Day 40 - Monday, June 28

First a big shout out to friends Ted and Stan for successfully completing Ride Across America with huge support from their families, John, Jim, Liebs and others. They left last Saturday and rode as team of four non stop until Saturday night. Epic achievement - well done!

On our adventure, the rain has been coming down all night and the weather app shows a warning I’ve never seen living in florida, “River flood warning”. We have been fortunate to date with the rain gods, nothing of any consequence in June but looks like this will change next week. Hoping this isn’t an ominous sign for the day ahead…

Both Chris and I woke up still full from our glutinous dinner at Salt & Smoke - and yet we managed to find space for a solid Cracker Barrel breakfast before heading to our 8am appointment at University of Missouri’s Veterinary Center. Since we stayed in their parking lot overnight it was our duty!

Lucky and I walked into the Small Animal Hospital on the Mizzou campus to a clean, modern and empty waiting area - they slipped us in early. I consider Lucky a disciplined dog as he runs on busy roads without a leash. When he comes to the docs office it is like a party for him as he wants to say hi to every person and every animal and only then can I tell him to lay down and stay - have to respect he has built a successful career mooching. After he said hello to the one other person and his dog as well as the 3 clinicians and then came back to lay down.

The woman at the front desk took our name and Allison, a 4th year veterinary student came out to bring us into a room where we discussed Lucky’s history and reviewed the records we provided. After our consult, she told me that she would brief Dr. Hovis and then consult with me. I was ushered back into the waiting room where I sat with one other person. As I waited, a woman came in holding her dog in her arms and it appeared the dog had a stroke or heart attack as its legs were sticking up, the dog was breathing very gently and she was sobbing. Two woman came out immediately from behind the doors, took the dog and disappeared. My heart broke for the woman as she sat down crying for her companion - I know the feeling as this was me weeks ago with Lucky. But not today -

Dr. Hovis met with me and she wanted to run a scan, do bloodwork and administer Vincristine - while we were at it, I also asked her to check out Lucky’s left wrist as it seems to bother him when he gets to 15+ miles! She told me they would call when it was complete.

Chris and I used the time to catch up on chores which included laundry, shopping, RV repairs and planning. I received a call around 1pm from Dr. Hovis and she reported the good news first - no cancer visible although it is still there at microscopic level and this is what success looks like. Same time, his neutrophil count was 1200 which is well below the 2000 required to administer the scheduled round of chemo. After she consulted with her team they concluded we should use next Tuesday’s appointment to do this weeks protocol and then come back an extra week after to stay on track. Even though we drove 250 miles to get here, next week will only be 60 miles as we will run towards them over the next week and then the following week we will drive back to them 100 miles or so - all doable and in line with what he needs, perfect! Finally she told me that they did an ortho consult and saw no structural issues at all with his left wrist and think it is soft tissue injury that we can manage through. I deeply appreciate all of the women who cared for Lucky today - your passion, expertise and teamwork were superb.

On our way home we decided to go back to the well and eat at Salt & Smoke because of how incredible the food was, the ambiance and the charm of the village St. Charles. A ton of history in this old, well preserved town including the place where Lewis & Clark met and travelled through on the Missouri RIver for almost 3 years to explore the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase under President Jefferson. This round we did something slightly different as we started with burnt ends and then another app of trashed St. Louis ribs followed by a salad which Chris threw on some pulled pork and I had a falafel burger that was dressed with arugula and a pepper jelly. We ended with a piece of peach pie and another pecan with their house made bourbon pecan ice cream on top - I also had a glass of Woodford Reserve Bourbon neat to go with the dessert. It was perfection!

On to our overnight boondock at a deserted gas station so we can kick off early tomorrow and try to beat some of the heat.

On the way, as we stopped to fill up and get water, an energetic girl came out because she saw Lucky in the co-pilot seat erect and alert as Chris and I were outdoors. Kaylie met Lucky and we chatted about the area and truck stop -

Thank you for your continued support -

Cheers,

David.

Chris’ first Cracker Barrel experience.

Allison is a superstar!

Lucky has a newly shaved area on his belly - he was emotionally exhausted after spending 5 hours in the clinic.

In addition to buying needed supplies at Gander, Chris has been looking for an atlas since we left on June 1st, he finally found it! Below is the Missouri River flooding and massive debris floating down stream at high speeds.

Trashed wings at Salt & Smoke - best I’ve ever had.

Falafel Burger and Season salad with kale, shaved brussel sprouts, candied pecans, apricots, red onion, feta cheese and a light honey mustard dressing.

Pecan pie a la mode with a glass of Woodford Reserve.

The streets of St. Charles and Lucky keeping watch.

Saying goodbye to St. Louis - we won’t be returning.

Boondocking home tonight at an out of business Fast Stop.