Sadly, the first night we were at Tecolote, Pete & Lael's eldest dog, Jasper, went missing. Jasper was a large-ish long black-haired sweetie, and had been with Pete since he was a pup 16 years ago. Pete was beside himself with frustration and grief for 3 days until they found him. It was quite a mystery what happened...Jasper was very arthritic and no one thought he could have wandered far. The entire area was thoroughly searched multiple times and all other RVers were on the look-out. With his painful joint hobbling, it was hard to imagine that anyone would steal him...the only thing that sickly made sense was that someone might snatch him because he had a very unique haircut and markings.
But, while out peppering the area with missing posters, someone flagged them down and said they had found Jasper. He was dead in a little gulley about 2 km from our camp. It's hard to believe that Jasper could have walked that far, but he must have...there was no evidence of him being hit or fighting with another dog. We can only guess he knew his time was up and that he wandered away to be alone in death.
Pete had been mentally preparing for Jasper's imminent demise, and everyone is grateful at least that his body was found so they could say a proper "good-bye" and not be left with questions about his disappearance.
Tecolote is much as we remembered it from 2 years ago - a large swatch of fine white sand backed by clumps of sagebrush-ish bushes and mountains. The sand is so fine it sticks to everything, making it impossible to keep grit out of the trailer. There are many RVers set up along the beach camping for free, and there are a few restaurants and bars for us and the daytrippers. There is a large contingent of Europeans here in huge, built-for-Armageddon rigs that they ship over. Apparently, many ship from Belgium to Halifax as there are less rules landing in Canada than in the US.
Tecolote and its surrounding bays are perfect for swimming and kayaking, when the wind is not too strong. One day we kayaked to a private bay just west of the main beach with Coco sitting bravely in the back of Andrew's kayak all the way, though she kept whimpering. We realized why as soon as we landed back at the beach and she promptly ran to do a #2! We also took a private picnic there one afternoon - heaven!
Coco has been getting braver with entering the water as it's so calm here, splashing and frolicking in the shallow surf of Balandra Bay, and she continues to be an attention magnet for everyone that sees her. Now over 11 pounds, her strength and endurance is growing daily and we're able to take her on walks and hikes over 30 minutes.
Tecolote Beach:
Our private bay:
An example of the crazy Eurovans:
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