Our beginning

Lola the Fishing Expert

It was nice to have a spot to swim and cook under the stars again, especially because we had already been here and knew that we could swim and fish in peace.

We had gathered enough wood for our planned stay and gotten the fire going with a pot of stew and I had set up a make shift smoker so I could store some of the meat properly. Everyone was moving around so I checked Cheyanne's wounds out and rebandaged her before heading out for another adventure.

Kena and I repeated our first experience here as we exited the car stretching, with one difference, now we had an expert swimmer to show us how it's done and have fun with. Lola was extremely excited to be loose and run with us, I decided that we would make this stop with no leads. I wanted both Kena and Lola to know that I trusted them and wanted to have some fun for a little while.

We ran up and down the coast just like we had on the way to Texas and then as I headed to the dock Kena already knew the plan and she got Lola to race us there, she was pretty fast too. By the time I got to the water they were already waiting for me so I took a deep breath and dived in to get myself rinsed off and feeling a bit better.

For a moment I couldn't find Lola but Kena made sure to stay near me, she was always keeping an eye on me like the nanny dog she was. When Lola came into view I could see two clams in her paws and a fish under her arm.

I was so amazed that I almost drowned myself breathing out, "WOW!" in response but I was sure she wanted to help out in any way she could and Kena brought me to the surface. I took a couple deep breaths and looked at Lola, I hoped she had understood what I wanted and then took a breath and reached out my hand for her. She excitedly took my hand and took me under the water with her! I had never moved this fast into the water but I knew it was best to let out little bits of air as I went deeper, we were at the bottom of the river in no time and she pointed at a big rock as wrapped her tail around it. I took the hint and held on to the rock so I could watch her as she worked. She laid on the floor of the river playing with rocks and as two fish swam by she grabbed them fast and then came over to get me. When we got to the surface Kena smoothly put herself under me and paddled us to shore. Today had been amazing and I was ready to tell stories and get food ready for everyone, I think Lola had been hinting that she wanted more of my smoked fish and I was going to spoil her rotten!

"Look what Lola caught y'all!!", I said kind of loudly as I walked up to the camp fire, "I'm so proud of you! My little helper!" she beamed and started taking things I hadn't known she caught out of her pouch for me to cook so I brought her a jar with water to rinse them and another with vinegar to prepare them. Kena licked her face and did a happy dance with the biggest smile, I'm pretty sure we have a new bestest friend. I couldn't wait to introduce her to the rest of the family!

As I got food ready to eat and smoked things for the road and for preparation Kena laid herself next to the camp fire and fell asleep, while Lola went back into the water to find more pretty rocks and food to catch. Luke and Brian could be heard playing hide and seek with Maverick and Cheyanne sat at the fire with me watching how I prepped meats for the last 7 hours of our trip. If we played our cards right and everything went smoothly we could be back in town by around 8 am and still get to enjoy the night sky here before getting back on the road.

I had a skillet set up with rice ready to get finished off and had already cooked and sliced the deer steaks up. As I got the eggs broken and covered the rice Cheyanne leaned forward to observe a bit closer, I stirred the mixture and then tossed the rest of the ingredients in before stirring it again. "Who taught you how to cook?" she asked.

"To be honest, I kind of took little things from multiple people and taught myself. Some people say I was taught by the spirits that follow me but I'm not sure about that. When I make food I smell things and then decide if it would smell good combined with it or if I've made or ate something that I really like I imagine if the smells would remind me of that items scent." I replied.

"That sounds complicated...."

"Only if you make it complicated," I laughed and started stirring again then made my way over to the rest of the food. "It gets easier the more you do it and you get more confidence as you do more." the fish and deer meats that I had smoking were ready to be wrapped and stored away in the trunk. I cut the antlers down so it could be a nice treat for Kena on the last stretch of our trip and decided that the fish and other river creatures Lola had just brought me could be smoked for her to have treats on the way also. She brought me her last treasure trove of things and went to dry herself and then curled up to nap along side Kena. "Could you stir that for me while I check the rest of this and get more smoking?" she nodded, "Thank you, I'll teach you with hands on experience. When you've stirred that come over here and I'll explain what I'm doing."

After she got done stirring the deer steak and fried rice mix she made her way over to a new resting spot closer to me. I showed her a bit about smoking meat and how I dehydrate with my solar powered dehydrator then I went on to tell her what all goes in marinating mix. We talked about different foods that we like and I had her smell and try different spices with me, I taught her what spices aren't ok for pets and why some are actually very good for pets. We talked about spices as bug repellent and ways that they can help with energy, weight loss, relaxation, hair growth and sleep.

"WOW, you know so much about all of this. I'm not sure how I'll ever remember it all though." she mused.

"You'll get the hang of it. I had to learn all the information and then start doing hands on stuff with what I remembered then go back over the information to see what I remembered and learn the parts that I didn't, from there I just repeated those steps until I knew all of the information. That's how I've always learned best though and I didn't have anyone to show me any of it in person so in many ways this way will be easier for you than it was me. There were times that I was actually scared to eat or drink some of the things I made because I didn't know if I did it right or not." I told her honestly.

"Mom!!" Maverick ran into her arms excitedly giggling.

"To be continued", I winked, "I'll get bowls put together so everyone can eat. We have another 7 hours to go and I'm going to need a bit of sleep before we can leave."

We ate and chatted about a bit of everything that had happened so far before I got comfortable cuddled with Kena and Lola in the car for a couple hour nap, I figured I'd sleep more when we finally got home. I wanted to be home in my own bed so badly right now but it was nice to have Kena and Lola snuggled up to me.

As I slept, I dreamt of swimming with Lola and finding treasures beyond our wildest dreams, I didn't have to surface for air and I could keep up with her without her assistance. We played with other otters and caught fish..... then I woke up and realized it was only a dream.

I checked Cheyanne's head out when I finally got up and it looked pretty healed up but her leg needed more time to heal so I cleaned it up, put an oil mix on it and wrapped it back up before we got going.

It was nice to be back on the road and I was extremely glad that the last 7 hours went by pretty fast with everyone awake and we had absolutely no problems on the way home.