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Hey, it’s me again… Scout
You cannot even begin to understand what is really happening during Frenchy’s dream to cross the nation briefing about TAPS. She is super-duper focused. We have driven over 5,800 miles since mid-April, averaging about 9.9 miles per gallon and have spent the night in some crazy places. She tells me they are all safe. I love the game when she covers us up with a blanky and we must hide and be quiet. I think that she might be cheap; she confirms that part of the adventure is to find places that aren’t normally used for overnight RV camping. Hmmm?
We go on walks daily and here are the latest issues that I face. Yesterday I was walking all nice and spotted me a human who we didn’t know. I tried to say hello to the person as we passed by, they backed away and continued to walk without even a side glance or smile. Frenchy later explained that not everybody will like me, and I need to be okay with that. Seriously, here is the thing…I am NOT OKAY with that!
I love people and adventure! But when you are driving insane
miles per day, I don’t get a lot of time playing or running free on a piece of lovely grass. For nearly 6,000 miles I have struggled with not knowing what it will look like when we go for a walk. She opens the door and I continuously remind her about my conditions for potty. Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona have rocks, sagebrush, and more rocks. Then those small stickers get in my paws and gosh knows I still don’t know what a tick is that she keeps warning me about.
We went through Louisiana, Alabama and then turned north to begin adding miles driving up the east coast. The rocky ground turned into bushy trees, the weather turned into crazy storms and random wind gusts. One night I got scared by the wind. The trees were really being blown sideways and Frenchy got serious when we could hear the sirens. She put me in my backpack and hooked all my leashes to my collar. Then we got to sit in the recliner together. Me strapped to her and her seat-belted to the chair. She tried to explain the wizard of oz movie and assured me that we would
be perfectly fine. I got the best treat when the RV was rocking back and forth! Fun new game but we only played it once.
I talk about the briefings quite often. She is on a mission to spread the word about TAPS. She stops at least twice in each state to brief. We have briefed 36 times and each time she smiles so big when she is done. Her motto is: One Voice-One Message and One Person is deserved of special attention! There may be a military survivor on every corner of every city, she explains to her audience, and that anybody who has served our country and died, their surviving family is eligible for TAPS. She asks people to call, to reach out and challenges the question: why wouldn’t we connect the Families of our Fallen American Military Heroes with services, assistance, and a safe place for emotions and loving care for the entire family? I think we are considering just driving forever.
Last week Frenchy asked what my daily routine was when she was inside doing the briefings.
~ Ate a funny bug and then the little legs were moving on my tongue so
spit out.
~ I barked at strangers walking by the RV.
~ I found the perfect treat hid under a pillow.
~ Got a 4-hour nap while she was briefing.
~ Ate that bug again, still didn’t taste good. Spit out.
~ End of an Awesome Day!
Months ago, we started this adventure with patience, calmness when under duress and a solid plan. All has been pretty dang good! That is, until “Stupid” gets involved. We successfully navigated our way through New York, got lost at least once in every state and have realized that driving is a skill. Driving should not be a privilege. I often ask; why do we give old folks these giant motorhomes and travel trailers that exceed the length of an average driveway. By all means, let’s tow a vehicle too. When depth perception begins to change, objects shown in the side mirrors DO appear closer than shown. Just because you can turn on a blinker does not automatically allow you to get into the other lane. From my angle, I see her looking, looking, and then looking again. Close calls, honking horns and a plethora of words I
had never heard before have floated around the inside of the RV.
Most of the time we laugh hard about the craziness on our highways. That dude driving down the road with his sewer hose dragging behind was priceless. Imagine that conversation when you stop and there might be some small shreds left. The scary…Big truck heading the wrong way in DC. Oncoming traffic was diligent about not any head-on collisions, but the driver chose not to exit, continuing the wrong way and just drove in one of our lanes. Ugh. Stupid.
There have been times when I notice that she is quieter than normal or maybe just distracted. I unconditionally love Frenchy, so I have learned to go and sit by her, put my paw on her leg, look up with a crooked smile and just hang out. I really hope that she knows that I am trying to tell her that we are in this together. Every day, all the time, even if she doesn’t like it when play-time for me is bedtime for her!
We still have not figured out the Cookie Caper. The short version: She had 4 good sized cookies; she was
very clear that the cookies were not in my diet plan. I’m thinking, “Hey, cookies are not a big deal, I have extra room in my tummy, and I have never had a snack like this.” Apparently, cookies are not for me. Whatever… Here is the caper part: when she fell asleep there was a snickerdoodle cookie on a napkin next to the bed. I stayed up late and spent hours looking out for anyone to come to take the cookie. When we all woke up, the icing had been licked off the top and a small, very small corner was missing. She looked right at me, gave me the stink eye and I immediately looked away. Honestly, I don’t think she has a clue!
Then, a couple of days ago, I was pretending to be asleep, and I saw her quietly walk over to my food dish and drop some of her chicken pot pie in my bowl. Now I know for sure… She loves me!
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