For The Love of a Dog

To what extremes have you gone for your dog....or cat?  Have you had to clean up disgusting messes?  Have you walked them in rain, snow, sleet, wind, heat and cold?  Have you paid ridiculously expensive vet bills?  Have you swept up piles of fur rolling along on your floors and brushed it off your furniture?  Have you battled fleas and ticks?  The answer to these questions is probably yes, if you own a dog or a cat.  BUT....have you spent 7 days in a car driving 3,000 miles so they can spend the summer with you at the shore?   Didn't think so.

"You talkin' bout me?" 

As you may or may not recall, last year and the year before, getting our dog to the shore presented a bit of a challenge.  There were planes, automobiles, hurricanes, many days of travel and lots of money involved in getting the dog to the shore.  Oh, we missed those years of living in Toronto and being a mere two day drive to the shore!  After weighing all the options we decided our best option this year is just to drive all the way to Nova Scotia....for the love of a dog. 

We used to make this drive every year with our kids because we were too poor to fly everyone up there and then rent a car for 6 weeks...makes sense.  We were usually babbling idiots by the time we arrived at the shore but it was always worth the drive.  Once the kids were gone and we had a little cash in the bank we flew, it was luxurious after all those years of driving.  Well, I can't believe I am back in the car all because of a dog.  To say I am not looking forward to all those hours in the car would be an understatement. There are some people who love to drive for days on end, I am not one of them.  Just get me there already! 

I will have some co-pilots on the trip though.  Marathon Girl has offered to help with the driving and her mother is also coming along for the trip.  We are going to try to make this an adventure, oh, it will be an adventure alright!  So, as I pack 3 months of stuff in two...or more suitcases and clean my house and organize my life down here, I pray that we have smooth travels.  I can feel my hair turning gray(er) already!

I am sure this will make for at least one amusing post upon arrival!  Stay tuned for the Canadian part of the Chronicles.