Kosciusko, Mississippi

Once again we are at a Wal-Mart, this time in Kosciusko, Mississippi (map). If you zoom the map in really close, though, it looks almost as if we are staying right on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We have a nice view of the wooded park strip out our front window.

As I noted earlier, we picked Opal up at the vet this morning. She is on an IV drip of Lactated Ringers, and he also gave us three other scripts and kidney-friendly prescription food. She is much more alert than when we dropped her off, but she is still quite ill, and we do not know yet what the underlying cause is. Organo-phosphates have pretty much been ruled out. The skin biopsy the vet took will not be back until next week, and, until then, we are at a loss as to what to do.

We hung a fresh liter of ringers this afternoon, which should last her into tomorrow. We will probably leave her with a vet in Woodville during our visit, so she can continue IV fluids as needed and have closer observation.

We were supposed to be in Woodville, Texas tomorrow evening for a birthday party. Even though we originally set a very leisurely pace, with plenty of opportunities to change to more expeditious routes, circumstances have conspired to foil that plan, and it looks as if we will be a full day late.

We were, of course, way-laid for a full 24 hours with Opal at the vet. Even so, I set a schedule to get us to Woodville early tomorrow afternoon, with some breathing room. However, the logistics of having an ill dog aboard meant frequent stops. On one excursion from the parkway, our right side drivers dropped into a hole as we made a turn, which unseated the air bag. We realized this once we were back on the parkway at speed, and we had to drop our speed down to 30 and limp 30 miles to Florence, Alabama, where we found a truck shop to help us with it. Between the low-speed operation, the 30+ mile detour, and the 40 minutes or so in the shop, the little air bag fiasco cost us two hours. An ironic footnote is that the last time we unseated a bag, we were en route to visit these same friends, and had to tell them we'd be a day late that time too.

Later on, on a routine check on the dog, we realized her IV had run out, and air had infiltrated the drip line. We spent a good half hour or so parked in a turnout dealing with clearing the line and hanging a fresh bag.

In the end, we just ran out of daylight, and had to end our day here. There is actually a free park service campground on the parkway 30 miles north of here that would have been an even better choice, but it is still closed after Katrina. So we pressed on, knowing there was a Wal-Mart here close to the parkway (little did we know just how close).

In any case, we are nine hours driving time from our destination, and that assumes no further canine or mechanical issues

We will try to get an early start tomorrow anyway, because the vet in Woodville is only open till noon on Saturday.