DeeBee's Travel Blog 3

Days 14 and 15 – Bothell, WA
Don and I wish to apologize for not doing a post to the blog last night, but we arrived back at the rig so late and in such fragile condition that it was impossible to sit down and provide cogent descriptions and thoughts. On my part, this was due to being with a pack of dogs whose vocabulary didn’t include the words “nap” or “rest”, and who kept me fully engaged all afternoon. Don’s problems included lateness of hour, tiredness, and other things which I’m sure we will get into.

The day started normally, with another excursion to the abandoned school, where we encountered a very nice small dog that we had met yesterday, name of Buddy, who recognized me immediately and was happy to meet me again. We had a very pleasant walk under fairly gloomy skies, which weren’t hinting at any sunshine. On the way back to the rig, Don stopped to pick up some Duggan’s Dew of Kirchintilloch, a rare brand of Scotch favored by one of Don’s most admired literary characters, Chief Engineer Colin Glencannon of the SS Inchecliffe Castle. I told you about him last trip, I think.

Don did some cleaning on the rig’s exterior, while Geri was packing stuff for today’s excursion down to the home of our good friends Craig and Jennifer, who live south of Tacoma, near Puyallup. They sure have funny names for the towns here. Once we got everything packed, we headed out for our first stop, a store called Double D Meat Market. Don thinks this place has the best steaks in the country, at very good prices, and we always buy a lot of stuff here when we visit Gary. Today, Don got steaks for barbequing at Craig and Jennifer’s, plus a bunch to freeze and take home. We took our stuff over to Gary’s, where he was preparing some food for the feast also, and loaded everything into Gary’s car for the trip south.

I got to ride in the back seat with Geri, which I really enjoyed, ‘cause I got to put my head in her lap and be close to her. I think I enjoyed the ride more than Geri or Don, they could see what Gary and the traffic around us were doing and they seemed to be kind of tense. When we got to Craig and Jennifer’s, Don told Jennifer that they were just getting off a high-speed midway ride at the county fair. I’ve never been on one of those, so I’m not sure what he was talking about. I just know that I felt very safe and secure during the whole trip. There were three dogs there to meet me; Erin, a black Lab who barked a lot at first, mostly at Don, but quieted down when he got familiar with us; Guitar, a small dog, very pretty, who was very animated and was also into barking; and Gus, an older dog who looked like she was mostly Saint Bernard, who was very easy-going and quiet. I did a lot of running with Erin and Guitar, and found them to be very nice, fun-loving dogs. I even played a little with them!

Don and Geri were admiring the Koi pond that Craig had built, and I must admit that it was very impressive. We have some photos of it, which Don will post. I got to romp with Craig and Jennifer’s kids, Cassandra and Tristan, whom I first met when I was a puppy, living with Gary. Don later told me that Cassandra had told him that I had eaten some dog poo-poo when we were out in the field in back of the house. I don’t want to claim that she was lying about this, but I think that she was misinformed; I just don’t do that sort of thing; besides, Kitty Kandy is really my favorite. I may have eaten something that I wasn’t supposed to, but it definitely wasn’t dog poo.

Later, we had a great deal of cooking going on, with Gary doing the steaks on the patio barbeque, Geri building a spinach and strawberry salad, and Don sautéing mushrooms. Gary had brought a huge bucket of mushrooms, but Don didn’t think we needed all of them, so he only cut up and cooked about half of them. All of us four legged types got our dinner first, and then the humans got to eat, which is appropriate. Once they started filling their plates, Gary started howling about there not being enough mushrooms; Don told him that it was supposed to be steak with mushrooms, not mushrooms with steak. To make his point, Gary had another steak, without any mushrooms, just to make Don feel bad. It was obvious that Don didn’t feel the least bit bad. I didn’t get any plates, but Don saved me some steak tidbits that were really good!

There were fresh strawberries and iced cream for dessert, which I didn’t get any of, but that’s OK. I was getting too tired to worry about food. I had gone all afternoon without any nap time at all. Those other dogs really kept me busy. But I really had a lot of fun with them, and with the kids! We finally headed home, with me in the back seat with Geri, and I think I slept all the way back to Gary’s. Geri and Don didn’t sleep. Geri said that she thought she was part of a computer racing game, where all of the contestants were half-crazy. Don said that he used to drive like that, but then he finally gave up sports car racing. I guess dogs and humans sometimes see things differently; I thought it was a fine trip. We got to Gary’s, got in the truck, went back to the rig, and went to bed; just like that. Didn’t even consider posting on the blog.

Today, Sunday, we all slept late. Don finally got up in time to watch one of his Sunday shows, and Geri and I got up awhile later. After breakfast, Don took me to a little residential park that we had gone to last year for our morning walk. I remembered it immediately, ‘cause it is a really enjoyable place, with trails among tall trees and underbrush, which call for a lot of exploration and investigation. I was really glad that he took me there, and I hope we go back again before we leave here. When we got back to the coach, it was getting to be time for lunch; after I got mine, Don took off for his meal, to a place called Taco Time, which he says has the best mass produced tacos anywhere. Back at the coach, Geri was getting the laundry together to wash at Gary’s. It’s amazing how much dirty laundry they’ve developed in just a couple of weeks. So, we hike over to Gary’s, do the wash while Don gets the truck washed and vacuums the interior. Geri enticed Gary out into his front yard to do some trimming on the roses and other plants, greatly improving the appearance of the yard. Neighbors came out to applaud their efforts.

Come dinner time, Geri fed me my regular meal, and they took off to indulge in a fabulous Italian dinner over in the town of Edmonds, at a restaurant that they all say is really great. They came back with a ton of leftovers, all for them, none for me. I’m ready to get back on the road again, where Don does the cooking, and I get some decent plates. We headed back to the coach, I got some cookies, which made me feel better, and a little walk with Geri. Don and I worked to catch up on the blog, and we went to bed tired and happy. Don’t know what’s happening tomorrow, but you’ll be the first to know! Ciao!