Day 45
I had another little emergency this morning. I really had to go out, so I went around to Don’s side of the bed and whined at him. Nothing happened. I whined some more, a little louder. Still nothing. I was about to start barking when Geri woke up and asked me what was wrong. I whined piteously and she got out of bed and let me out. So much for Don in a crisis. The resulting commotion, however, did wake him up, so here we were, all standing in the kitchen at 5:30. Geri and I did the sensible thing and went back to bed. This was beyond Don’s capability, so he turned on the computer and did his internet thing. After a while he put me through the phony paper routine, then gave me breakfast. He went over to the bath house, and came back raving about the quality of the showers here. Large, clean, lots of hot water. He says he’s going to write a very good review of this Park; I hope so, and I hope he mentions all the great grassy areas, which will please lots of dogs. He took me for a good long walk out in the grass, and I made the mistake of crossing the creek at a place other than the bridge; got a little soggy and muddy. When we got back to the rig, he didn’t let me in, but put me directly in the truck. We were soon out the gate and heading down the road. I had forgotten about my grooming date! When we got there, I was very excited, straining on the leash, which I almost never do, anxious to get my bath and all the personal attention that goes with it. There were some other dogs in a fenced-in area that were barking at me; I looked at them with canine disdain. I was getting groomed and they weren’t.
The lady who did my bath and grooming was very nice, and talked to me a lot. I like being talked to by humans, particularly when they’re not shouting or chewing me out for an infraction. I understand a lot of what they say, and I can respond by smiling, rolling my eyes, or looking deeply at them. I can also make meaningful grunting sounds that not everyone understands, though Geri and Don do. Anyway, she did a nice job of trimming my coat and my paws, and gave me a great blow dry afterward. When Don came to pick me up, he said I looked really beautiful; he doesn’t say that very often. We went back to the coach, and Geri agreed that I looked really great, and smelled good, too! She told me to try to stay clean for a few days. I really would like to do that.
While I was gone, Geri had been doing laundry, and Don was getting the truck washed and doing grocery shopping. So all their chores had been completed, and Don wanted to go touring. Geri wanted to stay home and relax, so Don and I took off in the truck. We drove through the countryside, looking at the houses and farms, until we got to a town called Bath. Don got me out of the truck, and we walked around an old church that had been built way back in 1734; it looked pretty good for that age! Don told me that Bath was the first town to be incorporated in North Carolina, and was famous for being a pretty rowdy place. A pirate called Blackbeard used to hang out there, because it was the town nearest his pirate camp. It’s really quiet there now. But it’s very pretty. Don went into the visitor center and talked to the girl at the desk. She asked where we were from. When Don told her, she said that we had come farther to visit Bath than anyone else recently. Then Don asked her why Bath was named Bath. She got a little bit flustered, and finally said that it had something to do with the absentee owners of the land, and maybe one of them was from Bath, England. That made as much sense to me as anything else; I sure didn’t see any baths in Bath. On the way back to Washington, we stopped at a churchyard that belonged to the Athens Church of Christ. It was surrounded by a huge grassy area, and Don turned me loose to run and roll. I found five great spots to roll in, but I was careful to shake myself clean after each roll. Didn’t want to ruin my “do”. We picked up some fried chicken for dinner at King Chicken, and went home to eat. I got a little chicken, but no real plates. We’re trying to get to bed early tonight, big travel day tomorrow; Virginia Beach! I’ll let you know how it goes.