The dog-shaped hole in our lives has been filled by a curly-haired dog named Poppy.
We came back to Ohio for a wedding and to update the van’s interior. I decided to look at the dogs available from a shelter I’m on the board of. Usually, they only have larger dogs, but this time they had some smaller dogs, one of which was Poppy. She was listed as a poodle mix and was “spectacularly interesting,” as our friend Pete said when I sent him the link to her shelter picture. I fell in love.
We decided to go an meet her. She bounded into the room and into my lap. She couldn’t stay still. She was so full of life. Although we went home to think about it, I was already in love with her. We were staying with Mark’s dad while in Ohio, who said we could not bring a dog into his house. I decided to find other accommodations because I was not going to risk the chance that Poppy would get adopted before we were ready to hit the road again.
We adopted her from the shelter a week later and went camping for a couple of days. She took to camping and life in the van like she had been doing this her whole life. She was great on trails, jumping over any tree that crossed our path. It wasn’t surprising since she seems to be made of springs.
Camping for the next month was impractical as Mark had to work on the van, and the cost was prohibitive. He returned to his dad’s, and I traveled with Poppy 1 1/2 hours away to my friend’s farm sanctuary. We were welcome to stay in the house, but I preferred to remain in the 4Runner with Poppy. I now felt more comfortable staying in a vehicle than a house. It just seems more cozy.
Poppy agrees
Poppy loves it on the farm. She’s made herself at home. She has become best friends and wrestling buddies with Cora, one of the dogs that live here. They can play for hours, sleep for hours and then play some more.
Poppy is fearless around animals bigger than her. Poppy has made friends with Brandi, the miniature horse, Gus and Trooper, the pigs, and Bam Bam, the Jersey cow. Bam Bam gave her a big cow kiss. She has not met any goats because they run when they see her.
I’ve also enjoyed our time here. I used to come almost every weekend before we left on our adventure. Now I get to spend more time with the animals here, getting to know them better. Every morning I let them out for the day, and every evening I help get them in for the night and feed them. Some nights everything goes smoothly, and some nights it’s chaos. It all depends on the mood in the barn.
Dogs, cats, and formerly farmed animals are not the only ones Poppy and I encounter at the farm. We see deer, skunks, groundhogs, rabbits, and raccoons as we walk or hang out in the 4Runner.
The farm sanctuary is not the only farm we have spent time at. One of my longest and dearest friends has a farm with rescued animals of her own. And that is where she got married. We got to van camp on a hill overlooking the tent where the wedding occurred. We even woke up to deer outside the van.
It is another peaceful and beautiful place. Poppy got to spread her legs and run all over. That is until she found a dead mouse and refused to listen to me again. Then it was back to the leash for her. The same thing happened when we found a dead fawn on the farm sanctuary.
One concern I had was that Poppy only spent two days with Mark before we went off on our own. She only gets to see him once a week or less. No worries that she wouldn’t consider him one of her people. She gets right into his lap whenever she sees him.
The van is almost done after almost two months, and then we will be taking Poppy on adventures. It should be a lot of fun.
WanderLyd 