Do you ever stay at the seediest Motel 6 in the interest of more money for entries and not enough collateral for Best Westerns on your fancy dog show weekends? Ah, Best Westerns, with the real pillows and waffles. If you find a cheap Mo-6 near a Starbucks, where the floors aren’t contaminated and the cops aren’t waiting outside, it’s an ok enough place if you remember to bring along your own sheets.

We have one we go to on trips to Santa Rosa. I like going up to Santa Rosa. It’s pretty up there, lots of places to walk dogs, and the same number of Trader Joes as there are Indian casinos a nearby.  Santa Rosa is the intersection of wine country, logging country, pot country, and cows. I don’t mind Santa Rosa, not one bit. We can go to dog shows there in the winter, not that that matters so much in this year’s drought, but the fairground has a big covered horse arena, with plenty of sunny parking spots under oak trees where the dogs can spend their day snoozing in the car. And there are taquerias galore.

Gustavo sometimes likes Santa Rosa, sometimes not. He is unpredictable. He liked it enough this weekend to win MC Standard and have awesome steeplechase, smokers, jumpers and gamblers runs.  8 of his 9 runs, fantastic of amazement but for 2 wrong sides of tunnels. One due to handler error, one due to just running to wrong side of tunnel of because. 8 of 9 runs, running his fastest driving for the win. All contacts, all poles, all teeter, all everything. Run number 9, last one of the day, that elusive other Grand Prix Q we need, he seemed tired and cranky. The one run he didn’t drag me into the arena for. The one run he elected to listen to the siren song of his favorite agility pal’s meaty bones. Abysmal disaster. We will just think about those other 8 runs.

Otterpop came out of retirement for just one Gamblers run. She smoked it, and she won a special award. Retired Otterpop tries her hardest, runs her fastest, and wants to win Gamblers. She is also pretty lame within hours of her big run. I think we both agree a sometimes Gamblers run is worth it.

The other smokers were the hooker named Silent K and her boyfriend who had an adjoining room to me at Motel 6. They arrived late, about 3am, and only stayed a couple of hours. I didn’t know I’d be having middle of the night guests. Since we had the kind of rooms that are connected with adjoining doors, I couldn’t see her and her boyfriend, but it was like they were there in my room with me. The happy couple stayed up late smoking meth while she entertained him with stories of her best gal pals who work Redwood Avenue and the late night Indian casino bar. One day she hopes to be a doctor and help orphans in Africa, and she likes her fellas not too old and with good physiques.

Silent K was not real silent, is another thing I will say about her. Her real name being Keira but her friends would call her that if they gave her a nickname due to her quietness in observing humankind and the whole human race who she has been able to observe in her travels of the world helping orphans of the universe. She doesn’t really have a nickname but if she did it would definitely be Silent K. Silent K, because it reflects her observationness and how she sees and hears everything.

“Everything. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean?”

In the morning, when I went to check out, I advised the clerk not such a good idea to room the prostitutes into rooms that had adjoining doors. Adjoining to people like me. Who do not enjoy gangstah rap at 3am. He laughed, and said he’d take a bit off my bill. I said that the smokey burnt plastic smell in my room didn’t come from my crack pipe but hers. More off the bill. By the time I got to the part about the orphans, and that she didn’t do threesomes, he had refunded me nearly my whole stay.

Come again!

That was ok with me.  I didn’t mind so much to listen to her tales and when things got a bit too smoky and intense, I just fell back asleep with a pillow pushed into my ears. The dogs didn’t care about her, not one bit. I dreamed they came to visit me, my new friends Silent K and her Spanish speaking John. I think that was a dream at least, when the door was rattling and they wanted to look at me and the dogs, sleeping in our motel bed, on my sheets I brought from home.

In the morning they were gone, and I was within walking distance of 3 shots of espresso. And Gustavo aced his steeplechase run and won an envelope full of cash. So I may have come out ahead this weekend if I tally it all up. Between that and Gustavo’s 8 of 9 runs of awesomeness,