All our Labradors have come from our long-time friend Sally, who raises both Labrador Retrievers and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. One spring three years ago, Sally was having an exceptionally busy season of whelping puppies and was overwhelmed. We offered to keep one of her older puppies until the whelping season settled down. This was... Continue Reading →
Same Time, Next Year
Author's note: As I put the finishing touches on this post, hurricane Helene is bearing down on Port St. Joe, Apalachicola, St. George Island and parts east on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It's due to make landfall today, September 26. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for the surrounding areas. In 2015 we started driving... Continue Reading →
Saddle Up!
When we made the announcement that we got a new RV lots of people sent congratulatory remarks. There was one phrase that recurred regardless of gender, background or whether or not they even owned a horse: “Good for you, get right back on that horse,” or a more complete thought, “You get right back up... Continue Reading →
How (and why) I Named My Leg
I’ve always thought people who named inanimate things were a little weird. A high school pal who was a good guy if uncreative, named his VW Beetle Herbie. Paula, my college roommate named her classic Ford V8 Crown Vic sedan “Victor.” My neighbor named her aging Toyota “Whitey.” Then I got a prosthetic leg and... Continue Reading →
Leg-o Master
I received my first prosthetic leg on February 26. Moments after taking my first steps, Ben asked Brian, my prosthetist if he thought I’d be able to make it to Florida at the end of March. Brian is a kind man with a dry wit and an inner life he keeps mostly to himself. His... Continue Reading →
Prequel
I celebrated my 70th birthday last June. Ben concocted a surprise party at one of our favorite restaurants. He put a note about the party on Facebook, and the number of people who showed up was double the number of people he was expecting. All kinds of friends and family showed up and we partied... Continue Reading →
Ryder.
Once all the hullabaloo surrounding our RV wreck settled I had time to think about what had happened to us. A postscript to the wreck was the loss of our beloved Ryder. There was the tire, the crash, injuries, hospitals and a lot of other stuff that happened to us, and oh, yes, we lost... Continue Reading →
And All of a Sudden…
We were on our way to the apostle islands in Wisconsin when our big dog Ryder took a turn for the worse. We decided to turn back to get him home. we were almost to our stop for the night in Dundee, Michigan. Ben was driving, I was talking on the phone and the dogs... Continue Reading →
The Art of Going
If getting to a destination was truly the easy, rollicking experience portrayed in countless travel ads, movies like Lampoon’s Vacation and Planes, Trains and Automobiles wouldn’t exist, nor would stand-up comics have material about bad airline food, screaming kids and skanky hotel rooms. People who don’t travel in campers/RVs view those of us who do... Continue Reading →
Call Your Mother
Over the years when I traveled the one person I always checked in with was my mother. I’d let other family and friends slide for a while, but never my mother. I’ll bet that 99.99% of travelers do that. Moms rule. Our conversation always began like this: Me: “Hi Mommy Dearest, how are you?” Her:... Continue Reading →