Our stylish rain hats

Here we are in our stylish rain hats. It has been raining for three or four days...  We are in Bristol, Virginia at a Starbucks (it's pouring outside) and on our way to Matt's in DC. We anticipate overnighting it in a WalMart or truck stop parking lot tonight.

Meanwhile, Pearl does not have a stylish hat. All she has is her cute little self. We went riding through the tourist area in Gatlinberg and she was looking out the window. She can't understand why people call her a "bull dog" and why, nine times out of ten, people think she's a he.

Mingus Mill

Here are some pictures from Smoky Mountain National Park. The first ones are from the demonstration farm near the south gate at Cherokee. The buildings are all original structures that have been moved to the site from other parts of the park when the park was founded in the 1930s.

Any resemblance to Pearl (oink, oink) is purely coincidental.

The others are from Mingus Mill, which was built in the late 1870s and is still used to grind wheat and corn. The water is diverted from a stream through the long trough and into the mill. The guys were grinding while we were there, and when they shut down the grinder the guy had to go out and move a tiller that sent the water back into the stream.

We found ELVIS!!!

Why is Terri so excited? Because when we were at the Newfound Gap overlook in Smoky Mountain National Park - she saw Elvis!

Surely there must be some kind of reward for this great discovery?

Branson - then Smoky Mountains

{Doug} - Here are some pictures from Branson. We spent two days there. They have a nice new development along the riverfront (downtown) with shopping, restaurants, fountains, etc. and two cruise boats that are identical to the La Crosse Queen and Island Girl in La Crosse.

Today we are in the Smoky Mountains National Park, at a nice but very wet campground. We got here late last night. Traffic was horrible along the way (lots of delays due to construction and a flipped semi on a bridge in Nashville). So we got off the freeway in Sevierville just about the time the shows near Dollywood let out. That meant we spent another hour creeping along in traffic in the tourist trap that is Sevierville-Pigeon Forge. 

Once we got out of the traffic, we started climbing the hill to our campground. Of course, the rain (which had fallen on us all day) got worse. We got to the higher elevations and the visibility dropped to about zero – darkness, fog, rain. We crept over the summit, literally watching the yellow line right off the left fender so we could see whether or not we were on the road.

We arrived at the campsite around midnight and set up in the rain. Whew. It’s been a long time since I was that glad to have arrived at our destination. It is beautiful here. Wish it wasn’t so cloudy and wet, though.

Today we drove to the closest town with wifi (10 miles away).

*Side note for a rant: What is the deal with people smoking in gas stations? So far we have seen three people smoking cigarettes while filling their vehicles with gas. Don’t people comprehend the whole EXPLOSION thing?

Pearl is having another ‘issue’ – this time, one of her ears is all swollen up. We think she got stung by a wasp or insect of some kind. She’s not in pain, but has a little pillow where the top of her ear should be. I can’t see any kind of bite, or anything sticking in it (like a tick). We are hoping the swelling will subside soon.

We will be on the road again tomorrow, and should arrive in DC on Friday. Will post more pictures soon!

At the lake with Terri's family

At Skiatook Lake with Terri's family...

DIVA or DEVIL -? you decide....

{Pearl} - I am happy to have been on the road again today. Spent three days at the lake with the Cheri's dog Meeko.  She's cute, small, bouncy, fluffy - all the qualities that make humans go all gaa-gaa. Her owners say she's a DIVA. I'm not so sure... judge for yourself....

Steamboat Reunion

We just heard from our friends Lee & Kathy, that they are trying to get together a reunion of those who worked on the Julia Belle Swain Steamboat. This will be on Aug. 8th while we're in the La Crosse, WI area. So we're looking forward to that. We spent a lot of time on that boat. The reunion won't be held there though as they shutdown this year. But a former Captain pilots another boat that will be used.

Our next stop

Our next stop tomorrow will be Skiatook Lake where my my brother lives. He had a ranch north of there and sold it. Then he built this house. These were before pictures of the place. He is mostly done with it and we are very anxious to see it now. He and his wife lived in their trailer all the time it was being built. They will have us out to dinner. Then they have to leave for their son Cody's wedding which is in a couple of days in Texas on the Gulf. We will be at a Corps of Engineers campground. My sister Cheri and her kids will be camping in a space across from us. We'll be there until Sunday. We don't know how much Internet we will find so we'll post more when we can. But I'm planning on taking some after-shots of my brother's place.

In the picture on the left, you see the view of Skiatook Lake from his deck. The center photo is the construction phase. They used rock for the bottom level. The rest is log cabin. The photo on the right is of his deck. My parents saw it last year and tell me that there is a huge rock fireplace in it and lots of windows.

Our little sun goddess

If there's sunshine to be found Pearl will find it.

Another shot of where we are now staying

This is very unusual for Oklahoma in the summer time. It is usually dried out by then.

After they cut the two trees down

This is after they cut the two trees down. This made Pearl quite nervous. To the right of the tree stumps you can see our trailer.

Where we are now

This is the place we are staying now, except that this morning those two trees to the left of the trailer were cut down. They were ruined in the ice storm they had this winter. We told them that if they hit our truck or trailer, that they'd be buying a new one.

Funny things about my humans

Pearl here:

My humans have these funny cravings sometimes. I think we took this trip just so they could eat at all the places they don't have where we live.

First they have to eat at In and Out in Ventura. Of course I had to stay in the truck.

Then they left me at Ashley's and they went to Pat & Oscars. I don't know what that place is.

Then they go crazy cause they saw a Culvers. They used to only have them in Wisconsin. But they had one in Phoenix near our rv park.

Then in Casa Grande they saw a Sonic and we had to stop there. I had to sit and watch them eat in the truck in front of me. Every once in awhile they throw me a piece of meat or bun. I don't like french fries cause they're to salty.

Then in Tucson my mom looks on the Internet and finds the nearest Scholtzsky's and they leave me in the trailer to go there.

This morning we have to go into a place that sells Krispee Kremes and I sit and watch them eat.

They have already spotted a Braums which they have in Oklahoma. So I fear we will be taking a trip there. Oh and then they talk about Steak & Shake and White Castle too. Geez, all these people do is eat.

Here I am at the drive-up window but nobody will take my order.

Spanky, where are you?

Pearl here:

Knock, knock, Spanky are you home? It's your cousin Pearl and I want you to come out and play with me. C'mom Spanky, get your butt off that couch and get out here and play with me. Oh well I guess Spanky doesn't want to come out. Maybe he's getting to old to play with me.

This post may get kind of long but if you get bored you can skip ahead. But I have to give you a history of me, Spanky and my Boston cousins.

You see my humans have this club where you have to have an rv and you have to have a Boston. The club got started in 1992 when Ed & Sue (some friends of my humans) brought Cookie home. Cookie was the first one of us Bostons. My humans fell in love with Cookie and tried to borrow her sometimes. But Ed & Sue told them to get their own Boston. So they did.

In 1995 my humans brought Lucy home. I didn't know Lucy or Cookie but I heard plenty about them. Lucy & Cookie played together on camping trips. But when Lucy had no one to play with my humans thought she needed a playmate. So they brought Ricky home. I didn't know him but I also heard about him. Ricky wasn't your normal colored Boston. My mommy says Ricky wasn't normal in any way. But Ricky was mostly different shades of brown & white.

Ricky & Lucy didn't like each other but they tolerated each other. Then Fred came along. Clifton & Charlotte brought Fred camping. Fred is really a girl but she has a boy name. Then Kane came along. Roy & Susan brought him into the club. Then my humans decided they wanted to breed Ricky since Lucy was fixed. So they brought Betsy home.

My mommy told me a funny story about Kane & Ricky. They were both unfixed males. And sometimes Roy and Susan would come over with Kane and the humans would sit in the hot tub while the dogs played in the yard. Betsy was a trouble maker and she liked to pit Ricky & Kane against each other. They had to fight and the winner got Betsy's love. So while the humans are in the hot tub they hear all this barking and growling. They run out into the yard to find Ricky and Kane fighting it out with Lucy & Betsy standing on the side watching them.

My mommy also told me that Betsy would start fights between Lucy & Ricky too. Well Betsy & Ricky has 6 puppies. One of them was Yogi. He was a brown & white too. One time Kane was running after his mommy and he got his by a car. So Susan wanted another dog. So my humans gave Yogi to her.

Then I guess Ed & Sue got jealous of them having extra dogs, so they brought Max home. My mommy says Max is the biggest Boston you've ever seen. Max loved Cookie but she couldn't keep up with him. Cookie passed away and so Ed & Sue just have Max now.

Yogi was running with his mother and he got hit by a car. So Susan brought Spanky home. I first met Spanky in summer of 2006 when my humans were moving to California. We stopped to see Spanky and his humans. Spanky stays in a trailer like me but it is a lot bigger than ours and my humans call it a 5th wheel.

My humans had to give Betsy away to some people who drove all the way from Wyoming to get her. They were moving and couldn't bring 3 dogs with them. So they moved Ricky & Lucy with them.

When they got to Wisconsin they thought they would tried to breed Ricky one more time so they got Gyps. But she was so hyper that Ricky couldn't catch her. And she barked so much that the neighbors got mad. So this grandma lady who wanted her real bad came and took her home.

In 2005 Lucy died of cancer. I hope they didn't bury her in the trash can like they did Stinkey. My humans worried that Ricky (who had never been alone) would be sad, so they drove to Oklahoma to rescue a breeder dog named Little Girl. Little Girl is the only one I knew. Little Girl was scared of people but she liked Ricky. Ricky taught her everything. But Ricky was to old for more puppies so they had Little Girl fixed.

Ricky died later in 2005 of a brain tumor. I hope they didn't bury him in the trash can like they did Stinkey. Ricky was Albert's dog and he was very sad when Ricky died. So it was just Little Girl. She mostly hid under the furniture and would only come out if it was just my mommy and daddy in the room. Of course I was scared of Albert to when I first met him. But now we like each other. I just had to teach him who was boss. So I tore up his contact lenses and his underwear and he got the message.

Anyways my humans thought Little Girl needed a playmate and that's where I came in. My former humans had 4 little boys and me and my 6 month old son. I was an unwed underaged mother. I was going into heat soon. So they said they had to get rid of one of us. So my new humans came to see me and I jumped in their arms when they came through the door. That was all it took. I don't know where my son is. You know how it is with mothers, we spend all that time with them growing in our body, then we give birth to them and teach them everything they need to know. Then they grow up and they leave and we hardly if ever see them again. I never even get a mother's day card from my boy.

Little Girl was older than me and she was like my big sister. She taught me how to go through the doggie door. She also taught me how to kill birds, carry them through the doggie door and leave them at the back door for my humans. I just watched. But if I wanted too, I know how to do that. She was also my big chew toy. But she had one bad fault. She always wanted to sleep in my bed with me. We couldn't both fit in there. So I'd either have to kick her out or go sleep in her bed.

When my humans decided to move, they knew Little Girl wouldn't travel cause she's afraid of cars and the rv. So they gave her to some people who lived on a lake and had other cousins for her to play with. She also gets to sleep in their bed. I've been trying to do that with my humans too. My mommy would let me but the big guy says "no way." I'm going keep working on them though.

So now you know how it got to be just me, Spanky, Max & Fred in the rv & bostons club.

Oh my humans did let some other humans in. One has cats but he owns the land we are staying on. And the others have those springer spaniel dogs. But they have rvs so they're allowed. I don't get to play with those 3 dogs nor the cats. I don't think they like me.

This is a cool place we are staying at. Gary & Brenda (the cat people) have a couple hundred acres east of Oklahoma City. They put in a few rv sites for friends. Their kids grew up with my brothers.

UPDATE: We were just talking to Roy & Susan and asking where Spanky was. Spanky was dog-napped awhile ago. So they have Bugsy now. Bugsy and Pearl sniffed each others and growled at each other. Bugsy is almost 3 now. He's a big Boston. So I think Pearl will want to see more of him.

What a wonderful view

Doug has some better photos on the digital camera. But this is one I took with the cell phone. If you haven't been to Ruidoso, it's worth a visit. During the winter you have all your winter activities like skiing. During the summer you have the horse racing at Ruidoso Downs. There is also the Inn of the Mountain Gods which has a nice hotel and casino. The downtown area has lots of gift shops. We always enjoy looking around town. They even have a Wal-Mart Supercenter. There are lots of hotels, motels and RV parks. There's a couple of national forest campgrounds too.

Oh how I love the mountains

It was 65 degrees when we pulled into Ruidoso today. We never needed the AC and even had to turn on the heater a couple of times at night.

Ruidoso, New Mexico

We spent two nights in Ruidoso, NM in the parking lot of the Apache Casino Travel Center. We've stayed here before. They have free parking for trucks and RVs. It's actually about 5 miles from Ruidoso on the Indian Reservation. We had a little rain each night The casino has a nice place to eat, a convenience store and a good sized casino.

Tacky tourists

Terri said these new shorts I bought were fashion-wise so, uh, “unique” that I would draw a crowd of admirers everywhere I went. (Turns out she was right. Look at all the people standing around me.) Could have been worse – they also had ‘em in Kelly green plaid.

 

Albert sent me the shirt from Japan. I don’t know what it says (hope it’s nothing nasty). If I wore the shirt every day, Pearl could stand right in front of me and disappear.

White Sands Missile Range, NM

At the top of the hill, in the San Augustin Pass above White Sands. (Well, more than a hill, really – it’s a two-mile climb to a point about 5,700 feet up.) After leaving here, for the next 35 miles of a very lonely road, there’s no GPS and no outgoing cell service. One suspects the military doesn’t want anybody knowing where they are or making phone calls. I hope we don’t get brain cancer from all the jamming signals…

Pearl's boo-boo

Got too rambunctious chasing a chewed up plastic bottle; had a wipeout on a loose rug. This spawned a boo-boo that I am using to get lots of attention and treats. “Oww, oww.” Did I tell you how much in misery I am? “Oww, oww.” Wait, I’ll try to squeeze a tear from my eye…

Truth or Consequences (N.M.)

With Terri’s folks at a restaurant in T-or-C (truth). 

The busted scissor jack from the right rear corner of our trailer, torn up when we scraped bottom on one of the town’s crummier intersections (consequences). Consequences replacement parts cost $85 from a little rinkydink repair shop in Alamogordo. That’s about double what one would pay at an RV supply store in the developed world. 

Deming, NM - by night, and dust devil by day

Dust devils are very common in this part of the country. They are like little mini tornados. They usually don’t do a lot of property damage because the winds aren’t that strong. But they tear up the dirt and send debris flying. We saw five dust devils at once from our vantage point at Rockhound State Park in the mountains southeast of Deming.

 

Pearl limping again

No Pearl picture as she's not posing for the camera today. My parents have wood flooring in their kitchen and dining room. They have a large rug in the entry right after you step off the carpet into the dining room. Pearl discovered yesterday that if you run real fast from the living room and land on the rug you can slide it and yourself across the dining room floor. She tried this several times. And now she are limping on the same left front paw that landed her in the Pet ER right before the start of our trip. She doesn't seem to be as bad this time. She's walking, though with a limp, eating and drinking as usual. She even feels like playing with Stinkey. So we're hoping by morning that she'll be feeling better.

Still hot here

Pearl says "where's my dinner? You guys are eating, why can't I?"

It is still 100+ degrees here. We are having some problems with the electric amps in this rv park which is causing our AC to shut down. Since we've been spending the days at my parents (Terri's parents), we've been leaving the AC on to keep the trailer cool for when we come back at night. We've come back to check on things twice today and each time the circuit has been tripped. So Doug has got the 50 amp plug in now hoping we can keep the amps up. The trailer was 105 (one degree hotter than outside). As long as we are here we can reset it.

We'll be here until Friday morning and then it's on to Ruidoso. We're eagerly awaiting the mountains and cooler temps too.

Ashley had her first doctor's appointment today. They did her ultrasound too. Her due date is set for Feb. 9th. Valentine's Day is a big deal for Albert. So we're hoping for a Valentine's baby. He is quite creative when it comes to Valentine's Day for Ashley. I envy her. Oops, guess Doug might be reading this too. LOL! Though he may not be as creative as his son, I have enjoyed 27+ Valentine's days.

And Pearl's two cents worth

We camped at this really neat place last night. I liked it because there were bunny rabbits, squirrels and lizards galore. The only problem is that the big guy would only let me chase them while attached to a leash and as far as he could run without getting tired. He runs so slow. If it weren't for him, I would have caught me one of those little buggers. I don't know what I would do with it when I caught it but it would be fun to catch one.

Another photo from Rockhound State Park

Another view from our campsite.

Photo from Rockhound State Park

Our space at Rockhound State Park had a wonderful view. At night we could see the lights of Deming, and in another direction we could see the stars and satellites (most likely one of them was being used by our dish).

Rockhound State Park

I spent my teenage years in Silver City, NM. During the time my family lived there we did a lot of camping. But we never managed to get to Rockhound State Park. Rockhound is located SE of Deming, NM. It's a small park but has some really nice camping spaces. It's a great place for those who like hiking and rocks.

There are some days on our schedule that we left open. This was the first one of these days. We had originally thought we would stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot as we've done so many times before, but with 105 degree temperatures we decided we needed our AC. Our generator is not powerful enough to run our AC. So Doug got on the New Mexico State Park website to see what parks were near Deming. We have been to several but not this one. So we made a reservation.

The space we had was a wide 75 foot back-in space with pea-sized gravel, a concrete pad with picnic table and shelter and our very own trash can. It also had electric & water too.

We will put this park on our list of places to stay in the future. California State Parks could learn a lesson from the New Mexico State Park system. In California we have all these wonderful parks in nice locations, but they don't cater to big rigs like ours. There are only a couple of parks that we our allowed into with our trailer. In all the NM parks we've been in there are plenty of big rig sites. The parks are inexpensive and well maintained.

We are now in T or C visiting my folks for 3 days. I'll post two more photos of Rockhound State Park.

Ooh I love to roll in dead anything...

This is Pearl here:

Why am I sitting here naked on the couch? Well the big guy decided to take me to the dog park in the RV park. So he lets me off my leash and I'm running around cause it's a little cooler earlier in the morning. Then all of a sudden I smelled something I couldn't resist. The source of the smell was a dead bird. So when the big guy wasn't looking, I decided I'd roll all over that dead bird so that I could smell just like it. Then all of a sudden the big guy spots me and hollers at me. But I decided that I would keep doing it until he got down there to physically stop me. When he gets to me, he puts my leash back on me and takes me back to the trailer. All the way back he is hollering words at me that aren't fit for doggies ears or this blog.

When we get back he takes me to a hose, strips me down naked and you guessed it, gives me a hose bath with shampoo. YUCK! He didn't even need hot water or a tub. The water coming out of the hose was pretty hot too. This bath was even worse than the last one. But at least I got my five minutes of fun before he caught me. He, he!

Pearl is to hot to play

I'm sorry Stinkey but it's to hot for me to play with you today. I know you're new and need to be broken in, but I'll have to break you in when I'm cooled off. I don't even feel like chewing on my bone either.

It's hot here too

We thought the temperature at our next stop would be cooler but not so. The 104 reading is inside the trailer right after we arrived at the rv park and before we turned the AC on. The 112 mark is the temperature outside the trailer. We'll be here for two days. Lucky for us the pool is right across from us.

Off to our next stop

The whole gang in Phoenix, minus Pearl and Stinkey of course. Why? Well have you ever tried to get two little girls and a dog to pose in the same picture? I think Pearl is hiding some where in the other room under a table.

We're on to the next stop of our trip today.

Albert is some where in the Gulf still surviving the heat, Ashley and the baby are doing ok, and Matthew is off buying the latest IPone. So that about covers it for the kids.

Obituary

Black Stinkey passed from life into the 20-gallon trash can on Friday, July 10, following a brief tug-of-war between Pearl and two persistent nieces. Stinkey left behind a (briefly) grieved family and an especially grieved Pearl. However, he was quickly replaced by gray Stinkey who had been stored in the linen closet in expectation of this eventuality. No services will be scheduled; the garbage will be taken to the Dumpster in the morning. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you try Kellogg's whole grain Eggo frozen waffles (see below Stinkey)... they're really tasty!

Dinner time

You people eat to slow and talk to much. Here I am sitting at the dinner table waiting for my steak. Then after dinner, I'll head to the kitchen to mop the floor. And these grandparents keep giving me treats. But one of them tried to give me some green lunch meat today. I'm not that stupid, I don't eat green anything. So I left it laying under their table.

The calm before the storm

Pearl's enjoying a little peace and quiet before the two girls come to "play" with her.

Teased, tormented and abused

Grrr! I'm normally a pretty easygoing dog, but these girls pushed me to the limit tonight. It was 104 degrees, and all I wanted to do was lie quietly and lick my Stinkey. But ohhh, nooo- I have to be teased, tormented and abused by these kids. One of them was grabbing Stinkey, and the other one was trying to pull me across the room. Grrr. If I was a male, I'd have lifted my leg on these two. Fortunately, the owners kept me safe - and also kept me from taking a "cute little doggie" sized tooth-filled chunk out of these two. Maybe next time. Grrr.

My humans played a dirty rotten trick on me today

This is Pearl here:

I have been humiliated. My dignity has been damaged. I may never recover. I won't be able to show my face in public anymore.

The big guy takes me out for a walk. Yeah I saw that he had a towel and a bottle of shampoo in his hand, but I thought it was for him not me. He takes me to this do-it-yourself pet wash in the rv park. As soon as I saw it I tried to get away from him. But because he is bigger than me, I couldn't escape my fate. Yes you guess it, he picked me up, stripped me down to my bare self and put me in this big tub made just for dogs. Then he turns the water on and hoses me down. Then he puts shampoo all over me. It runs in my eyes, up my nose and in my mouth. I'm snorting oatmeal shampoo now. And to top it off he dries me off with a towel that feels like sand paper. Oh the humiliation of it all. All my dog friends will know. I can't ever show my face in the rv park again.

Now I don't like baths, but if I have to have one, then I want to go to the pet spa and get one of those fruity smelling baths. They talk to me all nice and tell me how pretty I am. They pet me and cuddle me. And the other dogs are there too. So it's not so bad. But the big guy he tells me how smelly I am. YUCK!

Ok I think he is just trying to get me back for the trip to the Pet ER the other day. So now we're even.

Emma Woods State Park camping area along US101

This is the camping area at Emma Woods State Park just a couple of miles north of Ventura off Hwy. 101.

View point near where we are today

This is about 4,000 feet above sea level off of I8 heading towards El Centro.