Gus in the Car, Day Two

Gus is recovering from an injury and Gus LOVES to lick his injuries until they become infected and take twice as long to heal. Cones of Shame don't work on greyhounds because their heads are smaller than their necks. In order to allow his injury to heal (an infected toe) we have to put a modified muzzle on him (which is just a basket muzzle with duct tape around the bottom so he can't lick through it). It's not super comfortable. He has to wear it all the time while in the back of the car because we can't monitor him. Day Two was the longest so we decided to put him in the backseat and move all the luggage to the very back. He was vastly happier to be 1) without the muzzle and 2) close to his people.

Gus's head is well placed for scritches.

Twelve hours of driving. Twelve whole-assed hours. We tried to combine all of our stops—fuel and dog walks and grab a couple of snacks. On a whim we popped off to grab lunch at a gas station Subway (eating in the car because COVID) and it turned out we were on Historic Route 66 (origin point is downtown Chicago). So now Gus can say he’s done that.

You can see the Route 66 sign if you squint. No? Okay here:

We rolled into Albuquerque around 7:30 pm, which was enough time to unload and order a grilled cheese with Hatch green chile (me) and a bacon cheese Hatch green chile burger (hubs) from a local diner to eat in our hotel room (again, COVID) before collapsing. 

A word on traveling during a pandemic. We’re in the middle of surge in Delta cases and Omicron is spreading rapidly across country. The further we got from Chicago, the fewer people we saw with masks. Until we got to Albuquerque. Everyone is masked up here, similar to Chicago. They have digital signs on freeways approaching Albuquerque that say: “Omicron is here. Get a booster. Mask up. Thank you for caring about others.” And that last line is really what it’s about. I don’t wear a mask for my own protection (though it does provide me with some), I wear it because I don’t want to spread it in case I do have it. I wear it for other people. When I see someone NOT wearing a mask it tells me they care more about themselves than others.

Anyways, New Mexico is lovely. Highly recommend.