Rosanne, Vanessa and I all arrived last night. Vanessa came a bit later from the airport. The drive was very long and very boring but there were some minor little things that stand out as interesting.
We stayed in Austin at a friend's house over the weekend. Went on a marathon hike which was pretty but Gusto burned almost every pad off his feet and is limping badly today. It doesn't look good for his first run tomorrow. Tomorrow is not the team event, it is a warm up run but it is still upsetting to think that I won't be able to run him. I have cut off all the blisters and soaked his feet in Epsom salt to help draw out the moisture and any bacteria. I plan to put stuff on each pad to protect them to see if he can run without limping. i won't actually know until tomorrow. We were going to train today inside but Drifter has diarrhea, Gusto has no pads and Vanessa's dog is soar from the flight and from some training before she left. So no training for us.
Some notable things along the trip on Route 10 in Texas: very long drive without seeing a human, a bathroom, a gas station. We really had to plan our stops because we were seriously in the middle of the desert. Part of this drive took us along the Mexican border near El Paso. You could see a huge Mexican flag very close to the highway. The actual border was very close to the road. You could tell which side was Mexican and which was the US purely by looking at the buildings. The US side was pretty typical - malls, business offices, chain restaurants. The Mexican side was mostly very poor looking.
When we finally arrived in New Mexico, we had to stop at a border patrol station. They didn't stop us but it was interesting as it was new for both Rosanne and me.
Upon arrival, we unpacked and waited for Vanessa. We were all hungry and needed to buy food and stock up on munchies so we went to Wal Mart. Try buying food and snacks etc for 3 people who all have their own tastes and their own comfort items. It was an adventure.
The heat feels pretty brutal today. We are hanging out in the house and relaxing. We did swim our dogs in the pool at the rental house. The house is very nice and we each have our own bedroom so it allows us some down time on our own.
That's all for now. Cross your fingers that Gusto heals well enough to run without pain.
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5 comments:
Sharon, I have all Frank Dog paws crossed for you and Gusto. Good luck at nationals. Hope his pads are good today.
Bonnie Frank
Maytown, PA
Sounds like it's been quite the adventure so far! Heat sounds kind of nice right now (although not brutal heat) - it's in the 40s and raw here.
Hope Gusto's pads are OK to run today. And that Drifter is better (although probably also wild) and that Vanessa's dog is also better.
Good luck!
LuAnn
If you have Calendula, Arnica or Traumeel, rub that into Gustos feet whenever you think about it. I use Dermoplast spray (available at the Dollar Store, go figure) on Reddi's feet when he skins them - helps a lot and keeps licking down. Watch that licking! It tends to keeps the feet moist. Also don't do too much swimming with him and watch him around the pool area, the rough concrete can aggrevate the tooties! I would do the epsom salts again early this evening. Put NuSkin on his pads before every run - not just the first!
Good luck!
Oh, and by the way, you are such a border collie! You and Abbey must be twins separated at birth - sacrifice the body to keep moving and have fun!
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