6 September, 2017, Blog Post No. 14

6 September, 2017, Blog Post No. 14

5 September - Drove into downtown Ottawa early in the morning but were totally frustrated by the parking system, even with research on a rather spotty internet connection at the camp. Most of the public parking seemed to be underground (too low for our vehicle or length restricted. Traffic in downtown Ottawa was a bit of a zoo because of ongoing constructions and detours. Our GPS would be thwarted by a road closure and send us off on another loop. Then we had a bit of luck, we blundered into an Ottawa police lot with a 4 hr limit, set up for public users who were reporting car damage to the police. After checking all the instructions, both in English and in French, it appeared it was actually a public parking lot at a special location, not a restricted use lot so we paid up with a credit card, ($12 for 4 hours), set up the dogs with air and water and hailed a cab to take us to the National Gallery of Canada. On our earlier visit to Ottawa we visited the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau but abandoned an attempt to visit the National Gallery in the face of the press of tourists and the heat and humidity. No problems this time. The Gallery was well worth the effort. The building, by Moshe Safdie, was magnificent and the line up of Canadian art was great. And a wonderful gift shop! We have the T-Shirt to prove we were there. Taxied back to our parking lot and were headed east on Ottawa well ahead of the traffic rush. Found a near deserted lakeside camp, the Lake Dore near Eganville and settled down for the night with an evening meal of fresh NFL cod.

6 September – Turns out our quiet night was anything but. K2 threw up on the previous afternoon during a stop for a P, not that unusual for a dog. He ate heartily on Tuesday night and seemed OK in all respects. About midnight he seemed to be a little agitated and wouldn’t settle, barking, crying and whimpering. We took him outside several times with no letup. All thru the early hours he kept jumping on the bed and barking and whimpering. We thought perhaps he was trying to warn us of an impending earthquake (or nuclear attack!!!). He calmed down for an hour or two after Phil brushed him for half an hour and we finally got back to sleep. Then at 5 am he bounced back up on the bed, refused to get off, peed on the bed and the floor of the driving cab. When he eventually got back on the floor he sat there shivering and crying, apparently in some pain. Phil took him outside and he settled and quieted on the cool, dewy grass while we cleaned up the mess inside. Luckily we got to it all quickly, the mattress protection pad certainly paid for itself. We had everything sorted and were on the road at 9 am, looking for a laundromat and a vet. We put K2 in our traveling cage in the camper, he seemed to have calmed down and wolfed his usual breakfast in about 2 seconds flat, a fairly reliable indicator that he is on form. We headed west on OH 60 towards Huntsville, keeping a sharp eye on our patient. The fog lifted and the day became warm and clear. To our surprise we found our usual dog walk targets, the cemeteries at the rural Catholic Churches were plastered with “no dog” and “private property” signs, and more strangely “dangerous ground” notices. We found a deserted rest area and turned the dogs loose. K2 raced around in an advanced state of bliss, Tintin launched several unsuccessful pursuits of squirrels, all business as usual. Both dogs then settled into their normal somnolent travel mode, coming to life only when we stopped for breaks.

We drove thru Algonquin park for most of the day. The scenery in fine weather, with beautiful lakes, autumn foliage and little resorts was a great improvement on our previous experience in N Ontario. We stopped for a rather grand lunch at one of the expensive, remote resorts (The Pines in Arowhon, recommended by Gerry and Wendy) and finally came to rest for the night at one of the many lakeside RV Resorts to the west of Algonquin park boundary. A session in the camp laundromat and we were as good as new and somewhat to our surprise, K2 has settled down for the night, quiet as a mouse. Just in case we are keeping the travel cage assemble and in the camper, ready if he has another one of these strange turns,

A la prochaine

P & K