Marking Time

We keep our fingers crossed in high hopes this might be our last week here. Rusty has a check up Thursday and we’re hoping he’ll be taken off his steroids so we can get him back on his glucosamine to strengthen his legs. He is almost back to his elderly normal self, getting up without help, eating like a horse, and showing all the signs of being once again a happy alert dog. The cloud of gloom has lifted. Yes I know he’s old and death awaits us all but for now I’m focused on testing our new electrical systems not on contemplating his mortality. We want to test both by taking a tour of Uruguay before we head west toward Peru, land of winter sun. Let’s see how Rusty and GANNET2 do on the road. 

Winter is here with a cold front closing in bringing  rain and damp de-motivating us by also lowering  temperatures that already feel colder than 55 degrees. We want to go for a drive to see some new places and check Rusty’s tolerance for travel and to give us a chance to feel nomadic again even if we need windshield wipers and a car heater to do it.  

Saturday afternoon we celebrated the end of the work week for those not retired with an asado, a grilled meat session. Me Layne Robert Adrián and Maria- José and Rusty the hungry prednisone powered eating machine with his head under the table.

Robert the retired American businessman has absorbed all Adriáns time last week chasing electrical demons in his Toyota Land Cruiser conversion, an overlanding beast assembled by apparently unmotivated builders. Adrián spends half his time trying to convince Robert who uses a translation app, to rebuild from the ground up the wiring mess in the camper. Robert supervises and resists all suggestions until he sees for himself how hopeless it is trying to do things his way. Progress on making improvements is glacial, especially after a short burned out his alternator and a mechanic came by and replaced a burned diode.

I am not a self made man so when I find a technician who knows his stuff I tell him what I want and let him figure how to achieve it. Then I give him money and I enjoy the outcome. I never assume I know more than they do. In Brasilia my approach was not entirely successful but our solar panels and Starlink installation work and our cabinetry is good and Adrián has created what appears to be a fine electrical installation so in the end we are there. Robert is getting there but his approach is generating frustration and I don’t like to see it.  Another reason to get on the road and leave them to debate technical minutiae  that bore me.  

This next week looks to be taken up with an electrical rebuild Adrián suggested at the start that Robert resisted and has been forced to accept as necessary because the half modification of  his system isn’t working as hoped.  Or something. 

I watch the fog rise over the fields, Rusty plunks down next to me, Layne fights the oven in the cottage and Robert and Adrián discuss wiring through Google Translate. 

I carry endless arms full of firewood and dream of the open road.

Cheesy Day

Call it rehabilitation or call it a love of cheese but we took a drive yesterday, it was only a mile but Rusty the stroke victim was part of the crew.

Because I overthink everything I had been worrying about us dragging Rusty into his old age in a van but Layne made a point yesterday as we talked about our travel prospects.

She pointed out that if Rusty really was fed up with traveling he had the perfect excuse to check out last week. As he lay hovering between life and death he could easily have chosen to end it  but he didn’t  so perhaps he really does like this life. Yesterday he gave every indication that was the case. He couldn’t sit still.

We went to this cheese farm up the street and on a hazy winters day we were the sole customers which I dare say would never happen in summer. It was a delightful spot and Rusty couldn’t get enough of it.  

Layne tasted and bought cheese and I herded my rather sprightly dog.

He wanted to check the place out.  

So we did and he didn’t fall down once even though he remains a little wobbly. 

You can rent rooms here. 

And there is Art everywhere.

The Milky Vine, a cheesy play on words as in Spanish it closely resembles the phrase for The Milky Way.  

We started talking about travel plans after Layne bought the cheese and we were sitting outside in the pale winter sun.  

We can’t treat Rusty like he’s made of porcelain though we will have to take shorter legs and give him plenty of time to rest but when the vet says it’s okay we will get on the road to the west coast to spend winter in the warmer drier region of Arequipa in southern Peru. 

I can hardly believe how well he has recovered and though a relapse is always at the back of my mind Rusty doesn’t seem ready to fade away just yet.  

And this whole episode has reminded us of our own mortality. Layne brought up the question of where shall we land when it’s time to quit full time travel even though neither of us is ready to sit still. 

It’s a question without an answer, I prefer Key West where we still have connections  but Layne likes Santa Cruz in California near where she grew up and has other friends. It’s a debate for the future but Rusty having a strike has once again taught us a lesson; the dog as teacher has been his rôle in my life.

I haven’t even tasted the cheese yet but I rate yesterday as a very good day. 

The happy explorer dog; long may he last.

All Rusty

Rusty continues to improve little by little, though his appetite seems to have doubled since he had his stroke; he is always full of surprises, this dog of nine lives. He looks normal when he sits but his gait is wobbly as he wanders around the workshop’s garden.

This morning he stumped around a bit but never actually fell over so that is a first.  We measure improvements in his condition in tiny increments. They are so far, all encouraging. As you might imagine I’m watching him like a hawk and monitoring his progress like a banker eyeing the repayments on a dubious loan.

To have this time with him feels like a gift such that I find myself more than usually obsessed with his well being.  He returns the compliment by following me around like my guardian rather than the other way around.

He knows as well as I do our time together is limited and we neither of us is ready to waste a minute. For me it is tinged with sadness as I feel the weight of a lovely, slow, goodbye.  It has been a glorious decade of great fun but it feels like the curtain is making a slow descent.

No regrets. My glorious boy. 

Rusty Is Alive

It was touch and go but he is eating and functioning if not back to his old self.  He walks with a wobble and occasionally sits down abruptly when he loses his balance. His blood test results came back in the normal range and the vet says he is on the path to recovery.  

He is alert and after he was checked out he led me on a walk up the street like he always has sniffing and checking stuff out. I really thought it was curtains for him for a few days but he has recovered sufficiently we hope to resume our travels with him in a few weeks.

There is no getting away from the fact that he is old and he could relapse at any time or have another stroke but he is alive and I love having him around and watching him devour a chicken breast like he hadn’t eaten for three days (because he hadn’t).

We plan to wait a couple of weeks and see how he’s doing.  If he is able to travel we’ll take off, if not we’ll pause longer. We aren’t going to stop being nomads but we are going to take care of our most vulnerable family member. No one gets left behind.

Colonia Valdense, Uruguay. 

Rusty Had A Stroke

 The vet said she couldn’t seen any external signs of a severe blow to the head so it seems likely he had some kind of stroke or interruption of blood flow. She noted he also send have some sort of tic in his left eye as well.

It turns out last night’s shenanigans with Rusty wandering outdoors may have been his response to not feeling well. I got him into the house around five in the morning and he could barely stand, stumbling like he was drunk. I stayed up with him as he laid out on his bed breathing heavily, and I was pretty wrecked as he looked like he was dying. Layne took over later and by morning he was slightly better and drank some milk. I was dreading taking him to the vet as I have no desire to kill him but Maria-Jose stuffed us in her car and got us there in five minutes. She would be an excellent ambulance driver. 

The upshot was that he should slowly improve and to that end he gets two pills and a mouthful of vitamins every day and a follow up visit Monday afternoon. All that for less than $25 for the vet and $35 for the meds.

He staggered getting back to the car but he hates being carried and once aboard María-José’s car he seemed to perk up. I was just delighted the vet  thought he could heal over time. 

He was delighted to be home and took off with his funny staggering gait like he’s drunk but he only fell down when he tried to sit. Once down he got his first dose of medications.

And then he stretched out to sleep after a long emotional morning. He slept a lot which is the best thing apparently. He ate some steak for dinner and drank done milk and slept some more. We are trying to figure out our future plans but what Rusty needs will guide us. Currently he needs rest.   Going to sleep with him snoring heavily is a pleasure I cannot take for granted any more.

My Beloved Dog

 There are days when Rusty really gets up my nose. I can’t say I hate him because I don’t but some days I hate the hold he has on my heart. 

At 4:30 this morning he went outside as I sat up, insomnia brought on by an uncomfortable bed and prepared to summarize yesterday’s inverter installation. An hour later (mostly spent reading as I am old and lazy) I realized he was still outside on a cold damp morning. Panic ensued and I went looking for him through the garden  and he was nowhere to be found. I went out in the road shivering in the damp cold morning worried the one car an hour may have got him or a wild animal might have dragged him off, in my panic forgetting he’s the meanest sonofabitch in the valley. My wandering woke Adrián himself subject to insomnia but he also has alarm cameras which probably alerted him to the prowler.  The love of my life (the other one) was nowhere to be found…until Adrián’s headlights illuminated my dog sitting in the long grass of the neighbors field not twenty yards from the warmth and comfort of the cottage we are renting. He looked cute and alert. “What’s up guys? Have you lost something?” Bloody dog; I nearly had a heart attack.

I hugged Adrián and went back to the fire to warm up and compose myself and try to draw back the threads of yesterday’s progress. Inverter installed minus a couple of wire extensions that need to be delivered. 

Maria Jose showed Robert our Florida neighbor in his Toyota camper truck, how she keeps her maté straw clear when she is drinking the foul stuff.

There’s no accounting for taste but Robert, an otherwise normal American loves the stuff but his straw (“bombilla”) gets clogged. She has a trick straw to clear blockages.

Plus she drinks rough cut maté where Robert prefers the finer cut which is more likely to clog she says.  I like my black tea bags thanks with stevia and milk and I think bitter Yerba Maté is for the birds.

It’s an Argentine habit widely enjoyed in Uruguay and southern Brazil. You will find hot water dispensers at gas stations where you can refill your Thermos on a road trip.

Then you add the hot water to your maté (cup) and suck up the bitter grassy flavored water and share the straw. I observe native customs but I don’t necessarily enjoy them. They sell the stuff by the ton and in Uruguay decent coffee is hard to find but maté is everywhere. 

You can get flavored maté too or sweetened but for hardcore drinkers that’s bogus. Ginger flavored (“ you will feel good” is the slogan on this six dollar bag):

Anyway the inverter should be done today. Next week we have a few more small jobs to wrap up and off we go, starting with a tour of Uruguay in winter warmed by our new heater. Can’t wait. Rusty will be annoyed but after this morning he deserves it. Well, not really but what a scare.

Adrián my hero, master mechanic and dog finder extraordinaire.