10,499 miles

Wow. That's a lot of miles for a Sammy dog. Makes my head spin.

Today, Dad said let's go East for a while and then go back across the Cascades for fun. So we had fun. Great scenery, where Canada Highway 3 winds through the Skagit river valley with mountains and orchard land and wineries. Then the terrain became high desert again. One valley over, another ecosystem.

We crossed the border at the smallest possible border crossing, even smaller than Hyder Alaska. The man came out and said, "How did you folks find your way here?" For the final time at a border crossing, no one cared about my health papers or our food in the frig. Just "are you guys bringing anything back? Where ya going next?" I slept through the whole thing.

We are tonight barely back in the USA in Oroville, WA,otherwise known as nowhere. The lady running our RV park turned out to be a dog hater. She gave Dad an ALL CAPS MEMO OF DOG RULES. IT EXPLAINED HOW NOT EVERYONE LIKES DOGS AND HOW LONG MY LEASH WAS TO BE AND WHERE I COULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE MY WALKS. Guess who is number one on the list of people who don't like dogs? I wonder? Tonight, I am lying outside, calmly knawing on my t-bone, minding my own business like I always do. Here comes dragon lady in her little golf cart. She knocked on the RV door and told mom not to tie me to the tree. She said it's only two years old and won't take much to ruin it. Makes me want to potty on her front porch. Oh well. A person who hates dogs is an unhappy person, I always say. Almost everyone is happier than she is.

This morning, mom walked me around Harrison Lake to the source of the hot springs. Lovely walk, I must say, with geese parading down to the water and the hills across the lake a misty blue. On the way back, an elderly woman melted at me. I melted back at her, and she teared up over her poor little dog that is no longer with her. Her son said they were from Quebec. She spoke only French, not a word of English, but we communicated one soul to another. She rubbed my face, and I looked at her with adoration.

I have to say I can't tell the difference so far between Canada and the US. It definitely does not look like Texas yet. My trip is far from over, Mom says. She says I am going to stay with her cross country till around the first of September. That is one journey to remember, huh? I have so much to tell the dogs back home.