| a woman in a grey car |
[May. 17th, 2008|09:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Tim's | ] |
| [ | let me hear it one more time |
| | Reunited, and it feels so good! | ] |
Friday, April 25, 2008:
I left work early to go camping for the very first time in my life.
Destination - Red River Gorge.
Humans in attendance - Me, Tim, Mark, Cody, Todd, Brooke.
Dogs in attendance - Amos, Grover, Sadie.
We arrived during daylight and let the dogs off their leashes to roam. They all stayed around the camp site as long as we were there with them. We had a grand old time of drinking large amounts of beer, eating brats, listening to cds on Todd's battery powered cd player, playing Apples to Apples, and burning random things in the fire - including making a wicked torch. All in all, I was loving everything about camping. Who knows what time we retired to our tents. It was dark and we were full of beer.
Saturdy, April 26, 2008:
We all woke up too early in our damp tents. Amos curled up in the sleeping bag with Tim. We burned more things in the fire, played washers, and realized that we had nearly depleted our beer supply.
In disbelief that it was before noon, Mark, Brooke, and I set off into town to replenish our empty coolers (and have the opportunity to use a real toilet - I peed on my shorts the night before). Todd made the great suggestion of bringing back some beanie weanies with us.
When we asked the gas station attendant where the nearest beer was located, she informed us that we were in a dry county. We'd have to drive 8 miles under the overpass. Sure enough, as we monitored the odometer, when we reached 7.9 miles, we saw a huge banner for Bud Light off to our right.
This is my kind of "liquor store". I use the word liquor loosely as it only sold beer. It had every outdated beer marketing campaign that ever existed plastering the walls. It also had a plaque posted behind the counter that read "Every man should believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
We arrived back at the camp site as heroes, toting large amounts of alcohol. After winning a round of washers, it was nap time for me, Tim, and Amos.
When we awoke, it was time for some delicious dinner in the form of hobo packs - potatoes, peppers, onions, beef, and delicious seasoning, all roasted on an open fire in aluminum foil. Brooke and I tended them all on the fire as the boys when off to gather more fire wood. Grover and Sadie followed. Amos poked around the camp site with me and Brooke.
7:00pm - the boys get back. I look up to check on Amos, and when he's not there I ask the boys if he followed them. When they said no, I was panick stricken. All 6 of us set out in different directions searching for him. Tim and I took off down the road and came across a little old lady's house. She hadn't seen him, but her dogs had barked about 20 minutes previously.
When we got back to the camp site, Amos hadn't yet returned, so we kept looking. By this time, I had started crying and praying.
The search went on for about an hour when Tim told me to check my voicemail to see if anyone had found him and called. My phone did show that I had a voicemail, but with no signals, I couldn't check it.
We decided to drive down the road and look. Unfortunately, it got too dark for Tim, Cody, and me to see a thing. I did shout out to 2 camp sites asking if they had seen a little black and white dog. They hadn't.
When I did get signals, my voicemail wasn't working. I called mom to give the instructions to check my voicemail. I ended up shouting at Sara and felt awful. Mom told me the voicemail was from Jenny and that she would pray. She said to keep shouting for him periodically.
We returned back to the campsite and Amos still had not returned. I ate my hobo pack and we played a round of Apples to Apples. One of my cards was "bad dog". I returned it to the deck.
That's when I lost it. My mind starting imagining the worst things possible. He got hit by a car. He's hurt. He got bit by a snake. He's drowning in the river. He got attacked by coyotes. He's lost in the woods and can't find his way back and it's cold and dark and he's scared and all alone. I curled up in the tent and Tim just held me as I sobbed uncontrollably. Amos is my baby. I have had him for over 5 years. I was devastated. Tim tried to get my mind off of it, and eventually I fell asleep. I felt horrible brining down the whole trip like that for everyone...
I woke up in the middle of the night and cried myself back to sleep again hoping Amos would return in the morning.
Sunday, April 27, 2008:
I guess it was around 9:30am when we woke up. Amos hadn't returned during the night. Mark and Cody went ahead and starting packing up the site. Everyone else followed suit. I called for Amos every few minutes. Nothing.
Todd and Brooke had to leave early and Todd said, "sorry about your dog" before they drove away.
When the camp site was completely loaded into our cars, Tim and I walked back one more time. I gave one last shout calling for Amos, and when he didn't come, I cried into Tim's should, "Goodbye Amos, I love you." That's when Tim started crying too. We walked to the car and waved goodbye to Mark and Cody. Todd drove by and said the little old lady at the house hadn't seen him.
Tim and I decided to drive down the road a little further before we took off, but saw no sign of him. As we drove by the camp sites, I shouted to them asking if they had seen a little black and white dog. One of them replied, "you still haven't found him?" remembering us from the night before.
We got back to the gas station. The attendant asked if my allergies were acting up, since my eyes were completely red and swollen. I told her my dog ran off in the woods and she posted a sign on the door for a lost dog.
Tim had me convinced that someone would find him and they would read his tags and call me. Believing that was the only thing keeping me sane. I had decided to take a personal day the next day at work. After finally accepting the fact that we were leaving Amos behind and crying nearly to the point of dehydration, I called mom and broke the news that Amos was gone. Her response was, "It's awfully early. I think you should go back."
Tim drove us back to the camp site. When we got there, we both agreed we couldn't go back to that spot and that we'd continue driving down the road.
This time, we took a right at the fork in the road down a gravel road instead of curving left on the pavement.
A man and his son in a red truck dressed for turkey hunting waved at us as we passed. We drove about a mile and decided to turn around and go back to the camp site. As we were turning around, and orange jeep was coming down the road and honked at us as we were trying to turn around. Tim and I both remarked, "what jerks! can't they see we're turning around!?"
11:00am - We drove past the man in the red truck again and he waved again. Tim stopped and I rolled down the window and asked, "do you need something?"
He asked, "are you the woman looking for the dog?"
I said, "yes..."
He said, "well, he's in the jeep behind you."
I must have let out a shriek! Tim and I jumped out of the car, leaving it running with the doors wide open. That's when I saw Amos in the backseat of the jeep. He started clawing at the window as soon as he saw me.
Two ladies got out of the jeep and unlocked the door so I could get him. I just started crying and thanking them over and over again. Amos was licking my face and I held on to him for dear life.
What an ordeal! Everything happened so fast that I'm not sure Tim and I got the story straight, but what we remember from what they told us is that the night before, Amos had walked probably about 2 miles up to someone's camp site, walked right into their tent, and curled up in their blankets. I told the ladies, "yes, that's what he does!". They had fed him a hot dog and let him sleep there with him that night.
The next morning, these two ladies were taking pictures of flowers at Indian Creek and saw this little dog with the saddest look on his face. They knew he was lost and that he had to belong to someone because he just behaved so well. The campers were getting ready to leave, and the ladies volunteered to take him to the ranger station.
The two ladies and the man in the red truck had heard that a woman in a grey car was looking for a little black and white dog. That's why he waved us down and they honked at us.
I'm not sure how it all happened, but thank God that word got around! The man said Amos wouldn't let him see his tags to find out his name. I told them his name was Amos and that he would be getting spoiled the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, a car pulled up behind us in the middle of the road and we had to leave before I could really absorb anything and get their names. All I remember is that they were from Lexington too.
I wish I would have gotten their information. I would have taken them to dinner or sent them a thank you card or something.
Competely, filthy, Tim, Amos, and I started the drive back to Lexington. Tim could not stop crying. He was overwhelmed by the entire situation. What are the odds of something like this happening? Amos was lost in the woods overnight for 16 hours. What are the chances that we end up on a road and he is in the car behind us!?
I held Amos in my lap as he slept the entire way back. He was filthy and one of his paws was oozing a little bit. Tim said that he is really truly in love with me, because it never hurt so bad to see me hurting like that. He really helped me get through the entire ordeal. He did make me feel better, and just having him there with me helped so much.
I called Mom, Sara, and Casey to tell them all the wonderful news. When Mom told Dad that Amos curled up in someone else's tent that night, she said Dad got a little teary eyed and said, "did he..." Amos is a part of our family and everyone was torn up about it.
Mark could not believe it when I called him and told him that we had found him!
When we got back to Lexington, Amos got a bath, and a lot of treats. He slept the entire day, and the next day. My life would have been completely different without that little guy around.
Amos will never again go camping and I'm looking into a tracking device! I guess the moral of the story is that there are good people in this world, and I'm just so thankful that Amos encountered them during this near-crisis. |
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| #1 china buffet |
[Jul. 11th, 2007|08:12 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | s & c's | ] |
| [ | i feel emotional landscapes |
| |  smile | ] |
| [ | let me hear it one more time |
| | tori amos - a piano: the collection | ] |
my fortune: your romantic life will take a turn for the better.
my lucky numbers: 42, 34, 32, 26, 8, 2 |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 25th, 2005|04:35 pm] |
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my journal is friends only now. |
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