Oh! Columbia!

Our trusty Subaru steered a course northward to the Columbia River, a waterway that is both familiar and pleasurable to me.  It was in this very watery flow that I first learned to dog paddle--a skill I have since honed to a fine art.  My earliest puppyhood paddlin' memories are of sticks bobbing along the swells and ripples of this dark ribbon; of anxious calls from her as she ran along the bank following in my wake, of me feeling the real power of my sweeping tail as I ruddered around rocks and debris amazed by this near complete feeling of weightlessness.  

Exhilaration! So this is what a tail is for!  He and she are often overhead talking about the perils of this amazing limb--how in one sweep table tops, plants, and bookcases can be cleaned of dishes, dirt, and dust (occasionally small 2-leggeds get swept up in the cross fire).  I find my tail to be a useful tool to part not just water, but crowds with, to help me get where I'm going...which today is the central Oregon coast.  Swish.

I (and the 2-leggeds) follow this blue highway as it twists and turns with anticipation to the rugged shores of the Pacific.  Roll on mighty Columbia, roll on!  I have accepted your challenge and follow thee to distant shores.