Travels of Jackie and Randy: On the road with Shorty June 11, 2013

When we went to see Mom we asked a neighbor to check on our cat Missy and took the dogs with us. We put the back seat down in the Jeep and put a couple of kennels back there where we could tuck the dogs when we stopped for food, but most of the time they were with us. Here's the thing about traveling from Hilton Head Island to central Illinois - it takes about 2 days on the road, each way. That's a long time sittin'. Julienne is a great little traveler because she knows the drill: sit down, look out the window awhile, get bored, and go to sleep on my lap. Shorty, on the other hand, thought we had lost our minds. Living in an RV is fine but now, apparently, we had abandoned the RV, along with his sister Missy, and decided to live in a Jeep. As far as he could tell we were never going back. The first day he had so much energy and confusion that he just kept bouncing around. Julienne woke up and wrestled with him several times, which helped, but it was still a long day. The motel was odd to him, and then the next day it started all over again. That second day he started growling at us a little - he just couldn't believe we weren't smart enough to go home. Near the end of the day he gave up trying to reason with us, crawled up on the luggage and pillow in the back, and waited for something to happen.

When we got our destination Shorty decided it was OK because Randy took both dogs with him to Theresa and Tomm's house. They have 2 cute little dogs and a fenced-in back yard - a perfect combination. And one of their dogs is a perpetual motion machine who could actually out-last Shorty. So they all had a great time while I was staying with my Mom.

When we left to go back to Hilton Head Island a few days later, Shorty seemed to understand that the car was a temporary situation and didn't growl anymore. He even settled down long enough to nap. His idea of napping is sitting on top of Julienne . . .

. . . sometimes literally on her head. She just slept through it all. She's a pretty good sister to him.

When we got home life went back to normal. Randy had found another Nylabone, so now they each have one to guard carefully against each other's thieving habits.