May 7, Ventura


Surprise, surprise! Look where we wound up tonight! I had no idea when we left Las Vegas that this is where we were headed. Don and I went for an abbreviated walk in the park this morning, and we made the usual getting ready to go preparations. We headed out a little before eleven, and I promptly went down for a nap. I woke up for lunch, of course, and saw that we were churning along the familiar Highway 15 southward, and went back to napping. We stopped for a refueling at Barstow, but I didn’t feel the need to get out of the rig. Back to napping. I woke up again when we pulled into Charlie Brown’s in Littlerock, and was surprised to see that we were this close to home. Geri and Don scored their usual Date Shakes, but there was nothing on the menu for me. I watched out the front window as we left and saw that we were still heading west, so I started to get a feeling about where we were going. A little more than an hour-and-a-half later, we were unhooking the truck on Telegraph Avenue in Ventura, and Geri and I were heading home, with Don following in the coach. Geri’s job was to get the van out of the driveway so that Don could pull in, but she found a small problem; dead battery! Don had to park the coach across the street, pull the truck in next to the van and jump start it, then get all the vehicles repositioned so that he could get the coach into the driveway. He eventually got it all together, and we were officially home!

It’s been a fun trip, and we’ve seen a lot of places that we haven’t been before, including many that we want to visit again. But it’s good to be home, and I’ll enjoy seeing all my human and doggy friends again. And I’ll certainly enjoy my morning walks in parks and other places that are familiar to me. But the most important thing is that, no matter where we are, I’m with two people who love me and want me to be the happiest dog in the world; and I’m pretty sure I am!

Signing off until our next adventure, this is your bloggin’ dog, DeeBee!

May 6, Las Vegas
Well, we’re still here! I’m beginning to think that we’ve found a new home here at the Motorcoach Resort. It certainly is relaxing here, with not much to do in the way of home maintenance (not that I have a lot of that to do in Ventura), and all kinds of fun things for Geri and Don to do. I like the park that Don takes me to in the morning a whole lot, but when we’re at home, he takes me to a different park every day, so I get a little variety. This morning, at the park, I met a little Schnauzer named Harry, who really seemed to like me a lot. His human, a lady, kept trying to continue their walk, but Harry didn’t seem to want to leave me. So I went up to the lady and let her pet me so that Harry would get jealous and go to her; worked like a charm, except she kept petting me until Harry demanded to continue the walk. Worked out OK. I did a lot of rolling and running, I guess cause my coat feels so good now that we had it trimmed quite a bit.


This afternoon Geri and Don visited a place that Geri has wanted to go to for quite some time. It’s a candy factory, and they make lots of chocolate candies. Don said that he agreed to go if he could meet Willie Wonka, whoever he is. They came back with a big bag of chocolate candy, which I know I can’t have any of, ‘cause it’s really bad for me. They warmed up some leftovers for dinner; it’s always fun when they have leftovers, they have a hard time remembering where they were when they had the original meal, and there’s always an argument. I got some fairly decent plates out of the deal, so I was pleased. After dinner, Don took me for a little walk around the RV Park, and we saw a couple with three Aussies, all of them bigger than my friends Alice and Cooper! They must have a really large motorhome to have enough room for those guys.


They took off again after my walk, headed for some place to play with those machines again. I got a much needed nap while they were gone. When they came back, I met them at the door like I always do, and Don told me that he had won enough money to keep me in dog food for another two months! I had no idea that the machines could be that generous. That’s a whole lot of money! We worked on the blog, I got a few treats and another short walk around the neighborhood, and off to bed. I do think we might be hauling out of here tomorrow, to where I have no idea. But you’ll know when I know, which is when we get there!

May 5, Las Vegas
Sorry I couldn’t do a posting last night, but I couldn’t persuade my typist to come in from the patio, where he and Geri were enjoying the warm night air and a visit with Craig (also known as David), whose rig is parked in the site just in back of us. He’s on his way from Scottsdale up to Reno and Winnemucca, where he will be working at the local hospital for awhile. I just sat out there with them, and enjoyed the attention I was getting.

And I did get a lot of attention yesterday! On our morning walk in the park that we drive to, several ladies complimented me on my friendly attitude and good manners, in addition to telling me that I was beautiful. Though I prefer being called handsome, I’ll take beautiful any time. Not too long after we got back from our walk, I got an early lunch and Geri took me over to the nearby Petco Store, where she turned me over to the groomer there. I’m always excited to go to the groomer’s, particularly when it’s a new place. First, I love getting a bath and being really clean, and I eat up the personal attention I get there. When I’m at a groomer’s that I haven’t been to before, I get to show off my manners and make new friends. The resulting treats are also well received. The groomer lady at Petco, whose name was Stephanie, was particularly good at her work, and trimmed my coat beautifully. When Don came to pick me up, he thought I was someone else! He said that this didn’t look like his dog, but I was so handsome, he’d take me home anyway. Ha, Ha, big kidder that he is.

They went out for dinner, after feeding me mine, to a place called the Claim Jumper, where Don says that the only two problems are that the food is great and they give you way too much of it. Sometimes I really don’t understand him at all. They must have done a pretty good job of finishing their meals, though, ‘cause all I got out of it was a few puny french fries.

This morning, we were kind of late getting over to the park, as we were seeing David (also known as Craig) off on the continuation of his journey northward. So, when we got to the park, there weren’t hardly any ladies walking for their morning exercise, and I didn’t get any recognition of my “new look”. Oh, well, maybe tomorrow. But it was getting so hot that I found myself trotting from shade tree to shade tree, and then standing in the shade waiting for Don to catch up. I got a lot of rolling in, kind of seasoning my clean and newly shaped coat, but I avoided rolling in anything smelly or nasty. After we had lunch, Geri and Don had some shopping to do, and I took a well earned nap. When they returned, it looked like they had cleaned out every Italian delicatessen in Las Vegas. They unloaded a pile of delicacies out of the truck, and I know that some great dinners are going to come out of this, with some super plates for me.

The wind had come up during the afternoon, so we all went out to bring the awning in so it wouldn’t blow away if the wind got stronger. We hung around the rig until my dinner time, and then they got in the truck and went over to the local casino, Silverton, where there was an Italian Festival going on. It occurred to me that this was a day that they call Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican sort of holiday, when many people celebrate with enchiladas and Margueritas. No, they’re out looking for New York style pizza and vino rosso. Guess they gotta be different. They came back a little late, ‘cause they had to stop by the casino and make their contributions to the machines, though Geri said she did pretty well. Don wasn’t saying anything. I got my evening treats, Geri took me for a nice walk, and Don and I got this posting together. Glad to get up to date. Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow, may be staying here, may be moving on. I’ll let you know when I find out!

May 3, Las Vegas, Nevada
Just a short note tonight, ‘cause we had a dinner party that lasted late, and it’s way past my bedtime.


I had a nice, long wade in the Colorado River this morning, it felt really good, and Don took some pictures. We left Davis Camp a little after eleven, and headed north at a goodly rate. We bombed through Searchlight, one of Don’s favorite places, and pulled into our favorite RV Park, Las Vegas Motorhome Resort, a little after one in the PM. We did a lot of cleanup work, so that we look as good as all the other rigs in this place, and we waited for David (also known as Craig) to pull in from Phoenix. He showed up a little after five, and G-Daughter Genevieve pulled in shortly thereafter. I was very happy to see all of them, as they are very special friends, almost like family to me. Well, maybe they are family, even though they aren’t of the canine persuasion! Don cooked up some bratwurst and baked beans, which were well received, even though he had gone el cheapo on the buns at WalMart and bought some that were way too small. I got some great plates out of it, there was lots of talk, Don indulged in a cigar, which got him isolate to the edge of the conversation, and a good time was had by all.


We really love being in this RV Park, it has everything we want and then some. The grass is great, the people are really nice, and, today, the weather was great! I’ll try to give you a longer post tomorrow. Night, all!

May 2, Bullhead City, Arizona
Not much to report today; Don and I had another nice walk down to the river in the morning, and I spied a roadrunner, but didn’t chase it. I’ve learned that it’s really not worth it. Don had the camera with him so that he could take a picture of me wading in the Colorado, but I didn’t feel like wading this morning. We made a brief trip to the local Sam’s Club to pick up some needed supplies, then back to the rig for lunch. After Geri had a little nap, she and Don headed over to Laughlin to resume their odd relationship with the money machines.
They came back to the rig, looking fairly pleased with their encounters with the machines, just in time for my dinner and a little afternoon walk. Then they were off again, to have their dinner in a restaurant that turned out to be closed, down in Fort Mohave. Don told me that he asked Garmie where to find another Italian restaurant, and she led them to a little family type place down near the river, where they apparently dined very well. When they came home, I welcomed them as I always do, with a nice toy and a wagging tail.

Don and I worked briefly on the blog, we watched a little TV, and then hit they hay. We’re shoving off tomorrow, I hear it’s back to Vegas. That’s great, I love the RV Park there, and Don has found the new park for our morning walks. I think I’ll have a good time! See ya tomorrow!

May 1, Bullhead City, Arizona
It’s a funny thing about this place, the minute you get here, you feel like you’re really on a vacation trip. Like, we’ve been vacationing for about three weeks, but there was always a feeling of being responsible for something, kind of looking over your shoulder to see if some nasty animal was watching you, ready to pounce. Here, we always feel very carefree and relaxed. But we still pay attention to the little details of living and traveling that keep us semi-civilized. Like, this morning Don took some time to get the last of the red dust from the Monument Valley sandstorm out of the truck, even going to a car wash to use their high powered vacuum cleaner to get the dust out of the carpet in my compartment. But before he did that, he took me out for a really nice walk down to the river, where I recognized my old swimming hole, a little lagoon next to the main stream of the river, where there was no current. I looked at Don to gain his approval, and he told me to go ahead and go wading, which he knew I wanted to do. Even in the morning, it’s kind of warm here, and wading in the water really cools me off nicely. So, I waded on in and just stood there for awhile, enjoying the feel of the cool water on my legs. The last time I was here, I actually went swimming in the river, but I didn’t feel like exerting myself that much this morning.


The rest of the morning was spent just lazing around the coach; they were reading some of the local newspapers, while I played with the new squeak toy that Geri got me yesterday. I like it a lot, ‘cause it’s really loud . After we had lunch, Geri and Don left me to do my afternoon nap and headed over to Laughlin, where, as I understand it, they put money into machines and press buttons that make the machines give even more money back to them. Sounds a little silly to me, but what do I know. As long as they have enough money for my food and cookies, I don’t care what they do. They came back very pleased that the machines had given them $4.27 for an afternoon’s work of pushing buttons, and if they’re happy, I’m happy.


They had a dinner of leftover lentil soup, which I love, so I was very pleased with the plates. After dinner, Geri took me for a walk, and we met some dogs that were part Goldie. They were pleasant enough, but not nearly as knowledgeable about dealing with humans as I am. I’m a strong believer in the idea that if you treat your humans with love and respect, and follow their instructions to the letter, they will respect you and see to your needs and desires attentively. It’s always worked for me!


Geri decided I needed some trimming up on my legs, what she calls my “feathers”, and took me outside with the electric trimmer. She didn’t cut me too short, so I still have a touch of hairy elegance to my legs. I thanked her for that. We didn’t take any photos today, so there are none to post. I’ll try to get Don to take some tomorrow morning during our walk. Hope you had as nice a day as I have!

April 30, Bullhead City, Arizona
Last night, when I said we were heading for one of our favorite places, I’ll bet that none of you said, “Oh, they’re on their way to Bullhead City, Arizona!” But it really is a big favorite of ours. For one reason, the weather is usually really nice here, except in the really hot summer months. Another reason is the Mohave County operated RV Park, Davis Camp, which offers really nice sites alongside the Colorado River. Not too many people are familiar with this Park, as it isn’t listed in the normal RV Park directories. We found it by accident some years ago, and it’s one of our favorites. And a final reason is that we’re just across the river from Laughlin, Nevada, our poor person’s Las Vegas, which offers a lot of fun things to do for Geri and Don. I like the fact that there is lots of grass here, great areas for walks, and, when I feel like it, the river to wade and swim in. I’ve really done that, they have pictures to prove it!
We got another late start this morning, but it didn’t matter, ‘cause we only had about an hour’s travel to get to Bullhead City. We got reloaded with propane at Blake Ranch before we left, and the owner was telling Don about a couple who had shown up at the Park a few nights ago, having gone through a sandstorm like ours and then finding that their highway was closed while carrying a cargo of nine horses in a trailer. They had to spend the night in their truck in a snow storm! We stopped at a truck wash to get the rig and the truck cleaned up, ‘cause we were really dirty! Don said you couldn’t tell what color the truck was, though that was hard for me to observe accurately. When we left the truck wash, we were all clean and shiny again.

We breezed through Kingman and caught Highway 68 toward Bullhead City, through Golden Valley. After a brief climb up to the top of the pass, we started the downgrade that drops over 3000 feet in twelve miles, down to the valley of the Colorado. Geri and Don remarked that they usually drove this pass going the other way, but it was just was beautiful heading west, though a bit scarier. Don gave the exhaust brake a good workout on the way down. I was supervising the whole operation, but couldn’t find fault with it. We arrived at Davis Camp, and Geri negotiated a site that looked OK on the map; but when we got there, she concluded that there wasn’t sufficient grass to satisfy my needs, so she found a better one, called the office, and told them where we were settling. They knew better than to argue with her.

Once Don had the rig set up, they left me to a well-earned nap and went shopping for some essentials, including replenishment of my food and cookie supply. They tried to find a groomer for me, as I am starting to look a little ragged. But they couldn’t find anyone who was available on the weekend. Oh, well, people still think I’m handsome! Don cooked up a great dinner, some strip steak on the grill, baked potatoes, and some of the asparagus that we bought from the lady in Montrose. It resulted in some super plates for me, and they seemed to enjoy it, too. We watched a little TV, worked on the blog, and hit they hay pretty early. Should be a good day tomorrow; maybe I’ll even go swimming! See you manana (pronounced manyana)!

April 29, Kingman, AZ
I’ve always wanted to start a posting with the word “Yikes!”, to convey a feeling of potential danger, or a strangely threatening situation. I think maybe I can use it today!

Yikes! First a sand storm, then a snow storm, finally a wind storm, all in 24 hours!
First the sandstorm, at Monument Valley; it was blowing all afternoon, as I reported, but it continued through the night, rocking the coach like a cradle gone wrong. Naturally, Don slept through it soundly, thinking he was back aboard ship. Geri and I didn’t take it quite so well. By the time daylight came, the winds had died down, but there was red sand all over the coach, a lot on the outside and some on the inside. Likewise the truck. It took awhile to get the mess cleaned up enough for the rig to be liveable, and then to get it ready for the road, so we weren’t underway until after eleven in the morning. I got the bare essentials in the way of walks and personal time, but I understood that other considerations took precedence. We headed south to Kayenta, where Geri and Don had stayed some years ago with Genevieve and Matthew while on their way to Colorado. They were impressed with the growth of the town, and how many motels it had spawned. We continued down the road through the Navajo Nation to Tuba City, where Don wanted to stop to find out how it got its name. I’m kind of curious, too.

We had hit a few flurries of snow along the way, but as we came into Flagstaff, it became fairly heavy and constant. As we entered our refueling stop, the snow was coming down pretty heavily, and Geri started enquiring about road conditions. She found out that eastbound Highway 40 had been closed yesterday due to snow. One of the truckers informed her that she could call 511 on her cell phone and get a road condition report. Back in the coach, she made the call and got a lot of happy talk about Williams being sunny and clear, Seligman warm and dry, but one Rest Area closed. Lacking any negative reports, Don said we were moving forward. We don’t argue with the skipper; well, not often. We headed out of Flagstaff in a driving snowstorm, windshield wipers at full speed, through the mountains to the 7000 foot Flagstaff Divide. The snow continued through the downhill side, almost to Williams, where it suddenly became bright and cheery. We were tempted to stop there, because of the great time we all had there last year, but we pressed on regardless. Successfully negotiating the grades down the hill to Seligman, we were faced with a new threat; high winds! Tumbleweed were shooting across the highway at high speed, big rigs were wandering all over the road, and we were being buffeted severely. We were able to maintain our course and stay on the road until we arrived at our destination a little after five, the Blake Ranch RV Park & Horse Motel, just east of Kingman. The wind was still blowing coldly, but Geri devotedly attended to my outdoor needs while Don fixed up a nice ham and yam dinner, resulting in some good yamskin plates for me. A good end to a really Yikey day.
Tomorrow we’re off to one of our favorite places; I’ll keep it a secret until we’re there. How’s that for always leaving them guessing? Check with you tomorrow!

April 28, Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona
I witnessed a miracle this morning. Geri was up and around a little after six this morning, and roused Don out of bed shortly thereafter. With expert prodding and provocation, she got him working on getting us underway, and we went sailing out of Moab just before nine in the morning. It was, I must say, beyond my comprehension, sort of a role reversal. We headed south through the desert, at a somewhat less than normal speed due to road and wind conditions, but made pretty good time. As we arrived at our RV Park in Monument Valley, we were aware that the wind was picking up considerably, and red sand was blowing everywhere. By the time we got into our site and properly set up, the wind was howling and the rig was shaking. Nonetheless, we dutifully got into the truck and headed over to the Visitor Center, which is operated by the Navajo Nation. Our intent was to take the self-guided tour of a major portion of the Valley, over a dirt road that has been there for ages. When we got to the Center, the wind was blowing so hard that our view of the Monuments was obscured, and Geri could hardly stand up. The air was full of sand, and Don said that he felt that he was being sandblasted. They went into the Visitor Center for awhile, leaving me in the truck, though I was well protected from the blowing sand by my camper top. When they returned, the wind was blowing so hard that Geri had to hold onto Don to keep from blowing away! The dirt road tour idea was abandoned, and we drove back toward our RV Park, which is at Goulding’s Trading Post and Lodge.


We drove up to the Lodge, which is a sort of historic place, established in the 1920’s by a husband and wife team, and we visited the museum, which is in the old Trading Post. I couldn’t go in, of course, but they told me that the place was very interesting, with displays of old photos of the Trading Post, hotel registers from the early days of the Lodge, and lots of memorabilia from when western movies were made there. I’ve never seen the film, but the movie “Stagecoach”, which starred a new guy by the name of John Wayne, was principally made in the Valley, and the cast and crew all stayed there at the Lodge. A lot of other big movies were made there, too. The upstairs at the trading post was the living quarters for the Gouldings, and it remains furnished just as it was when they were living there.


We went back to the coach and escaped from the wind, though it was rocking us back and forth. We were getting intermittent power outages, just long enough to knock out the satellite TV reception, which annoyed Don, so he started up the generator so we didn’t have to rely on the Park’s power. He cooked up some lentil soup, which he calls “linsensuppe” for some reason, and served it for dinner. It was really good! Don says that the wind is supposed to abate around midnight tonight, which will allow us to travel safely tomorrow. Consensus is we’re heading for Kingman, Arizona, where the weather is much better. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow! See you then.

April 27, Moab, Utah
Hi, everyone, it’s DeeBee, fully recuperated from my short term bout of lethargy. I don’t know what exactly caused it, but I just wasn’t feeling strong or competent enough to do much of anything yesterday. But today I’m good as new! I have to thank Don for filling in for me yesterday, I think it worked out well ‘cause he was involved in everything that went on and I wasn’t.

We got another late start today, turning into a bunch of slugabeds. But we made up for it by hustling through the rest of the day. Just before noon, we headed up the road to Arches National Park. Geri and Don had been there once before, about 13 years ago, but hadn’t spent a lot of time in the park. Today, we took the time to see everything (that didn’t require an inordinate amount of walking), take a lot of photos, and do the full tour. The scenery really is incredible, and would make the place worthy of Park status even without the arches. The geology of the area is mind-blowing, particularly to a Golden Retriever who loves the subject, but doesn’t understand a bit of it. I know that the area here was once part of a huge sea, which deposited salt on the bottom of it, and then sand was deposited on top of the salt in many layers, and that this took millions of human years. I think that’s where I get hung up, translating this process into dog years, and not being able to work with such huge numbers. Anyway, the end result is beautiful to these eyes, and I love the smells from all the strange plants in the area. At one of the view points, we met a Bulldog who was only eleven months old, but was very friendly and courteous. His human said that he was being trained to skateboard, like our Tillman, who we met at our skate park one day a couple of years ago.

After we left Arches, we went into downtown Moab, parked, and walked around a bit. Geri and Don say that they think the town is thriving, there are new motels and restaurants all over the place, lots of other new businesses, and a lot of visitors every day. We visited a very attractive park in town, where I was able to get in a few rolls and runs and take care of some other business. Don had noticed on one of our maps that thee were some ancient Indian petroglyphs on a road next to the river, somewhere north of town; so, we had to go hunting for them. We found the right road, and about five miles down it, there was a sign that said “Indian Writing”. We parked, and Don went out looking for the inscriptions. Couldn’t find them. It took Geri’s sharp eyes to locate them, inscribed about 15 feet above the road. Apparently, nobody knows what these writings mean, but they obviously meant something to the people who put them there about 1200 years ago.

There were a bunch of people along the road engaged in climbing the sandstone cliffs that lined the highway, using ropes and other equipment that I couldn’t make sense of. I was wondering why they wanted to climb these rocks, since there wasn’t any food or anything else at the top. Don said that it was their idea of having fun. I’m proud to say that dogs don’t think that way. We continued down that road, still running alongside the river, past several campgrounds, until we reach the end of the pavement. There we found a huge potash plant, which was harvesting the “salt” that had been deposited millions of years ago. Looked like they were doing a good job of it. It was getting late, so we headed for home and dinner. Well, dinner for me, ‘cause Geri and Don weren’t that hungry, so I didn’t get any plates. I didn’t mind, I’m just glad I feel so much better than I did yesterday.

We’re off tomorrow for Monument Valley, down by the Arizona border. I hear it’s pretty spectacular! I’ll give you a full report. G’nite!

April 26, Moab, Utah

Hi, everyone. This is Don, standing in (or sitting in) for DeeBee tonight. He didn’t feel well today, and asked me if I would handle the blog for him tonight. He even offered me cookies if I would do it for him. I told him I don’t need no stinking cookies, I’d be happy to help. So, here I am.

Before you all get too concerned, he’s feeling considerably better this evening, but, since he didn’t participate to his usual level in today’s events, he would still prefer that I describe them. All of us got up really late this morning, probably due to the effects of overstuffing ourselves with pasta last night. We had been advised when we checked in that we would have to shift to another site this morning, as our site had been previously reserved, so we lost much of what was left of the morning in making the move. After lunch, we went to pile into the truck for a tour, and DeeBee, who had been acting rather lethargic all morning, told us that he wasn’t jumping into the back of the truck today. No, he would prefer to ride in the jump seat area of the cab, just in back of our seats. Fine with us. So, we headed up Highway 281, a twisty, curvy route that parallels the Colorado River heading back up to Highway 70, a route that we had consciously avoided in the motorhome. It is quite a beautiful ride, with sandstone bluffs on each side of the river, a mini-Grand Canyon. A ways up the road, we arrived at the entrance to the La Sal Mountains Loop, which explores an isolated group of snow-capped mountains which are totally divorced from the Rockies, San Juans, or any other mountain formation. The road took us first through some idyllic farmlands and cattle ranches in Castle Valley before it started ascending the mountains in a very aggressive manner. The result in terms of views was spectacular. Our photos don’t really do them justice. At one point, I’m sure that we could see 75 to a hundred miles, way into Colorado. At another, we could see the snowy peaks of the Wasatch Range, east of Salt Lake City. Driving the road required frequent use of engine braking in second gear, and on some slopes, I had use first gear to keep the speed down; never had to do that before. But Geri had no complaints, and DeeBee slept through almost the whole trip.

When we got back to the rig, both DeeBee and Geri went into nap mode, leaving me to the fun of cleaning out my email box. A little after six, we fed the boy and left him to go on an excursion that we had made reservations for earlier, a moonlight ride up the river. The embarkation point was right next door to the RV Park, so we cruised on over and had dinner with about 120 other people who were going on the cruise. Really, two huge tour busses had disgorged their humanity, who were on a Vegas-based desert tour. We sat with some fellow Californians at dinner and had interesting conversations about our travel adventures. As the sun was going down, we boarded the open-air boat, more a barge with seats and very quiet engines, and headed upriver. The skipper gave us a lot of info about the geology and history of the area, facts about the river and its tributaries, and lots of humorous stories. He said that the present level of flow in the river was about average for this time of year, though it looked pretty full to us.
By the time we had gotten two or three miles up the river, the darkness was fully upon us, except for a brilliant, nearly full, moon. At that point a Sound and Light show began, with recorded dialogue and music played on the boat and brilliant lighting on the cliffs and rock formations provided by a truck mounted with high-powered floodlights that followed us on the highway adjacent to the river. It was a unique experience that Geri and I had never envisioned, floating down the Colorado in the moonlight, with the sounds of some appropriately magnificent music, recitations of Indian legends, and lights illuminating the huge sandstone bluffs. It was a bit cold, but we had dressed warmly and the boat operators had provided lap blankets. It was, truly, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wish DeeBee could have been with us.

When we got home, DeeBee was at the door to greet us, offering one of his favorite toys, and ready to receive his by now very late evening treats. Hope he feels this good tomorrow. He needs to get back to blogging.

Thanks for putting up with this poor excuse for a substitute DeeBee. He apologizes to his readers, and promises to get back to work. Cheers!

April 25, Moab, Utah
Here we are, back in Utah. Not a very long trip, mostly retracing our path from Green River, with the same desert scenery most of the way. Don took me for my last walk in Buckley Park before we left, and I enjoyed it immensely. Getting the rig ready to go, Don addressed the problem of the leaking left rear jack by adding more hydraulic fluid to the jack reservoir, but, apparently, overfilled it. The result was a constant muted beep alarm throughout our trip to tell us of the problem we already knew about. A bother. We stopped at a viewpoint in eastern Utah to let me visit the facilities, for which I was thankful.


We got into Moab late in the afternoon, and checked into a very nice RV Park right on the Colorado River. It’s very busy, as is the town itself, which we did a pass through in the truck. Geri and Don visited here maybe fifteen or so years ago, and they say it’s four times as big now as it was then. New motels, restaurants, expedition purveyors all over the place. The RV parks are almost full; and this is before “The Season” begins on May First! Biking and hiking is what it’s all about here, in addition to excursions on the river. It’s a really popular place!


Don fixed a really good pasta dish with sausage and mushrooms, and the plates were great. Don’t know for sure what we’re going to be doing here, but I hear talk of river excursions, which aren’t canine friendly. I’ll possibly be grumbling at you.

April 24, Montrose, CO
Well, we’re still here. I think they’re ready to move to Montrose, but not full time; I know they’d be outa here first sign of winter. But it is a really nice town, in a beautiful setting, with all the comforts they need. For my part, as I’ve mentioned, I really love Buckley Park and would like going there every day. They haven’t found a restaurant they didn’t like, and even tried a new one this morning, Starvin’ Arvin’s, for breakfast. Geri really enjoyed her waffle, and Don was immensely pleased with his country fried steak with sausage gravy, hash browns and eggs over easy. They want everyone to understand that this was their meal of the day, no lunch to follow, and only a snack for dinner. OK?

Geri wanted a little nap after breakfast, so Don and I hung out on our grassy area next to the rig. He was writing something, and I was consorting with passers-by. When Geri was ready to go, we headed for the Montrose Historical Museum, downtown in the old Denver & Rio Grande train station. Sorry, they were closed. Don was very disappointed. So, instead, we did some sightseeing around town, winding up at a little park south of town set up to memorialize the Escalante Expedition of 1776, which passed through this area. They were looking for California. Guess their maps weren’t as good as ours are. From where we were, we had a great view of the San Juan Mountains, which we had traipsed through yesterday, but couldn’t see. Don took some photos, and I hope they show how magnificent they mountains are. Then we visited a row of antique shops along highway 550 a little further south, and saw some nice bear pelts; but we didn’t buy anything. Geri had a urgent need for a manicure, ‘cause her paws were turning into claws, and she didn’t like it, so we found a nail place at the south end of town and got her fixed up.

We weren’t ready to call it a day yet, so we went exploring into some of the neighborhoods of Montrose. Most of the housing is relatively modest, but well kept. On the outskirts of town, we found some horse ranches and a few large and elegant homes, with views of the San Juans. We got so far out of town that, when Don asked Garmie to guide us back to the RV Park, she did the unthinkable; she put us on an unpaved road! Geri wasn’t real pleased about this, and attempted to countermand Garmie. Don did the politic thing, and turned off on a better unpaved road, forcing Garmie to find a new, but longer route. Eventually we found pavement heaven, and all was well. We made a stop at Buckley Park for my walk, which pleased me greatly.

Their dinner was next to nothing, and so were my plates. But I’m not complaining. We’re definitely back on the road tomorrow, heading back to Utah, a place called Moab. Our excursion yesterday didn’t make us feel real friendly about the road down through Telluride, so we’re heading back for the desert. I’ve never been to Moab, but they have. Hope I like it there as well as I did in Montrose. You can be sure I’ll let you know!

April 23, Montrose, Colorado
We had one of those days that starts out great, takes a little turn for the worse, then suddenly turns dismal and stays that way. You just never know. We got up to a cloudy sky, with occasional sunbreaks, but by the time Don and I went over to the park for our walk, it was mostly bright and sunny. We had a great walk, I love this park! Wish I could take it with me. My only screwup was doing a very enthusiastic roll on the slope above the creek, and almost winding up in it.

We all had lunch before we got in the truck and headed south toward Telluride, getting underway about noon. We were about half way down the 550 to Ridgway when I felt the truck rock and swerve violently. I looked out the back window to see what was happening, and I saw a large animal, a deer, lying next to the road. Don was stopping the truck and pulling over. I could tell he was kind of shook up. He got out of the truck and looked back at the deer, who wasn’t moving. He looked over the truck, and reported that there wasn’t much damage. We got moving again, but I could tell the fun had gone out of the excursion. We all felt very badly for the deer, and I was sorry that he hadn’t gotten the training that I had about crossing streets and roads (Thank you, Gary). But then he didn’t have a human to tell him when it was OK to cross.


By the time we got to Ridgway, the clouds had closed in completely, and we couldn’t see the mountains around us. We took the turnoff to Telluride, and climbed up the hill through the clouds. There was a creek next to us, and snow all around. We were driving slower than usual, hoping to avoid another wildlife collision. Don had to pull over several times to let traffic behind us go by. When we finally got to Telluride, the first thing we saw was an Elementary School, with the kids out for recess, playing in snow about as deep as their waists! Two boys were working on making a snowman. Don was saying something about global warming and how it couldn’t come soon enough for him. We drove down the main street of the town, and stopped at the park at the end of town. Don let me out of the truck, and I have to say that I was a little bewildered with all the snow. I found a path across a bridge that was covered in snow, and trotted across it to find an inviting rock, which I proceeded to irrigate. Strangely, I found myself enjoying this cold stuff! I started jumping through the snow, unable to run, but taking pleasure in the leaps I was making. Don wasn’t keeping up with me, and I soon heard him yelling at me to come to him. Ever dutiful, I turned around and went leaping back to him. He led me back to the truck and put me back in. Too bad, I think I would enjoy some more snow time.


Telluride was very tidy looking, well appointed and quite upscale, in my estimation. Don took a few photos, but I don’t know if he’ll post them tonight. I can tell he’s still upset about the deer. As we were leaving, the snow started coming down again, and Geri was anxious to get out of the possibility of getting snowed in. So we retraced our route back through Ridgway to Montrose without incident. When we got back, we got some laundry done and dined on leftover Meatball Soup; good plates! We had a meeting after dinner, and decided to spend another day here in Montrose; we really like it here, the weather promises to be pretty good, and there’s more to see! And I think we need to make up for today being so sad. I’ll let you know how it goes!

April 22, Montrose, Colorado
When I was sent out this morning to get the phony paper, I was surprised to see that the grass next to the rig had turned white overnight. It was also cold and wet. Don reminded me that it was something called Snow, and that lots of places are afflicted by it. Well, OK, but I don’t like the way it makes my paws cold. But it is kind of pretty.


Today was our first day of exploration and adventures in this area, and was it a doozy. (Don says that doozy refers to a particularly elegant automobile manufactured in the 1920’s and 30’s, the Duesenberg). To start with, he took me to a really nice park in Montrose that had superb grass and a walkway next to a lovely creek. We met a Scotch Terrier lady, who was let off her leash when her people saw what a nice guy I was, and we introduced ourselves properly. I knew that she would be interested in seeing my Crazy Dog routine, so I put on an excellent demonstration, with ninety-degree turns, feints right and left, and bursts of thunderous speed. She was slack-jawed with wonder for a while, but then decided to join in the fun by trying to chase me. I led her away from her folks, then did a sharp 180 and sped back to them to receive their adulation. Recognizing that I had sorta tricked her, she resorted to loud barking. Don tried to make up to her, but she wasn’t having any. They finally had to put her leash back on and lead her off, still barking. I did some more running and a lot of rolling, the grass was just so great! Super good walk it was.


We went back to the rig and collected Geri, who graciously fed me my lunch before we left. We headed out east on Highway 50, and soon turned north to head up the hill to the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. We soon arrived at the Visitors’ Center, and Geri got me out to look around. What a wild place! Lots of big black rocks covered with snow, and a deep, deep canyon with a river down at the bottom. We drove the length of the rim road, with many stops to trundle down trails to view points and take some photos. We got a boatload. Don took a pic of a cliff which is said to be the tallest in Colorado, so tall that if you placed the Empire State Building at the base of it (which we don’t recommend) that it wouldn’t even reach half way up it. Don says that one of the most interesting things about the canyon is that its walls are some of the oldest rocks on earth, and that it took some strange geologic happenings to create this gorge. But we all agreed that the end result was fantastic, and one of the most spectacular natural features we have ever seen. Don wants to come back in the Summer, when we can see more of it.


After a quick stop back at the rig so that they could have their lunch, we headed out again, this time toward the West, so that Don could check out a road that we might want to take when we left Montrose. It was looking pretty good, though we missed a few turns and had to backtrack to pick up the highway, which was actually more like a farm road. Geri decided to program Garmie to pick the route to a town which we knew was further down the road; Garmie immediately told us to turn around and go back. This was mystifying, so we turned Garmie off, told her to shut up. We kept trudging along the road, until we saw a sign that said “Pavement Ends”; sure enough, it did. Don then recognized the reason for Garmie’s reaction, ‘cause she had been programmed (by Don) to avoid unpaved roads, and she was just saying “No Way, Jose, this ain’t gonna do it for you!”


So, we went back into Montrose and went to the Visitor Center there to talk to someone about routes out of town. We met a lady named Jodie, who told us that Don’s original idea of heading down through Telluride was by far the best route down to Cortez, avoiding some passes that were over 11,000 feet high. He felt much better. So, back to the coach, where I got my dinner, and they went out again for theirs. They weren’t gone too long, I guess they knew exactly where they were going. Don was raving about the pan-fried walleye filet, which the restaurant has flown down daily from Canada. He said it was even better than the last one he had in Minnesota, more than ten years ago. Like he remembers.


Tomorrow the plan is to head south down to Ouray and Telluride; should be interesting! For now, G’nite!


PS: Geri’s sister Carol called her and said that I hadn’t offended anyone yet with any of my blog postings. I’ve got mixed feelings about that. I’ll try to do better.

April 21, Montrose, Colorado
This is going to be a relatively short posting, for a couple of reasons. One, we didn’t do a whole lot besides changing location, and, two, Don is feeling a little woozy from the effects of a huge Mexican dinner.

Don took me to the park we went to yesterday for our morning outing, and I again reveled in the very good grass they have there. A little running, a little rolling, a lot of sniffing, just a very nice walk. Geri and Don did some cleanup work on the rig and on the truck, and we got rolling out of Grand Junction a little before noon. Montrose, our destination, is only about 70 miles below Grand Junction, so we wanted to arrive there just after the earliest check-in time, which is generally one in the PM. With Garmie’s able assistance on final approach, we cruised right in just after one. We got assigned to a very nice site, with lots of grass! I was overjoyed! There were things that looked like green caterpillars littering the ground, and Geri told me they were seeds off the birch tree that stood in the middle of our grassy area. Geri pulled one of our folding chairs out of the basement and sat under the tree, while it continued to rain the little caterpillars/seeds. Unfortunately, they apparently carried a pollen, also, to which Geri turned out to be allergic. She soon had to retreat to the coach and its air conditioning, with swollen eyes and a headache. We all took a little rest while she recuperated. Don took me out for a walk in a field next to the RV Park, and it was full of interesting smells. There were some big dark clouds coming in over the mountains, and the wind was starting to pick up a bit, so we started back to the rig. The wind was getting much stronger, and it started to rain a little. By the time we made it back, the wind was howling, and the chairs that Geri had set up were blowing away. Don folded them up and stuffed them back in the basement before we lost them entirely. A few minutes later, the TV broadcast a severe weather warning for our area, with winds up to sixty miles and hour. Just a little late.


When the wind died down, we all got in the truck and went for a tour of Montrose. The downtown area is very attractive, with a lot of older storefronts that have been nicely renovated. There is a much larger shopping area east of downtown, with all of the chain stores and restaurants. The place is a lot bigger than we thought it was. We went back to the rig, and I got my dinner while they watched a little TV. Then they were out of here and on their way to their dinner at a Mexican restaurant. When they returned, they said it was about the best Mexican food they had ever had! Geri had something with Colorado sauce on it, in honor of being in Colorado. Don had a lot of food. He was groaning. I think he might finish the blog, but that’s about all.
We’ll see what the weather is like tomorrow; maybe we’ll go somewhere. I’ll let you know!

April 20, Grand Junction
Another really nice day in this town. The weather has been perfect, though a bit on the warm side for someone afflicted by a permanent fur coat. But Geri and Don always take every precaution to ensure that I don’t get overheated, wherever we are. We started out with a visit to a park a few miles away from the RV Park, where the grass was excellent and spacious. I reveled in it, doing a few rolls, then charging up to a unsuspecting gentleman seated on a bench reading. I demanded to be petted briefly, which he was happy to do, then went running off into a very exuberant Crazy Dog routine, which I’m sure everyone appreciated. Gotta say, I had a good time.

When we got back to the rig, Geri was ready to go, so we all got into the truck and headed out. We went into downtown Grand Junction, found a parking spot, and did a walking tour of Main Street. Don had told me that Grand Junction had adopted a policy encouraging public displays of sculpture on the streets of the town, and local sculptors had responded well. There were eight to twelve pieces of sculpture on every block of Main Street! Don took pictures of many of them, which I’m sure he’ll post on the blog. During our tour of downtown, they found a delicatessen that looked good to them, so they ordered a sandwich to split between them. As they sat at their table on the sidewalk, they seemed to be totally oblivious to the First Law of Dog Ownership: The Dog Eats First! I looked on, incredulously, as they happily munched away on their eats. Not a bite was left! As I reflected on this monstrous breach of basic precepts, I had to come to a realization of fact: they’re getting old and forgetful. They just are oblivious to what they are doing. To their (small) credit, they had packed my lunch in the truck, and gave it to me as soon as we got back to it. I was still wounded.
Leaving downtown, we headed east on old Highway 6, which Don says was once the longest highway in the country. I don’t know why he knows things like this, or why anybody cares. We wound up in a town called Palisades, which is in a wine producing district. We visited a couple of wine tasting rooms, and Don added to his stash of regional wines. We started back toward Grand Junction through fields of fruit orchards, all of which were just starting to bloom, which produced a beautiful landscape. There were a lot of interesting homes along the way, some in the last stages of dissolving into the dirt, some novel and imaginative, and some just plain crazy.

We wound up back in Grand Junction, at a place called Walton Island, where you can walk alongside the Colorado River at a point just before it joins with the Gunnison River. It was a nice walk, with lots of good smells and fine views. The river was running very fast and strong, and Don remarked that it did his heart good to see all of that water running down into Lake Powell. We had to do a stop at the local WalMart to replenish some our supplies, and then headed back to the rig. Geri and Don had some leftovers for dinner, and I got a few meager scraps to clean up. Nothing to write a blog about.

We’re on our way again in the morning, heading south to a place called Montrose. We enjoyed Grand Junction, and hope we like Montrose as much. I’ll be reporting on it tomorrow!

April 19, Grand Junction, Colorado
For a day that started out kinda slow, we sure had a spectacular finish! We had a fairly normal morning, with a visit to the Green River Town Park and a good walk. Back at the rig, we went through normal getting-ready-to-go routine, finally hitting the road about eleven. Our transit time from Green River to Grand Junction wasn’t that long, and we pulled into our chosen RV Park about one in the afternoon. A little after two, we were ready for an excursion.

Geri and Don had chosen an afternoon trip to Colorado National Monument for our outing. They didn’t know much about the place, and I certainly knew even less. So, immersed in ignorance, we programmed Garmie to get us there and headed out. We headed up into the hills south of town, soon encountering a steep climb with lots of curves and switchbacks, with monumental dropoffs on one side or the other. Strangely, Geri didn’t get as nervous in the truck as she does in the coach when we’re in a precipitous area; guess the truck is more agile and controllable.

The views across the valley and to the mountains beyond were becoming magnificent, and we had to stop several times to do photos. You could see the Colorado River winding through the valley down below. As we got even higher, huge canyons were opening up on either side of us, with monoliths of rock sprouting up in the middle of them. We got to the Visitors’ Center, and Geri and Don went in to look at the displays and get their “Passport” stamped. We got back on the road, climbing higher and higher. I usually lay down and nap during rides like this, but I found myself standing up most of the time and looking out my windows at the scenery we were passing through. I was even looking out through the windshield, using the window between my doghouse area and the front cab. This was unlike anything I had ever seen in my extensive travels. Geri said it was like driving through the Grand Canyon. We stopped several times to take pictures, and I know Don will post a flock of them. I got out of the truck at one of the stops and went with Don down a hill to find a place to take a good photo. He went so far down the hill, and it was getting so steep, that I thought I’d better go back and find Geri, so that I could protect her from danger. Fortunately, she had decided to not go all the way down the hill, so I stayed with her to ensure that she didn’t change her mind. Don finally reappeared, huffing and puffing his way back to the truck, claiming to have some great shots. We wound on down the road, finally finding our way back to Grand Junction, all kind of breathless from the awesome sights we had encountered.

When we got back to the rig, Don started putting together his famous Meatball Soup, which we all love, and I got my regular dinner. They ate a little late, but the plates were well worth waiting for. Outstanding! I don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow, but I’m sure it won’t compare with the sights we saw today. See you tomorrow!

April 18, Green River, Utah

Don says it’s important to include the name of the state we’re in, ‘cause there’s another Green River in Wyoming, which we visited last year. Don’t want to confuse anyone. This being Sunday, we got off to kind of a late start in the morning, what with special Sunday TV shows and all. That’s OK, I’m used to waiting. Don finally got his act together and got me into the truck, and we took off for Green River State Park, which is right on the river. When we got to the entrance, we found out that it would cost $5.00 to go for a walk. I would have paid it, but I didn’t have my wallet with me; Don felt otherwise, and we turned around and headed back to town. We quickly found the Town Park, which was very large and had nice grass; I was pleased with it. I took off running right away, found a nice shady spot to do a roll in, and did a good, long roll. When I was done, Don called me over to show me one of the principal features of the park; a huge missile! Don told me that it was an Athena missile, and that these missiles were test fired at a local facility back in the 1960’s. Wow, talk about ancient history! We had a very nice walk, and I did a lot more running and rolling.

When we got back to the rig, it was time for my lunch (and theirs, too), so we got that out of the way. Back into the truck, and we went for a tour of Green River. Took about fifteen minutes; we all agreed that this was not a thriving town, and had certainly seen better days. On the west side of the river were maybe a dozen motels, some of which were closed down, all of them doing little or no business. There were a half dozen or so newer motels on the east side of the river, with a few cars in each of their parking lots. The busiest place in town was a truck stop.

Our next stop was the John Wesley Powell Expedition Museum, which is right on the river bank, on the east side. Since I couldn’t go in due to species discrimination, Geri took me to the shaded porch of the museum and secured my leash to a bench, so that I could stay cool. They were in the museum for quite a while, so I took a good nap. When they finally completed their tour of the place, they got me back into the truck and gave me some nice, cold water, which tasted good. They told me that this museum was very much worth stopping for, and that they saw a very well produced movie about Powell’s expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers, mapping territory that no American had ever seen before. They said the exhibits were very well done, and the people in the gift shop had been very helpful in assisting Don in figuring out what road he had taken in his mad dash across Utah in 1964.

We found a street in town called Long Street, and went on a mission to find out how long it really was. Wow, it was long! We finally stopped at a private road quite a ways up the river, getting into some geologically interesting territory. Along the way, we formulated the concept that the local standard for establishing family wealth and status was the amount of junk accumulated in the front and side yards of the house/mobile home/trailer involved. Some of the accumulations could have been museum quality. Don saw one home with a collection of 1948 Buicks in the front yard, all of them good junk quality, but lined up like at a car show. Geri wanted to call “The Pickers”, from a TV show she watches, guys who buy junk and sell antiques.

We stopped at what appeared to be the only grocery store in town, but found it to be mostly a sandwich shop. Don wanted to get a bottle of wine to go with the pasta he was going to cook tonight, but was told that he could only get wine at the liquor store down the road, but he couldn’t buy it today, ‘cause it was Sunday. Oh. So, we went back to the rig, Don cooked his pasta with meat sauce, homemade meatballs and Italian sausage, and we all managed without the wine. It was great! After dinner, Geri took me out for a walk, and we went over to a fence where there were some cows on the other side. Cows don’t really bother me, but they are kind of big. These cows apparently wanted to make friends, and came over to see us. We talked to them, and they listened attentively, while munching grass. Geri thought that their grass was a little short, so she picked some from our side and offered it to them. You would have thought she pointed a gun at them! They immediately panicked and went running off to safety. What Cow Brains!

Tomorrow, we’re off for our ultimate objective, Colorado. Don says we’re going to Grand Junction, where the scenery is great. Hope we get a good RV Park. I’ll let you know!

April 17, Green River, Utah
Not a whole lot to report today, at least from my standpoint, which is a little shorter than my human consorts. We were due to leave Leeds fairly early this morning, but circumstances conspired to get us off to a late start. So, just a little before noon, we rolled out onto US 15 and headed north. We had a refueling stop in Cedar City that went flawlessly, and continued north until we hit the start of I-70 and took off to the east. I had gotten my lunch before we left, and, wanting for nothing, napped most of the way. My sleep was frequently disturbed by exclamations like “OMIGOD!” and “Awesome!” from my fellow travelers, which I took to be comments on the scenery that we were passing through. These outbursts became so frequent and so fervent that I finally had to get off the couch and take a look out the windshield to see what was prompting all of this. Well, I have to say, it was impressive. Everything was reddish, and everything was huge! The scenery really was awesome.

I overheard Don ask Geri, “Can you imagine driving through this area on a single lane gravel road in a 1962 Corvair?” Geri looked at him like he was crazy. Don had to agree that he had been at the time, but he had been determined to save about 50 miles of highway travel by doing so. I agreed with both of them.
We arrived at our destination, Green River, Utah, just before five in the afternoon, and got assigned a pull-through site. While Don got the rig set up, Geri and I explored the place. According to our directories, this is the finest RV Park in Green River. I’m glad we didn’t settle for second best. Grass is hard to find, and usually has a “No Pets” sign on it. The roads are gravel, which I hate. And there’s hardly anyone here! This is not big tourist season in Green River. But there are apparently some things here that Don wants to see, so we’ll be checking them out tomorrow. He fixed some salad, which resulted in a few pitiful remnants for me, and Geri took me out for a sundown walk. Well, I guess it’s better than West Texas, which I shudder to remember. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. Nite, all!

April 16, Leeds, Utah

Another big day of travel, sightseeing, and jumping in and out of the truck. This morning, Don turned over the responsibility for choosing a walking area to Garmie III, our newest GPS guide, who has a voice like a drill instructor. She informed him that there was a park in a town called Toquerville, a mere four miles away. Don knows that Garmie’s milages depend on us having wings, but went with her decision anyway. A mere eight miles later, we were at our destination, a very nice little park in a picturesque small village. They had some really nice grass for rolling in, a good bridge over a rushing creek, and lots of new smells for me to sample. I complimented Garmie on her choice.

We returned to the rig, picked up Geri, and headed south toward St. George. Our destination was Snow Canyon State Park, which had been recommended to us by the lady at the Chamber of Commerce. It was a good recommendation. We drove between gigantic sandstone cliffs with lava beds at their base, some really wonderful scenery. We stopped several times, allowing me to get out and check the scents of the local wildlife. Don took a lot of photos, and I’m sure he’ll post some.

They needed to stop for their lunch, and Don was intrigued by a drive-in that advertised a deep-fried hot dog with bacon; Geri was interested in the sweet potato French fries. As it turned out, Don wimped out and had a burger, but Geri said the fries were great. None for me, unfortunately.

Next stop was a Dinosaur museum, where they had unearthed thousands of dinosaur footprints and built a huge building over them. I couldn’t go in, just because I’m not human, but I got to lay in the shade just outside the door and greet visitors. Geri and Don were very impressed with the display, and very thankful that didn’t have to deal with dinosaur encounters in our present wanderings.

After a bit more wandering around and appreciating the scenery, we headed back to the rig, where Geri and I collapsed into major napping. Don says I must have been having some good dreams, ‘cause I was wagging my tail like crazy; he was afraid I was going to wake myself up. No report on whether Geri was wagging her tail. The late and heavy lunch they had turned them off the idea of dinner, though I got mine after I finished my nap. Geri took me out for a little walk after dinner, and we met some nice people in the RV Park who treated me very pleasantly. We’re out of here tomorrow, heading for some other little burg in Utah. Will let you know how it goes.

April 15, Leeds, Utah

I had a feeling that this was going to be a little bit different travel experience here in Leeds, and I wasn’t wrong. First, we all got up late; yeah, that can happen anywhere. But when Don puts me in the truck for our morning outing, where does he head for? The local cemetery! This was a new one on me. It was located on a hillside overlooking the town, and surprisingly large for a place this tiny. But the town was founded back in the 1860’s, so they’ve had a long time to bury people there. It didn’t have any grass, but it was nicely planted with trees and shrubs, and there were a lot of flowers decorating graves. Don pointed out that the cemetery was mostly organized into family plots, with McMullins in one area, Kenworthys in another. Another thing he noticed was that there were a bunch of headstones for mated couples, one of whom had graduated to Human Heaven, and one who obviously had not, because there was no date for their graduation. He asked me how I would feel if I went to a Doggy Cemetery and saw a headstone with my name on it. I honestly couldn’t answer. I want to let you know that I followed Don’s instructions to the letter, and did not irrigate any headstones, using only trees and shrubs for my relief.

We got back to the rig to get Geri, who wasn’t quite ready to go yet, so we had lunch. After lunch, we got back on the road and headed up into the hills to a place called Silver Reef. It turned out to be a total ghost town, with only one building left standing, the Wells Fargo Express station, which they had turned into a museum. Geri and Don visited the museum, while I relaxed in the shade outside. When they returned, they told me that this was the only place in the country where silver ore had been found in sandstone, and that the town had about 2000 people living there when the mines were working. That doesn’t mean a lot to me, but they found it interesting. I have to say that the views from the town were really beautiful; Don said you could see all the way over to the backside of Zion National Park.

We went back down the hill to Leeds, where Don had to stop to see the remains of the biggest Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Utah, from back in the 1930’s. It was interesting to him ‘cause his father was in the CCC back then. Neither Geri or I were very impressed. Then we took a little side road up into the hills to the Red Cliffs Recreational Area, which is a campground located in the sandstone formations above the valley. There were a lot of people camping there, mostly with kids, and they looked like they were having a really good time. Don made the observation that these guys, with their tents and camp stoves, were the real campers, and didn’t have to depend on 38 feet of steel and fiberglass to be comfortable and enjoy the experience. Geri just gave him a cold look.

Next we headed for Quail Lake State Park, which is a big reservoir behind a dam, which Don found interesting. When we parked, there was a guy in a pickup next to us, with a border collie and a aussie; Don let me out of the truck, and I exchanged identification info with the two dogs, who were very nice and friendly. The man had a guitar, which he was playing and he was singing softly for the benefit of the dogs. Don pointed out to Geri that he wasn’t the only one who sang to his dog. He really does that sometimes. The one I like the best is about how I’m his hero, and I’m everything he’d want to be, and I’m the wind beneath his wings. I know he doesn’t have wings, but that’s OK; it’s the thought that counts.

We next headed into the town of Hurricane, and got some gas at a service station next to the restaurant where Don says they serve the best country fried steak in all the world. We almost had to restrain him from going in and ordering a takeout. Geri and Don agreed that the town had grown considerably from the last time they were there, which was maybe 10 or 12 years ago. They stopped at a store and got me a bottle of cold water, which was most appreciated. Then we drove into St. George, and went to the Chamber of Commerce to get some literature to guide us on future explorations. Since it was getting to be time for my afternoon exercise, they found a local park, and I got in some running and rolling. We made friends with a spaniel whose folks had adopted him from a shelter; he was a really nice guy, very friendly and personable, and we were glad that he had found such a good home.

We finally had to call it a day and head back for the rig, where Don cooked a nice dinner (lamb chops) and I got some very good plates. I think we’ll be here for at least another day, as there’s apparently a lot to see around here. I’ll fill you in on our excursions tomorrow! Nite, all!

April 14, Leeds, Utah

If you’re wondering why I didn’t post yesterday, I have a good excuse; there was nothing to report. Yeah, Don took me to the park again and we had a really nice walk, but nothing unusual happened. Don went looking for an Italian deli that sold something called Pepperoni Bread, but didn’t find one. He got new tires for the truck. They had leftover pizza for dinner. All very exciting (NOT!).

Today was much more reportable. Don took me to the park again, and we explored a different part of it from where we have previously gone. There was a building with a big open door, which is hard for me to resist, so I went in to see what was there. Two men were inside, one sitting at a desk, and he invited me in! So, of course, I ran in and got lots of petting and adulation from both of them. Don finally told me that I had to leave, and I was so excited that I ran out the door and went running off down through the park. I ran quite a ways, when I looked up and saw a smaller black dog – running headon toward me! I screeched to a halt, turned around, and started running back toward Don. I knew that the little dog was right behind me, so I breezed right past Don and went into a crazy dog routine to throw the little guy off. Surprise! My pursuer started doing crazy dog too, running in front and in back of me, sometimes almost colliding. I remembered that this was called “playing”, and it was kind of fun, but exhausting. I finally stopped, and we went snout to snout, and checked each other’s identity thoroughly. Turned out it was a lady dog, seven years old, and a very pleasant individual. Well, that was fun.

When we got back to the coach, I found out that we were leaving Las Vegas this morning, as Don started preparing the rig to get underway. We got going a little before noon, and headed up highway 15 toward Utah. We went through the Virgin River Gorge, which is very spectacular; Geri took some pictures, which we might post on the blog. We finally stopped in a little village called Leeds, which is very small but has a good RV Park, at least according to Don’s research. We got placed in a good-sized pull-through site, and Don was very pleased with the utilities for hooking up. Geri took me out for a walk to the doggy area, which had some nice grass. On the way back to the rig, and older lady sitting on the porch of her trailer called us over, and wanted to visit with us. Turned out she had a long, sad story which seemed as though it would go on forever. Geri had to excuse us finally, and we went back to the rig to warn Don not to go past her trailer whenever he took me to the doggy area.

Don cooked a very nice chicken and rice dish for dinner, resulting in some splendid plates and pots. Geri took me out for another walk, and we met some people who thought that I was just a wonderful dog. Obviously people of good taste. They had stayed here through the winter and had froze their tails off. I could see that their tails were missing. Don says there’s a lot to see and do here, so we’ll get started tomorrow. I’ll give you a full report.

April 12, Las Vegas

I overslept a bit this morning. Don had to wake me up to go out and get the phony paper. I don’t feel bad about it, he oversleeps pretty often and doesn’t get into trouble. When he finally got himself together and ready for our walk, he got me into the truck and we drove a few miles to a park that we’ve never been to. It was very pleasant, with nice grass, some young evergreen trees, and a number of picnicking sites. I eagerly trotted around gathering new smells and rolling in the grass. The picnic areas were particularly interesting, the lingering odor of discarded, decomposing food items was heavenly. Anyway, it was a very pleasant walk and I hope we come back there again soon.

When we got back to the rig, Don had to do some chores like cleaning the windshield, which had a nice collection of bugs, and dumping the tanks. I decline to assist in either of these jobs, so I stayed in the rig and kept Geri company while she was getting herself together. After lunch, we all got into the truck and took a ride down what’s called “The Strip” in Las Vegas. Geri and Don were reminiscing about the old hotels that they used to stay in that are no longer there, and how even the really nice places they stayed at were like cat doo-doo compared to the new hotels that have gone up in the last few years. Personally, I’m really pleased that they don’t want to stay in those hotels anymore, ‘cause if they did, I couldn’t come with them, and they would miss me.

We drove by a place that Geri often watches on TV; it’s called a “Pawn Shop”, and the guys who work there buy and sell unusual things. Geri was going to go in, but the parking lot was full and the place was a madhouse. I guess a lot of other people watch it on TV. We saw a lot of places where people could get mated, or married, as humans call it. Some were very pretty, and some were kind of different, like the one with the bobble-headed Elvis playing his guitar. Bet you didn’t think I knew about Elvis; he’s a legend even among dogs!

We went back to the rig, where they made sure I was comfortable for my afternoon nap, and then they headed out for a casino they had never been to before. When they returned, a few hours later, they told me that they had been to the Red Rock Casino, that just opened a couple of years ago. They said that it was very beautiful, especially the fountains and waterscaping around the front of the building. They were not so effusive in their praise of the generosity of the slot machines. Geri took me for a nice walk, and we met one our new friends, another Goldie, a lady by the name of Miss Ellie. She’s a very pleasant individual, and I don’t mind the attention she gets from Geri and Don. Her folks are equally appreciative of me. She’s also a California dog, from Sacramento. When we finished our walk, I got my dinner and they left to go out to have theirs. I got some good naptime and watched a little TV. When they got back, they told me that they had been to one of their favorite Italian places, called The Bootlegger, and they had ordered the house special pizza, which turned out to be very good, but still not up to Geri’s very rigid standards. They had spent some time and money at another casino, but I’m not going to begrudge them that. Whatever makes them happy is OK with me, as long as my basic needs of food and entertainment are met. A nice day was had by all. I’m sure more are yet to come. See you tomorrow!

April 11, Las Vegas

The second day out on one of our trips is always the day that you discover what you forgot to bring from home. So far, we seem to be fairly clean, though we had a little scare when Don couldn’t find my lunch box in the refrigerator. Turns out that Geri had cleverly disguised it as a yogurt box, and she was able to come up with it right away. We had also left about half of my stash of Yummy Chummies behind, but that isn’t really critical. So we’re in pretty good shape.

Don and I fell into our normal on-the-road morning routine very easily; we got out of bed at the same time, he located the phony reusable newspaper and flung it out the coach door, I dutifully retrieved it and got my cookies. I got my breakfast after he started the coffee, and went back to bed. Pretty strenuous. Today being Sunday, things tend to move a little more slowly than usual due to the TV programming that Don feels it necessary to watch, but we finally got off on our morning walk. We headed out the gate of the resort, and I tried to get Don to let me go over to talk to the security guards at the gate house. I had succeed in getting away from Geri yesterday afternoon at the gatehouse, and was able to run in and find the file cabinet that I remembered that they kept the doggy treats in. Everyone seemed to be surprised that I remembered this, but, hey, treats are important stuff! Don wouldn’t allow this behavior this morning, which kind of surprised me, ‘cause he usually allows me a little more latitude than Geri does. I gave him my shocked and surprised look, but it didn’t carry much weight. He took me out to the street, where they have some really nice grass on a slope next to the resort’s walls. I tried doing a roll on the slope, but I wound up on the sidewalk pretty quickly.

The rest of the day went pretty slowly, until the late afternoon when everyone descended upon us. First came Matthew and Brittany, with Little Matt and brand-new Kiera (who smelled really good), then came Genevieve! Little Matt was particularly attentive to me, using some of my grooming tools to help me look better, but not very successfully. I was kept busy going from person to person to offer myself for petting and adulation, which I got a lot of. I was so busy that I had to stop and lay down to rest out on the grass for awhile. Don took some pictures, and I think he’ll probably post them tomorrow. So, now I lay me down to sleep, and I’ll be posting again tomorrow, dog willing. G’night!

April 10, 2010 Day 1, Las Vegas

Your intrepid canine contributor of news from the Yokum travel desk is at your service once again! We are once more on the road to discover areas of beauty, wonder and nice people who love good dogs. We took off from Ventura at noon time today, our usual late start, and arrived at our favorite Vegas home, the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort, a little after five. The trip was nonstop, and noninteresting in the least. So I am going to take the opportunity of this first post of the trip to discuss something that has been on my mind since we returned from our last voyage; the subject of Cats.

When we returned from our last trip, I noticed that the previously designated outdoors cat, Rusty, had wormed his way into the house and was sleeping on the end of the couch nightly. Don even installed a cat door in a window in the back, so that he could come and go at will. He was even getting served his meals in the bay window in the kitchen! Now, I don’t mind sharing things with other animals who are not as well cared for as I am, but I have to say that I did find this a bit intrusive. Now, I know Rusty very well, he’s been a neighborhood hanger-on for more than a year. My temptress Debbie, across the street, had been providing food for him, and I’m sure others in the area have been benefactors. I think that’s fine. But when he comes into my house, and demands that Geri entertain him with a floating feather cat toy, feed him on a regular schedule (before me!) and get almost the same run of the house that I do, well, I’ve started to feel a bit uncomfortable about him. So, when I got wind of this trip, I asked Geri if Rusty was coming with us. She assured me that he wasn’t, but I shouldn’t worry about his care and feeding, as Debbie would be taking care of him. Oh, like that was my chief concern? Not really! I could just see him crowding onto my couch in the coach, getting play time and attention at my expense, probably even getting some of my food and treats! Anyway, I’m just glad he’s not along. Well, I’m glad I got that off my manly chest.

The site we’re in here is just around the corner from where my old pal Kahuna lived before he graduated to Doggy Heaven, but it looks like his folks don’t live there any longer. Too bad, they were really nice people, and very free with treats. I’m not sure how long we’re going to stay here, ‘cause Geri and Don aren’t too sure about that either. But I always enjoy it here when the weather is on the cooler side, like it is now. Lots of really nice grassy areas, friendly people, and interesting excursions. We expect to be visiting with Geri’s grandkids, Genevieve and Matthew, his lovely mate Brittany, and her great-grandkids, Little Matt and Keira, who was whelped just last weekend! Should be fun!