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The Little Bird That Could

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Hi. Binski here. It’s my turn to narrate the story of our trip to Lake Manatee State Park in mid-June.

Day 1

It is hot hot hot! So we get a spot under some trees. That’s what you do in Florida in the summer.

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By the time dad sets us up, we are dying for our first walk. He takes us out one-by-one. It’s more fun to go together but dad doesn’t like it. Rico goes one way and Anya goes another. Pretty soon dad is all tied up.

 

Anyway, back to my story. We go inside for a treat and dad looks out and sees this red thing looking at itself in the mirror. So, he gets his phone and takes some pictures.

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Then, wouldn’t you know, it flies over to the other mirror and poops on the handle! (It must be a baby. We’re much better trained than that!)

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We settle down for a little snooze. But suddenly there is a weird TAP on the wall.

What was that? We bark at it and it stops. After a while, we curl up again and start to relax.

TAP. There it is again! TAP. And again!

By this time we’re pretty perturbed. We jump up to the window and that red thing is flying into the side of our house!

This is me, Binski, staring it down.

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Dad says it is a bird. He’s afraid it will hurt itself, until he gets a close-up of it hitting the window.

It has its claws out! It’s trying to hurt our house!

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We may be little, but we protect our home-away-from-home.

TAP… bark bark bark bark!  TAP… bark!!! bark!!! bark!!! bark!!! It must have tapped a hundred times!

What a crazy bird!!!

The noise is drying everyone crazy. But, finally, it gets dark and the tapping stops.

Ah… the end of a perfect day. I settle into my cozy place for the night.

Snug

 

Day 2

4:30 a.m.

Mandy gets up and tap-dances on the floor. It’s a special skill she has. It’ll wake dad from a dead sleep. (Mandy’s the smallest and the oldest. When she’s gotta go, she’s gotta go.)

So, dad drags out of bed, puts on his high intensity headlamp and takes her out in the dark.

Now you have to understand Mandy. She’s a toy fox terrier. She can’t pee just anywhere. It’s like shopping. She likes to browse. 10-15 minutes usually. Dad uses new words while he’s waiting for her to go, especially in the dark with who-knows-what lurking in the woods.

Finally! Good girl, Mandy!!!

Dad brings her to the door hoping the rest of us are still asleep.

Ha! We fooled him! We’re all lined up.

Me first! No, me first!

I go second (I’m on a diuretic). Then Rico goes. And finally Anya who can hold it best.

By 5:00 we’re back inside. And soon we’re in our beds.

Dad goes into the bedroom and mumbles something.

 

7:00 a.m.

Hooray! The sun is up!

Is there anything better than camping life for doggies? Refreshing walks. New aromas. Rabbit. And turtle. And squirrel. And armadillo. And nasty birds!

 

But for some reason, our trailblazing dad looks sad this morning. He unhooks everything and drives us to the ranger station.

He tells the ranger Hitchcock sent me.

He’s not far off. The ranger tells him that birds are attacking other RVs in the park, too. It’s nesting season and they don’t like anyone around.

Oh great.

But the ranger guy says there’s a site available down the way. So off we go.

 

Yay! We outsmarted that stupid bird!

 

We drive to the new site. Dad gets out and hooks up everything.

He comes in and makes a pot of coffee. He takes off his shoes, puts his feet up, and closes his eyes.

We all jump up to snuggle. (He’s had a rough morning.)

Something catches my eye…

 

Oh no! It’s looking in our window.

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We try to pretend it’s not there. But it doesn’t like being ignored.

Pretty soon we hear TAP!

Dad groans and says something about selling this #*%@ing RV.

The four of us look at each other in disbelief!

Why on earth would he do something like that?

 

Florida Camping

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The State Parks

Most of our doggy adventures are in Florida’s state parks. According to tripsavvy.com, 50 of Florida’s 161 state parks offer camping facilities. And nearly all of them have some great sniffing aromas – squirrel, rabbit, armadillo, bobcat, turtle… All kinds of good stuff!

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I could swear I saw a squirrel!

 

Summer in Florida is off-season. Weird, huh? From June through October, RV sites are usually available. Even spur-of-the-moment. Just give the parks a call.

Look Out in Snowbird Season!

From December through early April, when it gets cold up north, everyone and his brother-in-law wants a spot in Florida state parks! Like everyone else, our dad has to book sites 11 months in advance and be one of the first people on the ReserveAmerica website to grab them before they’re gone.

In the winter, we see license plates from every cold place in the country and Canada. And we even see a few brave people staying in tents when the night-time temperatures dip into the 30s. Brrr!

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Camping in the Florida Heat

Summer camping in Florida is a totally different matter. The summer sun here is brutal and, if the air conditioning goes off for some reason, the inside temperature can escalate in minutes. So, take it from us. If you have pets, try to book a shaded site!

If we know we’re not going to be hooked up to shore power, we make sure our generator is in excellent working order to power the air conditioning. In fact, our dad’s biggest worry in the summer is the A/C since we have to stay alone from time to time. When it’s cool we let dad leave us for a good while, but when it’s hot we give him a 2-hour time limit. He whines about it, but our safety comes first. (If he’s gone longer than we like, we have been known to pee on the rug. Our dad’s not dumb. He gets it.)

God Bless Air Conditioning!

How we love our den in the RV! Especially since we negotiated some perks. We prefer a temperature of about 72 – not too cold and not too hot. We like to cuddle under our velour throws and peek out to guard the fort.

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Always at the ready to take the arm off an intruder

Keeping the temperature right in the Florida heat can be tricky. We’ve seen the flickering lights and heard the gasping generator sound when something cycles on that draws extra power. In our current RV the generator has shut down when the refrigerator compressor cycled on. It even decided to shut down when we’ve put out a slide. So, we’ve decided to keep our refrigerator switched to propane. That way only the only draw on the generator is the air conditioner. That seems to be more dependable.

Well, that’s about all our doggystyle camping tips for the day. Time to curl up and rest. We’ll need our strength in case a Florida critter walks by.

Mandy, Anya, Rico & Binski

Copilots 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Adventure Begins

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Copilots 4

“Me first! No, ME first!”

  1. I’m Mandy, the cute toy fox terrier. Dad saved me from a shelter in Inverness, Florida. I may be little, but watch out. I’m aloof because I have a pedigree.
  2. I’m Anya, a chihuahua from the same shelter. I went home with Mandy to help her chill out. (She’s high strung.) I’m the sweet mommy in the group.
  3. I’m Rico, a rescue from Underdog in Bradenton. They call me the psychohuahua in the family. I find that a bit insulting. But I’m the boss, so it doesn’t matter. 
  4. I’m Binski, a “Teddy Roosevelt rat terrier” from a breeder in Brandon, Florida. I have a pedigree too but I’m not uppity like Mandy. Unfortunately, I developed glaucoma and had to have my eyeball removed. But I’m doing fine. And I think I look cute winking at you. Besides, I’m a real lover-boy.

We’ll be your guides to some of the best sniffing spots in Florida and surrounding states. And our dad will share some things he has learned about staying safe, comfortable, and making us feel like royalty when we’re on the road!