Stella and the Injured Puppy

January 2, 2016

Okay, we got the truck. We got our new South Dakota Driver’s Licenses. Time to pick up our new home and start our adventure! Larry got to pick out the truck’s name so I wanted to christen the 5^th Wheel. Our new travel cards, truck license plate, e-mail and blog were all going to be some version of Lucky Stars so I wanted something celestial. I thought Stella was perfect. Plus… Marlon Brando!

Ringing in the New Year with family was a bittersweet event. I was exciting about the future but wondering how I would make it without my daily hugs from my Grandkids. I knew missing them would be the hardest part of all this! I started EVERY SINGLE MORNING with a big hug from my sweet Delaney! She’s a morning person like me and was usually the first of them up. That last morning hug on January 1^st was difficult. I knew I’d hug her again but not like this. I spent most of the day just looking at all of them and randomly hugging who ever was near.

We had to be up early on the 2^nd so the plan was to get to bed early. What do they say about the best-laid plans? We’d been packing the stuff we had to transfer to the new rig in boxes so we could grab and go. We were still packing at 1 AM. Morning came fast. We were up before the sun, hitched up and said a tearful farewell to our very sleepy kids and Grandkids!

Despite my paranoia that we’d crash and destroy our down payment, the 2-hour drive to the RV Dealership was uneventful. Wish I could’ve said the same for picking up the rig. We had more papers to sign and no one knew where the keys to our new home were. It took a while but we finally got all that taken care of and got a little tour and tutorial of how things work. Along with the keys the sales person handed me an envelope with a $40 gift certificate to their RV store. I went to the little store to browse, the dogs got comfortable on the new couch and Larry started transferring boxes from our old rig to the new one. 

I found out for $40 I could buy a wraparound step cover for 1 and 1/3 of the 4 steps leading up to the rig. We decided to go ahead and buy the other 2 and 2/3 as well. I wanted to install them right away but Larry wanted to get everything in first. Guess who won? Guess who should’ve been more insistant?

We were hoping to finish packing in time to take off for Carson City, NV. We had tentative reservations at The Silver City RV Park there. By 4 PM we were pretty sure we weren’t going to make it. The dealership said they had a spot with full hookups so we could spend the night there for free. We took them up on the offer and continued packing. At 7 PM we ordered a pizza. I started to explain to the guy where I wanted it delivered. He told me they delivered there all the time and knew where it was. I guess we weren’t the first to underestimate our ability to pack up a new RV.

We ate. We packed. We decided enough was enough. It was late, so I decided to take the dogs out for one more potty trip before going to bed. Dachshunds aren’t supposed to go up and down stairs so I try to carry them down. I got Jackson down and turned around to get Jenny. I think she thought I was going to leave her there because she took the steps on her own. She made it to the last step then fell off! I freaked. I thought she’d hurt her back but she recouped quick and started walking to the place I’d been taking them to pee. It was on the trip back that she started limping and I noticed the blood. I picked her up and realized one of her nails was completely gone and another one was a shredded mess. Her poor little paw was all bloody!

The steps of the trailer have little holes in them just big enough for a dog’s claw. I knew I should have insisted that we put the step covers on! I bandaged her up and tried to make her comfortable. I told Larry when we got to Carson City, NV the next day the first thing we were going to do was find a vet!