The truck had taken them as far as Rock Springs, Wyoming, but now there was nothing to do but sell it to a junk dealer for twenty-five dollars and hitch a ride to the bus station. Two pieces of bad news greeted them at the station. Four tickets to Fort Wayne came to much more money than they had, and dogs were not allowed on the bus.
"But we' ve got to take Snoopy with us." Nancy pleaded with the ticket-seller, tears welling in her eyes.
Joe drew her away from the window. It was no use getting upset about Snoopy, he told her, until they figured how to get themselves on the bus. With no choice but to ask for help, they called Travelers' Aid, and with kind efficiency, the local representative arranged for a motel room for them for the night. There, with their boxes and bags piled around them, they put in a call to relatives back home, who promised to get together money for the fare and wirer it the next day.
"But what about Snoopy?" Matthew said as soon as his parents got off the phone.
"We can' t go without Snoopy,"Jodi stated flatly. At seventeen, Snoopy had a bit of a heart condition and some kidney problems, and the family worried about her.
Joe picked up the little dog. "Snoopy," he said, tugging her floppy ears in the way she liked. "I think you' re going to have to hitchhike."
"Don' t tease, Joe," said Nancy shortly.
"I' m not teasing, honey," he assured her, tucking Snoopy into the crook of his arm. "I' m going to try to find an eastbound trucker to take the old girl back for US."
At the local truck stop, Joe sat Snoopy on a stool beside him while he fell into conversation with drivers who stopped to pet her. "Gee, I' d like to help you out," one after another said. "She' s awful cute and I wouldn' t mind the company, but I' m not going through Fort Wayne this trip." The only driver who could have taken her picked Snoopy up and looked at her closely. "Naw," the man growled, "with an old dog like her, there' d be too many pit stops. I got to make time." Still hopeful, Joe tacked up a sign and gave the motel' s phone number.