If you’re just joining us, catch up on Chapter 1 before Day 2 of our Flagstaff KOA new friends adventure begins.
A Slow, Cold Morning
Well good morning! It is day 2 in Flagstaff and we are a tad bit cold. Slept great except for Max jumping up on the bed several times throughout the night, he must have been cold too. A lazy relaxing morning. Tracey took the dogs outside for their morning business and it didn’t take 30 seconds and they were barking at something 🙁 I could hear Tracey saying “shhh, quiet, no barking, hey, no one wants to listen to that” all in his gentle hushed voice. They only barked a few more times so it worked I guess.
The Scoop Mystery
As I begin getting together some breakfast for Tracey and I, coffee for Tracey and tea for me, Tracey mixes up the dogs’ food. Long story, but Zeus has to eat special food and a prescription powder has to be mixed in the food. You see his pancreas doesn’t work and he can’t get nutrients from his food unless we do this.
Tracey is opening cabinets and drawers obviously looking for something. He doesn’t say anything, he is a guy. So I ask, “hey hon whatcha looking for?” “The scoop.” Hmmm, guess we forgot that, but there should be some measuring cups in the drawer we can use, so I get up and start looking for them. We find the measuring cup, but as we do we realize if we don’t have the scoop does that mean we don’t have the medicine???? Uh oh.
A Plan for the Medicine
Well, Zeus will have to eat food without the medicine this morning while we figure out what to do. There is no way Zeus will go without food while we figure it out. So Tracey mixes up the food minus the meds, and sits it on the counter to wait. You see once we mix in the medicine the food has to sit for 20 minutes before Zeus can eat it, we make Max wait too, as it would not be fair to feed him while Zeus watches. So the dogs lay patiently by our feet waiting their 20 minutes while we eat some breakfast and drink our tea and coffee. Buzzer goes off and Tracey puts the food bowls on the floor.
We think we have a plan for getting the medicine since it is a prescription we cannot buy it in a store. Thank goodness for family and amazing friends. Tracey’s dad goes to our house (remember we left him with a garage remote) and sits the medicine outside the front door. My amazing friend Jill goes to my house and picks up the medicine and will bring it to Flagstaff with her this evening. Her girls are competing this weekend along with Miss C. Yay for Jill.
Max Won’t Eat
At this point we realize Max is not eating, so Tracey attempts to get Max to eat his food. Occasionally he does this, don’t know why, he is not a very good traveler. We keep thinking the more he goes with us the better he will be, not so far.
So Tracey pets Max and speaks lovingly to him and finally pulls up the footstool near Max’s bowl. Max takes a few bites. Tracey, still trying to sweet talk him into eating, now notices that Zeus has stopped eating. What is up with these pooches this morning?
Knowing that sometimes because of the special food Zeus’ food sticks to the bowl, Tracey gets up and uses a spoon to loosen the food, at which time Zeus returns and finishes eating. Max on the other hand is now laying at my feet away from his food bowl. Tracey gives up and begins to put the bark collars on the dogs. We are heading out for a morning walk and don’t want to disturb the neighbors. We each have a remote in hand as these are training collars, and a bag for any business we need to dispose of.
Semper Fi
We aren’t 5 steps outside the RV and a man’s voice says, “Semper Fi Marine,” to which Tracey replies “Semper Fi Devil Dog.” I glance at the RV next to us, there is a couple sitting outside in chairs with two cute dogs at their feet. The gentleman has a Marine veteran hat on. There is just an amazing brotherhood among veterans, I can’t explain, you have to witness it.
We continue our walk, and before we clear the end of our row, both dogs have completed their business! I ask Zeus, as he is the first, “really buddy you couldn’t wait another minute.” Why do we talk to our dogs? Do they understand us? Do we expect answers LOL.
A Walk in the Pines
Well, not stopping our enjoyment of the wonderful weather and scenery, we head on towards the fenced in walking trail. As we enter the trail Tracey is commenting he is wondering how the neighbor knew he was a Marine. Did he see the license plate on the RV? Did he see the Navy medallion and assume? As he speaks the last statement he looks down, he is wearing a Marine T-shirt!! Guess that is how he knew 🙂 Here’s your sign! The trail is not that long and makes a loop, along the way there are informational signs about plants and animals native to the area. We enjoy our walk and the fresh air.
We return to the RV, pleased with the dogs as they were both very well behaved and no barking. I take the dogs inside and Tracey heads to the trash can just out front of our RV near the street. As I realize it is taking a longer than it should amount of time for him to come inside, I hear voices. Yep you guessed it, Tracey is next door making new friends.
Getting to Know Dan and Nancy
Tracey says:
“Yep, I stopped next door and introduced myself to the Marine. We talked about our times in the Corps, what we did, where we went. My new friend Dan served as infantry in Vietnam in 1969-1970. We reminisced about Camp Hansen in Okinawa Japan. Although there at different times, we had similar memories. Even though I have experiences and memories of my time in Panama, it still doesn’t compare to what I know and perceive about Vietnam. It doesn’t take long for me to realize Dan is my brother from another mother. We talk family, jobs, politics, and life in general. After a short while we realize we don’t live far from each other and enjoy many of the same things. One of which is exactly what we are doing right now, camping.”
A New Friendship with Nancy
Back inside the RV I have realized Tracey isn’t coming in any time soon, so I clean up, make the bed and take my shower. Even then Tracey is not back. I question whether I should go next door and apologize for my kid, I mean my hubby, talking their ears off, haha.
I walk outside and round the front of our RV and our neighbor (who I now know is Nancy) says “hi Donna, I feel like I know you already.” As I walk towards Dan and Nancy I comment “ooo I am not sure if that is good or bad,” and as we all chuckle I reach out and shake their hands. We all sit next to their RV getting to know each other as it begins to rain, just a light sprinkle. Dan whips out his remote and pushes a button and sends his awning to the out position so we don’t get wet. (Don’t ya just love buttons.) We continue to talk, and are now discussing camping and RVs. Dan asks for a tour of the outside of ours since he and Tracey were already talking details. The 4 of us walk around the RV as Tracey opens each under compartment and he and Dan discuss it. We offer them an inside tour, so I go in first in an effort to calm the dogs. Yeah right, like I can do that. Tracey continues his tour, showing proudly our RV and why we love it.
As we exit the RV, Nancy and I have a moment by ourselves and realize we have many similarities. Some not so good (divorce and ex’s), some good (grandkids, a great man, building businesses). We continue back under their awning, it is no longer raining. We sit for another couple of hours just thoroughly enjoying our new friends.
Helping the New Neighbors
Nancy has gone inside and comes out with ice water for each of us. Guess she figures people who talk this much must be parched. We sit at the picnic table sipping our waters and still talking. As we are chatting, an RV is pulling down our row. We watch, cuz that is what we do, watch people. The new neighbors are having trouble turning into their assigned spot. The driver has stopped and is outside his RV evaluating his options, when Dan and Tracey head over to see if they can help.
It is a tight turn for a big RV and there is a tree very close on the right side. So the men have decided to unhook their tow vehicle, in order to be able to back the RV up and try to swing wider into the spot. Tracey has moved our jeep from in front of our RV to over in front of Dan and Nancy’s in order to provide our new neighbor with more room to swing wide. Dan jogs back our way to grab some tools (these Marines always have tools) and he and Tracey meet back to help new neighbor.
Safely Parked
New neighbor lady is in their tow vehicle and the guys are instructing her to put it in drive and try to move forward a tad to release the tension on the hitch. As she does that the men are using a mallet to pound out the hitch pins. Finally the pins come out and the hitch releases and falls to the ground. New neighbor lady parks the tow vehicle out of the way, and new neighbor man backs the RV up. He takes another swing at the spot only to end up way too close to the tree again. Once again he backs up and goes to try again when Tracey signals him to back up further and swing wider. With the help of Tracey and Dan guiding him, he is able to get safely and fully into his spot. New neighbors get situated and leveled, and move their vehicle to their spot.
Bill and Bonnie
The 4 of us return to our chatting, no we have not run out of things to say, when up walks Bill to thank the guys for their assistance and offer them a beer! It is 5 o’clock somewhere right! We all introduce ourselves and begin conversation with Bill, “Are you from New York?” (license plates on RV are) “Did you just drive here from New York?”
Now up walks Bill’s wife Bonnie, we make introductions all around and I remind Bonnie there is a test later! As everyone chuckles she repeats back each person’s name as she points to them. She got us all correct up until Nancy, where she hesitated. Nancy comments that since she was the first to say her name, she is the one Bonnie doesn’t remember.
We only get to chat a short while with all our new friends as it begins to rain, and not just a light sprinkle this time, oh yeah and it is cold! We say our goodbyes and head back to each our own RV.
Rain, Beer, and Old Friends
Tracey and I are sitting inside with the dogs listening to the lovely rain on the roof and the rolling thunder in the distance. We acknowledge how blessed we are, and what awesome people we just met.
We ventured out of the KOA and had dinner at one of our favorite places here in Flagstaff, Taverna. It was good as usual. We enjoyed the company of Joe and Peg as they are moving their youngest back up to NAU for her sophomore year. Then back to the dogs, out for a walk and in for the night as it is windy and cold! Good night all.
Up next: Lilah’s birthday, saying goodbye to Dan and Nancy, and Miss C’s competition, in Chapter 3.