Day 33 - Seminole, Texas - Oliver Lee State Park, New Mexico

I slept in until 9 am, then went about my morning preparations. Butch, the owner of the campground, came out of the office and walked over to me with his dog, Dolot. Luna and Dolot had a little play and Butch handed me a bag containing two cinnamon buns and an orange juice for breakfast! First he lets me stay there free, invites me to have dinner with them, then brings me breakfast! What a kind man, now that is Southern hospitality! It was quite chilly out with a cloudy sky and strong wind, so he invited me to come eat it in the office, Luna watched me walking away with a look of betrayal. I learned about his wife, Jane, who had passed away quite recently after almost 51 years of marriage, he obviously missed her a lot. I gave him my number as he wanted to stay in touch and check up on how the road trip is going. We hugged, then I left, heading to White Sands National Monument. I had about 4 1/2 hours of driving to do today, but the driving seemed endless. I arrived at my campsite at Oliver Lee State Park just before 2:00 pm. My campsite for the night was a wonderful $10, state park fee included. I picked a site and then went for a walk on one of the trails. Having just read the sign about the abundant rattlesnakes in the area, an animal moving suddenly in the long grass next to me made me jump badly. The signs about how important it is to hike in a group in the area due to a large population of cougars, made me decide to not do the long hike, it was so hot I just wanted to sit in the shade anyway! As I started walking back to the campsite, a pit bull mix came walking up to us, her owner a ways away calling feebly to the dog who was on a retractable leash. Cornered against the railing, I kept walking and the dogs sniffed as we walked, I had my back turned so I didn’t see exactly what happened, but the other dog snarled loudly and grabbed Luna, I turned around immediately ready to kick the dog away, but the woman already had it and said “I’m sorry, she just got a little excited” with a smile, speechless, I kept walking; dogs are only permitted on 6-foot, solid leashes in parks, an aggressive dog should not be on a retractable leash period or allowed to interact with other dogs without the owner’s permission and with proper safety precautions in play, this ignorant woman just proved to my fearful dog that she should be scared of new dogs, I was not pleased at all. Of course, I wish I had told her what I thought of her, but I just wanted to get Luna away from the irresponsible woman and her aggressive dog. I arrived back at my campsite and drew for awhile, then read before cooking supper as the sun set in a beautiful shade of orange. 

Oliver Lee State Park

Enjoying the shade.

Day 32 - Weatherford, Texas - Seminole, Texas

I started off with the continental breakfast the hotel provided, then hung out in my room until checkout, enjoying the coolness and the wifi, not feeling too interested in a long driving day. I left around noon for an uneventful drive towards White Sands National Monument. There were abundant coyote and deer on the side of the road with rabbits, skunks and the occasional raccoon mixed in, a sad sight. Around 5:15 I pulled in to a place called B and J RV Park in Seminole. As soon as it’s around 4:30 pm I start leisurely looking for a campsite, becoming intent on finding one by 5:30, so that I have time to make dinner, let Luna do her business and set up my car before it is dark. An older fellow and a young man sat in the porch that I pulled up to. I got out and was greeted (much to Luna’s dismay) by an adorable, scruffy black and white Terrier mix. I asked to camp there for the night and Butch, the older gentleman that owned the place, agreed to it and when I asked how much, he told me that I didn’t have to pay anything for the night, such a nice gesture! I chatted slightly longer, then headed back to the car and drove it over to where he had advised me to park (an area surrounded by little lights so I 'would be safer'). I put Luna outside on her long lead and Dolot, the terrier, marked every patch of grass in the area, then joined Luna and they immediately began to play; I have never seen Luna play so quickly and happily with a new dog! A little later, Butch came by and invited my to supper, they were making burgers, I thanked him and told him I was vegetarian, then he told me I could just come hang out if I wanted to. A few minutes later I headed over with Luna and sat down with him and Bobby, the man that had been sitting on the porch with Butch earlier. I let Luna off-leash and she and Dolot played some more. Butch had found Dolot and his 3 litter mates outside his home, starving to death and so scared of people. The other three puppies looked like Blue Heelers and he ended up adopting them out, but keeping Dolot, Butch gave him his name to be like Dr. Dolittle. I never took a photo of Dolot, but he was very cute and just wonderful all around, Luna thought so too! Around 7:30 I returned to my car and used the wifi for awhile, before going to sleep.

Again, no pictures from today, so here are two of Luna attempting to stay awake in the car.

Day 31 - Flower Mound, Texas - Weatherford, Texas

Sean and I took Jesse and Luna for a walk, stopping to play fetch in the tennis court for awhile. Lindsay was not feeling very well, so had stayed home and Jarvis was feeling a little let down that he didn’t get to go for a walk too. When we returned, Sean took Jarvis for a quick run while I gathered all my things. Soon after, I said farewell to Sean, Lindsay and the dogs and left. I was very sad to leave, having had a fantastic time with them and not keen on going back to my self-inflicted isolation. My first stop was a drive through oil change business. I was already around 3 000 km past due for one, despite having just had my oil changed before leaving. It took about 30 minutes and I was pleasantly surprised at how Luna did not even bat an eye at the whole procedure, just settling down with a sigh and a small glare sent in my direction for this silly, long stop. After filling up, we headed on to the highway. After around an hour and a half of driving, I suddenly became excruciatingly tired, my eyelids felt so heavy, it took great effort to keep them open and focused on the road. I ended up making the decision to find a motel, it was 28 degrees celsius and there was no way I could nap in my car in that heat. I ended up having to back track half an hour to Weatherford, to avoid the hour and a half to the next Motel 6 (according to my phone). Despite being early in the day, the Motel 6 was full, so I headed to the Quality Inn. I turned the air conditioning on to full blast in the room, then collapsed, letting my overheated brain begin to work properly again. 

I did not take any photos again today, so here is one I love from a hike/snowshoe my brothers, Luna, a friend and I did around Christmas. Photo courtesy of Megan Butlin.

Day 30 - Flower Mound, Texas

We all slept late, until around 11 am, then had a relaxing morning. We watched a little of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, then went outside and Luna and Jesse practiced the tunnel and jumping through a hoop, I was pleasantly surprised with how confidently Luna did both, having refused to go near my hula-hoop in the past. We took them for a short walk, but none of them were at all enthused about playing fetch at the tennis court, they all just seemed hot and tired, so we headed back. When Cindy arrived home at 4:30, she took us all out to supper at an Italian Restaurant. I had a wonderful vegetarian lasagna along with the very tasty fresh rolls they provided and the salad and zucchini sticks that we had gotten to share, we were all incredibly full afterwards. Despite that, we decided to go rock climbing again that evening after having a small break to digest at home. I was a little reluctant to climb with the heavy Italian food weighing me down, but when we got there, I had a blast! After some thought, I decided to try out the Auto Belay climbs, I had heard how terrifying it was to not have a feeling of support when you climb, then dropping several feet before they catch you. I decided to only climb up partway the first time and when I looked down, I did not want to let go of the wall. I finally managed to release and had the terrifying moment before it caught me and delivered me safely to the ground. I decided to try going to the top next and after that I was hooked. I loved the little adrenaline rush it gave me, that rush gave me a large energy boost and I was able to do many more climbs than I had the night before. I did some overhangs this time, there was one that I almost gave up on, then continued on and made it to the top and that was a wonderful feeling. I definitely want to look in to getting a membership at a climbing centre back home! Lindsay and Sean both ended the night impressively with two particularly challenging ones. We stopped to pick up a carton of ice-cream on the way home, then enjoyed it as we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Sean made banana bread to send with me when I left (it was so good, as always!).

I did not take any photos today, so here is one I forgot to post from my first full day in Texas, photo taken by Sean.

Day 29 - Flower Mound, Texas

We started the day off with a walk in the park and a game of fetch at the tennis court. Jesse jumped in to the pond, eyeing a group of ducks nearby. Luna and Jarvis soon joined him in the water, although Jesse was the only one enjoying the pond to the fullest, swimming as far as his leash would allow him. In the pond are many turtles, I saw up to 7 at a time sunning themselves on protruding logs and even a couple right on the shore. Jarvis was let off-leash and began running around at full speed, sheer joy on his face, Luna joined in, ruining his groove with her excited barking. She and Jarvis ran along the shore, then in to the water to explore. We returned home and I went through photos while Lindsay and Sean played a video game. Around 3:30 we drove to the dog park, a really nice sized, fenced in area with so many dogs of all types. The dogs had fun running around while we enjoyed the plethora of dog breeds. As the sun went down it began to get quite chilly and little bugs were swarming near us, we headed home. I may be mixing days up here, but I think this was the day we headed out again later to get some ice-cream at Marble Slab, it was so good! Lindsay made some delicious fried rice with vegetables for supper and we watched Layer Cake. 

Matched strides.

Luna walking awkwardly on her hind legs ;)

.....

....I caught Luna running on water!

Day 28 - Flower Mound, Texas

I spent a fabulous day hanging out with Sean, Lindsay and the dogs. We took them for a nice, long walk, enjoying the beautiful, February weather. In the evening, we went rock climbing. I was extremely hesitant to go, having absolutely hated it when we did a couple days of climbing in high school gym class. Not wanting to get in the way of what Sean and Lindsay wanted to do, but wanting to spend time with them, I decided to try climbing again and I am so glad we went because I absolutely loved it! It was a great work out and so much fun! The first climb I found quite nerve-wracking, but after that, I just enjoyed it all immensely.

After returning home around 10:30 pm, Sean began making dinner of Pad Thai. We had just let the dogs outside, when I heard Luna bark and Sean saw the dogs starting to jump at the fence. We rushed outside to see a Possum walking along the top of the fence with Jesse and Jarvis jumping at it, Luna, nervous with the commotion had come to the door, so I was able to put her inside immediately. Within seconds, the possum fell as we rushed to get the other two dogs. Jesse was able to eat one of the tiny, hairless babies that was thrown from the possum when she fell. Lindsay moved the other baby that had come loose back to the mom with a paper towel and we studied her, trying to decide if she was dying or playing dead. Lindsay called animal control and around midnight, a police officer showed up, the possum had gotten up by this point, but appeared to be too sore to move very much, so the officer decided to called the animal control officer (at this hour, police officers respond first to determine whether to call and awaken animal control). The police officer was there for close to an hour, but once animal control arrived, the possum was quickly caught and removed, then a thorough check of the yard was performed by Jesse, Lindsay and the two officers for any more of the babies. Both officers were very nice and helpful. We eventually gave in to hunger and ate the Pad Thai with the cop there (having offered him some), then Sean made Lave Cake after the officers left, both were so good!

Sean and Jarvis

Training time

Jesse James, Lindsay adopted this handsome Lab mix as a puppy around 2 years ago.

Jarvis, Lindsay took him in as a foster for an Anatolian Shepherd rescue and her mom ended up adopting him as he is so wonderful.

Day 27 - Tucumcari, New Mexico - Flower Mound, Texas

After a seven-hour driving day where we lost an hour due to the time change between the two states, we arrived in Flower Mound around 5:30. Upon seeing Sean, Luna almost did a double-take and was absolutely ecstatic to see him and Lindsay. We immediately took the dogs for a walk to introduce them to each other, then took them to a nearby tennis court to let them blow off some steam with a game of fetch. Luna was so over-stimulated and excited, that she let the whole world know she was there with her loud exclamations of both joy and anxiety. Upon returning home, I sat down to a delicious dinner of Pot Pie that Lindsay had made, and after visiting with Sean, Lindsay and Cindy (Lindsay's mom) for awhile, we ate ice cream and watched Ever After before heading to bed.

I did not have any photos to post from today, but here's one that I took on my iPhone on February 12th!