Yesterday was an eventful day. Kurtis and I both had the day off so we decided to take Bennett on his first hike through Castlewood Canyon. Which sounded innocent enough, but we had no idea how our day would eventually end up!
We started out the morning at Starbucks, Kurtis and I got coffee, and Bennett got his signature Puppiccino (which is just a cute name for a cup full of whipped cream, Starbucks is so clever). We then started out for Castlewood Canyon for our hike!
Bennett was so excited when we got there. He was running and sniffing everything. We were taking in the scenery, and letting Bennett play in the water when the worst thing happened. I dropped Bennett’s leash.
And he bolted.
We ran screaming after him as he took off into the woods. We ran as fast as we could but couldn’t catch him (He is fast). Eventually, we lost sight of him. We could still hear his leash jingling in the distance but we couldn’t see him anymore. He had ran well off the trail and we were deep into the woods at this point. I thought the worst. I figured we would have to call the police, fire department, national guard, someone to come find him before he was eaten by a mountain lion. Or he would be eaten by a mountain lion before we could find him. Or we couldn’t find him at all. (Really though, who do you call in that situation?)
Luckily for us (kinda?) Bennett has severe separation anxiety. Normally this is a huge pain, and really sad to deal with. But, it came in handy in this situation. He hates when he can’t see us. If we’re home he has to be in the same room as us or he cries. When we leave for the day, he watches us from the window until we drive away.
So, once he had been gone for a few minutes, and realized he couldn’t see us anymore, he came running back! We were calling out his name, and he just came bounding through the trees panting and smiling. He still didn’t want to be caught, but now he knew he didn’t want to go too far either. We kept him in sight for a while, and finally caught him a few minutes later by luring him with a treat. Kurtis held the leash for the rest of the hike (he’s also strong).
Believe it or not, this was not the most stressful part of the day. We finished up our hike, which was relaxing and uneventful from then on out, and headed to the car.
Where we found the car had a flat tire.
A very, very, flat tire. We tried driving to the nearest gas station to get air, but only made it as far as the park entrance before we couldn’t drive anymore.
We went to the back to get the spare, only to find no spare.
So we called roadside assistance (luckily covered by my insurance), and they told us it would be an hour and a half for a tow truck.
No, thanks. We had already been stranded almost an hour making all these calls. Luckily, Bennett was tuckered out from his mad dash through the forest, so he was well behaved.
So we called my mom. Luckily, Castlewood Canyon is pretty close to town so she came and picked us up within 20 minutes. We went home and got Kurtis’ car, took my tire to the shop, where we had to wait an hour for it to be fixed, then we had to drive back out to Castlewood Canyon to put it back on my car, and go straight to dinner with my cousin and her husband. We made it just in time!
So, my car has a brand new tire, Bennett has a new, stronger leash, and I never want to go hiking again.
xoxo.