Happenings

Thursday night the 2nd, I took several pics of G'kar, knowing it was the last night we would have with him.

Poor old man tried to turn around and couldn't stay standing.  I remember him as a young pup, so full of life with laughing eyes.  So much has passed since then.  The twelve years we lived in North Carolina, he grew up a southern husky.  We used to call him 'Iron Gut' to honor the day he stole a whole pan of brownies off the counter and ate them all with no noticeable side effects besides a slightly softer stool than normal.  G'kar loved bread, and we always had to hide it in the fridge or inside cupboards, because if we left it out, he would eat it, even a whole loaf still unopened in the wrapper.  Still, he was a very healthy and fit dog, agile as a cat, and could jump like nobody's business.  To his credit, though he could jump the 6' fence, he never did.  He much rather stay by us at our home, and accompany me on many walks rather than take excursions on his own.  But no fence or barrier would ever come between him and me. 

He jumped boxes, tore up crates, soared over baby gates, tore down wood doors to be at my side.  He was my shadow in more ways than one.  He was always at my side even though he was supposed to be my husband's dog.  He slept by my bed, followed me anytime I left the room, and pined for me while I was away at work.  When I would come home he would greet me at the door with "herrrrooow!"  If he could talk, he would have, and tried to on many occasions.  He was my buddy through thick and thin, and I miss him terribly.

Jim went out and bought him a 12oz sirloin, and I heated it in the toaster oven to 180 degrees, chopped it in to bite size pieces and fed him.  He happily gobbled down the gormet offering, and let me hug him and pet him for a while.  When I let him go, he resumed his awful pain-filled pacing, his eyes glazing over again.  We gave him a full dog-aspirin, and got him to lay down after it began to take effect.  He fell immediately asleep.

At 10am I carried a distressed G'kar out to the truck.  A cranky and fussy old man to the last, not happy with the undignified means of transport, but he was in so much pain all he could do was fuss.  When I got in beside him, he did not want to sit still, but as he tried to move around in the back of our expedition, he was unable to keep to his feet.  Each time he lost control of his back legs, he screamed in agony, and I couldn't help the tears.  It tore at my very soul to feel his agony.  I managed to get him to kind of stay on the seat beside me so I could hold up his back end and relieve some of his pain.  But the corners were unkind to him, and each time he lost his footing he would scream, not a howl or yip, but a true scream.  If there was any way I could have spared him the agony kindly, I would have.  I longed for the vet we had in NC who would have come to the house, but we have no such luxury here.  Our vet here has been wonderful, don't get me wrong, and they have been very good with our pack, but they are daytime only and too many clients for housecalls.  At least they were able to fit us in with their busy schedule, and for that I was grateful.

The girls at the office were kind and sympathetic, they've known G'kar for the three years we have been here and they remarked how much he changed over the last six months since they'd seen him.  It was apparent he didn't recognize any of them, or even where he was.  The journey had taken the last out of him.  We said our goodbyes, and I lifted him on to the waiting blanket.  I stroked his head as I cried and let him know I loved him as he quickly and peacefully succumbed to the euthanizing drug.  Just as we had the responsibility to care for him in his life, we had the responsibility to ensure a peaceful ending to his suffering. 

I do believe that animals have souls, and maybe it was my imagination, or maybe it was real, but on my way home, I felt a cold touch on the side of my face.  The touch of an ethereal husky tongue, and a warm feeling came over me as if his spirit came to me and thanked me for letting him go.  At that moment, I was at peace, and began to remember the good times.  He was a wonderful dog, companion, shadow, fuzzy kid, and I had no regrets except that his life was shorter than mine.

As if the stress I was feeling was contagious, during the night at about 1:30am Sunday night/Monday morning, Bandit had his first seizure in 7 months. It was a full grand mal. It was mild, considering the GM's he had in July, with only minor head shaking progressing in to stiff arching, paddling, and teeth chomping for less than 30 seconds. Ictal was a short 2 minutes. Ice cream administered and rescue remedy after I found it. We immediately gave him an extra 60mg Pheno pill and watched him carefully. At least this ...answered the question regarding the cause of his seizures. Though the jerky treats may have been reponsible for the onset of the seizures, it is now obvious they are not responsible for his continued condition. This also answers the question of whether or not exercise has been a trigger. I had been sick the past week so had not taken them out running.

Bandit may have had another seizure Tuesday morning, but unfortunately he was outside and I found him near a wet spot that looked like it might have been his saliva.  Other than that, there were no signs and I could not be sure he actually had one, but with his medication level back up, he hasn't had a problem since.  Though we may never get all of the old Bandit back, I am thankful we have a small bit of him back.  He has become more loving and less of the drunk and disorderly overgrown 4 month old puppy.  He and the new puppy Ghost are becoming pals.

Sunday the 12th, I finally felt well enough to take the team back out for some much needed exercise.  Princess did not want to turn around when I asked Freya to come around.  This resulted in a bit of a battle of wills and a lot of untangling, but I finally managed to get her to realize that she wouldn't get any fish unless she went back to the house.  When she got it, we were hell bent for leather back towards the house. 

Bandit's Meds and New Additions

For a while now we have been holding our breath and praying that Bandit will never again experience the horrible cluster episode that took his memory from us.  Seven months he was seizure free, and in our happiness and need to have answers, we thought to test the theory that his epilepsy was a result of the much vilified chicken jerky treats.  Each seizure he had ever experienced has been 12 hours following eating more than one of the things, so we were almost certain the onset of his condition was caused by these vile poisonous things. (See FDA warnings regarding chicken jerky treats for pets)

So we began to reduce his meds cautiously and watch for changes.  Ever since his July cluster episode and subsequent increase of meds, Bandit has acted like a drunk and disorderly dog after his morning meds.  He jumps on and plays with all the dogs in the house regardless of whether or not they want to play.  It is hard to say no to the biggest dog in the house, and at 80 pounds, Bandit normally gets his way or the victim finds someplace to hide.

Starting in the first week of January, I reduced his Kbr from 2cc to 1.5 cc and left his pb dosage at 90mg in the morning and at night.  After only two weeks Bandit began to act more normal, and some of his old self came back.  For the first time in seven months, he crawled in to my lap for a cuddle, and I almost cried I was so happy.  Before the cluster episode he used to do this at least once a day.  So, as the third week in January rolled around, a nasty bout of the Flu went through our house, but I had to take Bandit to the vet to get his bloodwork done.  I had also finally managed to convince Jim to purchase a show line husky pup!  Despite the raging fever, I was eager to talk to Bandit's vet about further reducing his meds and to pick up our new addition to Team Wyrd!

The vet was enthusiastic that we wanted to try to reduce his meds and gave us the go ahead after Bandit's bloodwork came back in good standing.  Instead of reducing by 30mg a day, though, I was encouraged to take him down by 60 mg a day, so he would have 60mg pb in the morning and evening, and 1.5cc of kbr in the morning.  Happy and optimistic I headed over to Shadetree Siberians to pick up Shadetree's Ghost in the Machine "Ghost", a very beautiful boy with incredible conformation, engaging bi-eyes and gorgeous markings with the pedigree to match his great looks.  Ghost will be training up and showing this coming spring.

It took all of 30 minutes to integrate him in to the pack, all of our dogs were thrilled to have a new puppy around, especially Moony.  From the moment she saw Ghost, she decided that he would be her puppy.

Ghost quickly made his way into our hearts, and is a very fast learner.  From the first day he was good about going potty outside as long as he was taken outside when he first began to sniff for a place to go.  As the week passed, he became good at pawing at the back gate to go outside when he needed to relieve himself.  He also was quick to learn how to work the dog door and how to navigate the porch stairs.

Life in team Wyrd was good except that G'kar was very visibly aging, especially since the beginning of January.  By Wednesday his arthritis was hurting him so bad, he began falling and losing control.  He would scream pitifully for help, and I would lift him up on his four legs.  Wednesday night he slept only a coupld of hours, pacing most of the time.  Thursday our vet office was closed, and we watched G'kar's condition deteriorate rapidly and debated whether or not to take him to the emergency vet.  By afternoon it was plain that there wouldn't be much they could do to relieve his suffering, only prolong it.  His arthritis had progressed too far, an unfortunate side effect of aging.  By Thursday evening we had made the decision to let him pass, so Jim picked him out a steak and I heated it enough to kill the bacteria and fed him his last supper.

Run Free Old Man! Be Old No Longer!

It is never easy to say goodbye, even when you see it coming. Friday Feb 3rd 2012 we bid a member of our family goodbye and I held him as he sighed in relief and slowly lowered his head. 15 years he has been a member of our family, from being the 'slayer puppy' to the sled dog, to the stately elder, to the fragile old man. It was a very difficult goodbye and with much love.

Snow Fun!

Friday it finally snowed enough that I could actually slide the sled runners over the ground with one hand on the handlebar, so I was over-excited to get a chance to hook up the dogs for some real sled-dog action!  Discretion being the greater part of valor, though, I decided that three dogs would be enough to pull the sled, but not too much to get out of hand.  Freya would be great in single lead with Bandit (powerhouse) and Yukon (all around great wheeldog) in wheel.  Little did I realize that I was planning my very own snow bath. 

Remember that I train on the mountain roads normally?  Well my dogs didn't care that I was now hooked to a sled that was hooked to them, and meant to go down the meadow of my sideyard in a big loop, around the back in a big loop and back to the house.  Simple?  You would think that was a simple plan, however, Freya wasn't in on this plan.  For her, harnesses mean go down the road! 

As soon as I released the snub, Freya made a beeline for the road even though we were pointed down the hill.  This yanked the brushbow sharply left, put the sled and I on a sharp right leaning incline, and this is where I realized that the handlebar would not hold me upright.  To do all those e-mentors proud, I did not for once let go of the handlebar!  Despite the snow in my face and packing in around the collar of my coat, I held on as if my life depended on it, and it very well might have if Freya managed to drag all of us up onto the road.  Fortunately my deadweight and the weight of a sled on its side and the friction produced thereof was enough to stop 3 dogs, but not until after a lot of frantic 'Whoa's!' and 'Gee Freya!  Gee!  GeeeEEEEE!'

Showered and cleaned up from Friday, I was ready Saturday, or so I thought.  I'll put Freya and Moony together, they need some run time as a team.  No one told Freya, and she decided to play hard to get.  Princess on the otherhand was whining and jumping, touching her nose to mine (quite a feat considering she barely touches my nose with hers while I'm standing straight up) to let me know that she didn't get to go Friday and absolutely would hate me if she didn't get to go Saturday morning.  Bucky too was rather insistant, telling me he was not happy being left out Friday. 

Knowing I was going to regret it, but visions of my success running Princess and Freya on the bike trails bolstered my confidence.  Princess had done very well listening to commands and did great on turns, so I hoped she would be able to show Moony the right way to go.  So with Princess and Moony in lead and Bucky and Yukon in wheel, we... took a sharp left and headed for the road!....

Same incline, same patch of snow scrubbed from the ground, only this time, I had a line running from me to the snubline, so even though the handlebar twisted from my grip, I still had the dogs pulling on me.  I dug my heels into the tufts of grass sticking out of the snow and strained to keep from being dragged onto the pavement long enough to have James come and lead the dogs back down the hill.  Unfortunately, James didn't know to keep the gangline taught and walk the dogs in a circle.  Instead, he turned them back on eachother so by the time he got the dogs facing downhill they were in a hopeless tangled ball.  Quite a feat for just 4 dogs.

So I had James stand on the brake and drag while I untangled the tugs and ganglines, but as soon as I turned back to the sled, they turned for the road.  "GEE Princess!  GEE!"  Oh why do I bother?

Another twenty minutes and Jim stood on the brake while I turned the dogs downhill and started to lead them through the field with Jim on the runners.  When Princess finally got it that we wanted to run on the grass, she took off with JIM on the runners!  "Hang on to the handlebar no matter what!" I yelled after him.  He made it about 200 yards, the best run yet!  A low-hanging branch was his undoing.  I'll give him credit, though, he didn't let go!  I ran after him and grabbed the sled, righted it and stood on the brake while I made sure he was still alive.  Princess was screaming to go now that she got it, and I couldn't hold them for long.  I let them go and they made it the rest of the way to the bridge when I tried to get her to turn left. 

Now that the road was in front of her, she didn't want to go left.  It took a lot of coaxing and James to finally get her to turn around back on the meadow where we finally got going all the way back.... to the house... 'Haw!  Princess, Haw!"  I might as well have been yelling to myself, either that or Princess only heard 'Fish!  Princess, Fish!'

With a bruised and battered crew of humans, but a happy crew of dogs, we trundled back in to the house to feed the dogs their fish snacks and unharness them.

A short time later I caught Bandit in Jim's new chair:

Farmpark Challenge and Some Lessons Learned

Had a great time again this year at the Farmpark Challenge in Ohio!  We didn't take the RV as there were more leaks than I could seal in the cold weather.  By the race, though, the weather warmed up too much after being severely cold the week before.  Makes for great hiking weather, but no so great for running dogs.  This race though, is one of the most fun, the people are great, the venue/track is pretty good, ahd everone is usually very friendly and helpful.  I enjoyed this race immensely last year and this year was no different, in fact probably even better.  I met back up with some great people whose company I enjoyed last year and had an even better time this year.  I must really congratulate our young friends who came last year looking to get in to the sport, and did so with a vengeance this year winning several trophies.  Way to go!

It was great to meet the Ditmars and Clyde Risdon as well!  So many wonderful folks!

My friend Kathy even got the chance to run my team on a demo run on Saturday afternoon around most of the track (even though they were only supposed to go down the hill and back up.. lol).

Thanks again to the Ohio chapter of the Trailblazers for putting on the race!  We had a blast!

On to lessons learned.

My team, though, did not do as well this year, but I'll put that down to a few lessons I learned, or hope I've learned.  Not having our powerhouse Bandit on the team was a big difference, and since I trained my team almost all for speed, I had not put enough time into strength training.  That and we only got to race on Saturday as the temperature was too high Sunday.  We made up a lot of time on Sunday last year once Freya was familiar with the trail.  I think in the future it will benefit us if I can get there early and walk her along the trail the day before I will do much better. (if that is allowed that is)

Our lack of strength training was apparent on the uphills.  I had even lost weight since last year, but our uphill progress nearly stalled each hill.  Princess is not the muscular equivalent to Bandit, and our lack of uphill strength training really showed without his help.  So I have had a while to rethink my training program and try to come up with better ways to ensure my team's success without Bandit.  I think perhaps having individual weight pulls might be the answer and a way to keep the pups fit in the summer without too much exposure to heat.  I've already been thinking of pulling rocks out of the stream to make a good foundation for a small grooming cabin, perhaps even making the whole thing out of local stone.  So I may combine training with my ambitious building plans, and have the dogs haul the rocks in the wagon to help tone and strengthen them.  Doing these pulls in the early/wee hours of the morning will be good for both them and me. 

The first few team hookups will also need to be pure strength exercises, and I will just have to have patience before experiencing the rush of excitement of a team at full speed.  I will need the ATV back in working order to do this, so I will have to buckle down and take it in for repairs once the savings get back on track.  (A series of setbacks have ambushed us this past month.)

I have also determined that I will need to get a second bike for my own strength/endurance training to help me be a better help to the dogs.  Unfortunately, I still need to save up money for a good rig.  It seems like every time I have the funds, something else comes up to spend it on.  Ah to be independantly wealthy and not have to worry about this stuff! 

We had also planned on attending the Land Between the Lakes Sled Dog Challenge this month, but Jim's father was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night before the race (after we had already packed up the RV and were only waiting on Friday morning to leave).  Jim ended up leaving for Virginia instead to be with his mother and visit his father.  He was not in good shape, but was recovering as of yesterday.  He had a setback today while Jim has been driving back home though, so he may end up going back to Virginia after James' graduation.  So our future race plans are uncertain at this point.  I had hoped to attend the Mackinaw Mush, but not sure at this point what the future holds.

Sinnemahoning Part 2

During the night the dogs had their usual wakup at 3 am to potty.  A light snow was falling, and I was smiling as the tiny flakes stuck for an instant on my jacket then melted into nothingness.  My breath fogged the air as I walked the dogs two by two from our campsite, through the trees and over dead leaves whose wet slightly sweet decaying smell rose as our feet disturbed them.  We walked around the bath house and circled back to the camp.  It was then I discovered that if I walked Bucky with Yukon, he would actually pee.  Bucky is notorious for holding it when he's in an unfamiliar place, and I worried about him eventually having bladder problems because of it.  With this newfound confidence in the shadow of his father, it relieved me that Bucky was finally learning it was ok to pee when his dad peed.  This may seem insignificant, or irrelevant, but to me it was a great relief to see him try to be a bit more regular.

At 5am the dogs had me up for their morning walks and breakfast.  It was nice to have a kitchen with us in the motorhome with which to make hot coffee and hot oatmeal as well as feeding the dogs items still frozen in the freezer.  They each enjoyed a frozen whitefish filet with their morning meal.  By 7:30am we rolled out and went to the race site.  It was part of the Sinnemahoning park a bit further south from where we were camping.  The stream was cold and beautiful as it wound its way over a rocky bed through trees clad in the many colors of fall.  Mountains formed an ampitheater in which we could view the glory of each sylvan fashion as Mother Nature showed off her creative hand.  The snow had become big wet flakes, clinging to everything in soppy wet caressing embrace.  It was a bad time to have no cabin heat in the motorhome.  We tried firing up the Onan, but it kept cutting out after 5 minutes of run-time.  Probably a low oil level.  I made a mental note to bring a couple of quarts of oil on our next trip, as it seems the Onan was leaking.  It will be another project for next spring/summer to rebuild the seals on the Onan.

We attended the mushers meeting, got my numbers and I gave a few dollars to James so he could buy himself 2nd breakfast (boy thinks he's a hobbit) from the kids selling cakes and cinnamon rolls.  First up was the 6 dog pro, and I watched as the teams took off with great enthusiasm.  We were up with our four dog team after, so I got out the drop line, got the cart out, hooked up the quick release rope and spread the gangline.  I then harnessed up the dogs inside the motorhome them took them out to the drop line one by one.  Princess and Bucky were quivering in excitement and howling to go.  Freya was excited but as always projected calm patience.  Yukon was happily investigative, and I hooked him in to the gangline.  His gorgeous face and gentle nature are always a draw to the kids even if they are intimidated by his size and blue eyes.  When he is close to them, his ears go back and he makes it clear that he is friends and wants a good petting.  As usual kids begin to crowd around him and pet him, and Yukon is happy.  Bucky on the other hand, is a bit shy but too excited to back off.  I caution the kids not to crowd Bucky as he is so excited he has the tendancy to grab and pull on things to try to get running/going forward.  Case in point, while my back is turned, he chewed the tie off for the cart in half, and I realized my folly of putting him on the drop too close to the tie off.

I quickly retie the rope as it is getting close to the time for our start.  I hook Bucky in to the gangline, then Freya and last Princess.  The team is screaming to go, and we wrestle them to the start line.  It is a wet, cold, and soggy day, and the ground squelches under the tires as I do my best to hold them while the race marshall counts down.  At the 'GO!', we rocket off into the green, yellow, orange and red trees.  Our pace is fast and the team eager to run.  The grass gives way to blacktop which we follow down to the first turn.  "Haw Freya!" turns her onto the gravel with ease, an excellent turn, and I praise her for it.

The trail winds on to packed dirt through conifers and a few maples in full color.  Overhead a hawk circles and cries out in the gray miasma of falling snow.  We are still making great time, though I'm having to help the dogs on the slight uphills.  All is well until we hit more soggy grass.  I can feel the cart bogging down and the extra weight and pull on the dogs as they slog it out.  Our pace slows dramatically, and I realize I have not trained my dogs to pull over such difficult terrain.  This turns out to be the majority of the run, and I'm alternating running and riding with the dogs.  White caps the grass to either side of the trail and covers the limbs of the connifers, but I'm getting tired and the dogs are tiring.  We come back to a small stretch of road where Freya executes a wonderful Gee. 

A short distance ahead and I call Freya to Haw into the grassy trail again, but she doesn't want to.  She wants to follow the road.  Can I blame her?  Behind me now is the second team, so I jump off and hold the dogs to the right so he can pass.  My team ignores his and I'm proud of them for not bothering (all except Bucky who thank goodness is on the far side of the gangline and though he strains to see and socialize with the other dogs, he is kept in place by stoic Yukon.  The team perks up a bit after they pass and Freya allows herself to be led to the grass trail and takes off.  After the first hundred yards though, she begins to tire then slow to a trot.  I try to encourage them, and they perk up when I run with them, but slow down as I tire and ride, unable to keep up with their pace.  I alternate running and riding as much as I can, and the heat begins to steam out of my jacket.  But it was too wet to open my coat.  My clothes are soaked, my boots are soaked, my mittens are soaked and sweat is running down my face.

I realize I was probably overdoing it, but I couldn't let Freya and the team slog out the last of the trail dragging my fat butt on a cart.  About a mile into the trail the faster team comes back at us and I pull the team over left and let them pass head-on.  I'm very proud of my pups.  All of them ignored his team as they steamed by, even Bucky stopped pulling towards them when I said "Leave It!"

We finished the loop and slogged back down the grassy trail towards the road, then on to more grass, then across the road again to the cones.  Freya did a good Gee on to the grass chute marked with cones, but kept trying to go haw again back to the parking lot.  It was a bit difficult to keep her going towards the finish, but she finally got it and we crossed the line.  When I got off and James pulled her left, she was more than eager to go to the motorhome.  I unhooked them and put them in the motorhome, pulled the cart up the hill and put it back on the trailer, then went in to snack, unharness and check the dogs.  They were in good shape, no foot problems and no injuries, but very tired.  They all curled up on my bed in the back except Moony who hadn't gotten to run yet.  I was exhausted and overheated.  I could feel the dehydration eating at my body and I tried to drink a bottle of gatorade then water.  I was too tired to bike with Moony.  So I informed the marshall I wouldn't be running the bikejor.

We stayed for a while, and James and I had a cup of hot cocoa, I walked the dogs a couple of times and took a couple photos, but my head was beginning to hurt from overheating and dehydration.  Even though I drank about a gallon of water and took aspirin, it didn't seem to help.  In the mid afternoon, we left to go find a bank teller, and a general store.  Little did I know this would be a two hour fruitless search before we finally found a tiny store without an ATM.  Ah well, I procured what we needed and we found our way back to camp.  There were a few leaks beginning to show in the roof of the motorhome as we set up camp for the night.  I also discovered there was water damage in the left outer panel by the electric plug that would need fixing.  The snow turned to rain then back to snow, but fortunately the heaters kept us warm.  The dogs made sure my bed was well coated in mud before I went to bed as they kept pulling down the covers to make nests... sigh.

We wandered over to the lady on the hill's camp where we stayed for a while, but my headache was beginning to bother me plus not being a night person, I begged my leave, took several aspirin, drank more water, went to the bathroom, then to bed.  3am and the dogs were walked, and 5am they had us up again.  By this time my skull was pounding in an attempt at migraine, and though I tried to stave it off with ibuprofin and gatorade, it was still lurking.  The dogs seemed eager enough to run again, but I knew they would be hard pressed to make another slog through the grassy trails, and I knew I wouldn't make it.  I pulled from the race for that reason, plus, my son had forgotten to bring his allergy meds so I had given him half mine which left none for either of us for that evening.  I decided it would be best if we just headed for home.  Turned out to be a good thing as the heavy snow hit that night, but we were safely back in Kentucky long before then.

On the way back, we passed by a huge bull elk grazing on the side of the road.  A magnificent animal, so majestic, so beautiful and awe-inspiring.  I can see why they are sometimes referred to as the spirit of the land.  Off to the other side of the road was a cow and a calf, all wonderous creatures, and I was glad that they had been re-introduced to the east.  May they live and re-populate and never again be hunted to extinction!

By the time we were out of the mountain range, and I had drank probably another gallon of water, my headache began to recede.  (Thank goodness I didn't have to drive all the way back feeling nauseous!) It was a wonderfully fun trip, and I wished that I had been able to compete Sunday, but I was sure I had done the best thing possible for myself and the dogs.  I had a great time and thank those who put on the race.  I learned what I wanted to learn, and that was whether or not my dogs could compete at the pro level.  I believe they can, but unfortunately I don't have the time or the means to train them properly for it.  Until I put in a trail on my property that I can run them on, or until I move to a place that has trails I can run closer to my home, I will have to content myself with running in the sportsman class.  My dogs are great sports though, and are able to pass by and head-on without an issue, which makes me proud of them.  Freya is an awesome leader and for the most part listens to commands except when they clash heavily with where she wants to go.  Which may someday stand us in good stead as she is very intelligent and may find the right way on her own when I cannot.  Here's to you Freya my goddess of sledding!

Sinnemahoning part 1

With a bit of excitement and no little trepidation, we set out in the Motorhome's maiden voyage, a 12 hour trip to Pennsylvania, and Sinnemahoning State Park.  Very early on, my son, James and I discovered that the Mallard's cabin heater was completely non-functional.  The only thing that was working was the fan on the defrost setting (no heat, just the fan).  The temperature was close to freezing, and for the entire trip, we could see our breath as fog.  The dogs loved it, and spent a lot of time sleeping on my bed and bedding in the back when they weren't trying to crawl in my lap or look out the windows.  With us went Freya, Princess, Bucky and Yukon for the four dog team, and Moony was going to be my bikejor dog.  The trip would have taken just about 9.5 hours according to the GPS, but it doesn't have to stop for dogs or boys to go potty.

James was a good help holding back the dogs as I took them for walks, but we discovered a flaw in the door structure of the Mallard.  When a dog jumped on the door and slid their paws down, the door opened.  Bucky was the first to discover this while we were stopped at an Arby's for lunch.  Fortunately I was close enough to him to stomp on his leash to prevent him from going anywhere, and double fortunately none of the other dogs were close enough to get out the door before I could get to it.  Bucky was a good boy though, and headed right to me as I was bringing Princess back from walking, which allowed me to get a hold of him so quickly.  I stomped on his leash, snatched it up, leaped to the door and shut it just before Moony could get out.  I then carefully let Princess back in, used the key and set the deadbolt before taking Bucky for a walk.  My heart settled back in to a reasonable beat after I had all five dogs walked and stowed safely back in the motorhome.

The scenery driving through the Pennsylvania mountains was amazing.  Fall was in her full-color cloak spread along the mountainsides broken only by rivers and signs of habitation.  It would have been perfect except we were freezing, and the motorhome had a bit of trouble on the steep grades.  The four-barrels had their own sense of timing, and decided only to work when they wanted to rather than when we needed them.  The Mallard also had the tendancy to catch every breeze as if it were a sail on a tall ship.  So I was constantly correcting our heading to stay reasonably in the same lane.  The brakes on the motorhome were rather slow to respond, and was rather like running dogs, you hold on and pray the brakes are adequate.  They were in good condition and worked as they were supposed to, but I was still getting used to the fact that there would be no instant stopping, even for the deer that jumped out in front of us.  Fortunately the stopping power it did have was just enough to miss the deer. 

I'm sure many of the folks driving along the same highway as us in the dark were non-too-pleased to be behind my overly cautious rate of speed, but, well, I don't think my heart could have taken another deer incident.  We finally found the campground at around 8pm (after dark), and with the help of our camping neighbor, we got settled in rather quickly and they already had a fire going. which they shared with us.  It was just starting to snow lightly, little flakes that turned to water almost instantly.  After walking the dogs, we settled by the fire for a while to socialize until I grew sleepy.  Being a morning person, and not a night owl has its drawbacks.  At least with the Motorhome plugged in, we were able to fire up the ceramic heaters we had brought which made the inside pleasantly warm. I slept with Freya, Yukon, Bucky and Princess in the bed with me while Moony slept with James.




(more to come)