Day 28

Today was a doggy day. We drove about 10 miles to the Guadalupe River State Park. It's a large park with several camping and picnic areas. There are also hiking and biking trails. We were interested in the picnic area that borders the Guadalupe river. The parking lot is about 110 yards from the river and 50 feet above it. The picnic area covers the sloping area down from the parking lot to the river. There's a small beach on the park side of the river. The other side of the river is a sheer rock cliff that's about 60 or 70 feet high. The cliff has benches and shallow caves eroded in it by the river.

Dogs aren't allowed off leash in the park. That's OK because there is a semi-paved path that goes downstream along the river. After 200 or 300 yards the path goes past the park boundary. It ends about 100 yards after that. That's where the dog gets to swim.

The river is about 6 feet deep at this point. There's some current, but not much. It's only about 30 yards across. By the time we got to the end of the path Lucy was beside herself. She hadn't been swimming since we left Oregon. I didn't count the number of retrieves that she did. It had to be over 30 though. By the time we were finished my shoes were covered in mud and I had mud splashed on me up to my waist. She was one excited dog. Ellen got some great shots of Lucy doing retrieves with the video camera. She also took some video of the park.

After the swimming we ate lunch and spent a few hours reading by the river. It's a peaceful, quiet place. There aren't many people there on a Friday. We ended with a short hike. I was disappointed that we didn't see any armadillos. Last year there were lots of them. It could be that the foliage hid them. Last year everything was burnt and brown. This year the rain has turned everything green and leafy.

After the park we felt a little guilty so we went to look at a couple of houses. Neither were as desirable as the ones we have already seen.

When we got home it was time to give the dog a bath. Even with all the swimming she was greasy and smelled a little doggy. The trailer has an outside shower. We put her under it and gave her the works - both shampoo and creme rinse. The result was a soft, good smelling doggy.