The Adventures of Eldonna and Indigo

Life always provides opportunities to enjoy the adventure or complain about the circumstances.•
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First meet the newest member of the family - this is Indigo. She is an 8 week old Malinois. 

I picked her up in Fresno, California which is many hours from my house. So I set out Friday with a plan to make it as far as I could, as close as I could, to where I was picking her up so I wouldn’t have to do a drive up and back in one day. I had plans to arrive early do some work, have a relaxing dinner somewhere get a good nights sleep pick her up and return home.•
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However the best laid plans are often disrupted by unforeseen situations. As I headed up the 5 freeway into what’s known as the grapevine in the Tejon Pass, I heard a report of a 18 wheeler overturned at the end of the grapevine. Those of you not in Southern California,  the grapevine is a part of the 5 freeway that climbs in altitude through the mountains and ends at the exit called grapevine when you are headed north. Apparently this is where the 18 wheeler overturned, right at the end of the mountains going into the flatland of Central California.



The traffic delay was three hours. I had just passed pyramid lake and decided to turn around at the exit just as the traffic was coming to a stop and go sit at the lake for an hour hour and a half.

I thought this was a better option since I was going to be sitting somewhere anyway I might as well sit and look at something beautiful like this instead of sitting with my car running at a standstill. It was hot and that would’ve not been good for my car. I had a book to read and I walked around and took in the scenery and just enjoyed the time. 

After about an hour and a half, the park was getting ready to close so I had to leave and by the time I got back to where the traffic was it was down to only a two hour delay! You see some interesting things on the road. This guy had a bunch of stuffed animals hanging all around the bed of the truck. The bed of the truck was homemade wood and wire enclosure. Not really sure well it was made for but it sure looked interesting.

By the time I got through to the end of the traffic jam, I went to the second exit because I figured everybody would go to the first exit. The rest of everybody went to the second exit! I got gas and started to attempt to find a room because it was getting close to sundown. I don’t like driving too much at night. My vision is not that great at night, never has been and as I’m getting older it’s getting worse.



All the hotels were booked all the way up to 5 freeway to where I wanted to stop. I took a detour over to Bakersfield and found a hotel there stopped at a little Mexican place along the way had a good burrito for dinner. By the time I got to the hotel it was 10 PM and I was still 100 miles away from the destination where I had to pick up Indigo. 

That required me to get up early in the morning because I still had to stop and get some supplies as I had planned to do that on Friday night but by the time I got anywhere to where there were stores, it was too late.

The area I was in where the wreck was - there’s nothing either way for miles. No services, no gas stations, no food, nothing. So I had to get up early and hit the road. I had already purchased some puppy food and had a dish for water and a water bottle etc. I had to stop at Walmart to get a blanket to put on my car seat. I had puppy pee pads also. I picked her up and headed back south. Traffic was brutal on the way back coming through LA. So my best laid plans didn’t quite work out the way I expected. On top of that I had a full weekend of product delivery, a photo shoot, and other activities for Baskets a Beads. Today as I write this I’m exhausted.•
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I think the lesson here is when the best laid plans go in a bad direction, what kind of attitude do we have? I could’ve chosen to be frustrated upset, angry or any other amount of negative emotions. Instead I made a choice to go hang out somewhere and relax and even though I was stuck in traffic and had to make a detour and I’m really tired, I’m happy that I got there and home safely and that I now have a new family member that’s going to make me even more tired as I train her and get her adjusted to daily life here at home.

in this time with so many people losing their minds over things, it’s important to me to keep my peace of mind and maintain a level of calmness so I don’t negatively affect my health, my welfare, or my peace of mind.

make it a great day,

Nakupenda 

Eldonna