Gabby Bot

Elk’s Lodge #2456, Monte Vista, CO, June 13, 2018

Remember the movie "Alien", you know the one where the creature explodes out of the chest of actor John Hurt scaring the living daylights out of everybody? Well we had our own version of that scenario yesterday.

For the last week we have been treating what we thought was a cyst on the side of Gabby's (our younger cat) chest. Twice a day we would clean it with warm water, then apply peroxide and an antiseptic ointment. But after a week of treatment, the "cyst" was not going away. And there was a small opening, smaller than the head of a straight pin, that would not close. You would think that eventually that little hole would close up as part of the healing process. Plus we thought we could see movement through that little hole, but we thought it was her breathing causing that .

After a week with no improvement, we decide that it's time to seek the help of an expert. Of course we are in a campground in the Rio Grande National Forest and the nearest vet is over 30 miles away. EJ goes to the Web looking for reviews of the few veterinarians nearest to us. We found one in Monte Vista, Colorado that had the best reviews and she called and made Gabby an appointment, at 8:45 the next morning.

Not wanting to subject Gabby to a 30 or 45 minute car ride as she gets very vocal expressing her displeasure of that method of convayance, we decide to leave our idylic spot in the woods and move the RV to Monte Vista(she has no problems with traveling in the RV).

Only problem is, there are no campgrounds in Monte Vista. But there is an Elks Lodge right downtown. So I call the lodge. No answer. But I leave a message, telling of our plight, and hoping it is OK to spend a few nights in their parking lot while we get Gabby tended to.

We move over to the Monte Vista Elks Lodge and get set up. No hookups, so we are on our own. Pretty soon this fella wearing a tie wanders over. We think "Uh-ho, the moment of truth"! Turns out this lawyer, bar tender, head of the local Elks Lodge (his name is Ben Gibbons) wanted to see if we were OK and welcomed us to stay as long we needed.

The morning of the appointment everything is going great. Gabby is being her normal rambunctious self tearing around the RV. Then a garbage truck shows up next door and makes a great deal of noise clanging and banging a dumpster to show the neighborhood how deligent he is ensuring the dumpster is truly empty. Gabby panics at the noise and disappears up under the RV's dashboard which is a mass of wires and cables totally inaccessable by humans. By this time it is about 20 minutes before we have to leave to make the vet appointment on time. Cajoling and threatening have no effect in convincing Gabby to emerge from her cave. Finally we put some dry food in her bowl and shake it to make sure she hear the delicious morsels rattling around in her dish.

It works! She squirms out of her sanctuary and we let her have a few bites as a reward before whisking her off to the vet in the car, listening to her caterwauling the whole way. Fortunately it was less than a 10 minute drive.

At the vets, they take us right in. We explain what we think the problem is and a veterinary assistant shows us to one of the patient rooms.

He examines what we think is a cyst and proceeds to shave the area around the site.

He squeezes the "cyst" and nothing happens. He puts some vaseline over the hole in the "cyst" and almost immediately this "thing" begins to poke out of the "cyst". Using a pair of forceps he tries to grab this "thing". Finally he decides that he needs to get the veterinarian involved.

She puts a really big glob of vaseline on the "cyst" and the "thing" starts getting more active. She too, tries to grab it using forceps. Pretty soon we're seeing some blood and vaseline every where. But, the "thing" is evading capture. Next she places her fingers on either side of the "cyst" and squeezes it like a giant pimple. (We had to borrow this picture, because we forgot to take one)

What happened next must have resulted in expressions of incredulity and revulsion on EJ's and my faces. This "worm" squirts out of the "cyst" and lands in Gabby's fur.

As it turns out, this happens to animals and humans fairly often. What popped out of Gabby was the larvae of a Bot Fly. It lays an egg and attaches it to another insect such as a mosquito which then bites an animal or human and deposits the egg. The egg turns into a larvae which thrives just beneath the skin using the hole created by the bite to breathe trough. That's why when you seal the hole with vaseline the larvae gets agitated and tries to reopen the hole.

Gabby is fine now. There is no disease or permanent damage associated with this unfortunate incident. Only the temporary indignity of patch of skin devoid of any fur.

Decompressing in the Desert

Elks Lodge, Lancaster, CA – August 8th thru 12th, 2013
Indecision attacked again as EJ and I tried to make up our minds about our next destination. One thing we both felt strongly about was the need to get away from the crowded California Coast.  Our decision to return to Orange Park early this year requires that we focus on  traveling in an easterly direction. The problem with that is that it leaves the California Desert for potential destinations. I included all that as explanation as to why we were getting a very late start in leaving Monterey. In fact it was 1:30 in the afternoon before we got away.
Much to EJ’s chagrin, I insisted on leaving even though we had no definite destination in mind. With California campgrounds running 40 to 50 dollars a night, that leaves us with boondocking or Elks Lodges. It was way too hot to boondock, so Elks Lodge it is. We had considered hopping from Lodge to Lodge down the coast, but after our experience in Monterey we didn’t want to be the ones left standing in that game of musical chairs.
One thing we had decided is that we wanted to visit the Reagan Library in Simi Valley so the object was to find a Lodge in reasonable proximity. Since we got such a late start we knew we didn’t want to be driving Big Guy in LA rush hour traffic so that ruled out the Elks Lodge near Simi Valley. Driving down highway 101 we had until Pasa Robles to make up our minds. Coast or desert? Before we got to the decision point, EJ found an Elks Lodge in Lancaster which is about 70 miles from the Reagan Library, easily doable in the Element. So we got on the phone and called ahead to make sure there was room for us and to let them know we would be arriving around 8PM.
We got a friendly welcome when we arrived and we had our pick of spots. After trying 2 or 3 we found one that fit just right. As we were setting up one of the other RV dwellers came by and said he’d been there for a couple of years and never seen anyone get a satellite signal where we were parked. We got the coach leveled and pushed the dish button and viola! We connected to those three little satellites in synchronous orbit. We never did get to give that fellow the good news.
Early the next morning we loaded our packed lunch, drinks and goodies and took off for Simi Valley. We figured it would take about two hours each way for travel time and had heard from friends that it would take four hours to see President Reagan and Nancy’s Museum. Along the way we we spot this structure and guess it’s part of the California Aqueduct system

They were right. It took every bit of 4 hours and we didn’t stop to read every display. We rented the audio guides which helped a lot. The museum did an excellent job of conveying the compassion President Reagan had for improving opportunities for Americans, eliminating government interference to help business succeed and to promote democracy around the world. The museum also covered President Reagan’s tragic decline into Alzheimer's disease.

We ended up having lunch at the Reagan Irish Pub that is part of the Library/Museum complex. The pub was brought over from Ireland piece by piece. It was good and it was nice to get off our feet for awhile.
It was also interesting to note that when we got there, the primary parking lots were full and we had to park on the street at the 4th of 12 shuttle stops. When we left, cars were parked as far away as the 12th stop. The Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is pretty popular.
Our drive back home was reminiscent of the former time we worked in California. If you’re going the speed limit, you’re going way too slow. So you’re in bumper to bumper traffic traveling 15 to 20 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. And it was bumper to bumper until we reached the turnoff for Lancaster. We definitely earned our adult beverages that evening.
We took the opportunity while in Lancaster to catch up on some maintenance. We repaired two Day/Night shades. It seems as though they were incorrectly built and have the grommets that protect the cords installed backwards. This allows the cords to rub on metal edges which means they wear out about once a year. Camping World sells a repair kit for about $16. Sounds like a good winter time project to permanently fix all five shades. Here’s a picture of one of my helpers stretching the new cord for me.

I also took advantage of the really good water pressure here at the lodge to clean the diesel engine radiator fins. This hot weather is really taxing the limits of the engine cooling system. By cleaning the crud off the fins maybe it’ll help a little.
During our stay we also helped ourselves to Sunday breakfast complete with Bloody Marys and Mimosas at the Lodge. Folks were really friendly and made us feel at home. On another day we helped ourselves to a hot dog lunch too.
One day wandering around in the desert, we found the “Singing Road”. Grooves, perpendicular to your direction of travel, are cut in the road surface in intervals to produce a musical tune when you travel the speed limit. In this case it is the William Tell Overture. The back story is that this was created for a Honda commercial years ago. However, the original “Singing Road” was located in Lancaster near a residential neighborhood. So many people liked driving over it to hear the music the neighbors complained to the city. It was then moved outside of the city in the desert where no one lives.


Also while wandering around we came upon the Blackbird Airpark. For those that don’t know, Blackbird is the given name to the SR-71. At this Airpark sits the world’s only display of a Lockheed SR-71A and its predecessor the A-12. Although to the untrained eye they are very difficult to tell apart.

We got to talk to one of the pilots and listened to him tell the story of the last flight of an SR-71. Arrangements had been made for the SR-71 to fly over an airshow. The plane flew so high & fast that the pilot had to do a fuel dump to leave a trail in order for it to be seen from the ground. It was also flying close to it’s top speed which prompted those on the ground to complain about not being able to hear the sonic boom. The pilot we talked to told those around him at the airshow to “just wait a couple minutes, it’ll get here.” Of course the Blackbird was long gone before the sonic boom ever reached the ground.
Next door was the Joe Davies Airpark which also had an interesting display of planes.





We also learned that B-52s are still in operation and being upgraded with new computer systems. That last picture is a B-52.
Before we knew it our stay in Lancaster was over, and once again we were faced with trying to decide where to go next. The temperatures were getting even hotter so staying put was not an option. Where’s that coin to flip when you really need it?