Our change of destination locked in, we set off for the Oregon coast at noon, hoping to make our target campsite by 430. Fortunately, thevheavy traffic Was all in the opposite direction from where I was going. It seems that innOregon, the only rush hours occur on weekends when people are trying to get out of town on Friday, and then have to head back into town on Sunday.
My Garmin, and Google Maps as well, sent me down some winding, hilly, dangerous back roads to get to the camp. But we made it, not at 4:30, but at five, which was close enough for me. We immediately set out to to walk to the beach, which we had to get to by way of a equally winding and hilly path through the thick brush on the dunes separating us from the beach and the ocean. But we made it. I sat down on a washed-up log hoping to draw some inspiration from the majestic scene in front of me, but Donner changed those plans as soon as he saw a dog 200 feet away. Giving in, I strolled in the direction of the dog so bad Diipnner could do his thing with her, and he did.
Incidentally, the perceptive among the readers of this blog will notice that there seems to be a heavy slant towards Donner and his penchant for wanting to meet other dogs. If so, you would be right in your observation. As I wrote earlier way back on the blog, the primary goal (of a total if 31) of this trip is to make up for Donner's trip back in 2016 to the Arctic. . You see, after I adopted him, I discovered that he was a very reactive dog when he saw other dogs. Not knowing how to cure this myself, I hired a dog psychologist and a dog trainer to help me. Both of them told me that Donner would never play with another dog in his life and advised me to get used to that. The trainer recommended putting him on one of those pincher collars and an electronic collar. The shrink recommended that I put him on Prozac. So, for Donner's journey to the Arctic in 2016, I followed all those recommendations and kept them away from other dogs. That continued until early this year when I had to rescue a neighbor's dog that had been left in his apartment for three days after the owner was hospitalized. When I brought the dog to my place, Donner got along just fine with her. So, the purpose of this trip is to make sure that I make up for his deprivation on the 2016 trip, and, thanks to the cooperation of so many other dog guardians, I have more than made up for this first years with me, especially in Oregon where are owning a dog seems to be as popular as owning a pair of shoes. The reason, I figured, he reacted the way he did before was because his first four years were spent tied up in several backyards in Los Angeles and he developed the habit of reacting ambitiously when he saw a dog come near his yard, not intending aggression, but just that he wanted to play with them. So, to all you dog psychologist and trainers, Caesar Milan and Chris from Pet-smart excepted, the only way to know what is going on in a dog's mind this to be a dog yourself.
The camp we are in now is simply wonderful. After my usual dinner tonight, I sat quietly outside in the silent darkness listening to the sounds of the ocean behind me, and staring up at the heavens filled with millions of stars. The temperature is so pleasant that I think I will return to my summer sleeping bag tonight.
Tomorrow, for the first time in more than three weeks, we head south down the coast, eventually to San Francisco, which I hope to reach by Thursday. Somewhere along the way I hope to find a dog groomer to help me put Donner in decent shape for his official portrait Friday. He is beginning to smell like, well, a dog. God only knows what he says to all his new friends about me.
I am reluctant to talk about the Defender so that I don't jinx it, but it is holding up marvelously. I thought this morning I detected it skipping a beat every now and then, but that seemed to cure itself. Again, if something does come up with it, I have a contingency plan.
Ed and Don from the Oregon coast side the 32
