Road Trip With Flash

A few years ago, Tom and I took a road trip with our dog, Flash, a 9 pound toy- fox terrier. He was relatively new to us at the time of our trip but he was about two years old when we adopted him and you can never be absolutely sure what went on in those pre-adoption years. He seemed to like riding in a car. But he made some of the most God-awful noises while on the road. Especially when leaving home, arriving back at home, turning corners, driving on winding roads, well …you get the picture. The noises were a combination of barking, howling and screeching. We were terrified for a long time that he got car sick or sick in some other way or injured, so we stopped and checked him out; he appeared to be unhurt.

We drove north because I wanted to show off California's most beautiful sights to Tom, a native New Yorker. We spent a couple of nights in Yosemite National Park, where a deer wandered up into our backyard and held a staring contest with Flash. Both Flash and the deer escaped unscarred. We continued north to Mendocino where we stayed in a hotel designed to look like a western town. Our room was the general merchandise/feed and grain store. It was more comfortable than it sounds. We were an odd looking Trio of tourists; I in the wheelchair with Tom pushing and holding the leash for Flash. We decided we would take our odd-looking troop out for some sightseeing

Mendocino is the queen of cities for cute shops. Old plank sidewalks lined with little stores and cafés. We found one shop specializing in pet clothes. The friendly proprietress showed us several dog coats and sweaters. We chose one, a sweet little turtleneck, and tried it on over Flash’s head. We said we’d take it and since it was a chilly morning we decided Flash could wear it. Unfortunately, the price tag was still attached to the sweater, so the store-owner came over with scissors to clip it off. Flash is nobody's fool, and when you see someone approaching with a pair of sharp scissors you go into alert mode. Right? Barking, snarling, teeth bared, he was taking no prisoners. If your finger happens to be attached to the sweater…. You're probably thinking I end this story by telling you we now own a pet clothing store in Mendocino. But no, we got away that day. We paid for the sweater. No animal control police followed us from the store or down the street. Flash still has that sweater.