Sunday: When the day comes to leave on
the Big Vacation there is always tons of last minute details to
attend to. Making a list and kennel map for those taking care
of all the dogs left behind, last minute check list for the
airlines, rabies certificates, etc. For a 7am departure from Newark
airport, I was up at 2am and pulled out the driveway at 3:15am.
Managed to take each crate and dog in with no hassles from anyone
while I stayed parked out front of the ticket counters! My 6 hour
flight on Alaska Air couldn't have been nicer. (managed a 3 hour nap
too). I had a connecting flight in Seattle then on to Portland on a
smaller propeller plane. I forgot how those vibrate! One dog
howled on the way up till we leveled off in altitude. No issues with
the Alamo rental SUV except it was a smaller one than I had paid for
but both my 2 dogs and crates fit in. Now the 5 hour drive south
through beautiful Oregon to the trial site.
It
was light rain but I didn't mind a bit. Two hours south on I-5 I
made a left and took Rt 58 through the National Forests for another
1 1/2 hours. Huge lakes and TALL pine trees lined the smaller twisty
road over the Cascade Mountain range. Beautiful. I came through the
little town of Oakridge, country and quaint. One the left I notice
billowing smoke--Ribs being cooked in a giant outside smoker and
what a delicious smell in the air! The sign said the "smokiest
ribs ever" so I stopped and got some for the road. What a nice young
man that is the owner/cook/rib smoker. The restaurant had all of 3
booths, home made scones, muffins and ribs with all the fixings.
Yummie they were. I saw a beautiful covered bridge, and started
seeing signs designating the small creeks or sloughs that ran
through the pasture fields. And then, there is was, the first "hill"
right out jutting up in the middle of the flat lands. Shortly,
others followed as I drove closer to the mountains. Little
farms, horses and sheep -all were nestled among very tall
pines against the bottom of the foothills.
I continued on to Rt 97 south and after another hour
was at the local little motel of Chiloquin, Melita's Motel and
Restaurant. It's the only place close by to eat (except for the
Casino and Gas stop 4 miles down the road) and proved to be very
popular. Ron and Ginny Reed made their way to Oregon with their new
motor home called the "Proud Mary". (Big wheels keep on
turning as the song goes). They took the long route though, heading
from Pennsylvania south first to visit family in Florida, then
headed West! They stayed in Colorado, visited Utah and made
Oregon in good time, traveling with 2 dogs. Marston Jones flew out
from Maryland with 3 dogs and ran the prior trial before the
specialty this week. Julie Cole, CA and Linda Harger, ID, ran the
trial this past weekend too and then came on over the mountain to
camp at the Knapp's ranch. Successful they were. Linda won the
Qualifying with Comet, Julie a 4th with Ruddy Duck and Jane Patopea
a Rsv Jam with Ivy. (all 3 are litter mates). What a way to start
the competition week
Shane and Woody Woodsen drove with the dog trailer
1800 miles from Oklahoma. Chris Payne took the quicker route by
plane with his lap top for company and met up with his Oklahoma team
in Oregon. They did have a very scary drive in Nevada. All of a
sudden there was this tiny road, twisting and turns with no guard
rails going down 6200 Feet. Once at the bottom Shane decided he
could not drive any further without a break. Gary Kavan from
Nebraska endured the same route and all have said no way will they
travel back that way to go home. Diane Mazey arrived Monday evening
from Idaho as well as Anita Schaefer from northern Oregon. Long time
ACC members and trialers Janis and Jim Nichols from CA came without
a dog to visit everyone.
Stephanie Beach of Palo Alto, California, sent this
note to me the other day----
Well the travel to Oregon is a little more complicated than
it was yesterday. This evening, on my way to Half Moon Bay, I was
rear- ended. This is Mr. Ford's first collision, but who knows what
the insurance company will say. There is "minor" damage as near
as we mere mortals can tell (a tail light & a little bit of scrunch
on the bumper & side panel), and humans are ok, but Mr. Ford is a
'97 & past his "insurance" prime. This accident led to a frantic
search for the ever present car registration & insurance
papers, and naturally the registration expired 9/8/10 & for some
reason I didn't have the insurance paper in the glove box. Dave
brought the insurance paper to me, & found that we had in fact
renewed the registration in August but somehow didn't have the
paper. Arriving home I tore the house apart and FOUND car
registration, Jane Pappler's entries & check that I thought I never
received (Yikes), and a whole bunch of other bills - mercifully not
yet due. Big sigh of relief! Soooo, tomorrow (Friday) I'll deal
with insurance, try to get a tail light Dave can install for the
journey north, and see where we are. Will keep you posted.
Regardless of Mr. Ford, I WILL be in Oregon on Sunday.
After unpacking at the motel Sunday evening, I ran
into Chris Payne, Woody and Shane Woodsen from Oklahoma at the
Melita Restaurant Bar. Two local cowboys were sitting next to us
with big hats and one a nice handlebar mustache! They "run cows" on
a big ranch south of here and were now hauling them north to Pasco,
Washington. They talked about their border collies they use for the
cows and a healer dog also. Interesting guys. Off to bed about
midnight and slept late till 8 am, a much needed rest.
Monday: Dogs barked, car doors
shut and I could hear motors warming up in the cool morning. (Sunday
Ron and Ginny Reed were visiting Crater Lake and there was new snow
on the ground). Groups were off to a few ranches in the area for
last minute training today. The training areas were beautiful.
Cattle pastures were complete with cows, cow piles and irrigation
water splashing as the dogs ran through the grasslands after their
bumpers. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather and the dogs did
well stretching out after their long rides to get to Oregon. At 5 pm
there was a bit gathering at the Chiloquin Community Center. Raffle
tickets were sold for the big aray of donated items and the silent
auction items were open for bidding. Jon Knapp opened with a warm
welcome and introduction of judges. He thanked his wife Carol for
without her there was no trial! Mike Pickett led a brief ACC
meeting. Around the room we went with each person standing and
giving their name and where they were from. (including Germany's
Moira and Matthias Frank) One
of the evenings highlights was the presentation of the AKC Good
Sportsmanship award being presented to Julie Cole of California!!!!
Very well deserved indeed. Oh the dinner that was served - a huge
slab of prim rib or red salmon with all the fixings from the folks
at
Yummy's Cowboy Cuisine. It was so tasty and no one left hungry and
many had doggie bags.
Tuesday: 6 am and the rooster on
Anita's alarm clock was a crowing - crispy, crispy, crispy is the
weather this morning, frost on the grass and not a dog making a
noise until they have to get out of their warm beds. Where are my
gloves and knit hat?? 8am is kickoff time. Both the Open
and Qualifying are in pasture fields right near the Knapp's main
ranch so easy to get back and forth to for those running dogs in
both stakes.
The Open started about 8:45am after the sun burned
off a little of the mist/steam from the wet frosty fields. A big
triple with two retired guns was a nice start for the talented Open
dogs. 14 of the 19 starters were brought back to the land blind. The
line was over a little mound, across the ditch and out a line very
close past the flyer boxes and keep on trucking. My young girl Wren
thought the boxes with live birds very exciting and made a few
circles around them. Needless to say Wren wasn't called to the
next series. 11 Dogs made it to the water blind with only 7 being
successful enough for Wednesdays water marks.
Qualifying started with a not too long of a double
with a retired gun and a land blind off to the right. The retired
gun proved to be one of the hardest of the day for the young dogs
cutting the 25 starters to 16 dogs. The judges seemed pretty lenient
with their call backs. One contestant filed a protest with the
trial committee regarding the position and throwing of the retired
mark. Next came the water blind being completed with lots of
whistles for most dogs. 12 dogs back to the water triple. This was a
triple run off a mound out threw the pasture with 2 birds being
thrown into little ponds and the center gun retiring. Only 4 of the
12 dogs did the test without handling. 11 dogs were given placements
and completions. The evening wine and dinner was in Ft Klamath at
the small community center. If you blink, you miss the whole town of
Ft Klamath! Great eats again, Qualifying ribbons and beautiful glass
trophies were presented and everyone headed back to their motels,
quite tired from the long day outdoors.
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This photo is of a local motel in Ft Klamath. Notice the "parking
garage" next to the motel room.
There is one room and one garage for each motel room renter! We save
several motels like this in the area |
Wednesday: The photo stop this morning was at
7 am for photos of the 1863 Ft Klamath Frontier Military
Outpost. What a neat little piece of history. The US Calvary would
bring their horses to pasture here in the summer.
The Open triple was with 2 retired
guns and proved to be "meaty" for the 7 dogs doing these marks. Only
one dog, Dee, did the test without handling. Two dogs broke on the
flyer and 4 others handled on one of the marks. So 5 completed
successfully. The Derby started right after the Open with all
12 young dogs doing the first test. Diane Mazy kept things running
smoothly as the Derby Marshall. Meantime, the Amateur had started
with a triple but after just a few dogs, the judges scrapped the
test. They moved to a different area and setup a double with a
retired gun and a blind. After running the test dog, the judges scrapped
the blind and competition began with just the double. 28 starters
provided just 18 back for the double land blind. 13 dogs advanced
for the water blind Thursday morning. During the day the puppy
stakes got started but unfortunately I didn't get to see any of them
or take any photos. I did get photos of most of the qualifying,
derby and amateur dogs so will post those when I have a chance. at
6pm we were all back at the Ft Klamath community center for another
fabulous dinner with wine and desserts. With a lot of excitement,
the winners of the Open and Derby were announced with much applause.
Julie Cole sold the last of the raffle tickets and then drew numbers
for the prizes. Next the silent auction concluded with many happy
purchasers. Both made a nice income towards the expenses for
the trial. Thanks so much to the generous donators. A
beautiful full moon was shining as I drove back to the motel with my
3rd place ribbon in the Open. What an awesome evening I had!
Thursday: Last day of the competition means
motel checkout for most of us. I stopped in the Melita restaurant
for a free tea (free tea/coffee if you rent there) and I came across
Mike Pickett and his wife enjoying breakfast. Chris Payne was at the
counter with this GIANT yummie breakfast burrito. The puppy stakes
participants were doing their water work this morning while the
Amateur water blind got started. What a treat for the Amateur
contestants this morning where after opening and closing 3 gates we
found ourselves driving among the cattle on a beautiful ranch owned
by friends of the Knapps'. Local plants/flowers were showing their
purple colors around us while wide-eye steers watched through
barbed-wire fences wondering what was going on. The water marks were
hosted in ponds just below the ranch house sporting a most relaxing
awesome view. Can it be any prettier in Oregon than this....
Thursday Evening: more to be
added
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