Nine Is Mighty Fine!

Today is my 9th birthday!  Woo Hoo!  

I started out with a walk at 4:30 a.m.  We then went back to bed.  Later, Mom fixed breakfast and I ate a scrambled egg.  Mom said we needed to leave the room so that the housekeeper could clean our room. They only clean it once a week.  That is fine with us because we really don't like having someone come into our room.  If we need clean towels, soap, etc., we just tell the front desk and they give it to us.  Mom borrowed a blender from them yesterday and she made me frosties.

We drove to Enchanted Gardens which is really a plant nursery, but they have paddle boats and an animal farm.  They have a TV show that airs here.  We were a little disappointed in it.  We thought it would be bigger. We weren't wanting to ride the paddle boat, but it was $3.99 a person for five minutes.  Can you imagine?  We wouldn't have even gotten seated in five minutes.  They also had bumper boats and the spot for that was big enough for two boats with not much room to bump.  Again, it was $3.99 for five minutes.  We just walked around and looked at the animals.  Two of the workers made a fuss over me. They said I could go inside the store, but Mom said I was a bull in a china shop.  She usually says a bull in a china cabinet. BOL!

It looks like they dug up some bones here.

 

I am not so sure about the animals here.

They wanted us to feed them.

This is the paddle boat.

I wasn't ready to leave, but Mom said we would stop at another park.  We drove to Ox Bow County Park.  They charge $2 a car to enter.  We walked on a few trails there.

I thought we were going to go out for lunch, but Dad got distracted.  We drove back to the hotel and were happy to see that the housekeeper had cleaned the room.

Here are photos of our room:

Yes, I am pouting because I didn't get a burger for lunch.

Mom left after lunch and went shopping.  Dad and I stayed behind and napped.  We were tired from our morning out.

It was a beautiful day here with the temperature in the 70's.  It was a nice birthday.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is 9!

Cobus Creek Park

Today started out rainy.  Mom and I were able to get in our 5:30 a.m. walk in before the rain started.  We didn't see any skunks this morning, but last night we saw two groundhogs.

Dad broke a glass this morning while making his coffee.  It landed in my water dish which meant that he had to wash it and my food dish.  He said that cup of coffee was a lot of work for him.

The girls at the front desk gave me treats this morning.  I still don't like the lobby area.  I will walk through it, but there are too many noises to be comfortable.  Some guests petted me.  I really wasn't interested in them.

We asked the girls at the front desk about the parental controls on the TV.  Dad couldn't watch HBO because of it.  They came up and put a code in, but said they couldn't give it to us.  It only lasted for that one show.  Dad said the code should be easy enough to figure out because she was only pressing one button.  Yep, it was easy.  We did it on the first try.  We can now watch HBO.

Today, we went to a county park.  It is called Cobus Creek Park.  It has a really nice trail.  There is also a sensory garden that is probably really pretty in the summer.

Waterfall at the sensory garden.

Boardwalk to creek.

  

This creek has trout in it.  We did not see any trout though.  People are allowed to fish there.

 

We walked almost two miles.  The trail was easy.  We met a family from England.  She saw my booted foot and said "Oh, does he have corns?"  We were quite surprised that she guessed it.  Yep, she has greyhounds.  She said her last one had corns.

Just a pretty tree on our way back to the hotel.

I am not sure what is on the agenda for the rest of the day.  Mom left for a while to do a little shopping and now she is back and Dad is gone.  Kmart is going out of business here and he is there for a second time checking out the bargains.  Last night, we had Applebee's.  We did a takeout order and they left out Dad's order of garlic fries.  Grrrr!  Mom said their garlic fries are really good.  I don't know because I am not allowed to have garlic.  Since we are here due to an insurance claim, our hotel and food are paid for up to $1,500 per our insurance plan. We are not going crazy with our food costs just in case they decide not to cover it.  It shouldn't be an issue, but we are only eating out once a day.  Mom fixes us a big breakfast that stinks up our room and then we either eat out for lunch or dinner.  Mom is really missing her air fryer.  She only has a cook top and microwave here.  She bought air freshener and candles to get the smell out. She turns the exhaust fans, but it still smells.  I don't think most people cook in their rooms. They only give you a few dishes.  Mom is running the dishwasher every day.  She wanted to buy paper plates, but Dad said to just use the dishwasher.

Two of the really nice things at the hotel are: 1) great Wi-Fi and 2) free laundry.

There are a number of bad things about hotel living.  There is only one TV.  None of the furniture is comfortable.  I don't have a couch and I don't do human beds.  I haven't roached since I left the RV.  I think we will all be happy to be back in our RV.  It won't be fun though since we have to be out of it all day while they work on it.  We will have it in the evenings. We have to live like that for a week.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Really Misses His Couch

Hotel Living Is....

Overrated.   I don't have a couch.  I only have my bed on the floor.  I think I may be getting bed sores.  I have to go up and down steps whenever I go outside.  That elevator is really scary!  I can hear people walking above my head.  There is one guy who leaves his boots outside his room.  What is up with that?  Do they smell?  Does he think it is bad luck to bring them inside?

There are skunks here!  I kid you not!  We are in town and the skunks are out at 4:30 a.m.  We know there are at least two.  There is also an opossum.  I want to make friends with them, but for some reason, Mom says we have to walk in the opposite direction.  I don't want to walk.  I want to wait for them to come to me.  I turn into a statue which does not make Mom happy.

We are in a hotel complex.  You know how there are office complexes?  Well, ours is made up of hotels.  there are also restaurants all around us.  There are sidewalks going to most places, so that makes for nice walks.

Thursday, the folks took me to Petsmart.  I really enjoyed that.  I walked through the whole store four times and then we left, but I said "Hey, wait!  I want to walk the store again!"  So, we went back inside and walked around again.  I didn't buy anything.  Dad said I could get something. I picked out a guinea pig, but he Dad sad "No".

I thought we were going to go somewhere yesterday, but Dad said he had to work for a few hours. That turned into all day.

Today started off sunny.  Mom said we were going to the river walk for sure today. We couldn't believe that it was cloudy when we got in our car.  Where did the sun go?

The river walk is located in downtown Elkhart.  The walk started out being really pretty.

 

I am headed for a squirrel.

There he is!

A marching band made out of metal.

Geese!

Another squirrel!

The walk was pretty, but we think we headed into a bad section.  Mom wanted to walk around the island, but then we started seeing some people who didn't look very nice.  There was one man who was punching a wooden post for quite a while. A kid walked towards us with a big stick.  He looked mean, but then started asking questions about me.  He turned out to be okay. We saw some people that just plain made us nervous, so we decided to end our walk early.  Everyone seemed to be scared of me though and Mom said that was good.

We came home and I guess we are here for the rest of the day. Dad left to visit some RV store, but Mom and I are hanging out.  I am not letting Mom get too far from me these days.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Tired After Visiting The River

Sunday Was NOT A Relaxing Drive

Saturday we left Lancaster for Elkhart, IN.  It was a windy, rainy day.  We thought Sunday would be an easy drive.  It was not.  We stopped about 30 minutes into our drive at a truck stop.  It looked like a really easy place to get propane.  It would have been, but a warning light came on the RV when we arrived.  We parked and tried to find out what the warning light meant.  Dad looked in the manual and Mom looked online.  Mom looked up what Dad thought it was and found something very upsetting on a forum.  It said to turn off the engine because a fire could start.  Dad didn't want to turn off the engine and Mom got scared because we were parked in the middle of tractor trailers.  Mom then called the emergency helpline for Entegra.  Dad told them the problem and we were told to continue on our trip.  There was not a repair place nearby and if we couldn't drive it in, we would need to be towed. We had 297 miles to go.  We went about 30 miles and then our engine light came on.  We stopped at the next available rest area and called the emergency line again.  Again, we were told to keep going.

Very happy to cross the border into Indiana.  We still had a long drive ahead of us though.

 We were told the only reason to stop driving was if the stop engine light came on.  We decided not to stop for lunch. Mom fixed Dad a sandwich and he ate it while driving.  We were starting to get hopeful that we would make it and then 30 miles from the campground, the DEF light starting flashing.  We figured that was a signal that we would start loosing power soon and would be stuck along the road.  We knew that eventually the DEF issue would reduce our speed to about 10 miles an hour.   Finally, we arrived at our campground. Dad decided to leave the engine running while he registered at the campground.  He thought if he turned it off, we would get the stop engine light. We finally arrived at our site.  That was a HUGE relief.

We camped here in April for the Entegra rally.  There is a ton of walking places.

After we got settled in the site. The folks left to see how far the Cummins repair place was because that is where we needed to go for repairs.  It was ten miles away.  They then drove to the body shop to see how far that was and it was 30 miles.

Dad called the tech that had been helping us on the road and let him know we made it.  He said that we should just go on to the body shop on Monday and then as long as the stop engine light was not on, we could take it to Entegra when we go for other repairs in two weeks and they would be able to fix it.

Sunday night, we packed the car with everything we needed for our hotel stay since we would not be staying in the RV while it was at the body shop.  Our big outdoor chairs were brought into the bathroom because they normally ride in the Jeep and there wasn't room for them, me and our luggage. We were all ready to go. Dad started the engine and the stop engine light came on.  Grrrr!   Dad called Entegra who talked to him for a while. They put him on a conference call with the Cummins place, but that guy was on the phone, so he wasn't available.  We waited for him to call us back, but he didn't.  Dad then just drove the Jeep there to try and get things moving along.  Well, the news was not good.  They could not get us in until November 14th!   More phone calls and more waiting. There was talk that maybe we should just drive it to Entegra.  We finally heard that a mobile tech could come out to us, but it would not be until Tuesday. It was possible that he might come Monday afternoon. We had to pay for another day of rent at the campground and change our hotel reservation.  We were hoping it could be fixed and that our body work could still be completed on time.  Lots of stress.  We had to unpack some of the things we had packed in the Jeep.

Monday night ended up being a very cold night. It was 31.  Our main furnace is broke.  We can use our heat pump as long as it is over 42 degrees. We used our fireplace, but it was still quite chilly.  Brrr!!!  Mom was wishing we were in a warm hotel room.

Tuesday morning we were hoping the tech would arrive early.  Dad called around 10 a.m. to see if there was an ETA.  We were told they would check but thought he would be there in the afternoon.  How could we be told it might be Monday afternoon and then pushed back to Tuesday afternoon?  We figured we would be spending another night in the campground and then, THE TECH ARRIVED!  Now the question was if he could actually fix it.  He said we would have ended up on the side of the road if we had driven it.  He said we would have been able to go 5-10 miles an hour.  He hooked up a computer and found a few issues.  Remember back in April when we had an engine light on?  We took it to a place in downtown St. Louis and they said our software just needed to be updated.  Dad never did like that answer. Anyway, our problem was part of that problem.  The tech kept checking things.  He said it could be the pump or a hose.  Mom hoped he had the necessary parts with him.  He drove an hour and a half to reach us. If he had to order parts or pick them up, that was more time we couldn't afford to loose.  Mom and I went for a long walk through the woods so that we were out of the way.  When we returned, it was fixed!  It was the pump!

We were already late checking out of the campsite.  Dad ran to the office to tell them we were leaving and to see if they were going to charge us. They did not answer the door, so we got ready and packed. They are not very friendly there.  They do not like to chit chat at all.

Dad called the body shop to make sure they could still do the work.  They said they could!  We packed up the Jeep again and took off.  I rode with Mom and we followed Dad in the RV.

The RV looks pretty sad without us.

 The body shop guy came out and talked to us.  He talked to me and he even guessed my weight correctly.  He must like to do that.  He just said "What are you? About 74 pounds?"  He seems like a nice guy and said he will have it ready for us by the middle of next week.  We need it by next Friday, so hopefully he is correct.

We then headed for the hotel.  Normally, I enter the Jeep from the rear, but since Buddy is on the Jeep, I had to use the passenger door.  It was super easy.  Mom said I may just start doing that from now on.  She is always worried I will get hurt jumping in and out.

Hotel, here we come.

Somehow I ended up with five toys. I was only supposed to have two. I think that was due to the unpacking and repacking.  

I rode the elevator like a pro and settled in quickly to hotel living.

We went out for Chinese food last night.  We brought it back to the room.  Mom and I took a few long walks around the place. There is a lot of green space.

It is a rainy day today, so I am mainly staying inside. I did get really scared on the elevator today, so I think I will do steps from now on.  The first room they gave us was on the first floor.  It was right next to a door to the outside and Mom was concerned that I might escape if an employee came in the room while I was alone. There are also automatic doors that would let me out.  We moved to the second floor where an escape is harder.  It is not like I try to escape, but you never know.  In some ways Mom wishes we were in the first room, but I know she would have worried about it the whole time.

We have a small kitchen in our room. The kitchen does not have an oven. Mom thought there might be a microwave/convection oven like we have in the RV.  There is a microwave, but she is not used to cooking meals with it.  She is going to go shopping later today and see what meals she can figure out. We will eat out quite a bit.  The microwave and cook top seem to cook faster than ours.

It sounds like I am going to be going with the folks on some adventures, so I will have more to say later.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Slept Good Last Night