Where to Next...?

While it's fun to report, and opinionate, it's always good to be reminded what this blog-thing is really all about for us. The reminder came last weekend at the ASFA II when probably no fewer than a dozen people (probably more- I wasn't counting- but enough that I was astonished by the volume) asked: "Where you guys off to next?" Well, for their benefit and yours, here it is:

This weekend we're at Purina Farms, Gray Summit, MO for LGRA. Photography and racing (if other greyhounds are present.)

Next weekend- off. We were originally planning on another LGRA/WRA meet in Antioch, IL, but the VA called me and wanted me to come on over next Friday to cut some more out of my back.

June 23-25 The "Ridgeback Rodeo", in Pennsylvania. This one should be interesting.

July 1-2 Michigan Gazehound Assoc., ASFA trial, Metamora, MI
Jully 3 RRCUS specialty trial, same place.

July 8-9 LGRA, Oberlin, OH.

Aug 5-6 LGRA, Lewisville IN "On the banks of the ..... whatever creek it is" (Good dog cooling stuff.)

Autumn will be full, and will be posted later. As you can see, there are lots of holes in our Summer schedule. Holes that are sorely in need of filling, if we're to survive the season, and put gas in the beast... I mean the "Express". We could use some suggestions, here. Including non-dog things: art shows, little league baseball, soccer, horses, etc. This is our cry for help!

Dan's Latest, Greatest Tee-Shirt Design

Maybe not quite as daring as the "Freedom is...." shirt, but may have more mass appeal, especially among the Full Time RV set, who are our kindred spirits. I think it looks good on black. Margaret likes light blue. And it will be evolving, as we're never running out of "roads", (witness Colorado 94 in a previous posting.) $20 bucks. 

Interesting Developments From Across the Pond

In light of the recent demise of AB2110, I thought it might be of interest to see what's been developing in Great Britain.. where the ban on hunting with hounds emboldened the ARistas in California. One year on, the hunts go on. Read about it here and here.

Desolation Row

As promised... Colorado State Hwy 94. Somewhere between Ellicot and US-40. Not many people.. lots of Kamikaze flying insects, as shown on the windshield. Photo by Margaret. 

Buffy & Fanny See Gran'pa

This is the image that was supposed to appear in a previous post. We took the girls in to the Greyhound Hall of Fame to see their very famous relative..




As you can see, they were duly impressed, shocked, and awed.

Not sure why these images wouldn't load in the previous post, but they made it here. The mysteries of Java script, I guess.

ASFA II - Weekend's Best Images!

Pharaoh Hounds are not true "coursing hounds". But they are sighthounds- that is, they hunt by sight. Their true hunting style is similar to the Ibizan Hound, which hunts in heavy cover by leaping high to get a view of the prey. This Pharaoh Hound, "Emma", made the mistake of getting offline, and ending up in the dry "pond". I waited, for her to re-appear, and was rewarded with the following sequence. Up in the air, and looking for the lure.








There are more. When time allows. Most of the good stuff happens when the dogs cheat. Just a fact of life in lure coursing.

Travelling East.... and pictures!

This is why we ain't going to make it to Lexington, KY for the Saluki specialty this year. Yesterday we left Falcon, CO- site of the 2006 ASFA International Invitational. Possibly the most low key so-called "premier event" in my memory; at least since the last one held in Falcon.

Anyway, we travelled a whopping 200 miles. All the way to Quinter, KS. We took the "scenic" route. Sane people heading East, would drive the 3 or 4 miles back to US-24 in Falcon, and follow it Northeast through the relativly "civilized" ..ie: populated, areas to Limon, where you can then hop on I-70 and go downhill into Kansas. Not us. We meandered a few miles East on Falcon Hwy, to Peyton Hwy, then South about 6 miles to Colorado 94. Back on I-70 East, several days ago, I noticed the billboard trumpeting this as the "most direct route to Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak area". So we took it as the most direct route back to I-70. Makes sense, right? Once we got on 94 and headed East, we were confronted with the white-knuckle billboard: "No motorist services, next 95 Miles". About halfway to the intersection of 94 and US 40, I found myself humming Dylan's "Desolation Row". Not only were there no motorist services, there were damn few people. Between the last population center of Ellicot, and Wild Horse on 40 there were only the crossroad villages with maybe 30-50 hardy souls, total. The rest was filled with miles and miles and miles of nothing. Beautiful big country. And you get a real understanding of why it's called "Big Country". Images are still in the camera, but we'll try and show some of it when we get them loaded.

Once we got on 40, things picked up. We even went through Kit Carson, Colorado! When we finally hit Oakley, we were rewarded with the bigger than lifesize Charlie Norton bronze of Buffalo Bill and the Buffalo....

Full disclosure: I didn't take this picture. I found it on the Internet. We didn't stop.. we were more interested than normally in finding a gas station. But it was quite an impressive piece. Apparently, Mr. Cody was born 20 miles from here.

Once we got enough fuel to move forward, we stopped at the Castle Rock RV Park in Quinter. A pleasant, honor system park, which, if you're not observant, would appear to be closed for business. But we read the sign, and had the whole place to ourselves. Except for the numerous cottontails and ground squirrels that drove the dogs crazy all night.

Today, we drove another 200 miles to Abilene. (See why we wouldn't make it to Lexington?). As I sit here, we're enjoying free WiFi and cable TV at the Covered Wagon Campground. Not a bad deal at all for twenty bucks. Tomorrow, before we leave, we'll head on out to the National Greyhound Association headquarters to pick up a squawker, and maybe some new muzzles for NOTRA and LGRA racing, and we'll see what other interesting stuff they have for sale. Last week, on the way to Colorado, we stopped at the Greyhound Hall of Fame. We've been there several times in the past, but this is the first time we took Buffy & Fanny in to see Grandpa:

(there'll be an image here eventually... having trouble uploading it)

Eventually, we'll end up at the SLASH LGRA racemeet at Purina Farms in Missouri. More later.. I still want to put up a couple of images from the II.