Dogs are pretty amazing at picking up on our emotions. I did not really believe that they could read
us as well as they do. I learned
otherwise during a trip Wife and I took one year to Kerrville, Texas.
We had decided to visit Kerrville one year as a weekend
getaway. Kerrville is located in the
Texas hill country and a lot of folk like to go to visit and drive on the
narrow winding roads through the hills.
I had a friend that lived in Kerrville, and thought it would be nice to
meet him during our trip. I had met in
an online forum, and had not actually met him face to face, so the trip would
be a good opportunity to cement our connection.
We had dragged our Fifth-wheel behind us and stayed at a
nice little park on the Guadalupe River.
We did a little bit of sight-seeing and some shopping, and I was able to
meet my friend at a restaurant. He
invited us out to his house later to show off his workshop. My friend was a contractor, so I knew that
anything he built would have been well-built.
We agreed to stop by his home on our way out of town.
With our time off from work over, we hitched up the Fifth-wheel
and the dogs, and headed to my friend’s house.
The friend lived in a nice community of homes built among the hills
outside of Kerrville. His house was at
the foot of a very steep hill with homes perched along the hillside like bird’s
nests. My friend came out to greet us,
and suggested that I drive up and around on the narrow road so that my truck
and trailer would be facing the right direction when it was time to leave.
We started up the hill, admiring the beautiful homes. And I was admiring my Ford F250’s diesel
engine as it pulled the Fifth-wheel up the slope. There is nothing like feeling the power of
your diesel taking on a challenge like this one. Slowly, gently, up and up we went. Then the road turned to the right and we were
on pretty level ground, although pretty high up.
There were a couple of roads that intersected with the one
we were on, but my friend had made a sweeping gesture with his hand, suggesting
that we just stay on one road all the way around. Still, I was a little uncertain. Should I have turned back there? What about this next one? We passed the last intersection with some
doubt, and were about to follow the road as it turned to the right again, when
we saw a sign that said “Dead End.”
What?!
The next thing we saw was the road in front of us dropping
down into … nothing? Looking ahead, I
saw another road rising up from the valley, but it was way off to the left of
the road I was on. I was not sure if
that was the same road I was on, or if both roads dead-ended into a creek, and
they were different and unconnected. The
sign we just passed had said this was a dead end!
As we started down, I was very anxious, worried that I would
have to back my truck and trailer up a steep grade on a narrow road for quite a
distance. Wife was feeling the same
anxiety, as we both began to second guess my decision to not turn at the last
intersection.
As we started down that steep road, our anxiety must have
crossed some kind of threshold. Our
normally quiet, peaceful dogs sat up and began crying. They sang, they howled, and they barked
loudly. We moved slowly down the hill
facing the unknown with our choir singing their loudest. This was not at all helpful, and I’m sure
each of us was reinforcing the anxiety of the other, bringing us all too quite
a high state of fear! Further down into
the abyss we went, but not quietly.
When we drove down far enough, I could see that our road did
indeed bend to the left and proceed up the other side of the hill.
Like magic, the cab of the truck became quiet. Everyone was happy, cheerful, and
relieved. The dogs settled back down
onto their laps, laying their heads down like nothing had ever happened.
Once we arrived back at our friend’s house, facing the right
direction, I asked about the “Dead End” sign.
“Oh yeah,” he replied “they just put that sign up there to keep kids
from hot-rodding through the neighborhood.”
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