The Boxer & The Quad

We rent warehouse space in a little town called Eastvale. It's convenient because it's only about 5 minutes away from the house, and on the way to the store in the South Hills. A few weeks ago, a local told Rob that you could follow the railroad tracks right around the corner on a Quad for miles and not be bothered. Last week, Rob & I took advantage of a sunny evening, and rode about 6 miles down the track to check it out. The tracks border the river and I was amazed by the beautiful waterfalls, trees, and the beauty of the railroad track as the sun set through the trees. I probably said 10 times during that ride that I should have had my camera. At some point during our ride, Rob was reminiscing about how Ceasar used to chase after the quad for miles and miles in his glory days. I was wondering secretly to myself how Lucy would react to being a passenger on the quad.

The weather was beautiful last night, warm and not a cloud or raindrop anywhere to be found. So, when Rob suggested we take the quad out for a ride- I proposed the idea of taking Lucy with us. He got a good laugh out of it, agreed but said it was going to be a short ride. I laughed and said "We'll see!"

Since I had time to ponder the idea of Lucy on the quad, I had a plan for anchoring Lucy to me and the bike. I took her car harness, strapped it to my belt, and wrapped her leash around my waist. Lucy had a little bit of room to move, but not enough room to get herself into trouble.

I wondered how she would do with the loud sound of the motor when Rob started the quad. Lucy was startled, but that didn't last long. She immediately went over to check out the big toy! The bike was running when Rob lifted her up into the basket right behind me, and she settled in very easily. We strapped her in, and headed down to the railroad tracks.

Lucy rode for a couple of miles in the basket, and then wiggled her way up partially on my lap, and in between Rob and I. Every once and a while, Rob would look over his shoulder at his two girls and chuckle. We went further last night than we did on our previous ride with very few complaints from our little boxer. She barked a little bit, for a very short period of time, but the rest of the time she was quiet. We still haven't figured out what she was barking at- I know there were a ton of squirrels and chipmunks- maybe she saw one of those. She really seemed to be enjoying herself- her ears blowing in the wind, and her 2 humans right there with her.

I loved that we were able to have her right there with us enjoying herself right along with her humans! Our little boxer is cool!

Between the harness, her leash, and her human keeping a very tight arm around her, Lucy had an easy ride, even though there was a lot of bouncing around.

On our way back, we stopped at the waterfall so that I could take a picture. Last week when we were there, it had rained a lot, so there was a lot more water than what we saw last night- it was a lot prettier with more water in it. Lucy seemed completely fascinated by the sound of the water- or maybe it was just the water. (Lucy loves water!) She and I walked part of the way back, and would have walked further, but the rocks around the tracks were way to big for Lucy and I to walk easily on, so she and I hopped back on the quad with her Daddy. I would say we went about 8 miles down the track- but I forgot to look at the odometer when we left, so I can't be sure. -- I know it was definitely a longer ride than the one we took WITHOUT the boxer! ha, ha!

Our next big adventure with Lucy will probably be the boat. We're late getting it in the water this year because we wanted it docked closer to the house than where we have previously docked it- hopefully at the end of the month we'll be approved for docking at the Beaver County Boat Club (That's just funny- at least they don't have the audacity to call it the yacht club!) I'm sure that Lucy will love the boat- of course, I'll be worried about her trying to jump in the water... I guess that will be another one of those situations where she'll be tightly anchored to her human!

Lucy loves riding in the car! We have a 13 mile drive from the store to the house. Typically, Lucy will ride with her head out the window for the first 2 or 3 miles, and then she settles in with her little head on the console and takes a nap the rest of the way home. I guess if I'm expecting Lucy to watch out for hazards on the road, I'm going to be disappointed, unless they are in the first couple of miles of our drive!