Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The long road to the National Finals...2011

Colorado in view!
We set out for Carbondale on Thursday afternoon. The first day is a short jont to Yermo, Ca. The reason we have to set out and go 200 miles is 1. You cannot get out of San Diego efficiently on a Friday morning. 2. We have a very hot desert to cross and we gave to hit it early. Thursday afternoon was the major power faux pas in San Diego, it was an alarming situation however our place is in the capable hands of Leon. When I called home he already had the house on generator power and was filling reserve tanks of water!Now we have 1000 miles...let's get started!

My idea of traveling light!
We are traveling light on this trip (well if you don't consider the 18,000 lb trailer in tow!!) so what I mean is we only have 6 dogs on board..(well 5 1/2 considering chip is 9 weeks)! So few dogs means a luxurious ride in the backseat instead of the trailer!
Luxurious ride!

The only trouble so far is Ron's diva I mean bitch Jesse. She feels the need to tell everyone where to lay, how to lay, and how many times each can take a breath! What she doesn't realize is they are ignoring her!

Beautiful Utah!
The drive in many spots is boring plain desert; however there are sections of the drive that are just plain breath taking.  Utah has always been one of our most favorite spots.

We have nothing to report from the National finals so we had to rely on the great scenery for entertainment. The finals at Carbondale was fantastic. The sheep were even (but tough) the fields were perfect and the set out of course was #1! You couldn't have asked for a better place to be at a dog trial. The weather however...is weird!

A brief "gee what happen to her dogs" statement goes like this

"Soot" - sheep were a snap for her..HOWEVER..the type of sheep caused Fetch Deafness..a new disease that rarely occurs at 150 yards or less...(Naughty girl!)

"Sly"- sheep were heavy (as they were for all) . She listened, got around well, but a brief "sheep refuse to go around the post epidemic" struck as we really needed those minutes that were wasted away trying to convince the sheep "all was ok"!

"Callie"- Goal was met we didn't kill a sheep..she acted trained..however was basically run off by the wolf savvy beasts!

"Lace"- Outrun was Baaad...sheep were skeered due to the poor introduction of k9 to Ovine..


so that said..it's a long road home!! Prior to our leaving we added this to our madness
Moss the Mountain
Moss too quite a bit more real estate in the back seat...well more than Jesse the biotch was willing to share but after about 300 miles he settled in for the long road home.

Day 1 on the road was a long 10 hour day ending up in plenty of drama..a dog attack, a flat tire so...needless to say day 2 on the road wouldn't start as early as we had hoped. 9 hours was about our limit...I suggested we take a side trip then day 3 would be four hours home...a cinch and no traffic!!

The side trip we took is one we have always wanted to do. We decided to take a stab at the 'Ol Calico Ghost Town!
 Calico Ghost Town
Train Ride
All Aboard!

We walked around this town for hours..we had a blast, went on a train ride, mine tours, cold beer, and many laughs!
Adorable...well the town too!
We even took the time to travel back into the 1800's ourselves...

REWARD!!

After a nice afternoon of walking and sight seeing...we settled into a nice quiet camping spot where the K9z could run loose and burn off a little steam!
No neighbors!!! 
So after the side trip it was an uneventful 4 hours home the next day!! We are still trying to get back in the swing of the daily life and jobs..we look forward to the next one..as for now  we'll keep training (and clean the wax out of Soot's ears!!) As the old saying goes "there is no place like home!!"
Parched pastures welcomed the rain..shortly after our arrival!!!