Days 17 & 18 – Bothell and Spokane, WA
I begged Don not to post to the Blog last night, partly ‘cause I had sort of a blah day, but mostly out of embarrassment for what happened yesterday morning. I felt so bad about it, that I didn’t want anyone to know what I had done. But now we’re 250 miles away from the scene of the crime, and I’m getting over it, so I feel better about confessing to my friends. I’m sure that at least some of you will realize that I meant no harm, and just made an honest mistake. The rest of you just don’t understand what a nice guy I am, and how I never mean to harm anyone.


Here goes. Yesterday morning, Don took me into Bothell to the Sammamish River Park, which is a lovely area with walking paths, historic buildings, and very nice grassy areas for running and rolling. We saw some ducks next to the river, but Don told me not to bother them, so I didn’t. We crossed over the bridge and walked on the path next to the river, which was very pretty. I found a lady who was putting out bread to feed the ducks, and offered her my friendship, which was nicely received, then ate some of the bread. Don verbally chastised me, which was appropriate, I just got carried away. As we were completing our walk, we met a man with two young daughters, maybe five or six years old. They were very friendly, and gave me hugs and lots of petting. I was feeling very good about the affection they were exhibiting, so I though they might be entertained by one of my unique Crazy Dog exhibitions. As I took off at high speed across the lawn, I was mentally mapping out how my finale would work. I made the sharpest turns, feinted one way, then another at high speed, cutting and turning with dazzling precision. For my finish, I selected one of the little girls and went racing toward her, with the intention of skidding to a stop in a smart sitting position for her adulation. Instead, I grossly miscalculated. As I attempted to put on the brakes, I just skidded forward on the grass, which was pretty wet, and ran right into her, dumping her on her keester. Fortunately, she was on the grass too, and was unhurt by her fall, but she was badly taken aback and unhappy with my actions, as was Don. It’s extremely rare that my actions cause him to call me a Bad Dog, but there it was. Several times, in an angry voice. The girl’s father reassured her that I hadn’t meant to bowl her over, that it was just a mistake on my part, which was absolutely the truth. Don apologized for my rambunctious behavior, leashed me, and dragged me to the truck, where I was loaded in without any of the usual niceties.


When we got back to the coach, he was still upset with me, and told Geri about the accident. I didn’t get any sympathy from her, either. You have no idea how badly I felt about this whole affair. After awhile, we went over to Gary’s, and Don told him about my misadventure, too. He laughed. I didn’t quite know how to take his reaction, so I just kind of clammed up and looked humble. We hung around Gary’s for awhile, then they went out for dinner, resulting in no plates for me again. We eventually went back to the rig, I pled with Don not to publish the Blog, and we all went to bed. Not a great day in any way. Needless to say, no pics.

Today was a travel day, and all recollection of the events of yesterday was gone in the work of getting the rig ready to roll. Don and I attempted a walk down at the woodsy Tall Tree Park, but had to cut it short due to the gloomy, rainy weather. Gary came by for a final farewell; I let him know that I was sorry to be leaving his company, but promised to be back soon. We rolled out at eleven, and headed out Highway 90 for eastern Washington. Don had originally intended to spend a night in Moses Lake, but eventually couldn’t find a good reason for doing so. We continued on after a fueling stop in Ellensburg, which was almost aborted ‘cause we couldn’t find the truck stop we were looking for. We finally found it hiding under an assumed name and got some really high priced diesel.

We got into Spokane around five, and had to fight our way through rush hour traffic to get to our RV Park. When we finally got here, it looked like it was worth the trouble; a really nice park, with good grass and nicely planted sites. I think we’ll be here for a few days. They dined on leftovers from a previous restaurant feast, and I did get some kind of measly plates. I agreed to work with Don on the Blog, and I felt good to get it over with. Confession is good for the soul. I hope tomorrow is fun and filled with good behavior on the part of everyone!