Old Western Town

(Virginia City, NV) After Mike and the dogs had all gone on a nice long hike, Mike decided it would be good for me to at least get out of the RV for a few minutes to see the area.

I told you the other day that we were on top of a bluff...and we truly are. They say on a clear day you can see over 100 miles. It wasn't that clear while we were here but it was still a pretty sight.

From our RV you can see the very famous cemetery. I'm not sure why it's so famous but many tour buses stop here each day and scads of people walk through the cemetery. We didn't go over there but here you can see it from our RV.



Mike took me on a 10 minute driving tour of downtown. Yup, we could drive through town and back in just 10 minutes. It's not a very large town but I must say it is the most "old western town" that I've ever seen. It really did feel as though we stepped back into the late 1880's. There were old saloons, an old theater, a jail, old shops (selling old time stuff), etc. The sidewalks were very old crickety boards that were extremely uneven. They had old music playing all down the streets. It really reminded me of an old restaurant that my parents took us to (many times upon our request) called "Steve's Gay 90's." What memories!

Anyway, we only walked for about five minutes and went inside one store. It was a really fun store. It was a unique store. I'd really love to go back when I'm feeling better....here's why. They had almost every brand of Root Beer available in the world. I've never seen so many brands of Root Beer and that's the only kind of pop I like. If I'd have had more energy I'd have bought a couple bottles of each brand....but I didn't buy any at all. It would be so fun to get two bottle of each one and then Dad and I could each have a bottle and compare all the brands.

They had rooms and rooms full of barrels of candy. I'm pretty sure I've never seen so mauch candy in one place.



They had a few rooms that were full of signs from floor to ceiling. Most of the signs were pretty funny.



We thought this one had to have been made with Slugger in mind.



I guess back in the day, this was one of the top three most populous cities west of the Mississippi as it was a huge mining town. Back in the late 1800's the population was over 40,000 people! That was a lot of people for way back then. Now it only has about 3-4% of that many people.

I hope that someday we get to come back when I can experience this area more as it's a very unique and interesting place.

Debbie
5/1/08

More Pictures

(Virginia City, NV) I just realized I'd forgotten to download the pictures from my other camera. So while Mike and dogs actually went hiking in the hills around Virginia City, NV today - these are actually pictures of a hike they did in Moab while Boogie and I were at a seminar.










Debbie
4/30/08

Drive, Drive, Drive

(Moab, UT/Virginia City, NV) We got an early start Monday morning and headed out of beautiful Moab. The first half of the day we had beautiful scenery. And we had really nice weather too which made it a nice day of driving for Mike. Boogie was a really good boy but all day is a long time for a puppy to be in a box.

The first night we made it to Wells, Nevada. I can't tell you a think about it as I never even got up to look out the window. But the RV park did have high speed internet - it was great to have such fast internet even if it was just for a couple hours.

Tuesday morning we once again headed out on a long day's drive. But today the scenery wasn't at all interesting and we had really strong side winds the entire day. It was a very hard drive for Mike to try and keep us on the road. The visibility was minimal as well since dust was blowing like crazy. This was one of the most difficult driving days we've had in our three years of traveling.

And it was another really long day for Boogie to stay in a box. He was really good about it but I felt bad for him. I'm sure glad he is such a good traveler!

The day didn't get better. It turns out that Virginia City is on top of a bluff. The road to get there is very steep and very curvy. That was really hard on my body and the three big dogs didn't like it either. To top it off, we missed the turn into the RV park and ended up on some small curvy road with no outlet.

Mike had to get out of the RV and take the car off so we could back up and turn around. Then he had to put the car back on. It was really windy during this time as well. As you can imagine, this wasn't a pleasant time for Mike.

We finally got set up in our spot - right on the edge of a cliff/bluff. I was really worried we might back up too far! Scary.

We needed groceries and it turns out the nearest store is almost a 40 minute drive away. While Mike was gone we were having 50-60 mile an hour winds. It was hitting at an angle from the side (coming from the front). I've never heard such loud noises and felt the RV shake so badly. All the dogs were scared but Slugger was petrified...which means he wanted to sit on me...not good. I was truly worried about being blown over the bluff.

When Mike got back, he saw the problems we were having with the wind. It was so bad that he decided it would be very wise to bring the slides in. Now the dogs were very scared and very worried.

So far I'm not real impressed with Virginia City. But to be fair, I'm not happy with much right now.

Debbie
4/28-29/08

A Lot to Celebrate!

(Moab, UT) The trial here in Moab was a three day fundraiser. The arena is a perfect spot for agility. The footing is great, it is a huge arena which means plenty of crating and extra space, nice bleachers for spectators (there were a fair number of spectators that were great and clapped for every single dog after every run), lots of RV parking right around the arena, and it was cool inside which the dogs all loved!

All three of our dogs ran great this weekend. I think they loved the surface and the temperature in the building. Slugger was entered in nine runs and he Q’d in eight of them! He was running fast too – doing his head bopping in every run. He is so cute when he does that. We got so many comments on cute he was while running. And he was wanting more turns. He was so excited! For a dog that is never trained he is doing so well. To top it off, Slugger earned his 1,000 point award the first day of the trial!

Sparkie was running with great confidence this weekend. And Mike ran with a fun happy attitude all weekend. They were really a great team. Sharon made a comment to everyone about how well they were doing together and about how Sparkie is so much faster now that she isn’t hesitating after obstacles. She is really trusting Mike to give her commands in plenty of time. She had some awesome times on difficult courses this weekend.

Even though the other dogs were great, Wazzu was the star of the weekend. She was running like a puppy! It’s like she subtracted five years from her age this weekend. Her body was moving so free and easy. We haven’t seen her move like this in years! And happy…my goodness, I don’t think she could have smiled any bigger.

Mike had to run her for me quite a few of runs over the weekend. But Wazzu didn’t seem to care – she was just happy to do agility. She was perfect both Friday and Saturday! One of the runs on Friday was Chances and we just needed one more Q. Of course I ran her in that run. It was a very difficult course and I didn’t think we had a chance but of course I was going to give it my shot.

There were a lot of really good dogs here this weekend. Every single one of the Elite dogs has participated in Championships and the majority of them entered Super Stakes. So that shows you there were a lot of good distance dogs in attendance.

I was watching the other dogs try this Chances course and they were all failing miserably. This was not a good sign for us! I’d say Sparkie was about the 15th dog to go (we were going tall to small). She was a thing of grace. She did the course with the perfect line, really fast, and did the perfect course. Huge cheers went up as she was the only dog to be successful. She and Mike really put on a clinic on that run.

Then it was our turn. I was really pleasantly surprised when Wazzu went out to the distance portion without any hesitation. We then came around to the part that caught everyone but Sparkie. The dogs were supposed to come in to do weaves (still out at a distance) but they were all zooming through the tunnel. I did a sharp call off – a little too much as Wazzu came toward me (good as that made her avoid the tunnel) but she came a little too far toward me. I immediately gave her an out weave and to my amazement she quickly turned out and did the weaves and sailed over the last jump. HIP HIP HOORAY! That was our NATCH-10, the final goal of our agility career. Sharon was so very nice – she gave Wazzu the last bites of her hamburger she was eating for lunch. That was so sweet of her…and of course Wazzu thought it was extremely appropriate. Tee hee. Sharon also gave me a really cool Moab NATCH pin.

So only the Mason sisters conquered that Chances course! What a day Friday was indeed. It was Boogie’s very first birthday (which he thought was boring since he never got a turn!), Slugger earned his 1,000th point, Wazzu earned her NATCH-10, and Sparkie put on a clinic in many of her runs. Now that’s a good day!

To end the weekend, they had a run of Hoopers. They decided just to score all the dogs in each level together. Mike ran both Wazzu and Sparkie in Open….he said there were about 30 dogs in Open. I didn’t get to see these runs but Mike said Wazzu was absolutely flawless and Sparkie, while she Q’d, wasn’t as smooth as Wazzu. Who would have thought – Wazzu got 1st place! Sparkie came in 2nd.

I think I’d like to trial with Wazzu in Moab every weekend. In fact, if I was able bodied, I think I would like to move to Moab. It is so beautiful here and there is so much hiking to do. I definitely want to come back!

If you like the outdoors, and love seeing beautiful sights and scenery, I would highly suggest Moab as your next vacation destination.

Debbie
4/25-27/08

Boogie Turns ONE!

Sunkist Shake Rattle And Roll, RN, JE

…And does he ever! What a perfect name for our little guy as he’s always on the go. He “Boogies” right along with us and is game for everything.

I’d say overall he had a pretty full first year of life. He learned so many things! The first thing he learned when he came to live with us is that he lives in a moving house. Every time he gets in his little bright yellow crate, he wakes up in a different place. How cool is that! He’s been to ten different states, has flown on an airplane, and helped his mom’s best friend drive a golf cart.

Other things he learned were how to do stairs…now that was scary, he learned about hiking, rock climbing, playing on the beach, swimming, wrestling with his rather large siblings, romping in large white sand dunes, and somehow he learned to get anything he wants just by giving mommy the “look.”

In his first year he became adept enough at Rally to earn his AKC Novice Rally title. His hunting instincts kicked in very strong and he earned his AKC Junior Earthdog title. And when it was time to look handsome he could do that too; earning two Best of Border Terrier Puppy Sweepstakes (out of two tries!), a Best of Breed – beating out both a Special and Multi-Sweeps winner, was a 4 point major Reserve Winner, and earned one point toward his Championship. Finally, he became a pretty darn good little agility dog. While he is still too young to compete, he looks like a very promising little agility champion to be.

But the first year wasn’t all fun and games. At the young age of just four months he tore one of his toenails completely out of the nail bed and had to undergo surgery. But he was one tough little guy – he didn’t let it slow him down long at all.

Just four months later he had another surgery – prepuce reconstruction surgery. Let’s just say he was a little too “studly” for his britches! I think he’s kind of proud of that!

I’d say, without a doubt, that Boogie’s three favorite things are eating (anything and everything), playing with other dogs. and trying to kill the vacuum cleaner…he’s relentless! I actually have to say that killing the vacuum cleaner is far and above everything else – it’s his number one favorite activity for sure. What’s up with that?!

Despite his hatred toward the vacuum cleaner, Boogie is everything we’d hoped for and more. We just can’t believe how well he fits into our family. He has certainly surpassed any wish list we could have come up with for puppy.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store for his second year of life. I think he plans to “Get Down and BOOGIE!”

Happy Birthday, Boogie.

So Much to Learn

(Moab, UT) I had been looking forward to this agility seminar for quite some time. And even though I wasn’t nearly as able bodied as I would have liked to have been, I was determined to attend the seminar with Boogie.

The format of the seminar turned out to be great for me as I could lie down on my cot and hear and see everything. And I truly don’t think there is anyone better in the world to teach agility than Sharon Nelson. She is a very special person when it comes to animals. Somehow she can communicate with them in a way that they totally understand. You really have to see it to believe it but she is definitely on an entirely different level with animals than 99% of the population.

When you attend a seminar with Sharon you get a seminar! It was a two day seminar and each day it went 12 hours! I must admit I was unable to stay that entire time. The arena was beautiful but cold. Lying still for that long in a cold place was really hard on me. So I had to bail out around 7:30pm each day. The seminar started at 9:00 each morning and went until after 9:00pm with an hour lunch break. I must say that Sharon really gives her all at these seminars.

I was so proud of Boogie in many respects. First of all, that is a long time for a puppy to wait quietly in a crate. He tried really hard - only once in a while doing soft little cries. Each dog got to work probably twice each day but each turn was anywhere from 10 – 20 minutes depending on what the dog needed. I learned so much from each team out there.

Sharon used Boogie as the demo dog two different times. One time was when she was teaching us how to evaluate the structure of our dog so that we can monitor them throughout their life. When she was demonstrating with Boogie, she was quite amazed and said that when people were doing this with their dogs not to expect the dog to be able to get in these positions. She said Boogie was a truly exceptional dog – structure wise. She said he has the perfect structure for an athletic dog. She continued saying “that doesn’t make him better than other dogs….well yes it does, this dog is really good.” Cool.

The course that was set up for the working part of the day was an Elite level course. I’d say there were about 20 dogs in attendance. Two of the dogs were Novice while the rest were Elite level. The only thing they did though was replace the weave poles with a tunnel as the seminar really was on handling, not necessarily obstacle performance.

Sharon, and everyone else in attendance, was very impressed with Boogie. I must say, so was I. He was amazing! He was doing great distance – 20 feet, he got every directional, he hit all his contacts, and he was fast! He sure didn’t look like a Novice dog out there. As we did it over a few times, we had trouble with our distance to the dark tightly curved tunnel in the far corner…but all dogs seemed to have the same problem.

We did some directional work with moving hoops. Don’t’ ask. Boogie was funny. The hoops were fairly close together and at his height I think he sees the entire hoop. So from ground level it all looks the same to him. He did the patterns beautifully – but he did them between the hoops instead of through the hoops. But when he did a small hoop course he was perfect.

The next course work was done on another Elite course. In addition the regular course being set, the put lots of hoops all around the course. They weren’t part of the course, they were just put there to distract us and our dogs – of course it added a whole bunch of off course opportunities. The main thing you needed on this course to do it correctly was distance. While Boogie really has great distance for such a novice dog, we didn’t have enough distance to do this course correctly. And since I can’t run very fast or coordinated right now it was particularly difficult. We did the whole thing super well (way to go little Boogie man!) but we never could get the correct end of one tunnel. Everyone was having trouble getting it. This was set up to teach us that sometimes three jumps in a row can be a serpentine but sometimes they are two 180’s. In this case if you ran it as a serpentine you got the wrong end of the tunnel. You could only be successful if you ran it as two 180’s. I just couldn’t be deep enough with Boogie to do it that way – so we sliced the third jump every time which gave us the wrong end of the tunnel. But Sharon wasn’t concerned about this with Boogie. She said this is a very difficult Elite level maneuver so she didn’t care one bit that he was taking the wrong end. He did the rest of the course beautifully. Imagine how good Boogie could be if he got to take lessons and had a handler that could move! He’s showing so much potential.

The last lesson we did was interesting. At each end of the dogwalk there was a pinwheel of hoops. I guess I didn’t listen very well as I’m not sure what the purpose of this exercise was for the other dogs. All I knew was I was not going to be able to run back and forth the length of the dogwalk a bunch of times – shoot even the healthy people were having trouble!

So I asked Sharon if I could work on a specific task on this exercise. She was so very kind and immediately agreed. So I stood at one end, had Boogie do the hoop pinwheel from a distance and then sent him to do the dogwalk. The goal was to get Boogie to do the dogwalk way out in front of me – independently from me. Sharon was standing at the other end with treats. Interesting enough, Boogie did the hoop pinwheel perfectly for me but wouldn’t do them for Sharon at all. And when she tried to send him on the dogwalk toward me – he wouldn’t come (I didn’t have treats!). We probably did this for 15 minutes. Same performance, every time. Interesting.

This was such a valuable seminar and I learned so much. I know I’ve already forgotten some of it – but I hope I can remember a lot of it over time.

While I was attending the seminar, Mike took the big dogs on hikes. Mike came back raving about the area, its beauty and abundance of off leash hiking areas.

Debbie
4/23-24/08

Beautiful Moab

(Moab, UT) Today I (Mike) took Sparkie, Wazzu and Boogie to a hiking trail called Fisher Towers, about 25 miles outside Moab along the Colorado River. I thought it would not be busy out there so I would be able to have the dogs off leash, but the parking lot was overflowing. Well, we decided everybody would probably enjoy dogs running around on the trail so we started the hike anyway.

We could see right away why the place was so popular. The trail wound through little canyons right underneath amazing rock formations, fins and towers with absolute vertical wall and hundreds of feet tall.































And there was a beautiful view across the valley toward the river and rock formations miles away.



The dogs had a good time running around on the rocks and through the brush, looking for lizards and just sniffing around. Even the puppy was a good boy and stayed around us without much prompting. It was sunny and a little warm but we found a few shady rock overhangs to stop and have a drink. The total trail was a little over two miles long but we had to turn around after about a mile and a half because continuing required climbing down a six foot ladder to get across a small ravine. Sparkie could have just jumped across but I wasn’t sure about getting the other two across safely so we just turned back.



Coming back we could see something even more amazing than the huge rock formations – there were some fools climbing those rocks! Well, I guess there weren’t really fools, because they seemed to know what they were doing. Here are some pictures of the climbers – notice how tiny they look on these huge rock walls. (Click on the picture to see it bigger on your screen. Look where the arrow is pointing and you'll see a person. This will give you an idea of the real height of this rock wall.)



Notice the two people on top of the rocks...second peak from the left.




After finishing the hike at the towers we took the long way back to Moab, though a beautiful area called Castle Valley and up and over the Lasal Mountains. From the mountain road we could look down on the rock formations we had seen from a distance on the Fisher Towers trail.



A little farther up the mountain there was snow, so we stopped and took a little hike. Boogie thought the snow felt funny on his feet at first, but when he realized it was just ice, which he loves, he started playing in it and having a good time.





Wazzu and Boogie are always hot so even when they just saw a small patch of snow they were both drawn to it immediately.



The mountain loop road came down just south of Moab, where we stopped at a little recreation area with a creek and waterfall among the red rocks.



The dogs enjoyed splashing in the water, and even better they all got to chase a rabbit a through the desert. Boogie was right along with the girls, giving little yips of excitement as he ran. He ran as far as Sparkie did, but was a good boy and came right back after the chase was over.




Mike
4/22/08

Arches National Park

(Moab, UT) We had a couple more free days here in Moab so after Mike took the dogs on a hike in the morning, we took off to go see Arches National Monument.

Our first stop was at the Visitor Center. Mike went in and watched a movie and looked at a few displays before we headed up into the park. It is beautiful right from the start.



Our first stop in the park was at Park Avenue trail. Mike hiked for about 40 minutes while I waited in the car. He took the camera along with him and got some beautiful shots. They call it Park Avenue because it looks like you are walking through all the skyscrapers of New York.


It was amazing how tall and skinny the rocks were. They were only about 10 feet wide and 200 feet tall.











I don't think you can see them but on top of the ledge but at the base of the two rocks sticking up are a couple of people...just to give you an idea of the size. But I think the people are so little that you may not be able to see them.



We didn't stop here but from the road we could see what they call the "North and South Windows." There is a really nice trail that leads right up to the arches here but it would have taken Mike over an hour and he didn't want to leave me that long. But what a cool sight.




The next trail we stopped at was an extremely short disabled-access trail (about 100 feet) so I decided to get out to see a little for myself. This is called the Balancing Rock. As you can see, it's not really balancing...but they do expect it to fall at some point.



I didn't want it to fall while we were here so I decided to hold it up. As you can see it was no problem for me....I could do it with one hand in my pocket.



The view from the end of the trail was gorgeous.



This is the view off to the side.



When I first looked at this picture I was stumped as I just didn't remember there being any clouds. It finally dawned on me I was seeing the mountain in the background. As you can see, the scenery here is amazing.



I spotted this little rabbit sitting beside the trail. He wasn't at all worried about all the people passing by.



We continued on up to a spot where you can hike up to the Delicate Arch. According to the sign it is about a two hour hike round trip. Maybe some other time. Those little dots you see on the ledge toward the left side of the picture are people.



Mike's next hike was around the Fiery Furnace.



There is a half day hike down into the Fiery Furnace but you are only allowed in there with a ranger during pre-scheduled hikes. Mike is hoping to do that on Wednesday.



Mike had planned to continue on up and do a couple more hikes but all the parking spots we had been on at the previous stops were all sloped and by now I was in agony. So unfortunately, we had to turn around and go straight home.

I sure hope someday we can come back and explore this beautiful part of the country.

Debbie
4/21/08

Introduction to Moab

(Moab, UT) Mike and the dogs did some preliminary investigating around Moab. While they were out I took a short walk around the RV park.

It really is beautiful here.







While it's very pretty here, we don't feel very welcome. When Mike called to make the reservations he told them we had four dogs. When he checked in he was given a receipt and information about the area. We hadn't even gotten all set up yet when someone knocked on our door.

They asked how many dogs we had and we told them four. The lady then informed us that they have a limit of two dogs and they have breed restrictions. After some discussion they said we could stay but they made us sign papers saying we know we are only allowed two dogs and no dogs of certain breeds. Huh?! The lady then told us we couldn't walk Slugger in the park and we couldn't walk more than two at a time.

After the lady left, I just happened to be looking at the computer generated receipt. Right on it, it states that we have two people and four dogs. If they have a limit, you'd think they would have mentioned it when we made our reservations.

Mike then took two dogs out for a walk. While he was walking he overheard one of the workers saying: "The guy told me when he checked in that he'd left his dogs at home...but I saw them through the window as he was driving away to his spot." That really made Mike mad as he never said he left the dogs at home....we don't even have a home!

I looked at their ads in the book, at their website, and at the papers they gave us at check-in...nowhere does it say anything about breed restrictions or a limit of two dogs. These people are not all together!

Debbie
4/20/08

The Long and Winding Road

(Flagstaff, AZ/Moab, UT) We decided to stay an extra day in Flagstaff since there were a lot of good places for Mike and the dogs to go hiking. So Friday they spent doing a lot of really fun hiking.

Saturday we drove from Flagstaff to Moab. On the way we drove through Monument Valley. I'll just let you see what we saw with very little narration. Keep in mind that all but a few pictures (which I'll point out later) were taken through the RV windows as we are driving. So there may be some reflections and some spots...which are bugs on the window. Ewww.



























It was really windy which at times caused quite a bit of dust to be stirred up.



We made a quick stop on the side of the road for lunch and quick outing for the boys.















A herd of cows came walking by.




This was the leader of the group. She had quite a bit to say.




They were all very curious and started staring at the RV.



I guess they'd never heard an RV that barked!!










































There. Now you've been through Monument Valley.

Debbie
4/18-19/08