Weekend away with the dynamic duo!

Thought I'd share a story with you about our trip to the cabin with the beastie boys.

We live in Gilbert (southeast of Phoenix) and our cabin is in the White Mountain/Mogollon Rim country, about 2-1/2 hours away. The drive up to Heber was interesting. Joe howled for about 10 minutes, settled, then began again when the road got winding. Snoopy pretty much laid down after a few minutes. He didn't sleep, but he rested. Both drooled horribly. Kyle (my son) asked me, "what is that watery stuff coming out of their mouths?" I said, great, they're getting carsick.

Well, it took them more than an hour in the car to actually throw up. First Snoopy, so we stopped at a rest stop and walked them and cleaned up. Snoopy peed, Joe wouldn't. Every time a car would drive by Joe would freak out. He's a TOTAL wuss about moving vehicles (which is funny because Toosox always thought if she stood in front of them she could stare them down!) We met a lady that had a sugar glider (some sort of Australian marsupial) in a pouch around her neck. The sugar glider was none too thrilled with the Border Collies!

We left the rest stop, drove another 15 minutes or so, went through the drive through at McDonalds in Payson, and Joe threw up. This time, I merely put the car in park, went around the back, cleaned up Joe's crate, and went along our way. Thank goodness for Hefty Handi-Saks & extra blankets. We had about another hour from Payson to Heber. Aside from Joe's howling, the trip went fine.

They LOVED the cabin. Ron spent 2 days building a fenced yard for them, and gating off part of our deck for them to have shade in the afternoons. They ran and played until they were filthy. They dug a hole under the stairs about a foot deep and 3 feet wide. Some neighborhood dog came to visit (some kind of hound) and they loved it (I kept them on opposite sides of the fence, though.) Our cabin sits at approximately 6600ft elevation - so it's a nice respite from the 100 degree temps down here. It was actually around freezing at night, and 80s during the day. They had a ton of energy, when they were awake!

Weird thing - I put the two bags with the throw-up blankets on the front steps when we got there, fully intending to clean them up before bringing them home to wash today. The next morning they were completely missing. Bags, blankets and all. We don't know if a coyote or what dragged them off.

Packed up this morning to head home. Didn't feed them. Took away their bowl of dry food & water about 2 hours before we left - so they wouldn't have full bellies for the drive home. Again Joe howled, but only for a few minutes this time. Then they both settled in. When the road got winding again, he more whimpered than howled. Somewhat of an improvement. Kyle said Joe was drooling, but Snoopy slept. Just before we got out of Payson, Joe threw up. Mud. Seriously. It looked like someone spilled a cup of mud all over his crate. Yuck. Got that cleaned up while Kyle walked them (Snoopy peed again, but not Joe.) Made it the rest of the way home without any mishaps, other than Joe whimpering most of the way. At one point Snoopy woke up and howled for a few minutes. It was pretty cute.

They were thrilled to be home!!! That was until I threw them in the tub. Took two soapings and scrubbings to get all the dirt out of them (Snoopy still has something stuck to his head - maybe sap?) They slept for a couple hours this afternoon, but now they're out on the lawn playing.

All in all it was a good trip. Sorry to be so long-winded, but I wanted to share the entire story with you. Our first puppy road trip. Next time, I need to see if the vet has some form of puppy Dramamine. Even though Snoopy didn't throw up on the way home, his towel was soaked with drool.

Oh yeah, they're 12 weeks old today!!!