White Dog Camping….and other forgotten notes.

Posted as I think of them....

Lindsey has been a dream dog on this trip. We have been on the road over a month. Never in one place over 4 nights. She is quite happy with our routine in fact I think she may like the traveling days best as she gets to spend most of her time on my lap. This is a far cry from a year ago when she was a nervous wreck and would get all sick. Today we are near Homer in the small town of Ninilchik. We are drying out from Seward our wettest destination so far so between her rain parka & her fowl weather mutlucks, she was set but she is not too crazy about either especially at the same time. Bathing and grooming is another issue. I bathed her after week 2 but white is not the best color for a road dog. Today she got her second bath. It was fairly warm, 55 degrees. The outside temps have been in the 40's so I took my best shot. It will be a while before I can get her groomed & clipped because in these little towns, if they even have a groomer they have never seen a Bichon Frize let alone clipped one. No great shakes. We will see what she looks like as a long hair. She may end up looking like a toy sheep dog! The best thing to happen to this dog was the addition of pumpkin to her daily diet. She gets 4 fingers full every morning before breakfast (that’s for an 11 lb. dog) and we have no more upset tummy! It really works. She gets a light breakfast and she is good till dinner even driving over the roughest roads. So much for those folks who say, “Don’t feed your dog before a car ride.” it’s just a bunch of horse feathers! Lindsey is a great traveler now at age 2 1/2 and is loving this trip with all the new sniffs at every stop.

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In Canada both in Alberta & the Yukon they have a new way of keeping their grocery carts from wondering all over the parking lot. We first encountered this at a Safeway store after leaving the Jasper area and then again at a Wal-Mart farther up the Alaskan Hwy. There is a coin operated chain system that is on each cart and works this way; you insert a coin to release the shopping cart. Then when you leave the store you return the cart to the proper area and attaché it to the line of other carts with this chain that has a key on the end. They attach each to the next like the luggage carts at the airport. When you insert the key into the back of the device your coin is returned to you. Their shopping carts are corralled and you have spent no money. It is pretty smart. Safeway costs a quarter and at Wal-Mart you have to invest a “Lunie” AKA a dollar coin.

In Canada they have “Lunies” that are a dollar and “Tunies” that are 2 dollars. Their folding money is big & thick. I call it ‘Pink Money.” Bill calls it “Play Money.”

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Here is one for you……S.A.D. A clinical condition I had never heard of. It’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you watch ‘Men in Trees’ you may have heard of it but up here it is apparently quite a common affliction that people get from not getting enough sunshine in the winter time. Yes, really! It’s like depression from not enough vitamin D sort of Cabin Fever treated with artificial sunlight, tanning booth (if they have them) sun lamps, vitamins etc.

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We have noticed RV’s up here in Alaska as we move around the countryside and the differences are these;