Our first ever "human" transport....

February 19th, 2012:
The day started like any other.. we woke up in a hotel room in Muncie Indiana... okay maybe it didn't start "exactly" like any other....  At any rate, Susan and I woke up to our automated wake up call at precisely 6am.  We got dressed and got all prepared for the days adventure.  We gathered our goodies and went down to the "hot" breakfast offered by our hotel.  We enjoyed a light breakfast and waited for our "limo" back to Adopt A Lab.  The limo AKA lil white dog mobile arrived promptly at 7... ish and we were off to "the facility" to catch our transport.  Here we are awaiting our transport driver, posing with Lee Strayer by the Adopt A Lab bus.. AKA The Big white dog mobile... 

And here is an awesome shot of the AAL Bus...  incidentally many of you reading this or who participated in this transport may recognise the GIANT black lab on the side of the bus... It's Banjo, a black lab we pulled from KCMO shelter and transported back in April 2011.  Isn't he handsome????

Oh and in case any of you are wondering.. just as our run she said.. he had all our shots.. here is photographic proof.... *Thanks Mary

 

or if you need verification

 

Personally I prefer the former to the latter because there is less double chinage going on in the former.. bwahahahaha 

We had quite a line up of drivers for the day:
Dena Lynch - Muncie to Plainfield
Mark Wills - Plainfield to Terre Haute
Cathy Redman - Terre Haute to Altamont
Mary Britsch - Altamont to St. Charles
Diane McAlpin - St. Charles to Columbia
Mindy Bloom - Columbia to Concordia
Jeff Forker - Concordia to Kansas City

There were also many "handlers" that came to the meeting spots to help corral these 2 crazy passengers. 


The first leg with Dena pretty much went off without a hitch..  except we did have one teeny weeny wrong turn but it was quickly corrected and we were under way.  We had a nice ride looking at all of the beautiful scenery between Munci & Plainfield... *hint of sarcasm...  We chatted with Dena about past transports and how in the world she ended up in Indiana... 

We arrived at the Plainfield exit right on time. We were greeted by our 2nd leg driver, Mark and an entourage of "corralers", Dori Griffith, Maija Salkeld and Anita Padgett.  We also got to meet 3 beautiful furr butts there as well.    Anyway, we stood there in the parking lot enduring the Gail force winds that had blown up that morning and hung out for our allotted 30 min "potty break" time.  We laughed, shivered and gave and received lots of hugs.  We did make one small mistake at this meeting spot... we met at Burger King, not Cracker Barrel but I still think it counts.. there was one directly across the street.  Here are a few pics of the crew at the Plainfield Exit

Now as I said there were Gail force winds a blowin and it was actually pretty chilly... so we had to do what we could to stay warm.... 

We do apologize to Mrs. Mark....  but.. what happens on transport stays on transport LOL

Dori got a great shot of what the transfer really entailed with all of our luggage and loot we had managed to rack up already...

We managed to get everyone loaded in the back of Marks truck and headed on out to make our way to Terre Haute to meet Cathy and whomever else would make their way to the meeting spot as well. 

Great shot of Pretty and Mary watching us leave.. probably wondering WTH????  this is a first.. we the dogs hand the people off????

Thanks to Dori we had some great still shots from this meeting spot.. I was so busy making sure I got it on video that I totally spaced off getting any still shots.  Thanks Dori!!!!!

Had a great time on our leg with Mark.. talked about his Dalmatian crew and learned all kinds of nifty facts about them.. like they really don't have spots when they are born...  oh and apparently Marks crew are "wino's"  can't leave a glass of wine unattended at his house lol.  All went well to Terre Haute.. and we actually arrived early.. lucky for us so did Cathy Redman..  she and her co-pilot Annie, so we had some extra leg stretchin time there...  Shortly after we arrived at the Cracker Barrel so did Kathy Modesitt and Ellen Baxter and man o man.. the treats, drinks and snacks just kept coming.  We even got some home made goodies there.. honestly not sure what they were but WOW they were amazing!!!!!  

The winds had moved down from F5 level to F4 by now so our parking lot time was a bit more enjoyable.  Once again.. my brain was not functioning and I was only smart enough to run the video camera at this point... so unfortunately I don't have any still shots to share of the amazing crew at Terre Haute...  okay well wait...  Here is my one and only still shot at Terre Haute... GO ME....

This is Annie.. I'm sure wondering why the hell she is in one car and her mommy and the crazy new people are all in the other...  Hey it was cold....

We began the task of unloading all of our loot...  which had grown by leaps and bounds.. in fact at this point Susan thought she may need to blast out for a second driver later down the road just to haul all of our goodies...  We managed though, to get everything over into Cathy's car, said our goodbyes to Mark, Kathy and Ellen and off we went.  Had yet another great time with Cathy and Annie

This is Annie, wondering how come even though she called shotgun, she ended up in the back seat and I ended up in the front... And this is how she felt about my having "stolen" the shotgun position for the trip...

We worked out our differences though especially once she realized Sue was going to be in the back seat with her....  She got lots of loving from Sue on this leg. 

Talked about many a past transport with Cathy... she has been with us for a very long time.  She pointed out a spot along the road where she once got stuck behind a huge accident in horrible weather during one of our transports... as soon as she mentioned it... it all clicked and we remembered it was a 2 dog transport and she was to be picking up from Mary... Mary ended up just turning around and taking the 2 dogs back home to hang out for the week and we sent them on the following weekend. 

We pulled in at Altamont only about 10 min late and what a crew we got to meet there...  Our driver Mary Britsch, Sue Bixler, Barb Zellers and Barbs, random kitty cat she was driving on transport.  By this time..  What is left of my mind started to work and I did manage to get some still shots at this location... was probably the motley crew there that prompted this lol

We said our goodbyes and loaded all of our goodies into Mary's car...  and promptly pulled through McDonalds to get a bit to eat for the road.  Once again we chatted about past transports and shared rescue stories.  Up until now things had gone smoothly and there were no "incidents" to speak of... however.. once we arrived at the Cracker Barrel in St. Charles MO... we got out of the car... Susan and Mary decided to go in for a potty break while we waited for Diane to arrive...  Sue and Mary went inside... locking the car and leaving me unattended in the parking lot.. YUP.. left the transport passenger unattended.. untethered alone in the parking lot... someone could have come and stolen me... what were they thinking????  Luckily I was okay...  Mary did make one run back in leaving us both unattended and running amuck off leash in the parking lot... I do have video proof of that... which I will post once Lee sends it back to me. 

Now really up until now, we had a very nice, laid back trip.. lots of reminiscing, and laughs along the way... BUT THEN... Diane McAlpin pulls in.. slings open her side door and we see a big tub of ice and quite the veggie and dip spread.. along with string cheese and a mini mardi gras party set up..  this is what followed...

By this time.. we are starting to get a little worn down..  so we transfer all of our "crap" from  Mary's car to Diane's and off we go.  Now back in the day when I drove transport every weekend, I met Diane many a time so this was not a new meeting for me but was a first for Sue.  We chatted again about our rescue babies and how we started transporting together until we arrived in Columbia to meet up with Mindy. 

We pulled in and immediately met up with Sue and Nancy.. some more of our "regulars".  We actually struck up a conversation with some folks there in the parking lot taking their own pets out to potty... 

Someone mentioned coffee so in to.. you guessed it.. The Cracker Barrel we went.  We had a couple of cups of coffee and sat visiting with everyone... and before we knew it it was time to load up into Mindy's vehicle and be on our way to meet Jeff in Concordia.

Now much like this blog...  we were really starting to loose steam by now...  I mean it's a lot of work hauling all of our crap from one car to another and to keep up this pace of being so adorable and charming... LOL LOL LOL 

Anyway, we talked about all kinds of stuff with Mindy from transport to mental illness...  Don't Ask hehehehehe  But we had a great ride.  We are now at the Concordia stop... the final leg of the transport...  man are we beat...  Jeff is quite the gentleman and lugs most of our crap from Mindy's car to his... Thank YOU Jeff...  here is a great shot of Sue, Jeff & Mindy

So off we go.. the final leg.. the final stretch... whew....  Was a great ride, we talked about transports, and everything involved and talked about getting together from time to time just to socialize.  We made it to... guess where???  the Cracker Barrel where my hubby Mark met us and we went in to join a table of 4 wonderful local rescue/transport ladies.. Sherry, Sherrie, Shelley and Angela and got to sit down and have dinner with everyone... 

We for the last time, moved our haul over to my own vehicle and headed on home... Feeling so thankful to have gotten to meet each of you.  Felt great finally being able to put a face to the emails/phone calls etc that we had been doing for so many years now.  We felt humbled in the face of all of you who step up week after week to make all this possible.. I personally even felt a little nauseous.. I think I had one to many snickers by this time... 

On a funny side note..  we also learned that for years now we have been pronouncing a few names wrong...  For instance Mary Britsch... well turns out it's actually pronounced like it's spelled... of course Sue and I, for years have referred to her as Mary "British"...  oopsie... 

Now just so you all know...  I have tried since the 19th on multiple occasions to pronounce Mary's last name correctly...  we are finally starting to get the hang of it, but it's not easy... 

And one more funny side note about names...  Maija Salkeld...  turns out, her first name is pronounce like Mya..  who knew????  I had been saying her name like Maja..  this one I am still having trouble with but don't worry Maija I am really REALLY trying...

In my world you two ladies may forever be known as Maja and British... lol 

I am going to make an attempt in the next few days at trying to write a blog entry about this adventure from the view point of the dogs...  It's amazing to Susan and I how well the dogs do on transport...  by the end of ours we were exhausted and starting to get a little cranky... guess once again we learn about the spirit of the dogs we all step up to help!!!!!

My apologies for my "spacing" off taking still shots the first couple of legs.  I will have Lee capture some stills from the video and edit this entry when we receive them.  I will also post out the video of the day as soon as Lee sends it to me.

FYI: we ended up with 2 bags of snickers..  4 boxes of Dots.. 4 Diet Cokes...  4 bottles of Water...  2 bags of Chex Mix, A bag of Gold Fish, A bag of Cheetos 2 bags of Cashews a big bag of twizzlers, 4 things of string cheese and various other snacks...  hurts my tummy just typing it...  lol

Overall it was an amazing experience....  we met so many AMAZING people, had a lot of laughs and got to see at least a small part of the world One Cracker Barrel at a time......

Sue and Carolyn's Excellent Adventure... To Muncie Indiana

Well it started out innocently enough.  Patty & Lee Strayer with Adopt A Lab invited us to come spend the weekend with them to catch up, see the renovations at the facility etc.  I was going to fly in from Kansas City and Susan was going to fly in from Detroit... we were going to spend the day and fly back to our respective cities the next day.... This is where it took a turn for the "strange" and went downhill from there.  Susan and I talked on the phone about our trip, organizing and coordinating flight times etc and then it happened....  I said "hold on..  wait a minute....  Sue, this is our chance, why don't you take a week off and come back to Kansas City with me and we can transport ourselves back."  So of course Sue being the Transport GODDESS that she is sprung into action.. feverishly typing up a run sheet.  This in and of itself is where hilarity started to ensue...  there were several fits of laughter as we constructed our Run Sheet Bios.... 


Susan got it all put together and "blasted" it out as usual.  She received dozens of emails with big giant LOL's and "that's hilarious" comments.. so she had to send it out again saying.. "Yes, we know it's funny... but seriously we NEED a ride." 

We did this because we wanted the opportunity to meet face to face with the drivers.  Many of you have worked with us for years now, we email, we facebook and we even chat on the phone but we had never had the chance to "see" each other.   I also wanted to try and write a story about transport.. through the eyes of the dogs.  What a wonderful opportunity this would be, a chance to see what it's like to be handed off from car to car, never knowing who or what you might meet along the way... not to mention it was a "free" ride back home with lots of snacks... It was a "win/win" situation.. lol

A little about our stay in the Culturally Iconic Scenic Muncie Indiana:

We arrived at the Indianapolis Airport on Friday morning,  mostly without incident...  I was fortunate enough to fly straight through.. Susan unfortunately, flew from Detroit via Baltimore... WTH???  We were picked up via AAL Limo Service.. AKA the Lil White Dogmobile and escorted back to Muncie.  We had a great time meeting up with Patty and going to check out the facility and seeing some familiar doggie faces as well.  We headed back to Patty and Lee's to hang out, visit and get ready for a wonderful dinner... Turns out Patty is an Amazing Chef....   After dinner we had a few drinks and hung out late into the evening catching up. 

On Saturday we spent the day at AAL assisting with a video of Miss Daisy and fine tuning our professional photography skills doing photo shoots of quite a few of the "new" AAL kids.  We had a blast working with the dogs... as always, AAL has a wonderful group of canine occupants. 

After our photo shoots we were again whisked off to the hotel via our "limo" and headed up to our room (3rd floor) to shower and get ready for another fabulous Chef Patty Gourmet Meal... YUM YUM...  so up to the 3rd floor we go... shoved the key in the little slot thingy... and nothin... grrr.. shove it in again... still nothin, again.. yep you guessed it.. nothin, so back to the elevator we go and down to the desk.. Lucky for us "Snotty" Sara was on duty... we told her of our plight, she snatched the key from my hand stuck it in her magic machine and promptly handed it back to me saying "here ya go"...  so without further conversation we went back up to the 3rd floor and with great precision inserted our key and ... wait for it.....  NOTHIN, NADA, ZIP... ZILCH... a few more swipes to no avail.  another trip down... same reaction, same "help" another trip back up and same anticlimactic outcome...  long story short after the 4th trip down.. we called her from the hallway...  she said she would be up shortly...  we very diligently just kept swiping the damn thing until finally...  the door relented and allowed us entry... WHEW

Again another wonderful meal, wonderful wine and great conversation... We also worked with Lee on a video interview about transport in general as well as a very special transport for our boy Moose.. this handsome hunk is Moose.

Now after a glass of wine... um... or two we all shared funny stories...  Aside from "Check Out At Wal Mart" I think my vote for funniest was "The Vegas" story...  This will probably be one of those stories that will always be kind of our "inside" joke but I do want to share one picture that I think Patty & Lee will get a kick out of and I hope it will put a smile on their faces.....

Now for those of you have not been to who have not been to the Cultural Mecca of Indiana.. here is a photo for you... This is the Cultural center in Muncie.

This my friends is where all of the "culture" in Muncie is kept... so it doesn't get dirty or broken...  lol  Just kidding Muncie seems like a great place.  We saw the sight.. yes I said sight while we were there and I must admit Sue and I had a pretty good chuckle while sitting in our hotel room wondering what the Ball State mascot was and in true childish form had many laughs discussing the Balls of Muncie...  *wink wink

Anyway, I am going to end this blog post here.. an intermission of sorts.. so get up stretch your legs, hit the "little rescuers room" and maybe grab a snack...  The actual transport is next.