Been a long time but we are on the road!!

Hi yo my pack peeps! I know it has been a while but we have finally started our adventures.

Get your favorite beverage, (mine is strawberry milk but I only get that when I am at the pet sitters and I help myself to the kid's cups or "accidentally" help the kids spill theirs with a well placed tilt of the head) sit back and enjoy our adventures.

We are finding that this journey comes with a lot of on the job training and learning opportunities. When we decided it was time to leave we had a few little issues to handle before we could leave. The first one was that my hoomans lost the key to the trailer hitch. Fortunately Rusty from Rainbow Chase came to the rescue and grinded off the lock. We thought we were good to go after that but no, the jack stand did not have any power. Checking out the battery we realized that it was one that needed water in the cells and it was bone dry. We added water and gave it a charge overnight but it was a no go. Notice that we charged it overnight so that tells you our departure was delayed another day. The crew from Rainbow Chase and a neighbor came to help us hook up while the battery was charging. We had gotten a different tow vehicle and the hitch was very low to the ground. so they were able to change the hitch so that it would give more height. While we were waiting on the battery to charge they got a floor jack to hook us up. I did have to help with this to make sure they were doing it correctly, after all we are talking about my safety!

Next day we checked the battery and it was a no-go. We really did not have much hope for it but it was worth a shot. We called AAA for a new battery and told them what it was for and exactly what type of battery we needed. It only took them 4 hours to get to us and once they did they did not have the correct battery and told us that because it did not have an alternator they could not install one anyway. Would have been helpful if they would have told us when we called. He did check the battery and confirmed it was dead and never to be revived. I did offer to pee in the cells but no one thought that would be a good idea. Now that we knew that the battery was totally gone, my first friend at Rainbow Chase, Wayne, offered to take us to the auto parts store to get a new battery. My hoomans, who thought they were being funny, really confused the person at the counter. Maybe he did not have a sense of humor or it was a bad day. The old battery said it was for an RV but the new battery was better because it was a marine battery. That kind has gel in the sealed cells and you don't have to add water, which we learned all about during yesterday's fun. My hoomans told the guy if we put that marine battery on the RV it would confuse it and make it think it was a boat. I could hear the crickets chirping in his head as he was trying to ponder that thought. At least he volunteered to take the battery to the car. I think he figured that would be the best way to get us gone before my hoomans said anything else "cleaver". By this time it was really too late to get on the road so we stayed another night but everything was hooked up and ready to go, or so we thought.

We had a good night's sleep with dreams of adventure and an early departure on the schedule. After all, what else could go wrong you ask? We got everything closed up and ready to rock and roll. I was on my cushion in the back seat ready to say see you later but when my hoomans started the car there was nothing. The crew at Rainbow Chase suggested these are all signs that we should just stay, mostly because they did not want to see "the Mayor" (me) leave. Fortunately Rusty was able to bring his truck around and get us started. The owner of Rainbow Chase, Frank, suggested that we just drive around the park several times for a couple of reasons. This will charge up the battery and will also give us the feel of towing since this was going to be the first time being out on the road with the rig. Good idea Mr. Frank. After getting a little comfortable towing, and going in circles, we stopped to say goodbye, see if anyone had any left over treats that I had not finished off earlier, and give kisses to all my friends.

Special photo session with my very first friend at Rainbow Chase - Wayne.

Love you man! Got any treats?

And a special shout out to Rusty aka Pork Chop Man. I'll miss all those treats!

We were finally on the road to St. Augustine! Our very first stop was Stagecoach RV resort which was lovely. The sites were big and there were trees. I did my best to keep as many of them watered as I could. I was also allowed to go into the office and clubhouse! This was the first time my hoomans unhooked and there was really only one learning - how do the weight distribution bars come off? Yay for Youtube. There was a nice play area for four legged and two legged! Checkers anyone?

I'm on the lookout for any bandits who might want to rob this here stagecoach, and more importantly for anyone who wants to bring a picnic basket to share!

The first full day at St. Augustine our friend Linda with Houndhaven, Inc (who was totally responsible for rescuing me from Jacksonville and matching me up with my hoomans) just happened to be at her condo at Palm Coast and invited us to visit since we were less than an hour away. We of course thought that was a wonderful idea and had a delightful visit. They thought it would be a nice thing to go to the beach and check out the waves. Nope, not a good idea. I had no idea what they were thinking, and maybe the sun had gotten a little too hot for their brains. They walked right into that water and expected me to follow! No thank you. Those waves were chasing me out and I agreed there is no need to get wet. I was much happier looking at the water, sand, and those chasing waves from the balcony of her condo.

That evening we went on a ghost tour with Old City Ghosts lead by James. As with most of those tours there is a great deal of history about the town with some ghost stories included. I did not see or hear anything out of the ordinary. An interesting thing happened with my hooman's phone at a couple of the places we stopped. As always the phone was in their pocket and it started taking pictures on it's own! There were no pictures, we looked to see if there were any ghosts but it was just black. We were hoping that maybe there would be a ghost join us in this picture but we did not see any.

The next day we went to St. Augustine early to try to beat the heat but it was still hot! When we got to St. George Street we realized that my hoomans put my poo bags on the other leash. We thought we remembered a treat store further down the street but were not sure it was going to be there since it had been a couple years that we have visited. We came across a couple with their pup and we asked them if they could share a couple bags. They were very willing. I did have to sit with my back turned to the couple because their dog was not behaving and I needed to show him that I would not put up with that sort of behaviour. We did find the treat store, Faux Paws, and of course needed to go in to see what they had. The lovely lady behind the counter offered me a couple treats but they were not up to my standards. She then offered a freeze dried chicken treat and that was the one!

Next stop was Castillo de San Marcos. My hoomans needed to get their National Park lifetime pass. We went in and explored a little but were surprised that it was warm even in those thick walls. I don't know why my hoomans had to take a picture of me squinting. Maybe I need sunglasses. I think that would look cool in shades, don't you?

We did go inside and it was not nice that the food on the table was plastic. I was thinking that this would have been a great spot for a snack even if it was a little warm.

We took the Red Train tour to get a little breeze and learn about St. Augustine's amazing history. The driver, Chyanne, was one of the best tour guides I have met. She was funny, informative and had great puns. When she found out that I have this blog she let everyone know that there is a celebrity on board. I really liked that. I did feel more comfortable lying down on the floor as we were traveling but I was tempted to jump off when we went through the parking lot at the Fountain of Youth. Never hurts to hedge all your bets at staying young as long as you can.

And this is Chyanne. I am giving you a back angle because the pavement was hot and I did not want to sit or stand so we got a quick passby. I now have booties to keep my feet safe.

Our last stop was Ripley's Believe Or Not because we were able to get a discount by bundling it with the train ride. At first it was wonderful. There was a very cool marble floor that felt so good on my tummy. We looked at the displays on the first floor as we were cooling off. We were good on the second floor checking out all those oddities but the vibes started changing when we were on the 3rd floor. Something was happening up there that I did not like! I made my toes go as wide as they could and crouched down really low. I did not like it on that 3rd floor at all. My hoomans noticed that I was not comfortable and we headed out of there as quickly as we could go. There was something on the stairs that made me stop and not want to go down but my hoomans calmly urged me to go down and we did - quickly. I did not feel comfortable until we were at the gift shop. There I was able to lay on the cool floor and forget about what had me worried upstair. An interesting side note is that when I was feeling things that I did not like on the 3rd floor my hoomans camera, that was in the back pocket, was taking pictures on it's own again. Things that make you go hmmmmm.

So long St. Augustine and off to the next stop on our adventures - Walkabout Camp & RV Park. I will admit we were not thrilled at first. The sites were small compared to where we just left and the Wifi was spotty at best. We did not even unhook for the two days we were there. We did warm up to the place after a while. The people were extremely friendly and it was nice to be in the country where we fell asleep to the lullaby of some sort of chirping bugs in the woods. There was a pool, a workout room, nature trail, and a little bar that serves beer and wine that is only open from 6pm to whenever people leave.

I got to make friends with a goat but I don't think they were too happy that my nose was coming into their space.

The big issue at Walkabout was the chickens! They were strutting around like they owned the place and my hoomans would not let me go tear the stuffing out of them. Their eggs were sold in the store so I was able to eat a couple eggs for breakfast.

We discovered the walking trail and found a great pond. If I look a little anxious I was. I sensed something big in the water that might have been more interested in me that I was in them so we continued on our hike quickly.

Further on the path we came upon this lovely bridge over a little pond. We knew we were getting close to home because we could hear the goats.

As the evening came we decided to see what was happening at the bar. There were only a handful of people there but we met a nice couple who suggested a campground. We decided that would be our next stop, and that is part of next week's adventure.

Well peeps, that does it for this week! Hope you enjoyed the adventures and we will see you next week.

Kisses, Rownen