We travelled afar since leaving Norman, OK, but with very little to report. We just buzzed over from the West to East hardly stopping anywhere. Rosie doesn’t show major improvements. Her back still falls over. She is also spaced out, but that she has been for a while. Nothing new there. I guess there’s no cure for old age.

Once we started driving from Norman, Johan got interested in ending the trip by going through the Outer Banks, NC. The outer Banks are islands located off the coast of North Carolina. Its been a favorite destination of ours since many years. The last time that we came here was a year and a half ago. We travelled with the four of us and Rosie and Kylo in Elfie. We got stuck in the beach, had to be towed out, and then spent a night in the dunes. That had been a fun trip.

After driving almost continuously, we arrived at Cedar Island, NC last evening. We spent the night at Cedar Island and had booked a spot in the ferry to Ocracoke, NC for this morning at 7:30 am. We got on the ferry nice and early. It was mostly empty. Dory was happy to be in the ocean (finally!). The boat ride was a little over 2 hours. We reached Okracoke around 9:30 am and drove over to the campground. For the first time on this trip, we are not boondocking, but rather, are parked in a fancy campground, paved and such. I still prefer the primitive style, but we left it far back, along with the desert (sigh!).

Although we went to the beach and said a quick hello to the Atlantic ocean, we didn’t stay there much. It was cloudy and rained in the afternoon. We came back to the bus and did some schoolwork and relaxed a bit. Tomorrow should be a busy day with a lot more schoolwork and plenty of beach time.

The kids go back to school next week. I am having mixed feelings of regret and relief over this. I love having them around. By now Tanya is an easy one since she keeps doing her work on her own with minimum input from me. I only work with her on math. Leena is a whole different story. She is too young to self-study. And also young enough to want to play hooky from our homeschool. Working on her schoolwork can be an annoying task. I am happy to hand over the work to her (poor) teachers!

Not much more to report so I will hand it over to my animals.

Kylo Ren the dog: Let me start off the dog section. We are on our way back. I tell you, I am so glad to be back in the East coast. The West is overrated. I got so many cacti bits in my paws that my humans had to walk around with a comb in their pocket so that they could remove the Cholla cacti that would invariably get stuck in my paw. Pro tip: only remove Cholla cacti with a comb. If you try to touch it, you will get painful prickles yourself. Another pro tip (this one is from mom): Do not, I repeat, DO NOT eat Cholla fruit. You will end up with tiny prickles in your mouth that are almost impossible to remove (hee hee).

My humans tell me that I went on a boat and over the ocean. I think they may be making it up. I didn’t see any water anywhere. Oh, we did go to the beach today. I am not a fan of the beach. Rosie likes it a lot more than me. I find water icky. I never run into puddles. Usually I either go around them or will fly over them with one long jump.

Today mom invited me to join her and Tanya on the bed. I didn’t wait to be asked twice. With one gigantic leap, I was next to Tanya! Leena came looking for me and I managed to successfully hide myself behind the cushion so she didn’t see me at all. Although she did wonder about the furry, bushy tail-like thing. And maybe bits of my body were visible or maybe the entire body was showing, don’t know. My face was definitely hidden. I couldn’t see her at all.

The smells of our latest stops seem more like home. I wonder if I am finally going to see my crate again! Just the very thought makes me shiver with excitement! Oh, to live like a normal dog in a normal house, away from coyote sounds and frightening water bodies. Heaven! Oh, my dear wifey has something to say. Here she is!

Rosie the dog: Huh?! Oh yeah, I did want to say something. I remembered Oma (Papa’s mom) used to say this very often. It seems fitting to my current state. Let me quote (quickly before I forget).

“To get old is great, but to be old is not that great” — Oma

Ain’t that the truth. Groan. My old bones are creaking and my back is one falling mess. Luckily I am still more or less in control of my bodily functions. My Papa has been propping my back heroically. Oh, one great thing that happened today was that I went to the beach! I knew that the beach was near as soon as we arrived at the new location. I begged and begged until Papa took me. Heaven! I got to touch the water once again. It may be the last time. But hey, I did it! Oh, in waddles Crazy Cookie. I am going in my rest mode.

Crazy Cookie the chicken: I don’t like the campground. Boondocking is better. Here we are on shaky grounds and I do not mean the bus. My humans aren’t sure if we are allowed to be here so they were a bit nervous about us being seen by the campground host. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see us?! So far we have been treated like celebrities wherever we went. And now we are being kept out of sight. What a disgrace. All this California tan of mine is going to waste.

I hear we are getting close to home. That’s nice to know. I would love to be in my coop and the run again. Its been a while since we got to stretch our feathers out. Our camp spot still has cacti, though. I tried some of the cacti, they are pretty tasty. Not sure what prickles Kylo was talking about!

There’s one thing I must tell you. While we haven’t gotten too many admiring looks from humans (we did get some at rest areas, just not a lot), I did notice something. Rosie looks disoriented most of the time, but she immediately comes over when she sees us. Its almost like we are the one permanent and reassuring thing in her life. She looks calm and happy upon seeing us. I never thought of us as therapy chickens, but this definitely proves that we are. For all those humans who have only looked upon us as food, let it be known that we are every bit as good as dogs when it comes to providing emotional support. Even the humans like to pick us up and hold us when they are upset about things. So, stop looking at us and thinking of chicken drumsticks, wings or soups. There’s a lot more to us. On that very positive note, I end my blog for the day.