We slept in on Monday morning, packed, took Katie and Travis for a quick hike, and then left for Geneva, NY around 2:30 PM. The drive up was particularly rough because we drove separate cars. Stephen drove a mini van with 3 greyhounds for a friend who was already at a convention in New Hampshire and I drove the Volvo with Katie and Travis. I do not find driving for hours very comfortable, I sometimes get some weird nerve pains in my right leg. We tried to sleep for an hour at one rest stop in Ohio, but it was too warm to get comfortable. My best friend, Anna, from California called around midnight. It was great to chat with her for an hour. A few hourse later, we stopped at a gas station and the temperature was nice a cool. I'm not sure what time it was, but we slept there for an hour and 20 minutes. I have to say that the toughest part of the drive was between 6 and 10 AM. I kept wondering how in the world was I going to find the energy to train the dogs when we get to Geneva. Anyways, it took us about 19-20 hours.
We arrived in Geneva at the Greyhound National Specialty site around 10 AM. Kathy Helmke was on the money with her description....... not fenced, very busy road, next to a lake with water fowl, and noisey railroad cars. Members of the Greyhound Club of America were already showing up and the tent people showed up soon after. I felt a little rushed, but everyone was very nice and didn't mind me practicing with Katie and Travis. Stephen helped me set them up for a short sit stay practice. In open obedience they are required to do 3 minutes sit stays out of sight so we hid behind someone's car for that. Travis actually failed and I had to correct him for lying down. Otherwise, they both did great as expected.
We checked into our Motel 6 at about 2 PM. Check in is at 3 PM, but we finally settled on a 2nd floor room just to get a room sooner. Its funny how you get a 2nd wind and find the needed energy when you have to. Once in the room, I took a shower and finally settled in for a long needed nap.
