Thursday, July 4, 2024

So, how's Murphy doing?

 

My scrapes and bruises are healing fine, thanks for asking.  My buddy Earl said the second day after will be the worst... he is right... unless it hurts more tomorrow.  But, you didn't ask about that - you want to know how Murphy is doing.


 Zoom in on that photo above and look at his face... yes, the boy really is that sweet.  Each day has been filled with new experiences for Murphy.  The shorter trips that I had hoped for didn't happen, so he was thrust into this full tilt, right off the bat.  New noises are concerning... and there are a lot of new noises as an RV goes down the road.  Especially across New Mexico - did I mention that their roads suck?  Texas and Oklahoma were better.

In fact, the roads today were downright pleasant.  So, for the fun of it, Mother Nature threw wind at us, varying the speed and direction.  Murphy handled that just fine.  He road on the bed in back for a while, came up front on his own, sat on Joan's lap; then Joan got a foam cushion, put it on my lap, then put Murphy on there.  Surprisingly, the boy stayed...


For over an hour.  That is a big deal to me, because Murph will sit by me, but doesn't want to be on me for more than a few seconds.  Joan called this, "A bonding moment for you two."  Call it whatever you want, I am delighted for this turn of events.  The highlight of my day.

I mentioned the wind - obviously a regular thing around here...

Welcome to Oklahoma...


I expected the roads to be crappy: I-35 running north/south across Oklahoma has been; and we've driving that road many times over the years.  This is the first we've been on I-40 in a long time, and at least through this portion of Oklahoma, it has been decent.

We're down for the night in a very nice, upscale RV resort...



Long, wide concrete pull-thru sites.  Sizeable grassy areas between each site, but it looks like they need to water the grass.  We picked this place because they don't allow fireworks (Happy 4th of July, everyone!) and because of the paved sites and grassy areas.  It is hot and humid here currently, with a chance of thunderstorms overnight - good to be on pavement for that.  And, when it cools down some, I'll see if Murphy wants to get out on the real grass.

I got a call from the office here this morning - they are closed for the holiday, but they will have my information packet taped to the office door.  It was right where they said, with easy directions to our site.

We're taking a "chill day" tomorrow and will be in this nice place for 2 nights.

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Watching fireworks used to be fun when we were living on our boat in Friday Harbor - we could see the big display put on over the harbor from the cockpit of our boat... then head inside and go to bed and not have to deal with all the drunks on the road.  A view from the cockpit...

2 comments:

Earl49 said...

We survived "National Scare the Crap Out of Your Pets Night". Both kitties got a dose of gabapentin, which helped but they were still freaked out. Our neighbors all around go absolutely crazy with illegal fireworks and the area sounded like a war zone until after midnight, with huge explosions and what really sounded like gunfire. I hope that folks were not shooting up into the air, but it sure sounded like more than firecrackers sometimes. Once things calmed down, Lucy finally went out on her own volition at 0115 and came back in at 0430 for more pets. We are all going to catch up on sleep today, especially since it will be 95° heading for a string of triple digit days.

I'm glad that Murphy is adapting well to the RV, and that you are healing. Hopefully he will enjoy some walks on the grass soon -- he will be popular strutting around the campgrounds. Enjoy that down day. We are taking one too.

Captain Jim and the Blonde said...

Hi Earl. Glad to hear you two and the kitties made it through the 4th unscathed. We picked this particular RV resort because they advertised "no fireworks." Apparently that doesn't apply to property all around the resort, because there was plenty of loud pops and explosions and aerial displays... just not within the park. I didn't know how Murphy would handle it... he was curious, but not scared. We have been fortunate with that - little Izzy would sit in the cockpit of the boat with us while we watched the big display in Friday Harbor going on overhead. Rufus never had an issue with any kind noise until we got hammered in that terrible hail storm - and then he had concerns, even with hard rain, in the motorhome. Not run and hide scared, but he wanted one of us to comfort him.

Fortunately, it started sprinkling around 11:00 pm, so that quieted things down outside somewhat. Still a light rain this morning, so it may be a while before it is dry enough to get Murph outside.

I am definitely healing - I can bend my toes again (didn't realize what a big deal that is) and the scrapes and gouges are scabbed up nicely. Shoulder and lower back got a TENS treatment this morning. Not sure why Murphy feels the need to flick his tail right into the nastiest gouge. 65º this morning in Oklahoma, but I won't be wearing long pants (Joan did buy some non-stick large bandage pads if I need to pad my knees).