viewMonday, October 7th, 2024
Today was a horrible day. Absolutely everything went wrong. It took forever for the dogs to get to sleep. Just as me, Spider and Monkey were dozing off, Molly was waking up and demanding out, and that woke them up and they they were asking for out and making noise again. I finally got to sleep a little after midnight, then Molly woke me up just before 3:00 demanding out again. I had to wake Leo up cause I couldn't find Molly's gabapentin, which I think is what she was actually asking for. After running the dogs around for another hour or so, they finally got back to sleep. I didn't get back to sleep until 6:30.
Leo woke me up a little after 8 with breakfast. I definitely wanted to sleep more, but I appreciated getting woken up with food, I guess that was one thing that didn't go wrong. I only got about 4 hours of sleep, but we had stuff to do. First order of business was calling the Wisconsin DMV. Leo got through very quickly, was only on hold for 2 minutes. He explained the situation with the Dimetrodon to the agent and she immediately transferred us to a specialist. Things were looking up.
The specialist said there was absolutely nothing we could do. She said Wisconsin couldn't extend the temporary plate under any circumstances; she didn't have anything in her procedure that would let her do it. She said we'd have to take the Dimetrodon to the Nevada DMV, which is a little tricky seeing as how we're currently stuck in Iowa. She denied telling us we had no choice but to abandon it or get a 2,000 mile tow, but that's basically what she told us. Once we pick it up, we should at least be able to get it to an RV park. We can stay there for a bit, tidy up the inside, have time to work out our next move, no need to rush. Leo looked up the Iowa laws, and it looks like ATC (the mechanic) should be able to issue something called an in-transit permit. They look to be designed for exactly our situation.
ATC said they can't issue a permit cause we didn't buy it from them. Also, we can't pick up the Dimetrodon. They fired it up this morning and found it was leaking coolant from the intake; they need to re-seal the coolant lines. It'll be at least another day, maybe more. Oh well, we're trying to make the best of it. We managed to get on board the Dimetrodon, and Leo was able to get his passport that's been stuck there since we left the Dimetrodon here last November. I also got ATC to refund me the $2,000 they overcharged me for the repair without too much trouble.
We've booked ourselves in a fancy Airbnb tonight with a pool table and a hot tub and a giant fenced in yard that the dogs will love. It will be a super-relaxing and much needed break. We have some other stuff to take care of today, but none of it is urgent. It's a minor setback but nothing we can't deal with. Our accommodations tonight are taken care of and we just need to kill a couple hours until we can check in and have a good soak.
We took the dogs to Thornberry Dog Park. It's a huge fenced-in area. Monkey and Spider did so much running around and made a lot of new doggy friends. Molly power-walked around the park, staying on the sidewalk like a senior citizen at the mall. It's been tricky to socialize Monkey, cause he gets so anxious when sees dogs he doesn't know, but today he was a really good boy. For the most part. He did get overstimmed, and he still needs to learn he can't roughhouse with tiny dogs the same way he can with big dogs. He went up and grabbed a tiny dog by the neck, then his owner grabbed him and that made him super-anxious. Leo was able to get over there and break things up, but then his owner started getting on us, saying he shouldn't be there (in the big dog park) if he couldn't deal with tiny dogs. I don't think she got the point that that's why there's a separate tiny dog park.
We stayed there for a bit and experiences were mostly positive. I was hoping to make some calls and maybe research the DMV thing a little more, but Monkey was starting to get overstimmed so we didn't stay. I think he'll get a lot better if we take him to dog parks more regularly. We drove out and Leo showed me around Iowa City a bit, showing me all the poorly designed roads that weren't good for cars or pedestrians, of which there were lots of both. We eventually decided to drive up near Waterloo where our Airbnb was and get some dinner and groceries there. On the way, I was able to make a call to order some base plates for the Jeep that should be here Wednesday. Once those are installed, we'll be able to tow it behind the Dimetrodon. I was also able to call my VA psychiatrist, who apparently can't just send my meds to the nearest VA pharmacy because regulations, and give him the phone number of a Walmart he can send the prescriptions to, so hopefully those will be ready soon.
We stopped at Whiskey Road Tavern & Grill for dinner. I went in and made a to-go order (can't leave the dogs alone), and while I was waiting I was able to have a lovely whiskey flight before they brought us our dinner, all very neatly packaged. That, some boozy cupcakes from New Beginnings bakery, and our beautiful Airbnb and hot tub will make tonight absolute heaven.
3:57 pm: Google Maps tells me that New Beginnings Bakery closes at 4:00. And it's a 20 minute drive away. Going to see what I can find at Hy-Vee instead.
I managed to find a gluten free chocolate cake at Hy-Vee along some chips, some 2-liters, and a very nice bottle of top shelf Jack Daniels (Leo needs a corn-based whiskey because of his wheat allergy). Also, while I was in Hy-Vee, I got a call from my psychiatrist's office that Walmart won't accept his prescription cause he doesn't have an e-scribe account. They suggested I find another pharmacy that will accept an e-mailed prescription with a regular signature, or that I stay somewhere long enough to get my pills mailed to me. I only have a couple Ambien left. It's going to be fun trying to sleep without them, but at least we have a nice place for tonight. It's already after 4:00, so as soon as I'm done shopping, we can go check in whenever we like. Things are looking up.
Also, while I was in Hy-Vee I got messaged by our host and called by Airbnb. Because of all of our recent bad reviews (our most recent host still hasn't given us a review yet, and that's never a good sign), our new hosts didn't want to risk any damage and just canceled our reservation. At 4:16pm. Airbnb said they would give me a full refund (very generous of them to refund the money I paid for a service they decided not to provide), and after I pointed out how much in the lurch that left us, they gave me a coupon for $100 off our next stay (expiring tomorrow) and some suggestions for similar places, like a tiny apartment that also accepted pets and didn't have a yard. I said fuck that, I'm not dealing with you anymore, and booked us at a nearby Hilton. They have a hot tub, so we'll still be able to soak there. And hopefully the dogs will settle down sooner since they already had their exercise.
Checked into the Hilton, the hot tub is broken. I asked the lady at the front desk when it would be fixed; she said they weren't sure, but definitely not tonight. Leo was in a lot of pain after being stuck in the car with the dogs while I was in Hy-Vee. Monkey was apparently barking a lot, and also completely trampled over our dinner. Hopefully some of it is still salvageable. I sent him upstairs and handled getting the dogs and our groceries in myself. It only took about an hour of non-stop in and out with the dogs before they were finally ready to settle down, and things finally got quiet.
The lid of Leo's sup container was smashed into little tiny plastic shards all through his soup in a way that looked like it would have happened whether Monkey had trampled it or not. My salad had croutons on it, even though I'd asked for everything gluten free. My steak was passable, though a little cold by the time I got to it, and I didn't want to put it in the fridge because of cross-contamination concerns. Spider is allergic to beef, which meant I couldn't share with him or any of the other dogs without him feeling left out. This meant I got to eat in the close company of three suddenly extremely hungry and malnourished dogs, trying to cut a very gristly rib-eye with a plastic butter knife. Whiskey Road's menu hadn't left me with a lot of other options that were also gluten free. It was either that or the peach salmon, and Leo's very allergic to stone fruit.
Leo didn't really trust his ahi tuna after the crouton incident, so he left that to me and ate the better part of a cheese sampler I'd gotten from Hy-Vee. We watched some Firefly while I wrote this log entry, which has now taken me the better part of three hours to type out. My laptop—a 3 year old MacBook Pro—decided just last week that it didn't feel like displaying things anymore. The repair shop wanted nearly $700 to fix it, so I decided it would be more economical to buy a new laptop, since I'm about due for an upgrade anyway. I am holding off until after the Dimetrodon's needs are taken care of though, since I don't know how much it will cost.
I was able to find an old monitor for $20 on Facebook marketplace, which works but has extremely washed out color and everything has a sickly bluish tint to it no matter how I adjust it. After all of the work to get the dogs and all of our vitally needed stuff up to our room, I really didn't feel like making another trip for it though, so I've had to type all this out on my phone. I hope it was worth the time I spent on it. Today (and yesterday) seemed like good days to begin our Captain's Log with. Now all the dogs are settling in and going to sleep. Leo has already passed out and I should too or I'll be tired again tomorrow. We originally only booked one night here, but decided after we got here that it's nice enough, and it would be good to have a base of operations to make calls from tomorrow regardless of whether the Dimetrodon's ready or not, so we extended an extra night. I really hope we don't need to stay here too much longer though. I'm going to bed now. Good night.
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