two out of three

It was an early morning for us today. We bolted for the trailer but made a quick stop to pick up some breakfast on the way. We hopped into the rig and settled in for breakfast while I geeked out on the net for a bit. Scottish oatmeal with assorted fresh berries, best meal of the day. Cleaned up, put everything away, and hooked the trailer to the truck and off to the tire shop. I realized it had been over six months since I pulled it out and was excited to show it off to the world regardless of how dirty and dusty it was. Yes, I'm aware of how that read. Deal with it. The drive there was a little sketchy for me because the tires were low on air, old, and I was expecting them to blow out at any given moment. I obviously read one too many internet horror stories about cheap Chinese tires. The fear never came to fruition and we arrived without incident. It was about an hour before my turn came up, but they were finished in a fraction of the time spent waiting. Had it not been for the squeaks and creaks I wouldn't have known I was pulling anything. The drive back was a lot more fun. I was dreading this last part. I had to park into it's space alone. The first and last time I had help from the manager. My space is sandwiched between a fence, a tree, and a storage building. I'm not complaining because it's cheap, only $40 per month before taxes. I nailed it in the first try! I guess I was still riding high on all the good vibes from the drive in. I unhitched, put everything away, and locked up. The Haven has new shoes. Done! At least until tomorrow morning. I really need to wash my rig and will be pulling it out again for a bath. Yup, went there again.

Look pa, no feet!

Maxxis creamy goodness

Parking went off with a hitch

Speaking of shoes, Bridgette's replacements arrived yesterday. I gotta say I'm really dissappointed with the Ruffwear people now. Her new shoes fit, kind of. They were perfect around her paws but were too short so they kept slipping off. The velcro straps had to be tightened to the point of extreme discomfort making them moot. I called customer service about and they informed me that there's nothing they can do about it. The representative offered to check their stock for a pair like her old ones. He took my number and said he'd call me back in a half hour. He didn't. I'm going to follow up with them on Monday about that. Before I do I'm going to email them a slew of pictures of her wearing them on our various trips and hikes over the last eight years and remind them that I've been evangelizing their products over all these years. I'm hoping to garner a more customer service oriented type of response from them. If they don't have an unsold pair of the old models in stock, maybe they'll crank out the Grip Trex in her size. I get that most of you might be thinking she's just a dog and why does she need them. You ever use something that you didn't know you needed until you used it. That's how this is. I can't tell you how many times they've saved her and me a lot of grief. Thorns, the chemical used on sidewalks/roads during snow season, ice, hot pavement, stickers, cactus needles, sticky clay/mud, and or sharp rocks. They're also best when hiking into unknown territory where you don't think twice about the ground because you're wearing shoes. I watched a guy carrying his sixty pound dog back because the poor things paws were bleeding from running over a bunch of stickers on the ground. Anyways I won't take it personal if you don't wish me good luck on this endeavour, but will appreciate it greatly if you do.

I got my new shoes and they fit perfectly. I'm holding off on using them now as a sign of solidarity for the beagle. So yeah, two out of three ain't bad.