February 28, 2025 | 11:17 hours

Over the last few weeks, our Cummins Onan Generator started leaking oil. At first… just a drop or two. Over time the leak has worsened. Not something we want to happen anywhere including on an open highway — for obvious reasons.

Aside from the fact it makes the generator difficult to maintain while on a busy schedule — because it is a necessary tool for daily life — but also because we prefer that NO truck fluids end up on the ground.

In these last few weeks we have placed cardboard on the ground which has to be disposed of before leaving and even purchased a bag of kitty litter to keep the drips contained and easy to clean up if we have to park in one spot for longer than a few hours. The nice part is…

A 40’ truck can park almost anywhere

It’s really nice to have that option. For us — it’s important to show our appreciation by leaving every place we park, as clean as we found it. WalMart, Home Depot, Rest Areas and yes, even truck stops deserve to be respected by the trucking work force. Obviously this value isn’t always shared by those who drive commercial vehicle and if you’ve been on the nations highways and byways, you know that.

The rules in OUR truck are fairly simple: don’t throw trash on the ground, pick up after the dog because it IS your responsibility, don’t ever be a slob AND — keep up with truck maintenance so you don’t make more work for the people who care for these places. Finally, think of yourself as a guest and act like it.

After delivering yesterday evening in Columbus, Ohio, James got up this morning and went to work to find a Cummins Shop that could get us in quickly. For some reason, Cummins is one of those manufacturers that are more difficult to get into quickly. All of the shops we have called over these last few weeks say it will take 2-3 weeks to even get an appointment. When you’re on the road and need a get a repair in-between loads, there aren’t 2-3 weeks to wait. Unless of course, the truck won’t run 🙂

Thankfully, James found a Cummins Shop this morning that could get to us on this coming Monday – 2 days away. I went to bed in Columbus and woke up 140 miles away, in Toledo, parked next to a big Cummins shop. 

Along with the generator, our windshield was cracked recently. The little crack has started to grow so it’s time for a new windshield too! As it turns out a very good glass shop is only a mile away. We can get two necessary fixes done in short order.

James did an amazing job (thanks babe!) putting it all together… and here we are 

Where we’re parked — here at the shop — there’s a nice little picnic table we can use over the weekend, surrounded by beautiful green grass for Bella. After the last 3-day run from California there was little time for Bella to get all her “zoomy runs” — so we’ll get her out for some exercise and hopefully, a little sunshine.

As it turns out, the Toledo Humane Society is situated right next to this Cummins Shop. The two properties share a large grassy field in between — perfect for a little doggy leg-stretching. In fact, there is a poopy bag station with a poopy drop deposit box right on the edge of the field. All of this seemed to indicate that walking your dog out in the grass would not be a problem..

We could not have been more wrong

I was starting dishes when James and Bella hopped out of the truck to go enjoy the grass. 

Before I was done with the dishes, James and Bella were climbing back in…

“I was just out walking Bella in that field (he points to the right out the passenger side window) and this woman comes up out of that building — it’s the Humane Society building — is that where they have animals for adoption?”, James asked.

“I think so…” I said.

He continued, “well, this woman comes out and shouts that I’m not allowed to be on the grass.”

“What?” I asked surprised. “It’s an animal shelter and you can’t have a dog on the grass?”

“Apparently” James replied. “So, I’m walking Bella. She’s on the leash and this woman steps out and starts yelling that I have to leave. I asked her, “isn’t this the Humane Society?” She said it was so I asked why can’t I walk my dog on the grass? She kept yelling, “You can’t be here. You can’t be here. We have dogs here and they’re not all nice. This is private property. This is private property”. I just turned and walked to the poop deposit, put Bella’s poop in it and came back to the truck. What is that all about?” he said sounding frustrated and disappointed..

“I have no idea”, I said standing behind the passenger’s seat with a soap dish in my hand. “Some folks are just tyrants” I laughed.

After everything settled, we didn’t think much more about it. I finished the dishes and took a seat on the driver’s side with my iPad to catch up on the news for the day.

About twenty minutes went by.

With my iPad on the steering wheel, we were watching a video and talking about the information that was in it, when suddenly a spotlight hit the whole front of the truck. We had the window shades up for the night but all three lit up. 

Is that a truck in front of us?

It was now dark.

”What is that?” James said as he peeked out through the front shade.

That’s when I heard a voice say loudly, “Get out of your vehicle!”

Through experience I am aware that while sitting in parking lots in the middle of the night — all over the country — never assume someone is talking to you when you hear yelling. I don’t usually jump to look out the window either. We do our best to choose good locations for parking overnight… but strange things can happen at night!

The command came again, “GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE!”

I looked out the window on the driver’s side but couldn’t see a thing.

Then the command came again, “Get out of your vehicle!”

“Where is that coming from?” James said as I continued to look in the driver’s side mirror.

That’s when the officer stepped to the door, with his flashlight now full in my face making it impossible to see anything.

“Is there a man in there?” he commanded.

I was so confused by the question that I didn’t answer. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Bear in mind this whole thing took less than a minute or two. 

The officer stepped even closer and asked again, “Is there a man in there?”

Now that I could see it was a policeman and he was obviously talking to me directly, I answered, “Yes”, pulling back the side shade a bit further.

“He needs to step out” the policeman said.

When the spotlight first hit the front of the truck, it was only one police car. But now a second police car had pulled up beside the first one — and by the time James got his jacket and shoes on — all were close at hand — to step out of the truck — there was a THIRD police car. They all had spotlights trained on the front of the truck.

This situation was NUTZ!

As James came around the truck to meet the officer, the officer kept his very bright flashlight full into James face so he couldn’t see.

“Keep your hands where I can see them” the officer said.

“What is this about?” James asked, shading his eyes with his hand to see.

The officer tersely replied. “We got a call about a group yelling and threatening people at the Human Society building.”

“What?” James was confused, “there was just me and one woman came out.”

The officer interrupted, “we got a call you were with a group of people harassing the staff. We’re investigating criminal trespass.”

James stayed calm and replied, “Criminal trespass? I was walking my dog in the grass. And I wasn’t near their parking lot.”

“Do you have weapons on your person or in the truck?” the officer asked.

“No” James said.

“Open your jacket” the officer commanded, “keep your hands out of your pockets.”

“Sorry, I’m cold” James said as he pulled his hands out of his pockets and put them at his sides.

It was hard to hear all of the conversation from my perch in the driver’s seat and when I saw James open his jacket I thought it better to get my shoes and coat on and go stand beside him instead of staying in the truck.

That’s when the officer asked for James’ identification.

“Why?” James replied still calm.

“It’s an investigation. I need your ID.”

The other two officers stepped closer after I came around the truck to stand next to James.

The officer closest to me, said to me directly, “We got a call and have to investigate to get both sides of the story” he said, “you guys were out with your dog?”

“No. It was only him” I pointed at James to my left, “and our dog Bella. She’s in the truck.”

“They said you guys were screaming at them?” the officer asked.

“James didn’t scream at anyone or I would’ve heard it” I said calmly, “he was walking our dog in the grass. Why would they lie like that?”

“So it was just him?” he asked pointing in James’ direction.

“Yes. Why would they lie and say it was a group?”

The officer shook his head and said, “I have no idea”. He leaned toward James to hand his license back. That officer looked at the officer who commanded us to get out of the vehicle and then back to us and said “I think you guys are OK to go or get back in your truck.”

That’s when I told all three we were here for a repair and that we had permission to park here.

“That’s fine” he said.

I added pointing over my shoulder at the Toledo Human Society grounds, “Not a very humane society… is it?”

The officer smiled and said, “Doesn’t sound like it.”

Now, I don’t know if these officers are familiar with this so-called “Human Society’s” antics, if this has happened before or if they just generally know the people there are nut-jobs — but I do have to wonder!

On a side-note that is completely off-topic to this event — every one of those officers looked like they had stepped right out of a movie. Their uniforms were sharp as a pin and perfect. They had black swat vests with radios lighting up on their shoulders, duty belts outfitted with every possible tool they cold need, guns — and not a hair out of place. Their shoes AND their cars were spotless. They were as handsome as any three actors you might find on any Hollywood film set.

Just before they turned to walk away I said, “You guys are all straight out of Central Casting!” James and I laughed.

They all laughed too saying, “Have a good night”.

James and I climbed back into the truck. Bella was up on the passengers seat, tail wagging so hard she was moving side-to-side on the seat and all ready and willing to get out to meet the cops (of course)

When I was back in the driver’s seat, in front of my iPad — I decided to look up the Toledo Human Society on Google Maps to read the reviews. Maybe there would be a clue about why this ridiculous affair happened. Could this place really be such a mess?

One of the officers said that apparently being in the grass with Bella made them uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable?? Uncomfortable enough to call the police and LIE? One guy walking a dog across the grass — at an animal shelter — was a threat to them? These people were as close to being psychotic as I had seen in a very long while!

No, I had to see if there was more to this…

What do you know? There were many, many reviewers that echoed the same descriptions over and over: disrespectful, rude, condescending, liars, this place adopts out sick animals, kill shelter, terrible, filthy, shocked at how offensive the smell and the filth …and on and on it goes. These comments go back as far as 8 years. Obviously this behavior is nothing new at this location.

The picture was getting clearer.

There was something in the comments I had never heard of before. Apparently, this “shelter” has a group called “The Cruelty Officers”. What surprised me is how many reviewers said, “this private non-profit organization goes out and takes people’s dogs!”

What??

Several reviewers posted, “If they (THS Cruelty Officers) say animals are being mistreated in anyone’s home, they can simply take them!”

One post caught my eye especially. It was posted a year ago from someone whose friend had her dogs removed from her home for neglect while she was pregnant, on bed rest, in and out of the hospital and moving at the same time.

Here is that post:

Here are pictures of the two dogs that were taken. They are obviously well fed and groomed and there is no obvious reason why they should have been taken by force. On top of that they were both adopted out before the woman could get to the shelter to PAY to get them back. It’s heartbreaking to read the line, “if you’ve recently adopted these two babes please have the kindness in your heart to return them to their rightful owner”.

Both dogs look healthy and well-groomed.

There were several stories like this.

Apparently, this shelter takes dogs from people without their consent and then charges people to get their animals back. Do you find that shocking? Have you ever heard of that in your life?

A big point that stuck out to me – among all those reviews – were the number of people explaining how many times they called about a real situation of neglect or abuse, including malnourished dogs on the street — only to be told to stop calling — or getting no answer at all.

This is one post where the poster tried to get help for this animal…

Reviewer tells a story about a neglected dog… heartbreaking to see this animal in such a state.

Other comments in the REVIEW SECTION on Google… (click to enlarge)

According to the reviews for this “humane society”…

…the staff doesn’t seem at all interested in actual cases of neglect or abuse. Several reviewers said after calling to report abuse or neglect no one showed up, no one returned calls or appeared to care if there wasn’t the possibility of profiting from it.

We happen to be just outside of Toledo proper

Our previous company headquarters is located close to here. We were here not even a year ago, waiting for a repair on the truck — only a mile or so from where we sit right now — Bella was taken. I wrote about this on the blog at the time. We had no idea what had happened to her for just over 24 hours.

Here’s a quick recap…

James took Bella out to play in a big field next to the truck… this field is easily 15 acres and ran the entire back of the headquarters building. It was quiet with lots of room for our energetic fur darling to stretch her legs. She loved that field.

After James got Bella out of the truck, he walked a short distance behind her as she ran for the field, only to realize he forgot the poopy bags. He turned around to go back to the truck to get them. He wasn’t worried about Bella running off because (a) she doesn’t (b) she comes when she’s called (c) she had been in this field dozens of times while we worked for that company and she knew it well. She loved sprinting from one end to the other while we laughed and encouraged her. It wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to get the bags, so it wasn’t a worry.

After collecting the bags, as he was heading back in the direction of the field, he didn’t see Bella. He called out for her. Usually, she comes running at light speed… but not this time.

Unfortunately in some situations, Bella is extremely friendly and goes up to people. She’s always interested in making a new friend (this is something we’re still working to curb so she doesn’t get into trouble!).

As it turned out — we got the whole story later — a woman saw Bella in the field. She was on the other side from where our truck was parked. The woman stopped on the side of a little road and called out – holding a treat. She gave a treat and got Bella in her car. The woman took Bella straight to the animal shelter for a cash reward — for a dog with a collar and obviously healthy — and left her there. Thankfully, it wasn’t the Toledo Humane Society but a county shelter instead. Not much better to be honest — not sure what’s up with animal shelters in this area!

We didn’t know where Bella was for 24 hours which was NO fun. It took a lot of people working together to find her but we finally did track her down to the shelter. We had to pay $75 to get her out of doggy jail AND she had kennel cough for two weeks after that two night stay.

I love animals. It’s just an unfortunate thing when businesses for-profit or not-for-profit, take advantage of humanity’s love for animals. No, not all are like that — that said — we’ve experienced run-in’s with shelters doing rather questionable things twice now in THIS area. I find it strange. 

At the end of the day…

Everything worked out fine. James wasn’t arrested for “criminal trespass”! I wasn’t arrested for video taping LOL.

What an evening out here on the road.

Thank you for the visit and for allowing me to share this unusual moment! We send you and yours ALL OUR BEST and wish for you everything you wish for yourself!

More soon… Andrea