Hudson was rescued by B.O.N.E.S. from a bad situation in Limington, ME. After the gentleman called 911 (and subsequently passed away), the local ACO found 20 dogs living in squalid conditions.
B.O.N.E.S. took most of them and found them new homes. Overall, Hudson was in very good shape but when he had his physical, they found a serious mast cell tumor in his nose. As much as possible was removed.
B.O.N.E.S. wanted to find a wonderful home for Hudson and we did. John is a long-haul trucker that had lost his beagle companion of 13 years. He wanted a new companion. Luckily John found Hudson (or Hudson found John). It was a wonderful match. Hudson reported in regularly, and we share his "Chronicles" on this page.
Greetings from Chicago. John and I unloaded in Kankakee, IL, Friday afternoon and couldn't find anything to load, so here we are for the weekend.
It turned out to be a good thing, because I had to go to the vet yesterday. I don't know what was wrong, but I had trouble walking, I looked like a drunk old man (as John told the vet), and my breathing was rapid and shallow. But as we were headed to the vet, I was feeling better, and by the time we got there, I was back to normal. The vet did a check-up and found nothing wrong. I guess it's what you call old age. We went to the Banfield Vet center, which is part of the Petco chain, located in the store. I was impressed with the service we got. From a traveler's perspective, it's nice to know there is a facility you can go to nationwide, that is open weekends!
Anyway, back to the story. As I mentioned in the last update, John had a major equipment failure on our last trip to Florida. The front drive axle on the tractor lost a couple of bearings inside, which resulted in major noise and internal damage. John got to the side of a narrow two-lane road, and the truck would not move. He locked in the power divider, which is like being in 4 wheel drive, and the truck would move, but still made an awful grinding noise. He decided to call a wrecker and have the rig towed to the nearest Peterbilt dealer. We were told it would be a couple of hours before the wrecker showed up, so John got out the blanket and we had a picnic... that is, without the food.
Once we got to the dealer, they told us that they would try to get the truck in the shop the next day (Tuesday), and see what was wrong. So John found a motel, got a room, packed up all out stuff, called a cab, and off we went, to our favorite chain, Motel 6. Not only do they leave the light on for you, they leave it on for pets!
We arrived at this fancy Motel 6 in Orlando, and John hauled in all our stuff, luggage, dog bed, groceries, etc. (The poor guy looked like he was spending two weeks with his family of four!) The first thing the woman behind the counter asked John was where was my cage. Even I said huh? What cage? Well, the hotel requires a cage for animals that are staying. John said that he has never encountered this rule after 25 years of staying at Motel 6's around the country. They said it is company policy and that he needs a cage for me when I am left in the room alone. John replied that the rules state that pets are NOT to be left in rooms unattended, and that our truck was in the shop and we had no means of transportation, so that we were stranded and he was not going anywhere! Still, I needed a cage.
There were four other Motel 6's in the area, so John started making phone calls. The first two didn't have refrigerators/microwaves, but they didn't require cages! The fourth one had the fridge/microwave, and they didn't require cages, either. So, another cab ride to the south side of Orlando, and we had found our temporary home at last!
During the first week, John got the flu, so he spent most of the week in bed trying to get rid of it. In a way, the timing was good, since it is a lot easier to be sick in a comfortable motel room, rather than in a truck having to keep on trucking.
The shop finally got the truck in Thursday afternoon, and found that it was the front drive axle that was ruined. After 2.1 million miles of use, I guess it was time. The following Wednesday, we checked out of the motel and took another cab back to the dealership. John was checking things out and found a loose bolt on the brand new axle housing. He pointed this out to the service manager, who went to get the mechanic. It turns out the bolt was broken! John asked how long it would take to fix and the mechanic said a day. He could start on it tomorrow. John said that wouldn't work, as he had a load to load in Georgia later in the afternoon.
The service manager was in agreement that John and I had been there way to long already. The mechanic was had to completely remove the rear end assembly and axles to get at the broken bolt. John and the service manager both asked the mechanic why he hadn't fixed the bolt earlier, and he claimed it hadn't been broken! He was obviously hoping we wouldn't notice it and drive off. He got caught red-handed. So, we had to spend the day in the lobby waiting for the truck to be repaired again. At least there was no charge this time.
So, after almost two weeks down, and 7000 dollars later, we were back on the road. I have to say, that I didn't realize how much slop was in the old rear end. John's shifting has become much smoother and the truck is a lot quieter!
That about wraps it up for now.
Remember to get voting for your favorite beagle, and it doesn't matter who that might be! It's all about supporting B.O.N.E.S. so they can continue helping lost souls like me and the hundreds before me.
Hudson, the semi-beagle.
