The Pickle Revisited -- South by Southwest -- 2015

 All was still except for the semis traversing the stark farm scape along Hwy. 24 south of Toledo. Semis..... and one green and white 1977 GMC motor coach headed SW to Indianapolis, to St. Louis and beyond, seeking a temperature change -- above 10 degrees would be nice.

Wednesday, January 14, in 4 degrees, Michael and I left Ypsilanti, MI. Nina had commandeered her front perch under my feet.

We are not towing the old Volvo this time around. Instead Michael strapped Uncle Bob's 1965 Honda Dream motorcycle to the Pickle's backend and we plan to use that when we need to get away from a campsite without the RV.

  Flat Ohio was a frozen wonderland that morning with 5 or 6 inches of new snow. Filtered sunshine low in the sky illuminated the groves of ice encased trees that dotted the landscape.
We finally lost the snow. Indianapolis had a slight dusting of white and south of that -----none.

 Wednesday night found us at a rest stop west of St. Louis on Hwy. 44, warmed by our furnace, lulled to sleep by the diesel murmur of 20 or so nearby parked semis. Thursday afternoon and night we spent a delightful time with my brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Vivian in Springfield MO. Hearing about their daughter's family's recent 2-week excursion to Morocco over one of Vivian's fine dinners was a highlight.

                                                                 Nina's Tale
                   Thursday morning in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, Nina chased a ball. Nothing unusual there, except this time she must have run into the curb with her mouth. Neither Michael nor I actually saw it happen - just that Nina came back to Michael with a bloody mouth. One of her lower canines was chipped and cracked. As the day went on, she seemed fine. There was no change in her ball-catching, stick-retrieving obsession. However, everything we read on line pointed to the need to tend to the splintered tooth to prevent the risk of infection.
   Once we got to Ft. Worth, TX, we located an animal dentistry hospital and made an appt. for Nina to have oral surgery. That occurred two days ago, on the 20th. The vet was able to save some of the tooth with the equivalent of a root canal and some extra bone grafting below the gum line. I think she'll be fine and she now sports a canine that has the value of a small gemstone!!!
  

The Pickle visits Ft. Worth

                    Our extra time in Fort Worth was more than comfortable due to the graciousness of Michael's sister Sharon and her husband Gary. Four beautifully sunny days in the high 60s helped, too.

Gary & Michael bike the neighborhood.