Relaxing Trip

Well, I'm sitting in a motel room six hours away from home, yet still in the state of Maine. To give you an idea how far north I live, I travel along the Northern Maine and Southern Canadian border every morning to get to work, and of course, back home. During the driest times of the summer, or when the ice on the river is solid enough, you could walk across to Canada. I wouldn't try it, though, that would be considered an illegal entry and you'd get in lots of trouble. Anyhow, in spite of the fact that I live in a beautiful area, we are far from the beaten path, so-to-speak, than if we lived along the I-95.

To get to Portland, which is where I am right now, I have to travel two hours, or 1-1/2 depending which route I take, to get to the Maine portion of the I-95. I then have to drive over 1-1/2 hours to get to Bangor, and another couple of hours to get to Portland. However, considering how long my drive was today, I had a relaxing and enjoyable trip. I left home around 7:30 this morning, which is late by my standards, and arrived in Bangor in time to have lunch with my sister. After an hour there, I headed on down to South Portland, and with the help of my father-in-law's GPS, found my motel the first time around. This is unlike the last time I came to the same motel when I ended up a few miles down the road from where I should have been, on a side road headed to God-knows-where. Only when I stopped and asked a safe-looking man in a parking lot of some industrial area where my motel was, did I eventually end up at the right place.

Anyhow, I found my motel before 3:30 PM and even had time for an hour nap. I've always enjoyed the pleasure of sitting alone in a restaurant reading, and I got to do that today. It was relaxing and exciting at the same time. I don't know how to explain it, but it was freeing being someone no one knows, in a city I've only been in perhaps 3 times before, and eating alone in a restaurant reading by myself, alone. It had a mysterious and romantic feel to it. Kind of like being a lone traveler in a foreign country.

I began reading Dewey by Vickie Myron and am already half way done the book. I love being able to just sit in a comfortable chair (a recliner at that!) and read. I can't remember the last time I stayed in a motel alone and just read. I brought nail polish and all my other nail equipment to give myself a pedicure and manicure, but have decided not to bother. I haven't turned the TV on since I've come back from supper. The only other time I turned it on was when I took a nap. Shopping doesn't even interest me (Perhaps I'm sick!). Instead, I've sat in my pj's, grabbed a soda, turned on the lamp, and read, and read, and read. Of course, now I'm not. I'm taking a little break and writing this post instead. I guess I'm trying to capture the moment of this peace.

Considering yesterday's posting about my now passed-on dog, Sandy, and having watched the movie, Marley & Me, this book is only setting me up for an emotional ending. I just know it. One of my students read the book for a book project for my class, and she loved it. She also, accidentally, told me the ending, too. I won't do that to you. All I'll say is it's a page-turner and heartwarming.

As enjoyable as today was, tomorrow may be different. My reason for this trip is a workshop, which I'm looking forward to. However, the 6-hour long ride home, almost non-stop, will be not as relaxing. My workshop ends around 3 PM, which means that, with minimal stops, I should be getting home around 9 tomorrow night, then getting ready for school on Tuesday. I'm exhausting myself already!

Saving "Baron"

This past Saturday, Hubby and I decided to take a little trip with the kids around the valley were we live. We packed up the boys and headed out. The boys and I had been on our school vacation, so we enjoyed a day out of the house, different from what we’ve been doing all week. We didn’t realize what kind of interesting twist our trip would take as we started off.

We turned from the side road we’d been traveling on and onto the main road when we saw a husky walking along the shoulder with a broken chain. He looked very much like the dogs we used to have a few years back. We used to have several huskies, a white female named Kate, a couple of black and white ones, and one who was white and red named Baron. We had to find homes for them because we didn’t have the time to give to them any more, plus Hubby changed jobs and the bulk of the responsibility was left on me. Especially later on when Kate had a litter of 8 puppies. Well, this dog we saw on the side of the road looked very much like he (or she) could have been one of Kate’s pups.

Hubby, always the good Samaritan, and lover of animals, decided to pick up the dog so it wouldn’t get bumped, and try to find out where he lives. He backed up his truck to the intersection where we had just turned out from to meet up with the dog. He jumped out and grabbed the dog’s leash, calling him Baron. The dog was friendly and really sweet. He jumped in the truck without hesitation and tried to get in the front with us, but I held his collar and kept him on the floor between the boy’s feet. My hand and sleeve of my leather jacket was beginning to get all wet from the snow and ice on him. We drove about a quarter mile down the road where the dog was coming from and Hubby went in to ask if they knew who owned the dog.

While he was in the store, “Baron” continued to sniff out his new surroundings. His fir was clumped together all over his back with crusty, icy snow. Because of the warmth of the truck, the ice was melting off and creating a muddy, wet mess all over the truck. He had a kind of wet-dog-smell, but it wasn’t a stink, rather it smelled more like he had been to the dog groomers recently, so the smell had a hint of shampoo to it.

Hubby came back into the truck laughing. I asked him if they knew where the dog lived. He told me that where we had picked him up was right across the street from where he lived. He was on his way home. Apparently “Baron” makes a habit of taking a walk every once in a while to visit those who live in his domain, and then heads back home when he’s finished. We kind of laughed the rest of the morning about it. Here we were, trying to do the right thing and help out a dog and his family, only to “kidnap” him just as he was only a few steps from his home.

Will we do things differently next time? Probably, by checking the homes around where we find him might be a good step. The funny thing is that we never even thought about the trailer across the street. In fact, we had forgotten that it was even there! At least the end result was that “Baron” ended up home, safe and sound and we had something to laugh about and a story to tell our families.