Travel, Joshua, the dogs

The trip over to Cori and Nate’s went without incident although there was an 18-wheeler that did his very best to wipe us out – literally. He pulled into our lane as we began to pass him. I had to stand on the brakes to allow him into the lane, but we managed to stay on the road, avoid him impaling the front fender of the little van and keep from getting rear ended by oncoming traffic. That was the extent of danger we were aware of as we traveled the almost eight hundred miles.

We had pretty high hopes for the power steering pump since Grandpa and I worked on it. We were not able to replace it because the replacement requires pulling apart the front clip of the car, jacking up the engine and renting a special tool to pull the pulley before the little pump can be unbolted and replaced. So we cleaned the reservoir and the lines and hoped for the best. The plugs and plug wires were replaced and the transmission fluid and oil were changed. So we were in better shape than before the work was done. We just had to listen to a moaning power steering pump for the whole trip.

We arrived pretty late. Cori kept the kids up past their bedtime in order for them to greet us as we pulled into the driveway. Brittany, Paige, Cori, Mykenzie, Grant and Blake all rushed up to meet us at about 8:15. We were in a big way of making the rounds hugging each other when Joshua came out onto the porch. Mama teared up immediately. It was good to see him and it was a complete surprise. I think Jake was as excited to see him as anyone else. For Mama it was a pleasant toss up.

In order to get to Florida Joshua had caught a ride with a friend from Victoria who has family in the area where Cori and Nate live. She is on her way to take her female Boxer to meet a male in New Hampshire. She and her husband have been seeking this opportunity for several months and were not sure of the timing of the female dog’s heat. As it turned out, she was ready about ten days before they expected it, which got Joshua over here in time for the wedding. He will have to go back as soon as the breeding routine is over – probably on Friday evening after the wedding. We will have everyone here for the wedding but Becky.

This morning we will go to the beach and get sunburned collecting shells. Joshua showed us the huge bag of shells he collected the other day when he and the girls went. It had several unusual ones in the mix and all of the collected shells were large; not the normal little ones we commonly find. Mama was excited about the treasure and hopes to repeat the haul today. That is rarely the case, but it is always the anticipated outcome.

We were up early this morning, as is typical when we share the house with little ones, and Chase and Jake are pretending to sleep while the house wakes around them. Dodger and Lucy are the real alarm clocks and noisemakers this morning. Lucy is not the least affected by being in a new place; Dodger is not acclimating well. He is truly a farm dog and is wholly out of place in the house here. I am not sure how things will eventually work out over the next two weeks, but Mama and Victoria were thinking of how much the children would love the dogs while I was thinking of how little the adults would like them.

We will all accommodate for the sake of the kids, bit it would have been better to leave Dodger at home.