What a Bust

Life on the road has its share of challenges, but for us most days have gone smoothly. Yesterday was not one of those days.

The last time I had Matey groomed I looked ahead to where we’d be in six weeks so I could get an appointment and keep our poor dog from getting terribly shaggy between trims. This is where we were scheduled to be and there is a PetSMart in Bismarck. That’s 54 miles away, so not exactly convenient, but I figured we could combine the trip with other errands so I made the appointment.

We needed propane, we needed to do laundry, Bud needed a refill on one of his medications, we needed to replace the filter part of our water filter, we wanted a new vinyl map of states we had visited to stick on our camper (and now we had provinces, too) and we needed to replace some kitchen gadgets that were left behind in a drawer in our old trailer. So the plan was to visit an RV place, drop off Bud’s prescription at Walmart, drop off Matey for his grooming appointment, drop off me at the laundromat, then Bud would go back to Walmart and get his prescription filled do the shopping and then come back to the laundromat and finally pick Matey up all clean and clipped.

We probably got the wrong filter core and the RV place didn’t have a map that included Canada. We did fill the propane, which has to be carried upright and since we now have 30 pound cylinders has to ride in the backseat, seen above with part of the laundry.

The first Walmart we stopped at didn’t have Pharmacy marked on the outside and wasn’t listed on my map program as having a pharmacy. The one that did come up when you entered Walmart pharmacy was too far to get to before Matey’s appointment. So we went to drop Matey off first. That’s when things really went wrong.

I had found out Matey had a heart murmur at the vets in Spokane. The vet there said she couldn’t tell how severe it was, didn’t seem overly concerned and said when I got somewhere where I had some time I should get an ultrasound of his heart. If the murmur was bad enough they would not anesthetize him to clean his teeth. So in talking to the grooming department I said maybe I should have his teeth brushed since he may not be able to get them cleaned again. Well, alarm bells went off. It seems PetSmart has new rules (just this month) about dogs with heart murmurs. The salon called the office in Seattle to see how severe the murmur was. The office there listed it as 4 out of 6. They won’t groom a dog whose murmur is more severe than 3 out of 6, so no grooming for Matey.

That meant someone would have to stay in the truck with Matey while the other errands happened. We went to the Walmart that was listed as having a pharmacy and Bud went in. No pharmacy. North Dakota has a law that prohibits a pharmacy in the store.

So Bud did the other shopping, but I didn’t want Bud and Matey to have to wait the two hours it would take for the laundry so we came home.

We drove about a hundred and twenty miles for groceries and propane and came back with dirty laundry and a raggedy dog. What a bust.