August 1 - Beautiful Utah Scenery

We left Bill and Connie's house today in the afternoon.  Cooper doesn't care what time we leave.  He was excited to see us packing, though I really tried to hide it from him.  We did a lot of the packing last night.  That way he wouldn't see as much activity.  He really gets stressed out when we pack the bikes.  He gets so excited that he clings and gets nervous about when we're leaving.  He looks for direction constantly.  The only command he won't comply with is, "Calm Down" because until we're under way.

I didn't get any pictures of Cooper today, but I got lots of scenery and sun set pictures.  

227 Miles

July 31 - Part 2 - A Lesson in tolerance.

Helping dad again on his bike is always a willing task for Cooper...

... but getting close to a baby isn't.  

Cooper has a light on his collar that I can turn on if he's out in the dark off leash so I can see where he is.  I was showing the light to little baby Mark.  He was so interested in looking at it.  I had Cooper stay still and allow it.  Cooper doesn't like babies getting too close because he's afraid he'll get his hair pulled.  Mark didn't want to touch Cooper so I used this as a lesson.

Cooper was great allowing Mark to investigate the light, against his preferred 'run away from the baby' approach.  He did fine and it lasted for about three or four minutes.  

A good lesson for Cooper - good entertainment for Mark.  Success X 2!

Zero Miles

July 31 - Part 1 - How does a dog play with Ducklings?

Cooper met baby ducklings today.  He had no idea what to do with them.  He was so interested but afraid to touch or get too close.  I was going to only post one of these videos but as you can tell, I couldn't choose which one.  ENJOY

July 30 - Me and my Shadow!

Playing with Shadow all day was so fun for Cooper.  They got along fine.  They had a proper greeting in the morning and played really well for the rest of the day.  Shadow being the puppy, was tireless, and old man Cooper needed his naps.  

In the afternoon we went for a ride and out to dinner with Bill and Connie.  Cooper did fine with our ride. He was happy to sit in the back seat of the car between me and Jesse.  We even browsed an antique shop for a while.  This was fun for me and Cooper had to be dragged away from some of the antique smells he found.

Once we made it back to the house the chase was on.  Shadow had been waiting for his friend to return.  Cooper was rested up now, so they were off.  They were so much fun to watch.

Zero Miles

July 29 - Utah!

We were in no hurry to pack up until check out time.  Cooper and I laid around for as long as we could before we had to go.

The crack in Jesse's back tire

We went to have Jesse's tire replaced because it had developed a crack in it about 1,000 miles before.  We looked at the tire at every stop along the way to make sure it didn't change as we put on more and more miles.  We were happy to see it didn't change much at all. Cooper and I wondered the store for a while, then found a couch to sit on with Jesse while we waited.  We were comfortable and content with Cooper sitting between me and Jesse.  Cooper's favorite place to be.

We rode only for a few leisurely hours total, stopping for a late lunch. We talked to our waitress for a little while.  She had a lot of great stuff to tell about the area.  Cooper was very content to sit in his own chair next to me while we ate.  When we leave a restaurant, Cooper always gets a tid bit from our meal as a reward for being so good.  Today he got to try pastrami.  He did NOT like pastrami.  There are few things he doesn't like, and this was spit on the ground quickly after he tasted it.  I'm glad I saved some of my turkey from my sandwich too.  He was happy with that.

We reached Jesse's brother's house in Utah just before dinner time.  It was great to see them.  They have a 7 month old puppy named Shadow.  Shadow wasn't too happy about seeing another dog in his house, so he lunged at Cooper with a bit of an unsure way about him.  He didn't seem to know what to do.  For the rest of the day Shadow watched Cooper from the other side of a sliding glass door.  He got to smell Cooper by smelling places in the house where Cooper had been.  Shadow was so young and taken off guard by another dog, it was good to give him this space.

161 Miles

July 28 - Part 3 - Sun Set Delight

It was beginning to get near dinner time and we needed to find someplace to stop for the night.  It was getting cold.  We stopped to put on sweat shirts and intended to stop at the next inexpensive motel.  Well, on the prairie their aren't many places to stop.  It was getting late. We came up on a little store so I went in to get something we could have for dinner in case we couldn't find anywhere else before they closed.  It's a good thing we did that too because it turned out that when we did find someplace there were no vacancies.  Two towns full of no vacancies as a matter of fact.  

The setting sun was BEAUTIFUL!!!

We rode until about midnight before we found a place with a room.  Poor Cooper was so tired.  We gave him a VERY late dinner as we ate ours too.  It was good to get settled into bed.  Cooper and Jesse fell fast asleep.  I'm not sure which one was snoring first.  I wasn't too far behind them.

333 Miles

July 28 - Part 2 - Peeing on the Prairie

Cooper pokes at me when he needs to take a break.  If he really has to pee, needs a drink or has just had enough riding for a while, he poke - poke - pokes me in the back and presses his wiggly body into me.  It's a good indicator.  I'm glad we have this communication.  

In this shadow Cooper is actually letting me know he wants to stop

This was one of those days that he really needed to pee, so we pulled off the road where Cooper had plenty of places to pee.  There was nothing for miles, just open prairie.  His nose lead him from hay, to sage, to weeds to stones... he could have spent a week there smelling all the different smells that so far he hadn't gotten to smell because so far we hadn't stopped on a prairie.  

The growth of all the different vegetation was thick and Cooper wanted to investigate all of it.  We walked around for 10 minutes or so and then we had to get going again.  Cooper wasn't really ready yet, but he was ready for a drink.  He got back on the bike and got his fill of water and we were off again.

July 28 - Part 1 - Playing 'Chase' with Hans

Today we left Kristen's house after lunch.  As long as we had time to ride a couple hundred miles we would be good, and since Kristen didn't have to work it was nice to visit on a nice leisurely, lazy morning.  We watched some tv and drank Coffee while we talked.  

Cooper and Hans chased each other all over the house until neither one of them had any strength left.  They were so funny trying to chase each other on the hard wood floor.  Once they had skidded their way into the living room they were able to run on the carpet.  They would pick up speed until they reached the wood floor again which sent them sliding into the wall.  We had so much fun watching them play.  

July 27 - Part 2 - Tempting Hans

Just out of curiosity we wanted to see if Hans would get on the bike like Cooper.  He kept looking at Cooper like he would like to hang out up there with him.  Jesse got on his bike, and all it took was two suggestions to Hans that he should jump up on the bike with Jesse, and he did. 

 

Look how he fits up there.  He seems happy.  It would have been fun to try to take him for a ride but we didn't have a harness that would have fit him.  Oh well.

Zero Miles

July 27 - Part 1 - "Prizes in the crate" game

Jesse was doing something in the garage and Cooper went to keep him company.  As usual Cooper wanted something out of his crate.  Jesse removed my helmet from the crate and Cooper got busy.  Hans didn't know this game of 'prizes in the crate' but he was happy to learn.

July 26 - Hangin' with Hans

Kristen and Rob went to work, so we hung around with Kaitlyn and Hans for the day.  

Cooper totally enjoyed playing with Hans outside.  What a treat for Cooper to have a dog to play with.  

They ran and played and in the water chasing the quarter again.

It was a nice day of relaxation and not being on the bike for Cooper.  

He was really happy with his new friend.

Zero Miles

July 25 - Part 2 - Visiting Kristen, Rob and Kaitlyn

We got to our friends house.  Kristen, Rob and Kaitlyn met us outside when we arrived.  We parked in the garage.  There was a screen door leading out to the back yard.  Cooper spotted that screen door right away because there was a BIG BEAUTIFUL DOG on the other side of that door who REALLY wanted to come say hi.

Cooper got to go in the back yard with Hans.  They became acquainted and did their dogly greetings, then it was PLAY time.  They chased each other around and Cooper did his big mouth barking routine for a while.  Hans was really happy to play with another dog.  Cooper was too, but for the first time we got to see Cooper run out of energy before his playmate.  Hans is a two year old and Cooper is approaching five years old now.

Kristen had filled a baby pool on the porch for the dogs.  Cooper watched Hans in the water for a little while.  I could tell he wanted to get in the water too, so I encouraged him a little bit.  Once he was in there was no getting him out.  Jesse threw a quarter in the water that was REALLY interesting for cooper.  I was surprised how much he enjoyed pulling that quarter around the bottom of that pool.

337 Miles

July 25 - Part 1 - Riding Into The Storm

We made it to Montana.  What beautiful roads!  It was so wide open we could see a storm in the distance.  It was really kind of hot out.  Maybe 94* or so.  We were fairly comfortable as long as we kept moving, so that's what we did.

It was clear that the storm we could see in the distance was where we were headed.  As we got closer, I think Cooper could smell the rain.  He sat up and was really interested in the smell of the air.  

We started feeling rain drops every now and then, and then we got a fairly steady rain.  Nothing bad enough that we felt that we needed to put on our rain gear.  It felt good, UNTIL...  Heavy winds pushed our bikes all over the road.  What a scary thing.   My bike was pushed all the way across the road at one point.  It was a good thing no cars were coming.  I don't think Cooper liked the wind either.  He put his head down in the crate and just rode it out.