NADAC Championships - Part the Fourth

Championships has begun!! We put the raffle basket together Monday night and staked out a pretty sweet home base Tuesday during set up. It was time for the fun to begin!! Our first run was Jumpers and both dogs NAILED it! Traditionally it's not my best class especially with Mojo, but we had a blast. It was a fun course.

Mojo took 14th out of 69 dogs and Luxx was 18th. I was pretty damned happy with that! It was a great way to start the week.

Luxx had some issues with Regular, but Mojo was clean in both Round 1 and Round 2 and came in 6th and 8th place respectively. Good enough to be in the ribbons! I think Round 1 and 2 of Regular on Wednesday were the best runs we had all week!

Round 1

Round 2

Luxx is flying! WHEEEEE!

Mojo showing off some of his better jumping form. :)

He's gotta crouch pretty far down in those tunnels.

The weaving machine!

So far our Championships is GREAT! Mojo has been 100% in what he has run. And Luxx has had some DAMN fine moments for a baby girl her first time in Elite. But it is far from over yet!

*To Be Continued*

NADAC Championships - Part the Third

Ahhhh, first full day in Gillette! Since today (Monday) was the only day we had that didn't involve Championships in some way, we opted to head to Devil's Tower. It's only about 45 minutes outside of Gillette and it was totally worth the trip! I proceeded to take a million pictures while we were there. Here is the first view of the tower we had.

There was a fire in the area a few years ago and there were some of the coolest stumps floating around.

My first impression of this place was how spiritual it is. I can't explain it really, it just speaks to you. It's sacred to the Native Americans. They leave these prayer bundles in the trees and bushes surrounding the base of the tower.

The views from up there are amazing, none of my photos will do it justice.
Here is Nelson goofing off on one of the surrounding cliffs. Of course he almost fell off right after I took this picture...
We spent a good deal of time watching all the crazy assholes that climb this thing. They are so high up and it's so far away you can barely see them. They are just these little specks up there. This is as far as the camera could zoom.

I love this part of Wyoming. I think I could live here...

Another interesting stump...

I liked this little black stump in the middle of all this green.

For some reason, red squirrels are worthy of photographing whereas our local grey squirrels are boring... go figure. Dad takes a break I thought these trees were beautiful.

Once we finished our hike around the base of the tower it was time to head back to Gillette, but first Mojo and Luxx had to check out this tepee.

On the way out of the park there is a HUGE prairie dog town. Ok, I LOVE prairie dogs! These guys will let you walk right up to them if you are careful enough. I took probably a hundred pics, but here are a few of my favorites. Cute little fuckers! This guy just needed a beer in his other hand...

Peek-a-boo!

This is the guy that let me get really close. He did all kinds of posing.

Here is my favorite shot of the tower from the entrance to the park. It was a great place, I can't wait to go back next year and hike the longer trail! Tomorrow we set up our "home base" at the champs site and compile our state themed raffle basket. Competition starts on Wednesday!
*To Be Continued*

NADAC Championships - Part the Second

On the road again! The long stretch between between Minnesota and Wyoming called SOUTH DAKOTA!! I love this state dearly, but can I just tell you how LOOOONG Interstate 90 really is. One of the parts I have really come to like is where you cross the Missouri river and it starts to look like South Dakota. It's just like magic.

Cop shots part deux, I finally got one!

My girlfriend Nicolette who took this journey with me last year could not come this year. Because I missed her so much and in her honor we stopped again in 1880 Town so that I could see if it was as creepy (it wasn't) and to get her a postcard. Lot's of silly dog pictures ensued.

The town itself

Good sports with the bathtub
...still good sports with the stagecoach. I think this one is so cute!
Raven in all of her cuteness.
Here is a shot of the back of town
In the back they have 2 of the mules they used in the movie Dances With Wolves. They used to have Cisco, Kevin Costner's horse, I saw him last year. But he died in August. :( That is this place's big "draw" is all the Dances With Wolves stuff. They have all kinds of props like the dead buffalos and tepees and stuff. They also have a camel. WOOHOOO! It's a thrill ride.

This was the last stop of any photographic interest on the way to Wyoming. I did forget to mention in part the first about the fact that we had a cartop luggage carrier on the van holding most of my parents' luggage and my dad and Josh's fly fishing gear. Well it was pretty noisy most of day one and two. Well on this, day 3 it was DEAFENING!!! It was making this high-pitched whistle that was driving me out of my mind. I am not exaggerating. It actually affected my hearing for a little while it was so bad. I finally stopped at one of the rest stops in Wyoming and stuffed cotton balls in the dog's ears so they didn't go deaf too! They did seem to settle pretty well after that. :) So after about 10 hours of that beautiful music we pulled into the Clarion in Gillette Wyoming!! It was perfect, we listened to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on CD on the way out and it ended about 10 miles outside of Gillette. Couldn't have planned it better!

Upon checking in and returning to the car, I noticed that the cartop carrier was half smashed with stuff hanging out the back... YEESH! The wind is insane out there in the land of no trees. It must have just crushed it with the pressure. Luckily nothing fell out completely. We pitched the cursed thing in the dumpster right there in the parking lot. Silence at LAAAAAST!

Unpacking and settling in was in order. Tomorrow we go to Devil's Tower!

*To Be Continued*

NADAC Championships - Part the First

Ahhh, so I finally get around to starting a damn blog about the trip this year! We left Maryland on September 14 to head out to the NADAC Championships in Wyoming. The first day's trip was just a short one to Maumee, Ohio just outside of Toledo. Mojo and Luxx make themselves right at home in the hotel room.

We set off before the sunrise for our second stop Saturday morning.

I saw a lot of this view, it's the backside of my friend Nelson's van.

...and here is the backside of my rental van. The kids make themselves right at home in the Sienna! I think we were at a rest stop in Wisconsin, but don't quote me on that!

We drove past these interesting rock formations in Wisconsin as well. Interesting place... LOL

Mojo snoozing in the back.

About this point in the trip, I developed this obsession with trying to photograph cop cars who had people pulled over on the side of the road. Boredom does FUNNY things to people you know! Here is my first attempt... not so good. I've pretty much delved into full on madness.
Madness?..... THIS.... IS......SPARTA!!!!!
FINALLY we reach our second night's destination, loverly downtown Worthington, Minnesota! Somehow, don't ask me why they put me in the "Suite" for less than Nelson paid for his regular crap room. LOL We had a lot of fun with this. Of course Mojo and Luxx had to test out everything in the place! First they tried the King-sized bed.


...then they tried the whirlpool tub


...and finally to the sofa in front of the OTHER television.
Needless to say, the 3 of us got a great night's sleep curled up in our nice secluded suite with French Doors cutting us off from the noise and the rest of the world. :) Which is good, because it's a LONG way from Worthington, Minnesota to Gillette, Wyoming!!!

*To Be Continued*