LULU'S TEXAS ROADTRIP

The first long road trip for three-month-old, part-Lab puppy Lulu went quite swimmingly!  She could have hardly been any more well behaved.  We have embraced the kennel training method and probably could not have been successful on this trip without it.  She made the whole trip nestled in her kennel with a front row seat in the Saturn Vue right between us.  No accidents and lots fewer stops requested by her than by me.  I can hardly pass up a chance to stop - roadside rest area, Wal-Mart, Stop-n-Go, McDonalds ... - you get the picture. 

The very southeastern part of Texas was very much like Louisiana and had swamps and lots of hanging moss in the trees at our first tent site.  The moss was loads of fun, but the water was very scary.  No way could we coax Lulu onto the boat docks or piers at Martin Dies Jr. State Park near Jasper, TX.  The park ranger strongly warned us about alligators having a taste for small pets.  Yikes!  Nuff said!  No water fun for us.

After a quiet (no barking or whining or wild animal sounds) uneventful night inside the safety of her kennel inside the little blue tent, we enjoyed the sunrise walk along the shore and the beautiful pink sky and new moon.  By 8:00 we were heading west looking for bluebonnets and all things Texas.


Lulu just loved Texas, but you can see the cactus plant taught her a hard lesson -

There was a bit of yelping and whining as I removed the quills from her nose and rear end.  There was no more problem with her wanting to romp among the cactus on the next stop.  It didn't even take a close encounter as we checked out the infamous longhorn.  They were big and scary just to look at.

Notice the big black bull seems to be saying "cheese" for his photo shoot.  There were lots and lots of new spring calves, so cute and cuddly looking, but were protected by their big, well armed longhorn mamas and smiling daddy.  We were staying on the right side of the fence!

Every stop along the country roads was a great chance to enjoy the bluebonnets.

More fun in Texas later.