Adventures in Camping

We did going camping over the October 1-3 weekend. I knew something was in the air when Carrie came home early on Friday and John had pulled the sleeping bags and tent out. Carrie and John had a long discussion on what to bring. We only have the Civic at present and they were not sure how much stuff they could get into it. When they had finally gotten everything they need in they put me in the car. I usually have the whole backseat to myself, but they had piled stuff on the floor and a cooler on the seat next to me. It was all right though because I was still able to lie down.

Before we hit the road we stop for supplies, which included burgers and fries. I let them eat most of the fries but did require a couple of them. I am told that they are not good for me; are the good for anyone?

We had driven for about an hour when we came to a campsite. The clouds above the campground were dark and looked like rain (if not snow). Carrie and John decide to stop and throw stick for me for awhile. Between stick throws they discussed going south to camp, it was after all October and the campsite was at 8,000 feet. Carrie found a road on the map that would take us south.

I had just lay down to nap (as I usually do on road trips) when Carrie said, “Look at all those sheep” . I pop right up to look out the window. There were sheep everywhere I was hoping they would stop and let me herd the sheep. They needed herding as they were just scattered everywhere on the hillside. But at least the car just kept going forward. A little later I saw a Great Pyreness guarding another huge flock of sheep.



I was sleeping when I noticed that the ride had turned bumpy! Apparently the road turned into a gravel road. Now I don’t know what Carrie was thinking…Civic aren’t made for four wheeling!!! But on we went bumping along. At one point a hawk flew next to the car. It was one big bird. We also saw a couple of mule deer standing along side the road.

Finally we come to pavement again and I was able to continue with my nap. Occasionally I would wake up to see what was going on outside and a couple of times a smell would wake me up. There were cows and sheep around, a couple of skunks too.

We stop in a place called Price and I was feed a very yummy dinner. There was more discussion on where to spend the night, and then we were off again heading south. It seemed we drove south forever.
The sun set on us before humans found a place to set up camp. When we reached I-70 and decided to go to Salina, which was 35 miles to the west. It was a good thing we went to Salina because we only had a quarter of a tank there were no gas station between Salina and like Green River, CO, which would have been a good 60 miles to the east of us! We spent the night at a hotel in Salina with ever intention of getting up in the morning and going down to Fish Lake.

I woke Carrie up at about 7:30, so she could take me out for my morning walk and get herself some coffee. I was a little nervous about us going too far as John was still back in the room and I don’t like having my pack in two place were I can’t watch them. The Humans decided to have a big Denny’s Breakfast, which they ate, in the room, which meant I got bits of ham that they could not finish. Yummy! I know that it is bad for me but it was sooo good.

We hit the road about 10:00 AM and John said that the car was handling sluggish. Suddenly I hear a "POP' and the back passenger side wheel goes flat! We got off to the side of the road without a problem. Both Carrie and John jumped out of the car to take a look. They were trying to get the flat tire off but it appeared to be stuck on! They kicked at it, shook it , yelled at it, said please, but no movement. Carrie called someone and soon a guy in a truck appeared.
He takes this big hammer and knocks the tire off. Next they put on the little donut fake tire and the tow truck drive says that there is a tire store in Richfield, which is about 10 miles in front of us. Off we start again. The Donut tire is a little flat so it is slow going, but finally we make it to Richfield I think I heard Carrie count down each mile as it went by. They pull into this store that is full of tires. All the guys working there say what a nice dog I am…which is of course true. Soon the new tires are on and off down the road we go.

By now we were past the Fish Lake turnoff so we decided to go to Fremont Indian State Park. Carrie and I went for an another walk to ask the people at the visitor center were the campsite was. John stayed at the car to repack it (we had to take everything out to change the tire)
I waited patiently outside (dogs aren’t allowed in the center) while Carrie went in to see how to get to the campsite. She came out all smiles so I decided we must be close to a good place. We drove down yet another dirt road to the campground. We pulled into this nice spot up against the rocks. It was great there were deer and rabbit smells everywhere and lots of great sticks. I found a wonderful stick and John carved on it so it would not end up in the fire. There was also this Scrub Jay that kept coming into our campsite looking for food. I had to chase him away a couple of times.
After I was done chasing stick and decide to lay down for awhile, the sunset there were so many stars the humans kept ohhing and ahhing over them. After awhile I went into the tent to warm the sleeping bags up. A little while later the humans also come into the tent. The humans had sleeping bags, but I only got blankets It got very COLD that night Carrie undid part of her sleeping bag to and threw it over me, but every time she rolled over I would come uncovered and the cold air would get me. Finally everyone slept. Then we woke up and it was so light outside the humans thought the sun was coming up, but I knew better and when Carrie peeked her head out of the tent, she saw that it was only the moon. It was only a half moon but it light up the whole place. It was awesome but it was too cold outside of the bag to marvel at if for too long.
Finally the sun did come up and warm the place up. We had breakfast while the humans were standing around the campfire I went looking for my stick. Carrie said, “Where’s Ricki’s Stick?” Then they both looked at the fire. So I had to go and find ANOTHER stick and got to play some more. After Breakfast we went for a short hike. I enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and smelling all the new places. Just as we returned to our campsite a bunch of noisy teenage arrived, so we broke camp and headed home.

It was great fun but the cold was a little hard on my joints

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