It’s 2 AM and Benji is not on the bus. We have a situation.
It was February and another massive snow storm in Southwest Colorado. Our youth group was coming in from Phoenix for a 3 day ski retreat. The group called from Durango (pre cell phone days) and I said I would meet them in Pagosa Springs with our camp school bus and for them not to try and come up the county road from town. Too snowy.
I drove the bus to town and took my sidekick, Benji, my beloved dog and friend. The charter bus pulled up beside my bus and we loaded the kids and adults from the charter bus to our camp bus. I asked in our bus “ is Benji in here?” and from the back of the bus they yelled” yes, here is right here”. So, I drove up to camp and unloaded the campers for fresh cookies and hot chocolate. There was no Benji on the bus! What? Where is Benji? He got left in town, 7 miles away. I quickly took some of the adults and drove very fast back to Pagosa Springs. We had to get the luggage off the charter bus and onto the camp bus. As the group’s adults loaded the luggage, I looked for Benji. No Benji. Where did he go? We searched but no Benji. Finally, we drove to camp and unloaded the luggage. Then, I went back to Pagosa Springs and spent the rest of the night looking for Benji. No dog. Did someone on the highway pick up the dog and he is gone forever ? Did he get hit by a car? Where is my friend?
The next morning, after we got the ski group off to the ski area, I went back to town. No Benji. I went to all the vet’s in town, put a notice in the newspaper, went to the county road department and asked if they had seen Benji, talked to the UPS and Fed Ex drivers, talked to the school bus drivers, anyone and no Benji. On our county road, 400 or Four Mile road, I stopped at ever house and asked if they had seen Benji. Finally, I walked from camp to town in a straight line, cross country, and called for Benji. No Benji. This was a very low point in my life. I walked all around Pagosa Spring, looking in back yards and asking people if they had seen Benji.
After 5 days of zero degree nights, a lady on Four Mile road called and thought she had seen a fuzzy coyote eating her dogs food on her front porch. I raced to her house. No Benji.
The next night, a different lady called and thought she had seen Benji at her house. Again, I raced to her house. No Benji. I called Benji and called Benji. I was sitting outside in freezing weather on her deck. Then, this fuzzy face ran up on the deck with his long hair and it was Benji. A week outside in very cold weather. He was alive. We hugged and hugged. I cried. A big boy cry. My dog was alive and well. We were together again.
A boy and his dog. True love.