As you may know, beignets are fried doughnuts that Café du Monde in New Orleans is so famous for. We had heard a lot about the beignets at Panini Pete's, and we have been wanting to try them; but they only serve breakfast until 10:30, and we haven't been able to in gear to get to Fairhope in time. Having to have Freeway at the vet so early was a perfect excuse to stop.

It was a cool, cloudy morning, so we ate inside for the first time.

Panini Pete's indoor seating

Foggy windows on a cool morning

Panini Pete's version of beignets is a little different from the ones in New Orleans. Panini Pete's beignets are light and airy like a cream puff except without the cream filling inside. Like the biegnets in New Orleans, they are smothered in powdered sugar on the outside. Panini Pete's also serves their beignets with a wedge of lemon. Lemon juice squeezed onto the beignets combines with the powdered sugar adds a hint of lemonade flavor. We initially ordered one serving of four beignets to share. They were so good and they went down so easily, we just had to order a second serving!

Beignets at Panini Pete's are served with lemon.

Yum!

We made a few quick stops on the way back to the motor home from Panini Pete's. After lunch, we got a call from the vet saying Freeway did fine with his surgery, and we could pick him up after 4:00 PM.

We knew our schedule on Wednesday would be a little uncertain and possibly hectic, so we decided to have an early dinner at a restaurant on the way to pick Freeway up. We were both hungry for Chinese, so we stopped at China Wok in Fairhope, which wasn't too far out of our way. The restaurant is located in a strip mall.

We both love General Tso's chicken, and we rarely order anything else at a Chinese restaurant. China Wok had General Tso's chicken on the menu, but they also had a buffet. Chinese buffets are very popular, but we usually don't like them because the breaded coating of General Tso's chicken usually gets soggy sitting on the steam table at a buffet. However, China Wok's buffet looked like it had a good selection of food (including General Tso's chicken). At $5.99, the buffet was cheaper than ordering General Tso's chicken from the menu for $6.75, so we decided to have the buffet.

Paul at China Wok

We were disappointed in our meal at China Wok. The middle of the afternoon isn't a great time to hit a buffet because business is slow at that time of day and there isn't much turn over in the food. Many items were dried out; and, although the General Tso's chicken had good flavor, the coating was soggy as we feared it would be. Some of the other items on the buffet (like the egg rolls, the spicy shrimp, the honey chicken and coconut shrimp) didn't have much flavor.

Most importantly, the steam tables weren't doing a good job of keeping the food warm. Food safety rules say hot foods should be above 140ºF and cold foods should be below 40º. We didn't have a thermometer, but we're sure the hot food wasn't anywhere near 140º.

We didn't know if Freeway would be glad to see us or not when we picked him up, but he was. We expected him to be groggy like he was after his eye surgery, but he was bouncing off the walls by the time we got him home. We are supposed to keep him quiet for a week following the surgery, which isn't an easy task for any 5-month old puppy, and we figured it was going to be impossible the way he was acting. He was running around the motor home, jumping up and down, and trying to get into anything and everything. At first, we thought he was trying to get even with us, but we later found out that the anesthetic sometimes has the side effect of making the dogs hyperactive, disobedient, and downright ornery. Fortunately, the side effects wore off by the following morning.

We still have the job of keeping a young puppy calm and quiet, but we feel we have a fighting chance without the side effects of the anesthetic. We'll be staying around the motor home for a while to keep tabs on Freeway and to work on the project we have mentioned a several times now. It's a fairly big project, and we're working on it in between doing other things so it is taking a while to get it done. We expect the project to be completed soon; and when it is, we'll tell you all about it.

Freeway's Surgery

Bushnell, FL - Events of Tuesday, March 20, 2010

We had to get up fairly early on Tuesday to drive to Largo near Tampa for the surgery to correct Freeway's cherry eye. We decided to have both eyes done even though the gland had only popped out on one eye because the ophthalmologist said the gland on the other eye was also showing signs of swelling. We dropped Freeway off around 9:00 AM and picked him up later around 1:30 PM.

We're happy to report the surgery went well, and Freeway had no problems. He was a little groggy when we picked him up, but he pretty much bounced back to his old self by early evening. He was was trying to paw at his eyes when we picked him up, so they sent him home with an Elizabethan collar, which Lora calls the "cone of shame."

Freeway looking unhappy with his Elizabethan collar

It didn't take Freeway long to figure out how to get the collar off. We put it back on a couple of times, but when we saw he was no longer trying to rub his eyes, we were able to leave the collar off, much to Freeway's relief.

There is still a little swelling and redness in the corners of Freeway's eyes, but the cherry eye is gone. There is a slight chance it could come back in a few weeks after the sutures dissolve, but we're trusting it won't.

We had a few hours to kill after we dropped Freeway off. We had researched things to do in the area and came up with the Florida Botanical Gardens right there in Largo. The Florida Botanical Gardens are operated by the Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation. The gardens are located in a Pinellas County park. Admission is free.

Adjacent to the botanical garden is Heritage Village, which is a collection of over 20 historic buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s that have been relocated to the 21-acre site. Admission to Heritage Village is also free. Heritage Village was closed when we were there, which was just as well because we would have probably felt compelled to see both the village and the gardens, and we didn't need the stress of rushing to try to do two things in a somewhat limited amount of time. A leisurely stroll through the gardens turned out to be a perfect stress reliever.

The gardens straddle McKay Creek. The visitor center, the main parking lot and the cooperative extension office are on the western side of the creek. Behind the visitor center is an herb garden, a patio garden and a tropical fruit garden.

Herb garden

Patio garden

Banana plants in the tropical fruit garden

Bananas grow on long stems, usually only one stem per plant. The ones on the plants above are small bananas that are growing more compactly around the stem than we have seen before.

What is commonly called the flower of the plant is actually an inflorescence, which is a group of flowers. The flowers in the photo below are yellow. What look like red flower petals are actually bracts, which are specialized leaves whose function it is to attract insects to the flowers. The red bracts curl up one or two at a time as the yellow flowers bloom.

Banana inflorescence is a group of flowers.

Papayas in the tropical fruit garden

There are two bridges over McKay Creek to the eastern side of the garden. We took the northern bridge over the creek. Along the way, we took a side path through a wooded area.

Along the woodland path

Palms are Paul's favorite tree, and he enjoyed seeing the different varieties planted in the Palm Garden on the eastern side of the creek. One of the most interesting was a fishtail palm from India. It gets its name from the fact the fronds are split and look like a fish's tail.

Paul with a Fishtail Palm

There are also several courtyards, a wedding garden, a bromiliad garden and several walking paths on the eastern side of McKay Creek. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much of the wedding garden because they were preparing for what looked to be some sort of TV broadcast, but we did enjoy the rest of what we could see.

Margery on a butterfly bench in one of the courtyards

Water feature in the bromiliad garden

There were signs like the one below throughout the garden along the banks of all the ponds and along McKay Creek. We didn't see any 'gators, so we're not sure if there really are any or they just wanted to keep people out of the water; but since just about any body of water in Florida (including swimming pools) can attract alligators, we weren't taking any chances and stuck to the paths.

Alligator warning

Large pond on the eastern side of McKay Creek

Anhinga drying its wings along the banks of the large pond

Great Egret stalking lunch among the lily pads in the pond

Some of the tropical flowers at the Florida Botanical Gardens

We had a very enjoyable, relaxing time at the garden. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. When we drove along Indian Rocks Beach a couple of weeks ago when we first took Freeway to the canine ophthalmologist, we drove past Keegan's Seafood Grille, which was featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We checked them out online, and even though their prices were a little high, the food looked good and they were close by. The restaurant was busy when we arrived about 12:15, but fortunately, there were still a few tables left.

Keegan's Seafood Grille

Keegan's Seafood Grille is well known for their blackened grouper sandwich as well as a fairly creative menu of other fresh seafood. They also have a long list of appetizers, several types of burgers and a complete dinner menu. Sandwiches run from $8 to $12 and include one side (choice of fries, slaw or pasta salad). Dinners run from $16 to $20.

Paul had the "famous" blackened grouper sandwich with slaw, and Margery had crab salad in a pita pocket with fries. The food was good, but we were a little disappointed in the small serving sizes given the relatively high prices. However, we do have to remember that both grouper and crab are expensive ingredients and that Keegan's is located right along the beach, both of which are major contributing factors to the high prices.

Lunch at Keegan's 

Just as we were finishing lunch, we got a phone message that Freeway would be ready to pick up in about half an hour - perfect timing to finish our lunch and make our way to the vet. As we said, he was a little groggy, but he was still happy to see us.

Our time in Florida is almost over. We have a few more things to do before we leave, then we plan to head north to Calloway Gardens in Georgia. Stay tuned.

Graduation and Barbecue

Bushnell, FL - Events of Saturday, March 17, 2012

In our last post, we promised an update on Freeway's surgery for his cherry eye, which is scheduled for Tuesday. We also said we would let you know if anything else popped up in the meantime. It turns out Saturday was Freeway's graduation from puppy class.

The pups played for a while at the beginning of the session, then Terry, the instructor, handed out evaluation forms for the class, and she answered any of our final questions about training. The puppies then donned their graduation caps.

Terry congratulating Freeway

Freeway and proud mom 

Proud papa displays freeway's diploma

The graduating class

Freeway has made a lot of progress in his training. He has mastered sit, stay, down, and come very well for his tender age of less than 5 months. Our viewpoint may be slightly biased, but we think Freeway was the star pupil of the class. Terry frequently used Freeway to help her demonstrate the lesson to the class. He does pretty well with drop it and leave it unless it is something he really wants. We really need to keep working with him, particularly on those last two items, so it all becomes second nature to him. Those last two commands could save his life if he is going after something dangerous.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided to drive a few miles south of Bushnell to Brooksville for a late lunch with Pat and Mike at the Deep South BBQ. We drove past the place dozens of times over the years because it was on the way to the chiropractor we sometimes go to when we have an ache or pain that won't go away on its own. We were always curious about their food, but we never stopped before. 

Deep South Barbecue

The Deep South Barbecue got lots of good online reviews, so we decided it was time to go, especially since we are almost at the end of our stay in Florida. The place has a lot of character. The business was started by a former Marine who is a Vietnam veteran, and we thank him for his service. The restaurant is decorated with politically incorrect signs that we thought were a hoot, and we thank him for those, too. Below are just a few examples.

Sign over the rest room door

A few examples of the dozens of bumper stickers

that customers have brought from all over the country

Redneck wind chimes - beer cans and shotgun shells

The restaurant is now run by the son with help from his sister. They serve a variety of delicious barbecued meats like pulled pork, beef brisket, ribs, chicken and smoked sausage. Most of the meats are available as sandwiches ($4.95), sandwich combos ($7.95 - includes two sides) and as dinner platters ($9.95 - includes two sides and a roll).

Our group enjoying our meal

All of us loved the meals we chose as well as the sides. Pat had a beef brisket platter, Mike had ribs, while Margery and Paul ordered sandwich combos and shared a pulled pork sandwich and a beef brisket sandwich. Margery had onion rings for a side, and Paul had cole slaw and fried green tomatoes. The ribs, beef brisket and pulled pork were all tender and juicy. They were served with just enough barbecue sauce, although there is more sauce available on the tables if you want it. The food was great, and the service was prompt and friendly. We'll definitely be back.

Outside in the parking lot, we saw a red-bellied woodpecker hunting for insects in an old live oak tree while we chatted a little longer before driving back to Bushnell.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

We'll be heading to the canine ophthalmologist in Largo, FL on Tuesday. We'll report on how Freeway's surgery went at the end of the week.

More Freeway News

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, March 8 to Monday, March 12, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, Freeway developed a condition known as "cherry eye." Some reptiles, fish and birds have a third, semi-transparent eyelid that is used to protect the eye while maintaining visibility. Dogs only have the vestage of a third eyelid, but it contains a gland that can become inflamed and pop out into the corner of the eye. The inflamed gland looks somewhat like a cherry, thus the name. The condition usually isn't serious, although it can sometimes be uncomfortable for the dog, and it can block the dog's vision if it becomes large enough. It can also lead to dry eye later on.

Cherry eye is a congenetical defect that occurs most often in breeds that have saggy eyelids such as such as Bull Dogs, Cockers, Beagles and Bassets. It also occurs in dogs with short muzzles and/or rounded, protruding eyes like Pekinese and Chihuahuas. We didn'r see either of Freeway's parents' breeds listed as commonly having cherry eye, but both the Cavelier King Charles Spaniel and Bichon Frise do have short muzzles and round, somewhat protruding eyes. As in Freeway's case, cherry eye usually shows up when the dogs are puppies.

We took Freeway to the vet, who gave us some antibiotic ointment to prevent infection and to sooth the inflammation. The vet said cherry eye sometimes goes away by itself, but often requires surgery. He recommended contacting a canine ophthalmologist if we would decide on surgery.

After several days of using the ointment, we saw no reduction in Freeway's cherry eye so we decided we should have an ophthalmologist check it out. Margery did some online research and found Tampa Bay Veterinary Clinic in Largo, FL (near Tampa) that had an ophthalmologist on their staff. When she called, we were able to get an appointment within a couple of days.

Dr. Miller, the ophthalmologist, was able to pop the gland back into place. This sometimes provides a permanent cure; but unfortunately for us, Freeway's only stayed in place a couple of days before it popped back out again over the following weekend.

Freeway's cherry eye

The cherry eye doesn't seem to bother Freeway, but we want to get it corrected so he doesn't have a problem with dry eye in the future, especially since the surgery is a relatively simple procedure that consists of suturing the gland into place. Recovery is quick, and in most cases, a followup appointment is not even necessary. By the time the sutures dissolve, the hope is the swelling of the gland will have gone down sufficiently so it will stay in place on its own.

On the Monday after Freeway's gland popped back out, we called the Tampa Bay Veterinary Clinic and were able to get his surgery scheduled for the middle of the following week. We'll post an update a day or two after the surgery to let everyone know how it went.

In the meantime, the veterinary clinic was located a short distance from Bahama Breeze in Tampa. We had a coupon for $10 off any $20 purchase, so decided we wanted to stop again even though we were just there a couple of weeks ago after visiting Ybor City with Pat and Mike. The only problem was it was too early for lunch, so we decided to drive a short distance to the west to check out some of the nearby Gulf beaches.

There is a causeway to Indian Rock Beach due west of the clinic. We were greeted by some very impressive private homes located right along the Gulf.

Private beach-front homes (above and below)

A little farther to the south, the private homes gave way to small condos. There were roads between the condos that had free parking and public access to the beach. We turned down one of the roads, parked, and walked the short boardwalk over the dune to the beach.

Paul and Margery at Indian Rocks Beach

It was a nice, warm morning, so there were a few of people sitting and walking on the beach.

Indian Rocks Beach

Condos on the beach

After our walk on the beach, we drove toward the north to Clearwater Beach. Clearwater Beach seems to be a bit more commercial with large condos, hotels, marinas and beach-front shops. It reminded us of Myrtle Beach and is definitely a vacation destination.

Beach-front condos and hotels in Clearwater Beach

By the time we drove through Clearwater Beach, it was around noon, so we headed east across another causeway over the Intracoastal Waterway then across Gulf to Bay Causeway over the northern part of Tampa Bay to Bahama Breeze.

Entrance to Bahama Breeze in Tampa

Since it was the height of lunch hour, the parking lot was fairly full, and we had to drive around twice before we found a shady spot for Freeway. We thought about eating outside, but all the shady tables on the deck were taken, and it was pretty breezy anyway. Fortunately, there were still plenty of tables available inside.

After we had a delicious appetizer of Firecracker Shrimp, Margery had her favorite - almond encrusted talapia. Paul had fish tacos. The talapia was delicious as always; but this was the first time either of us had the fish tacos at Bahama Breeze, and Paul was a little disappointed. The piece of fish on each taco was pretty small, and the tacos were served with plain lettuce, a small amount of mashed avocado and pico de gallo. Fish tacos that we have had at other restaurants and the fish tacos Margery makes are topped with sweet-sour cabbage. The sweet-sour flavor provides an interesting contrast to the fried fish, and the cabbage provides a nice crunch to the soft taco shell. Unfortunately, the pico de gallo lacked the zing that the sweet-sour cabbage provides, and the lettuce didn't provide any crunch.

Paul had fish tacos.

It seems like we can't get out of Bahama Breeze without having a Chocolate Island for dessert. A Chocolate Island is a tower of rich chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream sitting on a fudge brownie base. The island is floating in a swirling ocean of chocolate sauce and vanilla anglaise. Candied, roasted almonds are sprinkled over everything.

Chocolate Island Dessert

Later that evening back at Blueberry Hill, we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we settled in for an evening of TV.

Blueberry Hill sunset

We don't have anything newsworthy scheduled for the near future except for Freeway's surgery. As we said, we'll have an update on that next week, and we'll let you know if anything else pops up.

Return to the Market of Marion

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, Feb. 24 to Thursday, March 1, 2012

Shortly after we arrived in Bushnell last December, we went to the Market of Marion, which is a flea market located a little to the north of The Villages. Paul needed a new pair of reading glasses, and we remembered from the previous year there was a vendor there who had a nice selection of good quality glasses at reasonable prices. Fortunately, that vendor was still there this year, and Paul was able to get his new reading glasses plus an additional pair as a backup.

When Paul was working on the installation of the residential refrigerator, instead of using his eyeglass carrying case, he put his reading glasses into his pocket. He forgot they were in there and stuck a tool into his pocket scratching his glasses. Fortunately, he had the second pair he could fall back on; but since he had to use his backup pair much sooner than he thought, he wanted to get another pair before we left Florida.

Since the flea market is open on Fridays (they are open Fridays during the winter in addition to being open Saturdays and Sundays year round) and since the market is a short distance north of where Freeway's vet is located, we made the appointment for Freeway's rabies shot for 9:00 AM on a Friday so we could go to the Market of Marion afterward.

We were hoping to take Freeway into the market with us using his carrier, but there were signs that said "no dogs." Even though the market was fairly busy, we had no trouble finding a nice shady parking place to keep the car cool for Freeway for the short time we planned to be in the market.

Main entrance to the Market of Marion

We headed for the eyeglass vendor where Paul found two more pairs of reading glasses. The same vendor has a big selection of sunglasses, and we had a good time trying some of the novelty shades.

Margery tries on flamingo sunglasses

Paul went for the parrots - it's 5 o'clock somewhere

Most of the area flea markets have plenty of nice produce for sale, and the Market of Marion is no exception.

Just a small portion of the produce aisle at Market of Marion

We picked up a red pepper, several nice beefsteak tomatoes, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, a pint of Plant City strawberries, a couple of lemons and a couple of limes before heading back to the motor home.

On Saturday, we had Freeway's puppy class. The previous week's class was postponed because Terry, the instructor, was sick. In this class, we worked on leave it, drop it and down. "Leave it" is used when your dog is eyeing something or going after something you don't want him to have; "drop it" is for when he has something in his mouth you want him to let go of; and "down" means to lie down.

Terry teaches Freeway "down"

Terry has some very good training techniques. With a small class, she can easily run through the commands with each dog in turn to see the individual response, then give the owners specific tips for success based on their dog's reaction. Freeway seems to want to please and he responds well to praise even more than he responds to treats.

Speaking of Freeway, he gave us quite a scare on Monday evening. Margery went to the bedroom to fold clothes from the dryer, and we got both distracted for several minutes back there trying to get the TV tuned to the Daytona 500, which had been postponed for about 36 hours from Sunday because of rain. Partway through the process of fiddling with the TV, we decided Freeway was awfully quiet and that someone should check on him to make sure he hadn't gotten into any trouble. When we went to look for him, he was nowhere to be found. We came to the conclusion the screen door hadn't been properly latched the last time someone came in, and that Freeway had gotten out while we were both distracted with the TV in the bedroom.

We grabbed flashlights and ran outside squeaking his toys to try to attract his attention. We used our flashlights to look under the motor home and under neighboring rigs. Our neighbors, Gary and Pam, joined the search.

To make a long story short, after about half an hour, Margery found Freeway in the bathroom where she had stopped on her way to fold clothes. Freeway is so small and so fast he can frequently scoot through a door without being seen. When Margery opened the door to exit the bathroom, Freeway darted in without her seeing him, and she closed the door behind her trapping Freeway inside. Needless to say, we were happy he hadn't gotten out. We have been trying to make sure the screen is latched ever since we got Freeway, but we are now making doubly sure we check it every time we go in and out. Paul even adjusted the latch a bit to make it easier to close.

Freeway has been getting a little shaggy-looking lately, so we started thinking about grooming. We used to groom our previous dog, Molly, ourselves. However, Molly was at least 5 or 6 years old when we started grooming her, and she was very used to being groomed because we had taken her to professional groomers up until that time. Therefore, we thought it might be a good idea to have freeway professionally groomed, at least for the first time.

PetSmart, where we take Freeway for his vet appointments and for puppy classes, does dog grooming so we made an inquiry when we were there recently. Regular grooming at PetSmart starts at $40, but they have a special price of $15.99 for puppy cuts for dogs under 5 months of age. That sounded like a good deal to us, so we made an appointment for Freeway.

We dropped Freeway off, and then ran a few errands. Although they say to figure on three hours for grooming, we got a call in about two hours saying Freeway was done. Freeway's groomer, Alice, said he was a very good boy.

Alice brings Freeway out for his big reveal

We were thrilled with the results. We have seen puppy cuts where the body was clipped too short making the puppy's head look way too big for its body. But Alice did a great job. Freeway still looks like Freeway - just neater.

Freeway before

 

Freeway after

 

Alice said Freeway had some tangles in his fur, but she was able to brush them out with a little extra effort. We had been brushing Freeway fairly regularly, but he doesn't like it so we slacked off. We need to be a little more diligent because he should be brushed fairly often since he has long hair.

We were originally scheduled to leave Bushnell on March 6. With the refrigerator project taking up so much time, we hardly feel like we have been in Florida at all except for the fact it has been nice and warm most of the time. Therefore, we extended our stay here at Blueberry Hill until late March. We plan to relax a bit, do a little more sightseeing, eat out a few more times and take some time to work on our summer travel plans.

Even before gasoline prices started to skyrocket, we were thinking we would slow down a bit this summer meaning we would travel a little less and stay a little longer at many of our stops. That plan is looking better and better every day as gasoline prices approach $4 a gallon ($5 in California) and threaten to go even higher.

After leaving Florida, we plan to go to Callaway Gardens in Georgia where we are hoping to catch the azaleas at their peak. After that, we'll head to the Escapees Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL for several weeks. Then after stopping in New Orleans, we'll begin to drift northward along the Mississippi. We then plan to meander back toward the east ending up in Pittsburgh in the early fall for a family visit and doctor appointments. Even though we'll be moving a little slower, we have planned what we hope will be some interesting stops.

Tarpon Springs 2012

Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012

You will notice a new feature in this blog post - captions for the photographs. The ability to add photo captions was just introduced by Typepad, the host of our blog. It is still in the beta stage (meaning it may still have some bugs and inconsistencies), but we decided to try it out. We hope you like the new captions.

Tarpon Springs is one of our favorite places in Florida. It is located along the Anclote River a few miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico, and it is only about an hour away from where we spend the winter in Bushnell. We always make a point of going to Tarpon Springs at least once while we're in Bushnell, because we love the quaint atmosphere, the interesting shops and the delicious Greek food.

This year, we went to Tarpon Springs with our friends from Pittsburgh, Pat and Mike. This is their first year of full-timing and their first winter in Florida, and they have never been to Tarpon Springs.

Tarpon Springs was originally a location for winter homes back in the 1870s, but when the sponges began to be harvested from the Gulf of Mexico in the 1880s, sponge divers from Greece were recruited to help bring in the bounty. The industry thrived into the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The waterfront has several historic boats with sponges festooned around the decks just like it would have been back in the day.

Tarpon Springs waterfront

In 1947, a red algae bloom all but wiped out the sponge beds in the area, and many of the sponge boats switched to fishing or shrimping. Today, commercial fishing boats dock across the river.

Commercial fishing boat in Tarpon Springs

The sponge beds have recovered, and there is still some commercial sponge diving going on, but man-made sponges and things like paper towels and micro fiber cloths have largely replaced natural sponges. Tourism is now the primary industry for Tarpon Springs. The quaint shops and Greek restaurants of Tarpon Springs draw visitors from all over.

Many of the shops specialize in sponges. We stopped to look at a few.

Margery checks out sponges

The morning started out cloudy, but it cleared up by the time we got to Tarpon Springs. Since it turned out to be such a nice, sunny morning, there were quite a few shoppers on Docecanese Blvd., which is the main street along the waterfront.

A few of the shops along Dodecanese Blvd.

We usually walk to the Sponge Factory at the eastern end of Dodecanese Blvd.

The Sponge Factory

The Sponge Factory has a good movie that gives a history of the sponge industry in Florida. This year, they have updated the movie and added some more recent footage.

The Sponge Factory also has nice displays of Greek-themed gift items that includes olive oil lotions and soaps and also nautical and marine items such as starfish and seashells.

Margery checks out a sea fan inside the Sponge Factory

Since we planned to be gone most of the day, we took Freeway with us. He got to tour all over Tarpon Springs in his carrier mounted on the shopping cart we bought about a month ago at the RV show. Paul and Freeway took a little break to watch the world go by from a bench outside the Sponge Factory.

Paul and Freeway take a break

The Sponge Exchange is a collection of shops and restaurants located toward the western end of Dodecanese Blvd. where the sponge clearinghouse used to be. We stopped there after leaving the Sponge Factory.

Mike and Pat at the Sponge Exchange

By the time we walked to the Sponge Factory and back and then visited the Sponge Exchange, it was almost 1:00 PM. We were all hungry, so we headed down Athens St. to Costa's where we like to have lunch. Tarpon Springs is a pet-friendly community, and we were able to take Freeway into the restaurant in his canvas carrier. He was a good boy and just napped most of the time.

Costa's Restaurant

Like most of the restaurants in Tarpon Springs, Costa's specializes in Greek cuisine. We ordered a flaming cheese appetizer called saganaki. A slab of cheese is placed on a little iron skillet (like the kind they use for fajitas in Mexican restaurants) and put under the broiler. When the cheese is all bubbly, they bring it to your table, douse it with brandy, set it on fire and serve it to shouts of "Opa!" Opa is a Greek exclamation that seems to mean about the same thing as "hooray" or "yeehaw." The cheese is melted inside and has a toasted, crunchy crust outside. Yum!

Flaming saganaki appetizer - opa!

We all ordered gyros (pronounced YEE-ros) and Greek salad. We also enjoyed baklava for dessert. As usual, the food was excellent as was the company.

Enjoying our gyros

After lunch, we let Freeway stretch his legs along the sidewalk near the restaurant before heading back to Bushnell.

Freeway takes a walk

Freeway is really doing well on walks as long as you keep moving briskly. As soon as you slow down, he thinks it's OK for him to stop altogether. Once he stops, he wants to pick up in his mouth anything that is lying around - cigarette butts, stones, sticks, chewing gum, leaves, you name it. As we mentioned in our last post, we are looking forward to having him learn the "leave it" command in our next puppy class.

Back at Blueberry Hill, we took a few days to relax. Look for our next post to see what we found to do next.

Good Boy, Freeway!

Bushnell, FL - Events of Saturday, Feb. 4 to Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012

Now that we have finished the refrigerator project and have some time to relax, we figured it was time for an update on Freeway, our new Cavachon puppy. A Cavachon is a hybrid between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon Frise.

We picked Freeway up on January 7th from Royal Puppy Palace in Odessa, FL when he was 8 weeks old. When we first got Freeway, he weighed just about 3¼ pounds. He is now 3 months old, and he has more than doubled his weight. His final weight will probably be 12 to 15 pounds, so he still has more growing to do.

We enrolled Freeway in a puppy class at PetSmart near The Villages. We still remembered some of the training we had done with Molly, our previous dog, although some of that trainer's ideas were a bit strange to say the least...don't motivate with food and a once-a-year bath is adequate...but we happened to meet one of the trainers when we had Freeway at the vet (Banfield, which is located inside PetSmart). The trainer, whose name is Terry, seemed to be very caring and very knowledgeable, so we decided a refresher course with Terry would be a good idea.

Dog training classes are really somewhat of a misnomer. Unless you pay big bucks for specialized, personalized dog training, most group classes are really intended to train the owners. Since the owners spend 24/7 with their pets, they are really the best ones to do the training in the first place; but knowledge is required to do that successfully.

Freeway's class is small. There is a total of only three puppies which makes for lots of individual attention and lots of opportunities to ask questions. The first class was mostly a "get acquainted" session where Terry outlined the basics of the training that would take place. We started working on getting the puppies to sit. Terry also allowed the pups to play together to get to know each other. That's Trixie on the left. she is a toy Fox Terrier. Abbie is on the lap of her owner in the red shirt. We're not sure of her breed, but we think she is a Shih Tzu.

Our homework consisted of continuing to work on the sit command. Even though sit is one of the most basic commands, it is not as easy as you might think to teach it to an active puppy who wants to explore everything in sight. Terry said for puppies this young, sitting for 5 seconds at a time is considered to be a success.

Freeway's potty training is coming right along. He can easily go all night, and he can frequently go several hours at a time. He even sometimes asks to go out; but not always, and he hasn't gotten the hang of ringing the bell to ask to go out either. Therefore, we need to be diligent and watch for the signs he needs to go. His successes always result in enthusiastic praise of "good boy, Freeway!"

We also sometimes watch Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, and we have a couple of his books. One of the things he emphasises is the importance of exercise for dogs. He usually begins his training sessions with walking the dog to burn off excess energy making the dog more receptive to the training. The benefits of exercise were really brought into focus following our first puppy class. During the class, the pups romped and played with each other for about 45 minutes. Freeway was so tuckered out after class, he had little energy left over to look for ways to get into trouble. He usually gets a little hyperactive after dinner, but the evening after the first class, all he wanted to do was nap.

According to Cesar Millan, walking is not only is good exercise for the dog and the humans, it is a natural pack activity. Wild dogs and wolves travel together under the alpha dog's leadership to look for food, and walking helps solidify the humans' role as pack leaders.

Because of the importance of exercise for dogs, we were happy the primary lesson for the second class was walking on a leash. We had been working with Freeway to try to get him used to a collar and leash, so he did fairly well in class. The dog's natural tendency is to pull back and resist the leash, so the important thing we learned was how to encourage him to keep walking by praising him and by stooping down to encourage him when he lagged behind. The instructor also said a little peanut butter on the end of a spoon also would help, but Freeway seems to be doing well without the peanut butter.

After walking the dogs around the PetSmart store, we had a little time for the puppies to play. Terry is great, and you can tell she really loves dogs. She gets right down on the floor with them to join in the play.

We are looking forward to the third class. It will cover the "leave it" command. We have been using that for several weeks already, but we have had only limited success.

Earlier, we mentioned how much Freeway has grown. His weight has more than doubled, and his size has also increased correspondingly. Since we see him every day, we don't notice his size increasing that much, but it was really demonstrated to us the other day when the temperatures took a dive into the low 30s and mid 20s for a couple of nights, and we got out the coat we bought Freeway about a month ago. It had been fairly warm, so we haven't had to use the coat we bought him for the past few weeks. The photo below shows how the coat fit when we tried it on in the store...

...and the next photo shows how it fits now. The coat only goes about half way down Freeway's back, and it looks more like a vest. The Velcro strap under his chest is barely long enough to get fastened.

As another comparison, look at the next photo of Freeway and his size compared to that of his toy the day we picked him up at 8 weeks of age...

...and contrast that to his size now at 3 months of age compared to the same toy.

Another example of his growth is this photo at 8 weeks on the steps of the motor home. We were thrilled he could make it up the first step.

The next photo of Freeway on the steps is at 3 months of age. He can now bound up and down all the steps. We had to work really hard to get him to sit still long enough for a photo.

We'll end this post with Valentine's Day. Since our daughter Lora was a young girl, Paul has given her a pink rose each Valentine's Day. It is a tradition he has continued even though she is now an adult and is married. Sending her flowers now that we are on the road has been a challenge because there aren't any florists near their home, and Paul had a lot of difficulty getting anyone to make the delivery. This year, J. Michael graciously offered to pick up Lora's rose for Paul at a florist near where he works. J. Michael dropped it off in Lora's car after lunch so she would find it after she was done teaching that day.

Margery has always been fond of cut flowers. Paul didn't send her flowers often, but when he did (usually on Valentine's Day), she was always thrilled. One solution to sending flowers while we are on the road is Pro Flowers. They are an online florist that sends flowers by UPS. In the early afternoon, Paul made up an excuse to go out so he could stop by the campground mail room on his way back to see if the flowers had arrived. Sure enough, they were there. Pro Flowers does a nice job of packaging the flowers. They are carefully wrapped to prevent damage, and the stems are in wet Oasis floral foam. Margery was delighted.

We didn't go out to dinner for Valentine's Day. We had plans for the following day to do some sightseeing that included eating out, and we didn't want to cheat on our diet two days in a row. Speaking of our diet, we are going well. Paul is nearing his goal with a weight loss of over 25 pounds, and Margery has lost about 14 pounds.

We did have a special dessert on Valentine's day. We picked up some delicious, no-sugar, double strawberry ice cream at Walmart. We're happy to report the freezer of the new Samsung kept the ice cream hard as a rock. Paul had difficulty scooping it out with a regular spoon, so we'll be looking for a sturdy ice cream scoop in the near future.

As we mentioned, we have plans to do some sightseeing. Stay tuned.

Just Hangin' Around

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, Jan. 13 to Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012

Since Paul finished repainting the front air conditioner cover, we've just been hangin' around and doing a little bit of this and that.

On the Friday after the RV show, we went for a late lunch with our friends, Pat and Mike, at OakWood Grill near the Villages. They had gone to the Tampa RV show the day after we did, and we were anxious to hear their impressions. They said they had a good time looking at RV accessories, and they had some questions about their rig for the factory reps from Open Range, which is who made their 5th wheel. They also spent time at the Open Range display talking to prospective customers and telling them how much they liked their Open Range 5th wheel.

A warning light came on in their truck on the way back from the Tampa show, and Pat and Mike had dropped the truck off at the nearby GMC dealer while we were at OakWood Grill. After a good meal (Pat and Mike had ribs, Margery had a blackened blue burger, and Paul had a smoked turkey sandwich) and plenty of great conversation, we dropped Pat and Mike off at the GMC dealer. The shop ran a 70-minute diagnostic program and couldn't find anything wrong with the truck, so they just reset the computer and told them to bring the truck back if it happened again.

On Saturday, Blueberry Hill RV Park had its annual yard sale. Anyone who has any items they want to get rid of can set up a table in front their site. We usually don't participate in the yard sale, but this year, we had a couple of larger items we wanted to get rid of plus a bunch of small items we had cleaned out of our cupboards and storage bays. We tend to accumulate way too much stuff, and it was time to eliminate some excess weight. The next photo shows Paul with our sale table.

It was a cool morning, but the sun was warm. There was a fairly good turnout, including several people who stopped who were from other campgrounds. We sold one of our large items (a propane heater) and quite a few of our smaller ones for a grand total of $39. That's not a lot of money, but it's not bad for things we would have given away anyway.

We have been having a lot of fun with our new puppy, Freeway. He is rambunctious as puppies usually are, and we have had to "puppy proof" the motor home.

He was 8 weeks old when we first picked him up, and we were very excited that he could make it to the bottom step of the motor home the first day. By 9 weeks of age, he was able to go up ALL the steps.

Freeway's favorite toy this week is his knotted rope. He likes to chew on the soft ends, and he also likes to play fetch. If we throw it down the hallway of the motor home, he will go get it and bring it back. He is fun to watch because the rope is almost as big as he is. If he grabs it near one end, he has to hold his head as high as he can so he doesn't trip over the other end of the rope.

A nap almost always follows Freeway's play time.

Freeway went to the vet a few days before we picked him up from the Royal Puppy Palace, so he was all up to date on his immunizations. However, we wanted to take him to the vet ourselves to get a baseline exam of our own. We also had a few questions about feeding, training, future immunizations and neutering, so we made an appointment for Sunday after church. Since the weather was perfect (not too hot and not too cold), we were able to leave Freeway in his canvas carrier in the car while we were at church.

When we had our previous dog, Molly, we discovered Banfield Pet Hospitals. Banfield has facilities all over the country (located mostly in PetSmart stores), and they can transfer records electronically between locations. This is ideal for full-time RVers like us, so we are going to take Freeway to Banfield as well. They also have wellness plans that are like pet health insurance that not only cover office visits, but also include things like immunizations for puppies and neutering, which we will be doing in a few months.

The closest Banfield to Bushnell is in the PetSmart in The Villages. The vet pronounced Freeway to be in good health, and he also answered our questions. We made an appointment for his next round of immunizations, then we looked around the PetSmart store.

Poor little Freeway has been shivering on cool mornings and evenings when we take him outside to go potty, so we wanted to get him a sweater or doggie coat. We tried on a sweater, but decided it would too hard to get it onto a squirming puppy if we were in a hurry to get him outside, so we ended up with a doggie coat with Velco on the straps. As with most males, Freeway wasn't too happy about trying on clothes.

The next photo shows gives you a better look at the coat.

The coat fits Freeway perfectly now; but at the rate he is growing, it will probably only last a month or so. He gained over 3/4 pound his first week. Unfortunately, the next larger size was way too big, so we're hoping there will be an end to the cool nights and mornings by the time he outgrows the coat.

We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing, at least what passes for relaxing for us now that we have a new puppy. Stay tuned for more from Bushnell.

Tampa RV Show

Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012

In our last post, we told you about the new addition to our family, Freeway, our 8-week old Cavachon puppy. We warned there would be more photos, and here are a few.

Freeway loves the little Puppy Pal that our daughter Lora bought him. The Puppy Pal has a pillow inside that is stuffed with buckwheat. The pillow can be heated in the microwave to give the puppy the feeling he is sleeping with one of his litter mates.

Freeway also likes to pull the Puppy Pal's tail.

Every year that we have spent the winter in Florida we have gone to the big Tampa RV Show, and this year was no exception. We usually go on Wednesday, which is senior day ($1 off the admission price). The weather forecast for Wednesday was calling for an 80% chance of rain; but on Wednesday morning, the radar showed the showers would be somewhat intermittent, so we persevered and drove south to Tampa.

Since Freeway is too young to be left alone for as long as we would be gone, we took him along in his canvas carrier.

In past years, we always headed to the Tiffin display first, then made a big loop around the grounds to visit the two buildings with vendors selling RV accessories. By the time we got to the accessory vendors in the second building right near the entrance/exit, it was so crowded we couldn't even get close enough to some of the booths to see what was being sold. This year, we got smart and did our loop in reverse order. Even so, the accessory area near the entrance still had a good many people in spite of the fact we were there only half an hour after the show opened. However, this time we could at least see everything.

On our way to the second accessory building, we passed a couple of entertainers that were strolling around the grounds. There was recorded musical accompaniment playing from the cart while the fellow pulling the cart sang and played rhythm. There were several groups of entertainers, and they were all very good.

In the second accessory building, we ran across a couple from Pennsylvania selling two-wheeled shopping carts. One model had a nylon bag on one side for your purchases and the other side had a built-in, collapsible seat. The collapsible seat was also perfect for carrying larger items such as boxes or a puppy carrier. Since we were also carrying bottled water, umbrellas, and a few brochures we had picked up, we decided to buy one of the wheeled carts to make our carrying job easier. The cart will also come in handy when Freeway gets bigger (and heavier) or when we'd like to sit down for a rest ourselves.

If you look closely at the above photo, you might be able to tell Margery is standing beside a 5th wheel. When we were first researching RVs before going full-time, we determined a motor home would fit the style of traveling and sightseeing we planned to do. We love the convenience of our motor home and plan to keep it for the foreseeable future, but we sometimes ask ourselves if our style of traveling might be different several years from now.

When our new friends, Pat and Mike, started full-timing, they went with a 5th wheel. Since they are staying here at Blueberry Hill this winter, we have seen their lovely Open Range 5th wheel, which led us to the conclusion a 5th wheel might be a possibility some time in the future, especially if our travel style changes and we end up spending longer periods of time in one location. Therefore, we decided to check out a couple of makes of 5th wheels while we were at the show. We saw several makes that looked like they would be suitable for full-timing and that had layouts we liked with prices that weren't off the chart. We made a mental note of that information for future reference.

Some of the 5th wheels we wanted to look at were inside one of the exhibit buildings. That was good, because there was a brief shower while we were inside; but the rain only lasted a short time, and we only had to wait a few minutes after we were finished in that building for the rain to stop so we could make our way to the Tiffin display. The photo below shows Paul with Freeway in front of a Tiffin Breeze.

Another brief shower hit just as we were finishing up looking at Tiffins, so we took refuge in the Lazydays hospitality tent. When that shower let up, we made our way to the show exit. There was a pretty good turnout at the show in spite of the weather. In the photo below, it was still sprinkling a little, but people were starting to pop out from wherever they had taken shelter to continue on their way.

When we stopped in the accessory area near the entrance on our way into the show, we saw a security light that has a motion sensor to automatically turn on the outside light of the RV. Margery thought it would be a good thing to have, not only for security, but also as a convenience for when we have to take Freeway out after dark. We didn't want to have to carry the light around the show all morning, so we had to stop to buy the light on our way out. By this time, the crowds in that building were getting heavy; but at least we knew exactly where we wanted to go and what we wanted, so we got in and out of there fairly quickly.

The next day, Paul installed the light. It is really convenient to be able to scoop up Freeway and take him out without having to stop to turn on the light.

Paul has another motor home project scheduled. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.

New Addition to the Family

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, Jan. 6 to Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012

Last Friday, we drove about an hour and a half south to Lakeland, FL to pick up some wood for an upcoming project. We'll have more about the project in a future post, but we wanted to relay our tale of woe related to our trip to Lakeland.

First, we found out when we arrived the small lumber company we found online (the only one within 100 miles) was out of the type of wood that Paul needed for his project. Someone had come in the day before and bought all their remaining stock of that particular type, but the truck with a new shipment was on the way and due within an hour. Not a big problem. We needed to make another stop or two in Lakeland anyway, so we would just run our other errands and come back later.

As Margery backed the car out of our parking place at our next stop, she commented the car felt sluggish like the parking brake was not fully released. We checked, and the brake was off, so Paul tried driving. Sure enough, something wasn't right.

We drove about half a mile up the road, pulled into Walmart and parked. As soon as Paul got out of the car he smelled hot brakes. As he approached the left front wheel, he could feel the heat radiating from it.

After picking up something from the Walmart deli for lunch, we searched our GPS and found a possible repair shop within a mile. On the way there, we passed another place called Just Brakes. We were obviously having a problem with our brakes, so we decided to give them a try since they specialized in brakes and they were closer.

To make a long story short, after more than 4 hours and over $700, we left Just Brakes with two rebuilt front brake calipers, a new left rotor, a resurfaced right rotor, two sets of new front brake pads and all new brake fluid.

We just barely made it back to the lumber company before they closed (actually, we called and the owner stayed a few minutes late for us), and then we headed back to Bushnell. It was late so we stopped at Bob Evans for dinner on the way. What we thought would be about a 4 hour trip turned into almost 10 hours by the time we stopped for dinner and dealt with the rush hour traffic we hit on the way back. It was a long, expensive day, but we're grateful the problem didn't occur during our recent marathon drives to or from Pittsburgh or while we were towing the car behind the motor home. We wouldn't have been able to detect the brakes on the car binding up while the car was being towed, and that could have resulted in a fire.

The repair was expensive, but we feel Just Brakes did a good job. We're grateful they had all the parts in stock and they could get the repairs done the same day. They also diagnosed a strange whistling noise that we have been hearing off and on for a long, long time that had nothing to do with the brakes. It turns out it was the carrier bearing for the drive shaft. The lubrication they applied silenced the noise, at least temporarily. If the noise comes back, at least we now know what needs to be replaced.

The next day, we drove south again to Odessa, FL to visit the Royal Puppy Palace. Margery's family always had dogs when she was growing up, and she really missed having a dog after we lost Molly, our 15+ year old English Springer Spaniel, two years ago in March just before we left Florida.

Margery had been doing a lot of on line research about dogs over the last year or so, and she discovered Royal Puppy Palace that breeds small, non-shedding, hybrid dogs. These so-called "designer dogs" are bred to take advantage of the traits of two different breeds. Although owners of AKC-registered, pure-bred dogs often look down their noses at the hybrids, the hybrids have the advantage of combining desirable traits from more than one breed and they also have less chance of genetic defects because of the increased gene pool for the hybrids.

There were several types of hybrids that would have suited the needs of our nomadic lifestyle and our small living quarters, but we settled on a Cavachon because we felt it was the best combination of physical size, appearance and temperament. Cavachons grow to 12 to 18 pounds, they are friendly toward other people and dogs, they are quick to learn, they are low to non-shedding and they don't require a lot of exercise. The Cavachon is a cross between the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon Frise.

We first visited Royal Puppy Palace when we were having our thermopane windows repaired at Suncoast Designers back in early December. The Puppy Palace is operated out of the owners' home. In addition to Cavachons, they breed several other types of designer dogs. Although they couldn't show them to us at the time (they were too young), they had a litter of Cavachons that would be ready around the beginning of January. We were impressed by the care and training they gave the dogs, so we made a deposit on a pup from their upcoming litter of Cavachons a few days after we visited them.

We got an email from the Puppy Palace about a week prior to set up an appointment for us to come and see the puppies on Saturday. We arrived just in time for our 11:00 AM appointment and were introduced to the 5 remaining puppies from the original litter of 7 (we had the 3rd deposit, so we got 3rd choice). The puppies had already been shown to two other buyers that morning, so they were a little tuckered out.

We explained we were looking for a calm dog this time (Molly was far from calm, especially in her younger years), and she was strong-willed making her hard to train. The owner showed us which two pups were the most calm - one was a male and one was a female. After we played with them both and held them a while, we chose the male because we liked his coloring a little better, and he wasn't quite as laid back as the female. So let us introduce you to Freeway, our brand new, 8-week old Cavachon.

Margery was the one who really wanted a dog. Paul was a little reluctant, but it didn't take long for Freeway to melt Paul's heart.

We bought a canvas carrier to take Freeway home in. He whined for about a minute when we first put him in; but he fell asleep before we had driven three blocks, and he slept all the way back to the motor home. It looks like he is going to be a good traveler.

We had Freeway outside several times after we got back to the motor home, and all the neighbors came over to see him and watch him play. The little guy actually was able to climb up the first step of the motor home all by himself.

But it was a lot of work, so he needed a rest after he got up there.

The next day, we ran next door to Walmart to get some puppy toys for Freeway. He hasn't figured how to make the squeaker work yet, but Freeway likes his new toy.

Our grass here in Florida has gone dormant for the winter, and Freeway has been outside a good bit romping around as puppies do. The dormant grass is a bit dusty, and it had started to make Freeway's white fur look a little gray. Since we also weren't real fond of the scent of the doggie shampoo the breeders had used on him (it smelled like a "girly" shampoo), we decided it was time for a bath. After struggling to find a good way to bathe Molly, who weighed 40 pounds, it was a joy to give 3-pound Freeway a bath.

The breeders figure Freeway will grow to around 12 to 15 pounds, so we'll eventually need to get some sort of plastic pan for his baths; but as long as he doesn't make a big fuss about being bathed, we should still be able to do it on the counter top.

We are really enjoying Freeway. He is such a good boy. On his first morning, he slept in until about 6:00 AM. Actually, Paul got up before Freeway, and it wasn't until Paul had brushed his teeth, shaved, started the coffee pot and had turned on the computer and the lights that Freeway woke up.

All the puppies from the Royal Puppy Palace are crate trained, which keeps them out of trouble when you leave them, and which is also a good way to start off their house training. House training will be our number one priority in the coming weeks. Freeway is already able to go for fairly long periods when he is in the crate (puppies don't like to make a mess in confined areas), so the trick is to get him to be able to do the same when he is out of the crate.

We'll will undoubtedly have more pictures and stories about Freeway in upcoming posts, and we also have a couple of projects and some sightseeing planned. Look for our next post to see what we're up to.

Cape Flattery, WA

After a two-night stop at Mount St. Helens RV, we had a very short drive of less than 45 minutes to Centralia, WA, where we had an appointment to have the oil changed and some other precautionary maintenance work done on the motor home at Brazel's RV Performance. Brazel's is a sponsor of the iRV2 RV Forum that we frequently read, and Brazel's is always very helpful on the forum with members' technical questions and problems. Since they appear to be very knowledgeable, it seemed like a good place to have service done, especially since we were passing right by. They also have a campground conveniently located right next to their repair facility, and there is a discount if you stay there while having work done on your RV.

We arrived before 10:00 AM, dropped the motor home off, and headed out to run some errands. We needed to take Molly to a veterinarian to get some medication for a recurring skin problem. We have found Banfield Veterinarians located in many Petsmart stores to be a valuable resource with our lifestyle since Petsmart stores are located all over the country. They offer appointments but also have walk-in services three days a week for routine needs.

By the time we returned to Brazel's, they had finished the work and had pulled the motor home onto a vacant site in the campground for us. We paid our bill, hooked up the utilities, and chilled out for the rest of the day. Brazel's campground has water and 50 amp electric, paved pads, and grass between the sites. A dump station is available. The photo below shows our site at Brazel's.



From Brazel's, we headed west toward the coast, then north on U. S. Highway 101 to Forks, WA, on the Olympic Peninsula. We stayed at Forks 101 RV Park. They have some back-in sites, which are gravel, and some pull-throughs, which are all grass. Although the back-ins are a little narrower, the pull-throughs are nicely spaced. Forks 101 RV has full hookups with 50 amp electric, free Wi-Fi, and cable. The photo below shows our site at Forks 101 RV.

The coast of Washington is known for its rugged, rocky beauty. Friends recommended Cape Flattery Trail to us, and since the weather was clear, we headed there our first morning in the area. Cape Flattery Trail is located about an hour north of Forks at the northwestern-most corner of Washington near the town of Neah Bay. Neah Bay and the surrounding area including Cape Flattery Trail are part of the Makah Nation. The Makah are a tribe of Native Americans with a rich history as skilled mariners, and the Makah still gain their much of their livelihood from the sea. The photo below shows one of the many fishing boats docked at Neah Bay.

A $10 permit is required for visitors to the Makah Nation. We stopped at the Makah Museum to pick up our permit, then drove out to the parking area for the trail.

The trail is about a half mile one way, and there are some sections of the trail that are a little steep. Wooden boardwalks and cut sections of logs like those Margery is standing on in the photo below make up much of the trail.

 

There were several overlooks once we got close to the ocean. The rocky cliffs are very picturesque and are well worth the drive and subsequent walk.

 

 

 

Down over the cliffs, we could see several starfish clinging to the rocks. This one kind of looked like a hand grasping the rock.

The rocky islands that sit offshore are called sea stacks. They are formed when the sandstone headlands are eroded by the waves. Some have been eroded into unusual shapes, including some with arches. The sea stacks are constantly changing - old ones are worn away, and new ones are continually being formed.

As we approached the overlooks at the end of the trail, we could see a fog bank a little way offshore. The next photo shows us at the most northwesterly point in the Continental United States, and you can see the fog in the background rolling in.

Our timing was perfect. We arrived in time to get some photos before the fog rolled in, and also we got to see the cliffs and sea stacks in the eerie fog.

 

The sea stacks took on a ghostly appearance.

As we walked back toward the car, we could see waves of fog rolling through the forest. We saw the multi-trunked tree in the next photo silhouetted against the gray, foggy sky. It looked like a giant candelabra.

Paul stopped to check out one of several trees with openings all the way through the trunks.

The coastal area of Washington is very picturesque. We're glad we got to experience it in both sun and fog. We prefer sun, but fog also brings out the beauty of the coast in a different way. In our next post, we'll tell you about our visit to the western side of Olympic National Park.