Captain’s Log. Today the crew refused to obey orders. The chief security officer gave a flat “No!” when ordered to come aboard and raise the anchor. Lacking a yard arm or any other suitable limb the crew is in irons but still alive. I sleep with a loaded pistol under my pillow.
Thus Monday did not go as planned. We passed a quiet Sunday night in the pull out a few miles north of the town called Thirty Three. I had hoped to go an hour south to a town park a couple of hours from the beach but it had been a long Sunday and when I saw the grassy pull out around 6pm I figured we should stop. Very heroic of me to listen to my dog. But that stop gave him ideas above his station.
Its a bit messy with discarded plastic littering the ground, unusual for Uruguay but the ground is flat and as it’s a storage area for gravel the ground is firm and Rusty dug into the grass when we arrived. He was ready to rest.
By Monday morning I was ready to leave and I let Rusty out into the chilly 40 degree morning. A couple of hours later I called him to come in but…
…he looked at me and slowly got up as is his way these days, but instead of coming aboard stumped off into the bushes like Pooh Bear hunting for hunny. I got the message and I digested it for a while.
Clearly he needed a rest after two busy days of driving and I couldn’t explain that we were just three hours from our beach campsite where I wanted to spend a few days. So when I put a bowl of water out and he came for a drink but shied away when I went to pet him, my mind was quite made up. No hanging, just appeasement.
Okay I told him, I’m listening. We stay here today. We stay here for you to rest. He looked at me balefully like he didn’t believe me then he settled back into his shrubbery out of sight. I read and watched a movie and then I deployed the sink faucet as a shower and washed my hair. 
The water was actually quite cold and refreshing. I still have three quarters of our 30 gallon tank so we lack for nothing in this slightly eccentric yet quite peaceful spot supplied with birdsong for a soundtrack.
At three o’clock he came out and told me he was glad we had really decided to stay, gave me a smooch to say we are friends again and then he went back for some more refreshing sleep. Rusty is my boss, clearly.
