Day 84: W 12/5- Animal Control

   Unfortunately, when we woke up early the next morning there was no message from the owner and the dogs were still hanging around.  They had apparently spent the night in some brush not far from the tent.  They seemed no worse for the wear, so we gave them some breakfast; Aaron got the fire going and made our breakfast while I looked up numbers for the local sheriff and animal control guys.  I talked to a few different people, they all seemed to think it would be too hard to collect the dogs on the river and I had some difficulty explaining that we would paddle them back across to the shore and we’d walk them to the nearest road.

   We finally made our arrangements, planning to meet the animal control officer on highway 420, which the map showed was close to the river.  We tried to get all three dogs in the canoe, but Jack and the black lab did not seem to understand how to sit in a boat.  After they jumped out for the second or third time, I waded back to the island and walked them to the other side while Aaron rowed the canoe.  Once we were opposite the landing, I climbed back in and we paddled across to the mainland while the dogs swum along after us.  Once there, we walked up the broad cow path to a fire pit and some benches, someone’s riverside hangout.  We walked through the wooded pasture, scaring a herd of confused cows coming to drink and found a locked gate just along the highway.  I called the officer and told him where we were; he picked up the dogs just a few minutes later and we were on our way.

   Later, the owner called back and left us a message.  He was a young man working on the oil rigs offshore and had left Captain Jack to stay with his dad.  The dog had run off and found his black lab friend along the way.  The guy seemed very grateful that we had taken the time to return Jack, but we never did find out what happened to the black lab.  We felt happy about helping out, but the ordeal had put us behind schedule and we were eager to get going.

   The rest of the day was warm, but foggy and raining all day.  By the time we stopped, at mile 248, we were soaked through and ready to climb in the tent.  We didn’t bother with a fire, just made some sandwiches in the tent and called it a day.