Honkin up Jack Links

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Dreams of not come to an end as I hear the tinkling of Dog tags enter the bedroom . The slight sound of panting and the unmistakable feeling of being watched at close range prompts me to open my peepers . Hey Shybears  …it’s early , hop on up here and get some loves . . Hesitation then up she comes .. good girl ! ..lets sleep some more .. owww ! I didn’t say set in my guts .. ok yes put the paw down I’ll pet ya .. good girl.. sure is still dark outside !  it’s 4 am ..Shy gives me a big bushy tail to keep my face warm .. We drift back to sleep .. 

Later… Bed shakes , Shy’s up ! she’s doing her usual morning stretch. front half off the bed and back half still on. she curls up her tail high then she makes a squeaky yawn … Ready to go adventuring Shybears ? how about some eggo’s n coffee .. then we’ll go .

Coffee’s good this morning and Shy takes her eggo’s heavy on the butter and light on syrup . As she proceeds to slick up her plate I grab the keys to the Shy Wagon and head for the door  . Shy stops her eating and runs after me with her paper plate stuck to the paw that she used to strategically hold her offerings in place while she licked . … It’s alright girl ..I’m not gonna leave ya just warming up the truck you can finish your breakfast .. but she wasn’t gonna chance getting left behind so she squirted by me and shot out the door and stood by the truck waiting for the door to open .

I opened the door .. she jumped in and sat down .. ready to go are ya ?.. Let me scrape the windows and warm it up . as I’m scraping the windows I’m thinking “this is weird ” why are they not coming clean ?  then it dawns on me ..there’s a big fuzzy girl inside steaming things up with all her heavy panting .

Todays plan was to load up the 4 wheeler and hit the frozen waterfalls for some picture taking and maybe a little thrashing around in the snow .. we had to make a stop at Wally-world to get trail snacks ( jerky n stuff  )  . Shy waited patiently in the truck with her nose sticking out the sliding back window. A few minutes later I was back with a bag full of Jack Links ( Shy’s Favorite ) I fired up the ole ford and Shy turned in the seat to assume her ” we’re going for a ride position ”  that would be the one that blocks every angle one tries to use to see out the passenger side of the truck .  after noticing a few stares and the usual pointing at Shy we rolled thru the parking lot and made our way to the mountains.

Here we go girl … dirt road at last ! (well snowy dirt road)  .. got to lock in the hubs .. you got to pee ? Shy jumps out and starts sniffin the sage brush then does her thing .. you done ? ..”Come on.. lets go” . This roads gonna get nasty Shybear … you ready for some rough ridding.. and why are you setting so close you got to give me some room to steer girl or we’ll end up in the drink ! ..

Little Sevier , …Little Sevier canyon runs east to west with a narrow dirt road winding  it’s way up thru the bottom that eventually tops out on a piney knoll called “rattle snake”  that’s the official name but we came to call it “thunder bolt”  after spending many a hunting seasons camped out there in the pines listening to the thunderstorms as they came rolling in over the ridge from the south banging and booming and generally puckering up the ole “seat pincher” . the problem with the canyon in the winter is the snow drifts  and that was the case today . we had new diggers on the Shy wagon and they were working fine as long as we kept the RPM’s high to clean out the treads . one particular place in the road crosses a small creek  it makes a dip then makes a sharp turn to the right , this is where things started to get fun . As far as I could tell the only tracks in the 2 foot deep snow were made by Snowmobilers . 

I gave Shy a few head rubs .. and said Hang on ! here we go .. She looked at me like she new the riding was gonna get bad  then she stood up on seat and wedged a butt cheek into my shoulder . The first attempt was slow into the dip .. we got about a truck length up the other side and started to spin . Hmmm.. we backed up for another run . Shy guess where gonna have to giver the “onion” ..  hold on . I cracked open the carb a little more this time.. there was sputter then the old 400 started to purr .. we hit the creek a little too hard.. I bounced up off the seat and smacked my thinker on the roof ..shy was bouncing around trying to keep her balance on the seat .. Oooh shit !.. girl we’re headed for the trees  .. the slopes suckin us down … I give it more gas .. the purr of the motor turns into a roar … Shy’s doing circles on the seat , she wants out … chunks of snows flying up in the air and landing on the hood and sizzling as they slide off the hot metal … sorry girl it’s alright.. hang on we gotter back on the road . things got bit calmer as the road flattened out but the trucks rear-end kept off tracking to the right as the tires chewed thru the snow giving us that odd feeling of driving a bent tuck .

 after a bit more trail breaking we made it to a spot wide enough to attempt a “turn around and park maneuver”  Parked with the rear of the truck up the side of the mountain , I shut off the engine . Shy sat next to me looking out the window. the pinging and clinking sound of  the cooling exhaust pipes  made Shy’s ears perk up and try to zero in on the strange noise  . .. What is it girl you hear strange things ? don’t worry it’s just things cooling off , lets get out … Shy gets up and stands over me waiting for the door to open .  Jezzz girl .. hang on !  I open the door Shy jumps out, as she does her big fluffyness rubs across my face .. thanks for the face wipe Shybears …

The day is prefect , blue skies no wind and there’s the little sparkly things on the snows surface makin things look pretty .  Across the snowmobile tracked road Shy has discovered good things to sniff .. what you find girl ? ..come on back over here .. Shy comes running she trys to jump the snow drifted creek . Her front legs sink stopping her chest deep in the drifted snow . Oh crap ! You alright Shy ?.. Shy thrashes around .. her tail is wagging in the air She’s alright just having fun. I unload some of our gear and bags of snacks then drop em in the snow .. Shy takes this as an offering and starts sticking hear nose into the bag with the jack links moving the bag around like a hog rootin for some tasty morsels .. uuumm Shy ..those are for latter .. She sets down in the snow with the bag in front of her looking up at me like  “What no treats”

Let me get the wheeler out girl and I’ll get you a treat .. I dropped the tailgate set the ramps and fired  up the FourThat ( The four wheeler ) Fourthat is a term my young grandson uses for these Machines so it’s kinda caught on as the thing to say  . As soon as Shy hears the motor start she’s up waggin her tail and doing the happy dance .. Yes that’s right we’re wheeling today girl ..

Shy gobbles up a jack link as we drive out on the trail .. she’s chewing and trotting behind . you ready for this Shy ? here we go .. we motored along slowly making our own tracks in the deep snow . up ahead   was ” Horace Road ” Why it had that name is a mystery . long ago there was a rickety old wooden sign that hung crookedly on one of the aspen trees with the name Horace painted on it . I’m guessing that it was left there by some old gold miner that has long disappeared before his sign did . This spot on the road is where mother nature has deceived many travelers . The terrain slowly starts to change . the grade of the road starts to get steeper and the canyon starts to narrow causing long shaded stretches thru the trees that holds lots of deep snow long into the spring and also a steep loose rocky climb in the summer . Once one commits to proceeding up past this last turn around they got a long drive up thru some country that will test their driving skills . 

Well Shy .. looks like one person made an attempt to bust trail up thru there but they didn’t get very far , Lets see how far the foreman will get us .. After eyeing the best possible way of proceeding I backed up to pack down the snow for more traction  for the take off   . Here we go Shy ! .. I took off grabbing as many gears as I could . The snow chunks was a flying off the Titans ( Tires ) landing on my head , Shy was running right along side of me She thought this was great fun . Soon Shy passed me up as the motor got louder  and the foreman got slower and slower .. ah stopped . Shy was ahead setting in the trail watching me work the bike back and forth .. Dang Shy those double dewclaw dig of yours is lots better than my diggers !.. Shy gave out a huff and laid down .. We made a few more attempts to get further up the road even pulled out the winch. Shy watched that with great curiosity .

After a few failed attempts we turned around and tried Horace road which was eventless so we broke out the treats and had a snack … Jack links and fruit snacks . We took a few pictures and walked some lion tracks that we found in the snow. then we headed back to the truck .

With Shy in the lead we came to a spot were Shy took off down the road after something. she stopped stuck her nose up and was sniffin the air.. then she stuck her nose into the snow clear up to her eyes . I pulled up on the four-wheeler .. What you got girl is there a critter in there ?  get it.. the snow starts to fly as she digs furiously.. soon I see something dark and circular looking in the snow .. What is that ..oh shit not another trap .. SHY  STOP ! ..back !.. I jump off the wheeler pushing her back hoping the thing wouldn’t snap closed on her nose .. Dammit .. Oh wait that’s just a Spinal bone of some dead critter … wooo ..  it’s alright Shy you can have it .. She wouldn’t go near it she just looked at me then it ..  it’s alright I’ll get it for ya  ..there you go .. She crunched it happily .. well girl we can’t set here waiting for you to chew that whole thing .. I’ll put it on the front of the wheeler and take it to the truck .. Shy surrendered her find and I thru it on the front of the wheeler ..come-onLets go ! .. I took off  Shy was walking along sidestepping sniffing at her find .. It’s ok it’s yours .. a slight shift in the breeze .. what is that smell … where … I sniff the air .. that’s coming from in front of me .. what the .. oh no .. I sniff my hand .. the smell of putrefaction fills my nose   I honk up jack links in the snow … oh nasty ! must be that bone.. Damn sorry Shy I think your bones is a stinking .. Sniff Sniff .. more Jack links in the snow .. I throw the bone up the side of the hill .. I turn around and Shy’s feasting happily on  fresh snowy Jack link  .. ohhh shy stop.. honk more jack links in the snow ..

I climb back on the wheeler wiping puke off my lips .. come on Shy lets go !  we made it back to the Shymobile  load up and headed down the road to destinations less snowy.  Shy laid on the seat next to me riding along with her eyes closed and her head wobbling around like a kid trying to stay awake so they don’t miss anything .. It’s alright to sleep my friend .. I got this , i’ll let you know when there’s something interesting  .. I pat her on the head as she lays her chin on my lap and the ole ford creeps and slides its  way down the snowy road … 

 And Then