We set off for a weekend camping trip at Knoll Lake to celebrate Shawn's birthday. We were all excited to spend a few days in the cooler temps enjoying nature. Especially Bubbles, she panted all the way there!
The first few hours were very enjoyable, we had a whole loop of the campground to ourselves. Athena and I took Bubbles exploring around the forest, we all caught up on some reading. Hailey took a nap and we had a great game of UNO!
Then around 3:00 in the afternoon the cloud cover started to darken. Shawn and I decided we better put the tarp up over the tent. As we were doing this the thunder started and freaked Bubbles out. Just as I was coming around the tent to tell Hailey to put her in the tent I see Hailey running off into the woods. Bubbles had pulled right out of her harness and took off. Now it is pouring rain, Shawn heads out after Hailey and Bubbles while Athena and I finish getting everything out of the rain. Shortly after Hailey returns in tears, she had lost Bubbles over a ridge. I head out to tell Shawn she is ok. He was getting disoriented in the trees and was worried Hailey would be lost too. We head back to camp and the rain stops as fast it started so we load into the car to search for Bubbles. A guy thought he saw her 15 minutes before we drove by so we head in the direction he saw her going. We drive around yelling her name until it's dark, then decide it's hopeless until morning to keep looking. So we head back to camp, walk around to let everyone in the campground know we are looking for a dog. A wonderful group of guys even let us borrow this huge spotlight. After trying to eat a very late dinner we head to bed, none of us really slept at all.
The next morning we try and eat breakfast, make some lost dog signs and head back out. We have a few moments of hope when people mention they might have seen her. Another guy tells us he lost his dog once and someone found it. So we search, and search, and search. The girls yelling her name out the window constantly. We decide to look down by the lake then go out to get more gas so we can continue searching. On our way to the lake road our campground host flags us down and tells us some guys on ATV's saw her on the side of a road so we follow him down to talk to them. We are sure it is her they saw, one kid even stopped and got off his ATV and walked towards her, unfortunately he still had his helmet on so she was spooked and took off into the trees again. So they head one way and we head down another road. We get out and see there are paw prints on the road, with no human prints with them. We follow it for a while until it dead ends. I am still convinced they were hers! Still no luck and it's getting close to check out time & we only paid for the first night just in case. So we head back for snacks, bathroom breaks, and to pay for the next night so we can keep searching.
After we eat we check in with the camp host to pay, he tells us not to worry we can catch up later if we need to. He also mentions that about 6 more people have stopped to say they spotted Bubbles on the same road as the ATV gang. we decide to just drive back and forth on that road for a while. We are bound to cross paths were her right? So out on that road a few miles from our camp Hailey spots her on the side of the road!! We all jump out and call her over. She looked at us like she was saying "it's about time you caught up to me" She looked so tired. We all cried, went back to camp to load up and go home!
If only she would have had a camera strapped to her head. What an adventure she had. I still can not believe we found her. And I never want to have that feeling of helplessness again!
She slept all the way home, and pretty much the whole next day too!
