Day 64 – Elkhart, Indiana

You may recall that I said something yesterday about staying in the air conditioning most of the day today.  Well, I was right, but not the way I thought it would be!  I had a pretty short walk with Don this morning, after which he put me right into the truck.  Geri joined us, and we were off down the road . . . to a grooming for me!  I had almost given up hope of ever being bathed and groomed again; they had been trying to line something up for me since we were in New Hampshire, but it never worked out.  So, today I got my Spa Day in a very nice establishment not far from the RV Park, in cool air and warm water, after a very well done trim on my whole carcass.  The people there were very pleasant, and complimented me on my warm and friendly disposition. 

While I was engaged at the Spa, apparently Geri and Don were making the final arrangements for the tire installation tomorrow morning.  Don says that it went well, and they expect to be out of the tire shop and on the road early tomorrow afternoon.  After their tire shop visit, they found their way to the new RV and Motorhome Museum, which had been under construction the last time they visited Elkhart.  They say it was really impressive, a lovely building with excellent facilities and great displays.  There were RV’s from as early as 1913, not much more than a trailer that contained a table and benches that converted into a bed.  Don was particularly impressed with the GMC motorhome of the mid-1970’s, which he thought was really well designed and possessed a lot of the features that are found in today’s coaches.  He also liked the “Car Home” that was built for an actress named Mae West, from the 1930’s; I got the feeling that he was impressed with her talents.  Geri thought that most of the beds looked really uncomfortable.  Don insisted that Geri take a photo of him embracing a cutaway model of the engine that we have in our coach, the Cummins ISC; she thought it a bit ridiculous, but went along with him, anyway.

When they left the museum, they came directly to my spa to pick me up, and were very pleased with the way I looked (and smelled).  I didn’t know, but Geri had discovered that I had developed another thing called a hematoma in my right ear flap; I’d had one on the left side a year or so ago, and they had gotten it drained and treated by my Vet in Ventura.  They decided to get immediate treatment for it at a local Veterinarian, and we wound up in the Animal Care Center – North Vet Clinic in Elkhart.  The people there were extremely pleasant and friendly, and the air conditioning was wonderful!  My Vet was a lady, Dr. Wallace, and she was very sweet and gentle with me.  After my treatment was finished, she told me that I was the nicest patient she had all day! 

Back at the coach, Geri and Don got some chores done, in preparation for an early departure tomorrow morning.  Geri took me for a nice outing when the evening cooled off, and Don and I worked on the blog.  There wasn’t much in the way of dinner tonight; I got a confession from Geri that they had gone to a Bob Evans restaurant for a late breakfast, and had absolutely pigged out on some of their favorite breakfast treats.  They were obviously trying to atone for this.  So I have to suffer with no plates to clean up?  A Dog’s Life, that’s what it is.  Tire and Travel Day tomorrow; I’ll let you know how it goes!