So on Thursday, we woke up in Jackson, TN (at the LaQuinta of course) and prepared ourselves for another day of driving. The hotel had a large open field in the back so we decided to let our dogs run around a bit before heading our for another 7 hours of driving.
The 8 dogs racing around created quite a buzz in the little town of Jackson. Residents of the neighborhood butting up to the LaQuinta and fellow hotel-goers stopped to watch 8 dogs race like maniacs around the field. Thankfully, no one asked us if we were taking the dogs to the "euthanasium."
Duuu-wain was throwing the frisbee and tried to keep it low (due to accident-prone Marz). Marz still somehow managed to trip and roll 5 or 6 times across the field. It was like that scene in Princess Bride where Wesley and Princess Buttercup are rolling down the hill bouncing. Except Marz managed to do that on flat ground. That's my boy - safety precautions in place and he STILL manages to find some way to potentially hurt himself.
After stretching the dogs legs and stopping for Starbucks, we were back on track again. We continued the trek to Indiana with Dr. Nightmare leading the way.
Kim's self portrait of our trip. Somewhere abouts Kentucky.
Who is Dr. Nightmare you ask? You can see him in the picture above. He's the little square screen attached to the windshield. That's right, Dr. Nightmare is the Garmin. We had started out with Matt, the Australian cyclist, as our guide. However, after 13 hours of the same random comments ("Is tomorrow a rest day?" and "Did you remember to put the box on the roof") over and over again, we decided it was time for a change.
Now Kim has this nifty little contraption that allows her to surf the web on the road. The only drawback is It. Is. Slow. I. Mean. Really. Slow. Slower than dial-up. At least with dial-up you can go make yourself a sandwich, come back and the page is loaded. I think we would have had time to make some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese before this thing would load a page. But hey - we had internet while driving through the boonies so that is pretty darn cool.
Anyway, Kim used her internet contraption to visit the Garmin website. 45 minutes later, Dr. Nightmare came to life and led the way.
Dr. Nightmare is a little creepy (wanted to make stops at the graveyard, asked for us to pick up rope and a shovel) but somewhat concerned with safety (warned us to be wary of hitchhikers . . . especially after midnight). Every once in a while Dr. Nightmare would throw in an evil laugh (mu-hahahahaha). He is quite pretentious too. But, he did get us to our "miserable destination."
Yep! We finally made it Indianapolis after something like 20 or so odd hours of driving! We stopped to drop our luggage off at the hotel (LaQuinta of course) and then hopped back in the van to head to the tournament site at the Fairgrounds.
Kim called Veronica & Stephen to let them know we had ARRIVED and to meet us over at the tournament site for unloading. Veronica & Stephen were already in Indy (they flew) and had spent the day sightseeing. One of their stops was, of course, Walmart. Did you know Walmarts in Indiana carry liquor? Good thing Kim, Duuu-wain and I planned to go to the Walmart later.
Anyway, we made it to the Fairgrounds. Kim and Duuu-wain made me get out of the van and scope out the joint to find our crating area. They waited patiently in the van while I wandered through the West Pavilion to find our spot next to Texas Heat and Alamo Racing Canines. Once I located our spot, I waved them over so we could start setting up everything.
Meanwhile, Veronica & Stephen had arrived and were meeting up with some folks from another team to pick up their new baby, soon to be named "Tempest," a border-stack (borderjack X staffy). Little did they know, Tempest would turn out to be part pterodactyl. Her ancestors must be from the Mesozoic age because no mammal emits the sounds this little pup makes.
Looks can be deceiving. This dog is part dinosaur.
Then, after most of the heavy stuff was unloaded, Kim and Duuu-wain decided they would take the dogs for a walk. I continued with setting up the crating area (put the balls in the buckets, taped down the extensions cords, etc.). Yes, I worked hard whilst they played with their pups. Perhaps this is one of the reasons they affectionately named me "Trog." (more on the story of Trog later).
Finally, we were done and ready to head back towards the hotel for dinner and then a cup of pillow. Kathy & David had arrived so we met them at a little "Mexican" food joint near the hotel. Being from Texas and having real Tex-Mex available on a regular basis, this little restaurant did not compare. We probably should have clued in when the menu said "Carne Guizada." What is "Guizada?" We still don't know.
After dinner, we walked the pups and headed up to our rooms for bed to prepare for day 1 of the CanAms.
