Cerys

It was great to finally get to Twin Lakes.  We met up with our friends and decided to go to lunch one day.

We put Cerys into the camper and we went to enjoy a pleasant lunch.  When we arrived back at the camper, we saw several people around our RV.  I assumed Cerys had been barking and irritating other campers.

Cerys & Gypsy
Cerys & Gypsy

 

Then I saw Cerys running around near our RV.  We could not imagine how she had gotten out of the locked camper.

We comforted Cerys and then tried to figure our how she had gotten out.  We opened the door and the entire screen was ripped off the screen door and dents and deep scratches on the metal door.  As I walked to the back of the camper, I found the window shade completely pulled down and torn up and a big hole in the screen.   The rear window had been open giving Cerys the opportunity to jump out through the screen.

I was sickened at the thought of what this poor dog had gone through to be in such a panic as to do all that damage and then jump through a screen window.

She had a few issues on other camping trips with damaging a part of the screen but we had fixed it and thought she just needed more time to get used to the camper.  This time, however, we had  left her alone for longer than usual.

Now, decisions had to be made.  We were going to be gone for 3 weeks and it was obvious that Cerys was not an RV dog.

My brother (Ten Pin) immediately got on the phone and started calling ‘no kill’ shelters, anticipating what we were going to have to do.  I was an emotional wreck and unable to make any decisions other than we could not put this poor animal through this anymore.  The RV damage could be repaired but Cerys could not be expected to go through that panic every time we had to leave her in the RV.

The no-kill shelters said they had no room so LoneStar and Ten Pin decided to take her to a regular shelter.  We had Cerys for almost four years and I was quite bonded with her.  Every step I took, she was right behind me and now I was going to have to send her to a new home.

LoneStar  and Ten Pin came back about an hour later.  I was fearing what they would tell me.  However, God had once again intervened.  They took  Cerys into the shelter.   Several volunteers were inside the shelter talking to the receptionist.   The volunteers happened to be going to the no-kill shelter that we were told was full and would not accept any more dogs.  They saw Cerys, took her picture and sent it to their boss at the no-kill shelter.  They were told to bring her in as they had several families wanting a beautiful standard poodle.

Although this story sounds quite tragic, it does have a happy ending.  We do not know what home she was placed with but are believing she is happy and loved wherever she is at.

It is sometimes hard to make such sacrifices  but to put Cerys through such trauma was cruel.  Our future included a lot of travel and she wanted no part of it.  Cerys was a very well-trained dog, her only issue, enclosed spaces.  So to relinquish her to a home where her new family was made aware of her situation, was the best thing to do for her and us.

Cerys will always be in our hearts, and we know she is filling another home with tons of Poodle love.

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2016 March Thor Breakdown

2016 Thor Chateau 24C
2016 Thor Chateau 24C

We were anxious to take an extended trip with our new RV.   We made plans to go to Florida.  First, we planned to join up with Henry at Twin Lakes Resort in Defuniak Springs, FL where friends of ours were the park hosts.  Then we would go to Florida where we would join up with our cousin Bill and spend time with him, then to Orlando to meet up with the family; my daughter Tammy, her husband Guy, and the twin granddaughters, Meg & Kate.

Needless to say, this trip had to be set by some sort of time frame.  Most RV parks require you to make reservations to save a spot. We scheduled our first stop March 15, 2016 at Twin Lakes.

We were 88 miles into our trip and we lose engine power.   We could smell brakes burning.  Unable to get any acceleration made it dangerous to drive on the interstate where posted speeds were 70mph.  We pull off to the shoulder to evaluate the situation.  We knew we had to find a Ford Dealership and thankfully our GPS found a  Ford dealer a few miles away, so we slowly drove there.

I was pretty upset, this being a brand new RV with only a few thousand miles on it. It was near closing time for the Ford dealer so we had to find a place to boondock.  We again slowly drove to a Best Buy parking lot and camped out.

The next morning we drove to Ford to have them figure out what the problem was.  Upon their inspection,  they concluded that  it was a manufacturer fault.   A relay  had fallen loose and lodged itself between the brake pedal and the frame.   That is what caused the brakes to depress.    The problem was fixed and once again we were on our way by 10 am, this being the day we were supposed to check in at Twin Lakes.

It took me a long time to calm down. We continued on, having 7 more hours of travel.  We were getting close and I start3ed to relax, the, three hours from our destination, a rear inside tire blew.

Ok, now I am fit to be tied. It was obvious that we were going to be late for check in.

We were stuck on a 4 lane highway with only a small shoulder to pull over on.  I have seen too many stories of people standing by the roadside and getting hit by traffic so I decided to take our dog Cerys and walk up a large hill away from the speeding traffic.  Rich called Ford road side assistance and they were sending someone to fix the flat.

While we were waiting for the mechanic, an officer stopped by to check on us.  He informed me that I should watch out for snakes which made sitting down not an option.   An hour of standing on that hill side the mechanic shows up.  I am somewhat optimistic at this point, knowing Cerys and I would only be standing on the hillside for a few more minutes.

Well, the mechanic comes to our RV with his tools and finds out he did not bring the right size lug wrench to remove the tire.

WHAT!! So he calls his buddy who is only 30 minutes away and asks him to bring the proper wrench.  30 more minutes of Cerys and I standing on the hillside as darkness closes in.  I can do that!  The minutes tick by and after an hour, I finally get to my end point.  I went down the hill and ask what the heck was going on.  The mechanic called his buddy and found out he had turned the wrong direction on the interstate which now put him one more hour away from our location.

“You have got to be kidding me”. I took my stand back on the hill side and waited, ready to explode.

When he finally arrived, I had all I could do to not let loose on both of them.  If the first mechanic had brought the right tool, we would have been far on down the road, but  3 hours had passed from when we first made the call to roadside assistance.  Cerys and I standing on the hill side watching for snakes.

This is not a good start to a vacation.  We started wondering if this is what RV’ing  entailed.

We continued our journey, keeping in contact with my brother as to our status.  Our 2 pm arrival time on Tuesday ended up being  2 am  on Wednesday.

Thankfully we had little set up to do in the dark.  When electric, sewer and water were all hooked up we could actually kick back and start our vacation.

 

 

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