Our Trip

April 18 - 27, 2008 USASA National Specialty
Page 1 - Our Travels

photo credit Jim & Joanne Matson * Fort Collins, Colorado

USASA HALL OF FAME KENNEL #10

Sunset in Wyoming * April 2008 * The scene from I80 as we head west in Wyoming.

 

    
Crossing the Mississippi River - Illinois to Iowa, home to the some of the richest farm land in the the US!

    
Many cattle reside in Nebraska and later appear on our dinner plates!

    
Long trains travel the miles of track in Nebraska!

    
photo credit Mike Fine * Thornapple Bold Moves
Our great adventure INCLUDED meeting our National's Photographer, Mike Fine, in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn while
munching on our Kentucky Fried Chicken in North Platte, Nebraska!  He happened to be staying at the hotel for the
night and flagged us down.  Our first thought was that he was hotel security chasing us and our 30 foot travel trailer
out of his parking lot!  We tried to pull away & ignore him but he ran us down!  We are happy we stopped & chatted with
him! Mike is a Rough Collie breeder from Ohio.  Mike looked us up when he arrived in Colorado. He asked if he could do a
free head shot of our Drew.  We gladly obliged.  His beautiful photo appears above.
Thank you Mike for your most excellent win photos at Nationals!  We are thankful for our parking lot meeting!

Our National's Photographer, Mike Fine, chats with the Thornapple Gang.
Mike is pictured 3rd from the left.

    
Evan loves this photo of the John Deere tractor!

Arrival Day in Greeley, Colorado!

    
This is a first for us!  A sheep feedlot just outside of Fort Collins, Colorado.

    
Sheep as far as the eye can see!!

Despite narrowly avoiding a deer that ran across our lane of I80 in Iowa into the path of the semi truck
 directly next to us (causing a gruesome sight ... the likes of which we have never seen) ... AND black smoke
pouring from the diesel van exhaust after we filled up in Nebraska, all 3 vans & travel trailer made it safely to Greeley!

    

The order of every day was bath time!
Pictured here is our dear friend from South Africa, Natasha Baxter, bathing Miss Daisy for her AKC Veteran debut!
Thank you Joanne Matson for the MANY baths over the week & Natasha for all of your help!

We took a quick trip to Estes Park on Sunday before Nationals.  It was our only day for play!
We were up and at em at 5:30 am every morning .... collapsed into bed at 10:30 pm each night!

Rocky Mountain National Park

    

    

    

    

    
Elk graze in Estes Park, Colorado

    
Snow and Ice awaited us in Wyoming on our way home, Saturday AM.

    
Antelope played on the Great Plains of Wyoming but unfortunately they were too far away for photos.

    

60 mile per hour winds & TREACHEROUS snow & ice on I80 in Wyoming awaited our 3 vans & travel trailer!
This tandem trailer Fed Ex semi truck jackknifed and flipped over.  A tow truck was in the process of pulling it over when we passed.
As we passed in our right lane, TWO renegade semis passed on t he left and whipped in front of us.
One can be seen racing away in the distance ... the other was to our immediate left when Vikki took this photo.
Because the Fed Ex truck blocked a portion of the left lane, we had to hit the brakes and pray to avoid being crushed by the 2nd semi.
We pulled off and waited an hour at a truck stop in Wyoming after a 2nd scare in which we hit black ice on a bridge.
When the rig hit the black ice, the wind pushed the travel trailer sideways into the left lane.
Luckily, no other vehicles were in the left lane and we were able to steer out of the skid.
We gave Aaron & Amy as well as Debbie & Maria quite a fright as we (Ellen & Vikki)  were in the lead with the travel trailer.

    
Semi jackknifed on I80 and car in the ditch.  We also saw Chevy Blazer on it's roof with it's utility trailer flipped as well.

      
Tumbleweeds were flying in the 60 mile per hour winds!  Vikki snapped some tumbles captured by the fence on the right.

         
Better weather greeted us in Nebraska!

         
Lots of ranches have oil wells!  We need one of them there oil wells!

    
Beautiful Nebraska!

    

    

    
Flooding around the Mississippi River

Illinois at last, Chicago ahead!  Illinois is known as one of  the cornbelt states!
Little did we know what lied ahead as we neared the Chicago area.  A piece of
scrap metal fell from a trailer smack dab under Debbie Neff''s front van tire.  The
metal pierced Debbie's front tire causing a blow out.  Amy was riding with Debbie ...
3rd van back in our line.  The blow out occurred in a frightening 5 lane stretch of highway
with very little shoulder to park on.  It took a total of 2 hours waiting for the tow truck and repair.
We stopped at a truck stop and waited for Amy & Debbie worried sick about them being
stranded on such a dangerous stretch of highway.  NO police stopped to help!

The view from the bridge on I80 in Illinois