Day 33 - Monday, June 21

I was more excited to wake up today than most days probably because I knew it would only be a few hours on the road. Monday’s are Lucky’s chemo day and it will serve me well to take 1 day easy/off per week to make sure the shin gets to 100%.

I woke up at 3:56am and after chores and breakfast we headed out to Marathon Gas across the street from the Walmart to fill up water. Lucky, who made his living making friends in the streets of Brazil, found common ground with a big American Bulldog in the parking lot name Brutus. The owner came over to reel Brutus in and we struck up a conversation with Frank the owner and Andrew his friend - they come over to the Marathon for breakfast every day as they know everyone here. Mind you it was 5:30am!

Lucky and I hit the road where we left off in Port Royal TN. The beautifully scenic roads picked up where they left off yesterday with fields of corn that stretched on forever, hay being rolled up by tractors, barns and silos being filled. We also saw cattle for the first time which made me think we are getting closer to the midwest.

As we headed down a country road, we came up to a railroad crossing and it was announced via google map directions that we entered Kentucky! No sign, no fanfare just a lonely railroad crossing in the middle of nowhere and Tennessee is officially behind us.

Guthrie Kentucky is a very small town and we thought about heading out to spend the night elsewhere but we received notice of a major storm coming through and decided to hole up in the best option in town - the parking lot of Tiny Town Baptist Church.

Our first order of business after cleaning up was administering Lucky’s oral chemo round. This was a first for us as the last time it was done by the doctor. The protocol was to begin with meds that help his stomach and then follow later with 6 pills that were in a pill vial and then in a sealed bag. We needed to wear gloves and make sure the pills got swallowed first shot. Lucky has deep trust somewhere deep inside or why else would he let me shove this poison down his throat. About an hour after ingesting the pills, I could tell he wasn’t feeling well as he crawled onto the couch looking for comfort as he could hardly keep his eyes open as his chest was heaving in and out for hours - what a change from a few hours prior where we happy as larks running through the country side.

The daily high temps have been in the 90’s but we are huddled in the RV today while strong storms come through and will be providing relief over the next few days with temps in the 70’s and low’s of 50.

All for now - better day’s ahead for Lucky as we look to take on Kentucky.

Cheers,

David.

Lucky meets Brutus

And the dog owners meet

Lucky owning the country road

Starting to see cattle

Kentucky!

Chemo day for Lucky

Not feeling good…