Internet Highway Roadblock

 India has been enjoying her time on the road but has had the hardest time keeping connected.  Just because an RV park advertises it has "WiFi access" does not mean it is fast or even existent.   Looking past that, India did enjoy her rest break while traveling through the Mojave Desert.  I think she was thinking dessert and not desert.

Getting to Las Vegas and seeing the bright lights was a welcome sight.  Three road weary and tired dachshunds were happy to arrive at the "Hitching Post RV Park". 

Upon arrival at our camping spot, India immediately made a new friend.  We have seen hundreds of the "Rent Me" RV's traveling on the highway, each with fun, traveling graphics, depicting families having fun.  One company thought it would be cute to have a big yellow dog looking out the RV door.  Cute, yes.  Annoying to a dachshund, YES!  India seemed to think the big yellow dog next door was trying to stare her down so she went into "Dachshund Alarm" mode.

Our neighbors in Las Vegas, the ones with the big yellow dog graphic, just happened to be from Holland.  These were just a few of the German and Deutsch people we have met on the road.  We could hear them talking about the "Teckel" as we would walk by.  Seeing the dachshunds somehow made them homesick I think.

On the last leg of our journey, we made a short detour through the world of "Flight Test."  We have a few friends that work at Edwards Air Force base and, being retired military, we have access to the base.  So we went for a visit.  The dachshunds started a minor security alert at the gate as they all started barking at the armed guards.  Luckily, we were able to convince the guards that the dachshunds were unarmed and harmless, so we were able to go on base for a visit.  Sorry, no pictures from on the base, but believe me, there are no UFO's here.

We finally made it to Oxnard, California.  We all exited the truck, after 3,200 miles on the road, and dipped all of our toes into the Pacific ocean.  It was truly a Coast to Coast Dachshund adventure.

Our official "End of the Road" adventure photo was taken at the end of the old Route 66 on the Santa Monica Pier.

"Off the Grid"

It is a darn shame that this picture just doesn't do justice to this part of Kansas.  And though we didn't get any snapshots, Scout, Deutsch, and India politely took turns viewing the scenery through the truck windows.  We think their pointy little noses detected a smorgasbord of delightful smells.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a prime place for gathering more information about this very pretty prairie.  And while we are happy that Mommy and Daddy enjoyed doing just that, our delight was the result of finding this to be a great place for stretching our little legs and filling up on a bit of H2O.  (A potty break was also welcomed.)

With everyone back in the truck, we continued along our way, headed for "small town" Kansas and a visit with our Daddy's family.

           This is our cousin Sam.                                                               And this is our cousin Zip.

As you can clearly see, our cousins are not dachshunds.  Nonetheless, they are a barrel of laughs.  They like to run and play, too.  And just like India, they take great pleasure in chasing all sorts of birds.  And oh yeah, you should see Zip jump!  We think that boy may have springs under his feet.

In the car again, and back to using that strong sense of smell for which dachshunds are known.

Dodge City was ok, if you like cowboys and that kind of stuff, which we do.  One year for Halloweenie, Daddy picked out a sheriff costume for Scout, and was he ever adorable!  If only we"d brought the costume!  Scout could have cleared Dodge City of the bad guys in no time!

So much of the past few days have had us internet-less, so we haven't been able to share our most recent adventures.  As you can see from this picture of where we stayed in Texas, the surroundings are pretty sparse.  Off the grid, as some stay.  But as all dachshund people know, doxies are exceedingly curious, so new and different surroundings simply mean lots of exploring, investigating, and learning about new things.

We've not seen anything like what we saw in New Mexico.  We haven't come across Old Mexico yet, but if it's anything like the new one, then count us in!

The absolute greatest thing about New Mexico was making new dachshund friends, who also happen to hail from that awesome state.  On the left is Cocoa, who was born in 2007.  His big brother, Lucky, is pictured on the right, and he is a pretty spry fifteen year old.  They, along with their mommy and daddy, were our camping "next door neighbors."  Our mommy and daddy got to meet their parents and learned that they think the dachshund rescue is wonderful.  Of course, we unanimously agree!  

What can we say about Arizona?  There were more new and great smells, and watching out the windows was, once again, terrific!

Boy, were we ever happy to see this sign!  Mommy and Daddy said we would be staying over in Utah, and despite the fun we are having on the road, we were ready to just kick back for a bit.

We never imagined we'd be camping with a backdrop as stunning as this!  Daddy hit this one out of the park!

South Dakota has Mount Rushmore, and now Utah has Mount Dachsmore!  Since Deutsch"s face is less prominent in the picture than Scout's and India's, we've all decided that he pretty much shares the same kinda spot as does Teddy Roosevelt in the original Dakota version.