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Postcard
from USA
By
Ken and Diane Ewing
Although our travels
in 2005 were not exotic, they definitely were interesting for us. The year
began at a great New Year’s weekend agility trial in Amarillo and ended
again in Amarillo. In between, Whiskie and Chivas traveled over 24,000 miles
through 33 states and competed in 12 states at 14 trials in Amarillo, Augusta,
Bear, Cedar Rapids, Charlotte, Denver, Fort Worth, Frederick, Los Lunas,
Peoria, Princeton, Rochester and Wichita. Along the way, The Gang participated
in the Door County Scottie
Rally at Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin along with 163 other Scotties.
We didn’t cover as much ground this year as in the previous year with
19 trials since scheduling only one trial each month usually and taking
the month of July off the road. As usual the folks were great and we ran
across several we’d met at trials in other states. Surprisingly there were
other Scotties at 5 of the trials and that’s unusual. We ran outdoors from
March through November with the exception of August in an air-conditioned
arena in Texas. Only one day was missed due to rain, because I won’t let
my guys run on wet surfaces. After Chivas trotted off the course yet again
in February because he didn’t like the Regular 12" spread jumps, he was then
entered in Preferred 8" and jumped those with a smile on his face. He progressed
fairly well in the Preferred Class earning 3 titles in 8 months. Whiskie
was fairly consistent in Excellent Jumpers, but still had a bugaboo about
teeter-totters in Standard. Most judges were friendly and personable with
varying degrees of challenge in their courses and technical adherence in judging.
There were two added to the judges’ blacklist; one for courses that were
a dare instead of a challenge and one that was totally inept. A third overlooked
in the premium list had been encountered previously and still hadn’t read
the Judge’s Guidelines manual.
It wasn’t all running and jumping since we also visited friends and
relatives along the way in Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri and New
York plus a visit to my old hometown in Illinois. Sometimes the scenery
was great and wildlife was nearby; bison, deer and moose were seen while
driving. It snowed on three of our trips and forced us to stop early one
time.And dining was excellent in some locations, but occasionally the hype
was much better than the meal. Has the exorbitant price (over $3 in September)
of gasoline been mentioned?
This New Year started again in Amarillo with Tennessee on the itinerary
later this month. We’re still trying to compete in all of the Lower 48
states before we all run out of tread.
So… where has your dog been lately?
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