“Road Trip”!
That’s all the girls (Kali and Kloe) had to hear. They ran to the rack where there leashes are hung, strung them in their mouths, and headed off to the garage ready to spryly jump into the back of the Subaru Outback. Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration… In the spirit of full transparency I have to tell you that Kloe has acquired car-ride anxiety and has to be coaxed (usually) lifted into the car against her will. And Kali’s old and dysplasia-ridden hips don’t allow her to make the leap, although the desire is there…
Kennedy Meadows, located in the Northern CA Sierra mountains is only an hour from the Golden K and that was our destination this past Friday. We packed a lunch for us and snacks for the girls and were ready to head out to the high Sierra’s, away from the heat and smoke from the Ferguson fire that has been blowing our way for the past several days. Holly tried to convince Kloe that jumping into the back of the car would yield her many high value treats but she wasn’t having any of it. In frustration, I picked up 80 pounds of an uncooperative Golden Retriever (which is more like a 100 pounds when she is in that state of mind) and threw her gently lifted her into the car. One down…
I then instructed Kali, as I always do, with an “up” pointing to the back of the car. On queue Kali lifts one paw onto the bumper with shaky hips. Her eagerness and willingness says yes, but her body says no. She looks at me and I help her complete the task and give her a assist and lift her into the car. The girls sit and face us as the hatchback closes. Time travelers on their way to Kennedy Meadows.
We’ve been meaning to address Kloe’s newfound anxiety of car-rids, so a we made a detour in town to Dusty’s Den. Dusty’s is a local pet store and emporium owned by our friends Deborah and George. So we make a quick stop to pick up some CBD oil in the hopes that this will be the elixir Kloe needs to help take the edge off of her car-ride anxiety. We’re in and out within minutes with “the stuff” 🙂 and head on up the hill to Kennedy Meadows.
As Golden Kali readers may be aware California is on fire. Sad and scary for all our rural communities is the fact that the forest is overgrown, global warming is a fact, and our resources are over taxed and understaffed. One of the newest fires to break out is the Donnel fire, about 10 minutes south of Kennedy Meadows. This fire started Thursday, the day before our road trip, and we passed by as it was about 350 acres. The smoke was in view from the ridge of Highway 108 as we passed by without threat to the road or various campgrounds and US forest land cabins. [As of this post the fire has grown to 8000 acres, and destroyed many historical buildings.]
Kennedy Meadows is a special place. Nestled high in the Sierras it’s the place so many of us Bay Area natives would go to when we were young adults to get away from the “city” and experience nature. The Stanislaus river, the Sonora pass who’s summit tops 9000 feet and leads into the real high country of Bridgeport and beyond, and the majesty of Mother Nature is magnificent. And there we were.
We unloaded the girls and started off on a short hike to the river where the girls could cool off and wade in the river. We passed a few other hikers, some with dogs, and we were so proud of our girls who were interested, polite, and well behaved even when other dogs barked at them. Kali has come such a long way from the Taiwanese rescue who was so anxious around other dogs when she first arrived in America four years ago. And Kloe, now two and half, has learned not to pull when we encounter another person or dog, but instead postures herself to greet them and engage. We are very proud of our girls…
While at the river Kali got her leg caught in some rocks and came up limping. The unfounded worries that I am prone to immediately assessed that Kali would not be able to walk the half mile back to car and that I would have to carry her 60+ pounds the entire way on by shoulders. Holly quickly spoke up and said, “if you try to carry her the whole way who will carry you?”. It was a good point. As Kali limped I encouraged bribed her with high value treats to keep her walking all the way inspire of my worry that her leg was hurt and walking was making it worse. [Update: her leg was fine and she was faking in order to get the HVT’s].
We made it back to the car, my pocket now empty of treats, and had lunch. Kloe eagerly jumped out of the car and settled next to Holly’s sandwich chair. Kali elected to remain in the car in an effort to perpetuate the injured leg drama. We ate our lunch, drank a beer, fed the girls some of our watermelon (they love watermelon!) and sat in the quiet of the forest in awe of the beauty of the high country.
As we reloaded and headed back down the hill to the Golden K we were feeling blessed to live within the beautiful Stanislaus Forest, worried about climate change and how fire season in California is almost year round, appreciative of the herculean fire fighters, and feeling blessed to have been rescued by our girls Kali and Kloe.
Golden Kali 