Here is the next chapter.
Chapter 8
I begin this chapter by stating flat out that I haven't been to too many places. I am not well traveled. I remember students in school telling about where they went on summer vacation. Some of them went overseas to exotic places. My family stayed pretty much in our area.
I have never traveled very far outside of the Midwest. To the north, I have gone as far as South Dakota and Minnesota. I've been as far south as Arkansas. Westward, I've gone to the Rocky Mountains, and to the east I've been to Illinois. There you have it.
What's nice about these travels is that everywhere I went, Toby always came too. After a short time in our home, it soon became apparent that Toby was the type of dog who really attached himself to the family. He would have been totally heartbroken if I had left him in a kennel while I was off enjoying a good time.
Besides Toby's attachment to me, I also took his special needs into consideration. Toby needed special food in order to keep his digestive system working properly, and the little guy had pills that he needed to take on a daily basis. If he wasn't along on the trip, no matter how good the boarding facility, I wouldn't have been able to have any fun for fear that Toby wasn't receiving the proper care.
For these reasons, if was decided that at all times Toby would accompany me on all vacations and trips. As you will see, having him along made the trips much more fun and memorable.
The first trip came along when we took a trip to the Ozarks. We went down there quite a bit and stayed in Springfield, Missouri. There was a nice hotel there that offered a golf course, tennis and three swimming pools.
I was very pleased with the way Toby behaved on this initial trip. He didn't make any fuss in the car. We just drove down there peacefully and in comfort. This place didn't care if Toby was with me on the golf course as long as he didn't get on the greens. He followed me around while I played. I embarrassed myself greatly as I always do on the golf course. I think I caught Toby laughing at me on more than one occasion. It's probably a good thing I can't play golf anymore. The last time I played about ten years ago, I hooked the ball so bad it went over the safety netting by the course edge and landed in the practice putting area. I just missed hitting a man in the head.
At restaurants, I stayed with him out in the car and just ate out there. On warm days, we would go sit under a shade tree and have a picnic. I never left Toby alone in the car. Even with the windows cracked, a car will heat up tremendously. For a time, I also feared he would be stolen. At one time, there was a high incidence of pet theft where I live. Since that time, I've always been afraid to leave any animal unattended for too long. By the way, a person has to be really sick to steal someone's pet.
Most of my Mom's family lived in the state of Wyoming, so when my Grandmother was still living, we went out there almost every summer. The first trip out west with Toby was fun.
Instead of driving straight through the barren Kansas Plains to Cheyenne, we decided to take a circuitous route and visit the Black Hills and other sites in South Dakota. Our first stop was in Sioux Falls.
When we arrived, everyone was worn out from driving. We didn't plan to do much in town, but I discovered the USS South Dakota monument listed in a travel brochure at the hotel. All of us went out to see it.
This monument consists of a concrete outline of the battleship which is built to the ship's exact dimensions. An interesting museum and gift shop are located in the middle about where the ship's bridge would be. Toby and I walked around there for a long time.
We got up early the next morning and headed west. We decided to make a quick stop in Mitchell to visit their number one attraction, the Corn Palace. We didn't stay too long because we wanted to make it to Rapid City by the evening.
The Corn Palace is a really interesting place. It is definitely worth a visit. The outside facade of the building is decorated in a different picture each year. All of the decoration is made of corn and some other grains. If I remember right, the building is mainly used as an auditorium.
Our next stop was Chamberlain by the Missouri River. I live near Kansas City, so I've seen the Missouri River many times. However, the river at Chamberlain is extremely wide. The water seemed to be much clearer than down by where I live. The surrounding scenery is also much more eye pleasing.
We came across a nice rest area. It was situated on top of a hill that afforded a grand view of the river and the surrounding countryside. This area had several picnic tables that were covered by steel poles in order to resemble a giant tee-pee. Toby and I walked all around through the park and had an enjoyable lunch. I was going to go farther, but Toby was getting too hot. He never could stand very much heat.
The next stop on our South Dakota excursion was the Badlands. This is a spectacular sight. One can drive through the area and see the devastating effects of erosion on the Great Plains. The area looks like a section of mini-mountains carved out of the barren landscape that surrounds it.
Toby and I got out to explore. We walked quite a way down one of the trails taking in the sights. I was worried about rattlesnakes, so I didn't want to go to far. Toby was crazy when it came to going after things. Once, there was a big black snake in the back yard by the garden. Toby went after that snake barking. Toby was in the fenced part of the yard, and the snake crawled just outside the fence. However, it started turning back towards Toby. I dispatched the snake. Black snakes aren't poisonous, I didn't want to mess with a snake that was.
When we arrived in Rapid City, we had a hard time finding a place to stay that accepted pets. We finally found a place that on the outside appeared to be a dump, but the rooms were very nice. The restaurant's buffet was great. Toby and I ate our dinner, and then we went for a long walk. We really enjoyed South Dakota.
The next morning, we decided to explore around Rapid City. We went to a place called Dinosaur Park. At this park, there are several life-size dinosaurs made from concrete. The park is up on a little hill. My Dad is so scared of heights, that he wouldn't even get out of the care. As we were coming down from the park, my Dad buried his head in his lap so he didn't have to look out the window. Toby must have thought that my Dad looked ridiculous because Toby jumped up into the front seat and kept licking my Dad's head and barking until my Dad sat back up in the seat.
Traveling through the Black Hills was fun. Toby and I stopped at one place and looked at the bison. One of the bison at the farm was friendly and let me pet him. He and Toby sniffed one another. Knowing Toby, I thought that he might decide to try to go after the bison, so I got him out of there in short order.
After more sight seeing in nature, we stopped at Mt. Rushmore. This was the one part of the trip that I did not enjoy. It was so crowded, you couldn't hardly move. Toby came with me, they allowed dogs at that time. We couldn't walk five feet without someone bothering Toby. People would reach down and try to pet him without even asking. One person poked him in the eye. Toby growled. Who can blame him? The two of us got the heck out of there. Another thing that I hated about the place is that at least twenty people must have asked me if that was the kind of dog Queen Elizabeth has. I was about ready to put a sign on Toby saying, Queen Elizabeth has a corgi like this. We went back to the car and escaped the madness. Mom and Dad came back an hour or so later and said how great a time they had. The best time that Toby and I had there was our nap time when we got back to the car.
We left South Dakota and arrived for an uneventful stay at my Grandma's house. We did go out to visit my uncle's ranch about 40 miles outside of Cheyenne. We were supposed to have a picnic at his house. All the time we were there, my uncle kept telling me about how many rattlesnakes were around the place. Toby and I wished we had stayed in town. We couldn't even enjoy our meal. I kept watching for those darn snakes. Needless to say, when everyone decided to walk around the ranch, we stayed at the house. Neither one of us cared much for the outdoors. I remember someone saying once that they were an avid indoorsman. That would describe Toby and me.
We returned from our trip through Nebraska which is about as exciting as Kansas. Toby and I never went back to visit South Dakota. I wish we would have. It is a nice place.
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