It’s been a while, so to catch you up: We made one final stop before joining WaSu (Wayne and Suzy) in St. Augustine, and that was to Daytona Beach for relaxation, beach time and even a tour of the Daytona Speedway. How fun!
Then FINALLY, on to St. Augustine and a 3-week-long meet-up with our fantastic friends, Wayne, Suzy, and Diego, the Adventure Hearing Dog! Though we’ve met up with them on the road three times in the last two years, this was by far the best rendezvous ever, as we spent a week each in St. Augustine, Savannah, GA, and Charleston, SC. But you’ll see these wonderful places from a dog’s eye view this time, as Adventure Dog Diego shares the fun through his eyes! Diego is Suzy’s hearing service dog (in her words, a C+ student), and he has a lot to say about the fun we had…
Read on for the adventures of Diego, the AMAZING Adventure Dog!
WASU and B&B Together Again
Three States, Three Weeks, Four (+1) Forever Friends, as told by “The Plus One”
After a full year on the road with my two humans, collectively known as WaSu, I thought I had endured it all. After all, they have taken me on more planes, trains, and truck rides than I can count on my four paws. I’ve even survived a harvest truck, a deep sea fishing boat and a kayak since I came to live with my Forever Family seven years ago. As a professional working (certified, no less) service dog, I’m used to going wherever my MommaHuman goes.
But all of that pales to the whirlwind of the last three weeks when my two bipeds met up with their old biped friends and the adventures of WASU and B&B ensued.
Now, I’m all for new park stops with so many scents and sights to behold. I can never get enough pee poles, trees, and shrubs — and oh, the scents of new critters big and small will never bore me. So when I discovered each stop in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina would bring me to a new adventure from my 18-inch perspective, I was ecstatic! Ah, the chance to take my expected sunrise stroll, and my afternoon chewy bone was all I needed in these new places. Some even had BIG Dogs taller thanBubbaBiped, as our Savannah campground showed me.
But I found myself being hauled in and out of their big black trucks no less than four or more times a day.
Less than a day after we met up, I thought I had seen it all, but this new terrain was a completely new experience. They called it “Beach,” and I later learned that I would have to traipse through this powdered sugar two more times before this trip was up. There was hardly a piece of grass to pee on. MommaHuman had all my usual blankets and bowls, but I preferred the shade under the chairs if I could squeeze myself under one. That sweet Bonnie Biped was pretty nice to share her umbrella. That made up for this tough tour of sitting and sleeping.
That wouldn’t be so bad, but the next day… a pontoon boat… all day?! What is it with these guys that whenever they get together they have a need to find a small raft that floats down a river? Didn’t we do this in Idaho and Colorado? Well, Bonnie Biped really was doing her best to win me over, lending me her umbrella to keep me cool!
My Bipeders had a great time, though, as you can see by these pics (as Bonnie Biped always says, click on the pic for a bigger version):
And I hate fire, but they seem to love hanging around a campfire with those cocktail things handy. I don’t get it, but thankfully MommaHuman is willing to be my comfort animal.
Funny story, and speaking of this particular friend, she really proved her “move-it” chops on a typical shopping day. I was doing my usual “ignore the world, stand by your woman” routine in a store while she and MommaHuman browsed around, when her phone rang and off she ran to grab the reservation at the busy restaurant across the street, evidently forgetting her lovely slow stride I’m more in-tuned to follow. Before I knew it, MommaHuman was charging behind her with me in tow, in a rainy deluge of grand proportions, no less. I was so shocked I even forgot to put on my “terrified of the thunder” act until they all sat down and I gathered my wits under the table. I sat with my typical frozen stare as they, not minding me too much, laughed and ate and drank the evening away. Oh well, that is my typical “day in the life of a…” well, you get it, right? Seems that if she’s going for a reservation, a grand picture opportunity, or a “Beach” shell, she can get as excited as I can when I hear “”Walk” or “Boney Time.” We think alike and have become great pals!
For the rest of the trip, I was happy to follow along, business as usual. “Beach” was getting easier to deal with:
The on and off Trolleys and Charleston Carriage Ride were a so-so, doing my job sort of thing. I didn’t even mind the Big Big Boat – the Georgia Queen on the Savannah River — but my companions were all pretty excited about that one. Bonnie Biped did another grand sprint for her stupendous picture-taking of a cargo ship chugging by.
If you’d like to see the sights of Savannah, Georgia ,from our trolley ride through my eyes, take a look at this slide show:
And though I was a little worried about getting stepped on in the carriage in Charleston (none of my Humans had very much leg room), they seemed pretty excited by what they saw, as Bonnie Biped was snapping pictures constantly. There’s a pic of MammaHuman if front of a house that may have belonged to one of her ancestors, and the USS Yorktown moored in Charleston Harbor! And they dragged me on a boat ride to Fort Sumter, which seemed to be pretty significant to Humans. Check out the pics below.
My humans even squeezed in one more of those “Beach” days (heavy sigh) to round out our trip together, and hopefully the rainbow cloud is a good omen for us to repeat this gathering.
I must say, even with all the busy days during these three weeks, I was content to see how happy and relaxed my MommaHuman was. When she’s happy, my work is so much easier. I’m usually pretty nervous when DadHuman isn’t around, but when the Boy Bipeds went fishing one day, I watched over the girls while they painted and visited. That kind of day of work never gets old.
One more adventure under my vest.
Signed,
Diego the Adventure Hearing Dog
