Traveling with Dogs

In 2004, we came back from a Stateside furlough and moved from Fortaleza to Bahia.  A nice man in Fortaleza had taken care of Blackie that year.  In fact, Blackie really did well and enjoyed learning some new tricks - like taking more baths and riding in cars.  Those new tricks came in handy as we returned to Fortaleza by car to get some of our belongings and to get our dog!

It had been raining a lot in the Northeast of Brazil that year and traveling was not easy as a result.  Remember that the Northeast is called a "semi-arid" region where it only rains about 20 inches  a year.  When there is too much rain, it floods quickly as most of the dirt is sandy.  Most cities have poor drain systems.  Roads are poorly built and wash away quickly.  Many bridges are also cheaply built and don't last through serious flooding.

As we started our trip, Uncle Byron had made a little spot for Blackie in the back of our big red truck.
It was supposed to be a trip of about 10 to 12 hours.  We figured and hoped that Blackie would do well as he can be riding a lot with his caretaker.  Blackie was never house-trained but he had always done his business out of the house.  We hoped he would let us know when he needed to go.

As we drove we saw more and more bridges that had been washed away.  We had to take several detours.  Police had barriers set up in the highway from time to time advising people to go back and take a different road.  All the well, Blackie was doing well, but it became more and more evident that our trip was going to be a long one.

This is what our red truck looked like.

This bridge was sagging in the middle.  Cones are just to let you know to go carefully.

Finally we came to a place where the water was deep from a river. The water had totally covered up the road. No bridge could even be seen. Apparently the water usually flowed through culverts under the road.  People were wading across but the flow was swift and the few cars and trucks we saw that tried to pass had barely made it without getting caught up in the current.

But good old Blackie was a trooper and just seemed to enjoy it all even the delays.

By then it was almost dark.  Don't forget where we live the sun comes up at 6 in the morning and goes down by 6 at night.  Uncle Byron didn't want to try driving in the dark over crazy roads with bridges out and rivers flowing over them.  So we turned around and went back to the last city to find a hotel - that would let our dog stay, too!

We found a hotel.  Byron asked if we could tie Blackie under the truck.  The manager said that it would be better for Blackie to stay in our room with us because big, mean guard dogs were let out in the hotel parking lot at night.  So up the stairs we went with three boys and one black dog.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Mr. Blackie let me know he needed to go.  I tried to get him to "go"in the shower area.  But he would have nothing of that and only whined more.  I had seen some flower beds on the bottom level of the hotel and headed for those.  As we got near the lower level, I felt the fear of approaching mean guard dogs, and I almost "went."  Even Blackie was shaken up and whimpered. Thankfully there was a locked gate between us and the dogs and the flower beds!  As we went back up the stairs there were some elevated flower beds along the side of the stairs.  Blackie and I had a little conversation as I picked him up to "go" on the flowers.  I said, Do it here and do it fast, boy!  He was smart and he did.  He didn't ask to go out anymore that night!

When we got back to the room, Uncle Byron asked if we had found a good place outside.  I said simply that it was all taken care of, go back to sleep.  I told the rest of the story in the morning.

Somehow we made it back to Sobradinho the next day.  Our trip ended up taking closer to 30 hours than the normal 10 to 12.  But we were all safe and sound.