safe at home

It’s taken more than a week for me to decompress from our trip to the states, most of that simply resting.  Jude, the dogs and I slept for 12 hours when we got home.

We last visited family and friends below the 49th Parallel in November ’16 just after Trump’s election.  There was a pall everywhere we stopped, matching the gloomy skies.  This time the weather was brighter, but the mood was angrier.  The first few days were spent in Trump country, small towns in Washington and Oregon.

We saw ample U.S. flags and Trump stickers, and had a day to walk around Port Orford OR because we had to get our truck repaired.  Some vital part of it started making horrendous noises.  Granted it was a few days before Memorial Day weekend, but there seemed to be a notable increase in flag-waving, if not actual patriotism.  We left Port Orford at 4:20 p.m. (I swear), rolling into our campground near Healdsburg CA ’round midnight.

Problem was, it was too late to check in, so we spent a second night in the truck.  The next morning we set up our tent, then connected with Jude’s son and his family.  Things markedly improved.  We had a fantastic time at the beach the next day.

The following day we spent mostly at a veterinarians’ clinic because Tooka, our 80-pound puppy, got a foxtail stuck up his nose.  Monday immensely improved because we celebrated Jude’s birthday and watched the Golden State Warriors win the NBA championship.  Tuesday I met up with some old friends and made a new one, Don, whom I met through the blog.  Don is also a VietVet, so we had lots to talk about.  He does a lot of work with other vets, and had some suggestions about my VA disability claim.

Wednesday we drove to Sacramento to see Bonnie, another old friend.  She was able to find a restaurant at a truck stop that allowed dogs inside.  We had a nice meal, hugged our hugs and hit the road.  We left Sac about 3:30 p.m.  Twelve hours we were on the outskirts of Seattle.  Random Chance bless the Interstate system.

We were on fumes when we got home.  We took the collars and harnesses off the dogs.  They ran around naked for hours, unleashing all the energy they’d stored up from countless hours in the truck.  We unloaded as little as possible, then sat down as soon as possible.  The farm never looked lovelier.