All of the owners of the dogs we thought we were bringing back to Texas cancelled on us. The person that we brought Xander, our precious Doberman to, called and asked if we could take a six month old Doberman to Massachusetts. This was where things got interesting, and the trip became much longer. We left Naples that morning with Lincoln, the Doberman,whose ears had been clipped and taped and drove through the Everglades to Davie, Florida which is right outside of Ft. Lauderdale. This was where we picked up Dutch, a poodle, who was only with us for several hours. We dropped him off near Frostproof, Florida. Along the way we passed Lake Okeechobee from the song “Seminole Wind.” There was more heavy rain and some really scary clouds. We had to stop for about 30 minutes because of a wreck with a jack-knifed 18 wheeler. We also had been seeing lots of orange trees, although very few had oranges on them.

We stopped at a gas station to take a short break and get some gas. When my daughter did this, she opened the back hatch to let the dogs see out and to get some fresh air. A car pulled up to the pump next to us and a gentleman got out of the car. He said: “Hello, Ladies” to me and my granddaughter. We responded to him with a friendly hello. He proceeded to explain to us that he and his wife were having a disagreement, and he would like us to solve it for them. I said if I could I’d be happy to do so. Then he told us that his wife insisted that we had a goat in the car. All three of us, started laughing hysterically. When I finally regained my composure enough to talk, I explained that it was a Doberman with his ears taped up. So he went back to the window of his car and told his wife that it was a dog with its ears taped up. As he walked by us, I told him that if it was alright with him, I was going to have to put this on my blog. He said it was ok, and we both started laughing again.

My daughter came back, who had missed all the fun, and we started driving to Ocala to pick up Bia, a bulldog. The poor thing was terrified. We got all the way to Valdosta, Georgia and she still was shaking. We picked her up and carried her into the hotel, where she just stood there shaking. While my daughter took Lincoln out for a walk, I patted her and tried to give her food and water. Eventually, she drank a little water and ate a little food but not for quite a while. Then we put Lincoln into the crate for the night, and Bia slept with my daughter. She was only comfortable under the covers and with her head on my daughter’s arm.