Freddy rides to the rescue, yet again!

Honey Bee

Freddy, the wiener dog, had an epic adventure today. It was a 6-hour+ round-trip to Lake City, Florida.Why? Because a puppy had to get from Georgia to Sanford, Florida. So, Freddy to the rescue!

Meet Honey Bee. She's a 9-month-old Golden Retriever. She's super sweet, absolutely adorable, and quite the beauty. Doesn't mean that Freddy liked her. Well, he didn't actually dislike her.... He just wanted to make sure she knew that he was top dog.

The 3-hour morning trip up to Lake City was mostly uneventful. Mommy had to stop at a turnpike service plaza a/k/a gas & food. Mommy needed a coffee. Mommy drove around the parking lot until the front parking space by the doors was available. There's a big sign that says "no pets. service dogs only." Mommy was going to take Freddy inside any way. After all, Freddy is her therapy dog, so..... Mommy tried to stuff - yes, stuff - Freddy into her largest tote bag. Freddy refused to go inside the bag. Mommy tried repeatedly. Freddy refused repeatedly. Finally, Mommy put Freddy behind the seats with a bowl of water, opened all the windows, and ran like....okay, she ran as fast as she could. Mommy raced inside to find the Dunkin' Donuts had a ridiculously long line. She couldn't wait with Freddy in the car. So, she ran into the convenience store, bought a coffee-in-a-bottle and ran back to the car. Whew! (Well that nearly gave Mommy a heart attack!)

Onward to the rendezvous location. Mommy always chooses a Cracker Barrel restaurant - they have clean bathrooms, (maybe) a little shopping, plenty of parking, and lots of grass for a doggie pee. The transfer basically happened without incident. The only difficulty was getting Honey Bee into Freddy's car and into the crate. Honey Bee hates to travel. Hates. When Mommy tried to pick her up, Honey Bee spread out all four legs and flattened herself onto the ground. It was like trying to pick up a heavy, squirming sack of potatoes. Freddy didn't have a problem with this. He didn't like, however, when the nice rescue lady came over to say "hi" to Freddy. ("Well, aren't you a cute thing?") Now, the nice rescue lady said she has big dogs. Yes, big dogs, like a Mastiff, a Great Dane, etc. Big, car-sized doggies. Apparently she hadn't been around a truly big dog until she met Freddy. While he may look compact, he's actually quite large....in attitude. The nice rescue lady decided it was best that she didn't reach into the car to pet Freddy.

Now, it should have been a 3-hour drive back to Central Florida. Yeah, it took longer than that. Halfway into the return trip, the traffic on I-75 came to a stop. Complete stop. It took 45 minutes to drive 2 miles. (There was a semi-truck on fire.) A couple of minutes after the car stopped, the air-conditioner started screaming... like a jet engine... so Mommy turned it off and rolled down the windows. The doggies were okay with the wind, but not okay with the sounds of other semi-trucks next to the car.

Once Mommy passed the wreckage and get back up to speed, she turned the air-conditioner back on. It blew air, but it wasn't getting cold. Apparently the jet engine screaming was the a/c compressor seizing up. So, Mommy had to roll the windows back down and they had to travel with the loud noise of the wind rushing by.

At this point, Mommy decided to drive straight home instead of traveling directly to Honey Bee's final destination in Sanford, so she could get out of her car! This also gave Honey Bee a pit stop. Honey Bee hadn't pee'd in Georgia or Florida, so she was overdue. Mommy put Honey Bee in the backyard with Freddy, Malibu and Luna. At first, the three tried to gang up on Honey Bee, but Mommy broke that up. Then, Freddy ran up to Honey Bee, growling and teeth bared. He even tried to nip Honey Bee. Mommy broke that up too. Freddy was fine after that until Honey Bee accidentally ran over Malibu. Of course, Freddy has to defend his girlfriend.... Mommy broke that up too. Honey Bee finally did pee. Whew!!

After a 30-minute break, Daddy took Honey Bee to Sanford. The three rescue girls were all hugs, kisses and giggles over Honey Bee. That was one loved puppy! As usual, Freddy was happy to leave the visiting dog somewhere else....other than his house.

Oh, for about an hour after Honey Bee was gone, Freddy and girls would jump at the slightest sound and go tearing into the backyard, barking.... Perhaps they wanted to make sure that Honey Bee hadn't come back. Mommy was happy when everybody calmed down....which was at dinnertime and Freddy wanted everybody's food. Then, he decided to cooperate.

See? Wasn't that an epic adventure?!