Our beloved Smokey passed on back in Nevada and, like Jacob buried his beloved Rachel along the road as he traveled (which we happened to be studying at the time of said passing) we buried her beside the road in the desert. That left us with Patches and Chino and still no good solution for them while we travel into Canada. We looked into every option we could think of or Google. Nothing was going to work except to not go to Canada. We have friends we want to see there so it didn’t really feel like going into Alberta was a negotiable item on our itinerary. Debbie and Scott to the rescue!!
I could give you the really long story of how this all came about, and I think I will. We had just pulled in to our site at Diamond Lake RV Park near Crater Lake and sat down in the shade to enjoy the company of Mike and Crissa Boyink, our fellow full-time family friends. As we got to chatting about our upcoming plans the subject of our fruitless attempts to find refuge for the ratties came up and Mike said, “The couple we were talking with this morning likes rats. They used to do rescues. They just left this morning.”
“Um, you wouldn’t happen to have gotten an email address for them?”
“No. Wait! ‘Great Escape from New Jersey’ is their blog.”
“I know that one! Two English Setters? Blog address is on the back of their rig? They were at Dead Horse Ranch same time as us?”
“YES!”
And suddenly I was feeling all hopeful. The sky got all sunny and I think I saw a unicorn prance through the neighbors' campsite.
I emailed Debbie almost immediately but first I lurked on her blog to see where they were and for how long. They were going to be in Port Townsend the same time as us AND in Montana right around the time we would be coming out of Canada. I told Kevin and he said, “If this works I shall call it The Immaculate Reception.”
So I could make a long story even longer, but since I have no photos to hold your interest visually I shall wrap it up. Debbie and her husband Scott so graciously agreed to help us out and we passed off our little rodent girls along with two bags of bedding and rat chow in Port Townsend and it was a lot like handing a key to Julie, our pet sitter back home and knowing I can go have fun and not be concerned about the critters. This is a blessing in a big way.
Nice happenings and people have followed us everywhere we go this year. God has covered every need we have and most of the wants as well. He blesses us beyond measure and He usually uses strangers to do it. And the great thing about that is that they are “strangers” no more. Our circle of friends keeps widening. When this year is over I think we will look back and remember the people just as fondly as the places, if not more so.
-Jenni
P.S. Debbie and Scott are animal lovers and their blog is pretty cool (click here). Debbie sells some great handmade goodies and donates the proceeds to charity. She also posts campground and other reviews for those of you contemplating the full-time life.