Technically this journey started August 1, 2009, when we started earning points to go to the 2010 NADAC Championships. I wanted to go since it was coming back to Gillette Wyoming. I knew Kant would easily qualify and she did. Hershey was well on his way to qualifying but we were struggling to get any Chances Qs so I stopped entering him in trials. Then just a couple of months before entries opened it was announced that double digit dogs only had to earn points in 5 of the 7 classes, Hershey was back on his way to Champs. For a brief moment I thought about qualifying Echo but I would have had to push her hard and it was not worth doing to a young, very talented dog who would easily qualify when it was her time. So this year my double digit (10 years or older) and veteran (7 years or older) dogs would be running.
Saturday, September 18, 2010, I spent the day cooking, packing, and cleaning by the end of the day I was ready to leave for Gillette Wyoming. My friend, Doreen, came from Bandon to make the trip with me as far as Missoula Montana where we stayed two nights before I left Doreen to spend the week with her daughter while I was at NADAC Championships.
Sunday morning I woke up excited and ready to go on a road trip. Our first stop was at Multnomah Falls. The falls was running nicely after the recent rains.
Echo was the chosen one to get out at this stop.
We saw Big Horned Sheep in the Gorge, this was the first time I have ever seen them. It rained pretty much the whole way to Montana but there was not much traffic so the drive was not bad. One of our other stops was at the Fruit Stand just out of the Tri-Cities on the way to Spokane. I got Habanero Jelly for my bagels and cream cheese which was the planned breakfast at Champs. I also HAD to get a scoop of huckleberry ice cream, yum!
A stop that I really wanted to make was at an old rest area that had been converted to an off-leash dog park.
It was on I-90 at exit 299 in Washington, the last exit before entering Idaho. I had heard about it when I was at the herding trial earlier in the month. But as we were approaching Spokane it was pouring hard and stopping was not an option. It stopped raining just as we got to the exit so we decided to go for it.
It was a great park with trials, trees, and balls everywhere.
There was even “agility equipment”, they were just irrigation pipes made in to tunnels but the dogs still liked them. There were also doggy bowls for water which my dogs appreciated after all that running and playing.
The only thing missing was a human bathroom so we had to stop at the rest area in Idaho.
The drive to Missoula was a great one seeing various landscapes from the heavy treed area right out of Portland, to the Columbia River Gorge where we saw Great Horned Sheep, to Southeast Washington, to Coeur d’Alene Lake, and the beautiful mountain passes in Northern Idaho and Montana. We made it to Brianna’s house in Missoula just in time for dinner that Brianna had waiting for us. After dinner we enjoyed a nice walk to the park and community garden.
Brianna was so gracious to let me and my three dogs stay in her house
but her 2 three-legged cats were not as thrilled with the house guests. Kant and Echo did their best to ignore the cats
but there were times that it was just not possible. Hershey on the other hand LOVES cats and just did not understand why they did not feel the same about him. You never had to wonder where the cats were,
Hershey could always tell you.
Monday Brianna had to go to school and then straight to work but she did manage to make time to meet us at the Montana Grill for lunch. Doreen and I spent the day running errands and checking out Missoula. Of course we made time to find a scrapbooking store and take the dogs to the off-leash dog park near the University. It was a great day!!
Tuesday morning I was up and on the road before the sun came up.
I had an uneventful drive to Gillette stopping for gas and to let the dogs out. Besides an occasional car I saw a bunch of antelope.
I did take note of a couple of places I wanted to stop at on the way back. I did not want to take the time heading to Gillette so I could get there and get my campsite all set up; which I did without any trouble.
I love camping out of the van. It rained the first couple of nights but then the weather cleared up and it was great the rest of the week.
Championships did not start until Thursday so I had all day Wednesday to hang out. After a very lazy start to the day I took the dogs on a long walk
around the Cam-plex.
It was nice to have a day to get acclimated. I did enter Kant and Echo in the new EGC Tunnelers class Wednesday night. I got set-up Tuesday night in time to catch some of the EGC Chances runs; I was very impressed with how well the teams did. I was glad I chose EGC Tunnelers for our first class. I ran Kant first and she did great getting a run index of 123.88 and earning 12.38 points towards the title. Echo also had a nice run but went on the wrong side of a gate but still got a run index of 100.00 and also earning 10 points. Since I am very new to this I do not completely understand the scoring but I know it is time plus faults and your points are 10% of your run index and you can get as low as 1 point if you have less than 5 faults. In Round 2 I ran Echo first and she was beyond perfect getting a run index of 131.62 and 13.16 more points. This is also the 2nd highest run index in EGC up to that point of any dog. Kant went on the wrong side of two gates but she did it fast and still got a run index of 100.74 and 10.07 more points. I had a great time running both of my girls and look forward to more EGC in our future.
No comments:
Post a Comment