Rickwood Caverns State Park, TN

Our site at Rickwood Caverns State Park. The cave was closed and we didn't have time to go on the fossil walk. Will do those when we return to Alabama in April for the Talladega Race. Will definitely stay at this park again. No satellite service and cell phone service scanty, but the park was beautiful, even in January.

Ate lunch on Sunday and made a Walmart run. About 2 miles from the campground we saw a little brown chihuahua dog running up and down the middle of the road, and there was quite a bit of traffic on the road. Larry stopped and I got out of the truck to try to get the dog. He was very shy and didn't want to come to me, but didn't run either. After much coaxing, I was able to catch him. He looked healthy, but had no collar so we had no idea where he belonged or if he had been dumped. We checked at some houses, but either no one was home or he didn't belong to the people we talked to.

Now you may ask (since you know I'm such a dog lover), did we keep him? Well, that answer is at the end of this story. Checked with the park ranger if he knew of an animal rescue group; he was actually reading a newspaper article about Crossing Paths Rescue Kennel http://www.xpar.org/about.html ; and the article included contact names and phone numbers. Soooo, I called Jo Chamblee and she put me in touch with Pat Kelley, who lives in Hayden, AL which was only about 15 miles from our campground. He was getting another rescued female dog and pups settled with a foster family, but said he would come by the campground later in the evening. Of course, he offered us the opportunity to keep the little guy. :) I think we both thought about it for about 1 minute, and if Kasey didn't already live with us, and if we had been headed back home, and.......... He was a really sweet little guy. Pat did come for him. He had really attached himself to me and DID NOT want to leave. He tried to bury himself in my chest and then tried to hide behind the couch pillows. He really squirmed when Pat tried to put a leash on him.

Pat called the next morning to say the pup had stayed with his sister and her daughters and slept in bed with the girls. He plans to check with vets and place some posters around the area and then try to adopt him out. He thought adoption should be pretty easy. He did remind me that if we were driving through the area on our way home and he was still available, "Just call and you can have him. You won't even have to fill out an adoption request form." :) Don't think that's going to happen. So here are the pictures of the little guy.

Wonder what other adventures we'll find for ourselves???