Sunday, November 17, 2013

Stuck Inside of Mullan with the Idaho Blues Again

Starting a long, but uneventful drive with the boys approximately 6pm Thursday evening from Idaho Falls to Port Orchard, Washington… Including two one hour stops for naps, we arrived 15hrs later tired but no worse for wear… Though the car is FULL of dog hair… 

Spent Friday reminiscing with an old shipmate and catching up on the last 30 years… The boys are safe and happy with Uncle Ted, Aunt DeeDee and Cousin Tilly… 

After a great dinner, a goodnight’s rest, coffee and a nice breakfast… I said my thank you to Ted and DeeDee and my goodbyes to the boys, while DeeDee cried… Stopping soon enough to almost immediately start sending me pictures and updates… I sincerely appreciate the quick emotional attachment… The boys have that way about them… I know they will be loved… ;)

Not sure what time I hit the road this morning… But the ride through the Cascade Mountain passes was clear and easy… Making great time and a command decision to stop for something to eat in Northern Idaho, still west of Missoula… The great time evaporated quickly evaporated as snow began to fall… Interstate 90 shut down for all intents and purposes with traffic backed up for miles… I was not going to spend this night camping in my car… Exiting the highway in Mullan, ID… I am spending the night at the Lookout Motel… Happy to have found a room… It’s clean and warm… I am grateful… Though the bed seems to have backache written all over it…

Thus my Facebook status update… Note to self… Next road trip pack booze… There isn’t much nearby and I’m not about to go out in the lousy weather looking for some… Given the situation a nightcap or two or three would have certainly been enjoyed…

Hoping I will wake to clear skies and an open road tomorrow… I’m grateful to have a portable internet hotspot and my laptop with me… So I can surf Facebook and write this blog…Though it might have been fun to write it drunk…


There’s more I wanted to say… But now the rest seems like maybe it should have its own blog… Sleep may not come easy tonight…

Friday, November 8, 2013

A Dog Tale...

Many years ago in a galaxy far, far away… Fall 1977 Rochester, NY…

As I sat with friends in the cafeteria of Monroe Community College I mentioned in passing that I was considering enlisting in the Navy… Someone I had never met… But sitting within ear shot of the conversation… Interrupted… Yes, it’s been many years… I remember only one detail of the ensuing conversation about his time in the service… “If you do… You will make friends that will last a lifetime.”
  
A few weeks later, I did enlist… And many years later it continues to be proven true…

This week I posted on FB that I needed a temporary home for my three dogs… That same day I received a FB message from a friend I haven’t seen since 1982, when I left the boat in San Diego…

We can marvel at the wonders of the Internet and FB making it easy to stay in touch… But even that is relatively new… A lot of years had passed between us before it was even possible…

I prefer to marvel at the generosity extended, when he and his wife offered to take my boys for me while I am on the road for the next two months… Now living in Port Orchard, WA with his wife and their 9 yr. old yellow lab… Who will be getting three wonderful playmates to share 2.5 acres of woods with… The boys will be happy and safe… I didn’t have to break them up to find them homes… I didn’t have to do the unthinkable and condemn them to death by dropping them at the shelter… There are a lot of wags left in those tails…

So next Thursday afternoon the boys and I will load up for a car ride to the coast… A 12 hr drive according to Google that will most likely take at least 15 with gas stops, pee breaks and most likely a nap in the car for me somewhere along the way… The adventure of life continues…


Thanks, Ted, for making this a happy tale…