Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Whidbey Island - Part One

This last weekend was a great weekend. Handlers from all over attended from California, Oklahoma and from the Northwest. I left on late Friday afternoon since I was one of the early runs on Saturday. Jeanne Boudrieau pulled her trailer so I was able to bunk with her. She has a nice toy hauler that is very spacious.

We had a record 29 days of sunshine so it was only fitting that it began to rain on Friday. Not a summer drizzle but a full-scale onslaught. As I pulled up to the ferry, I then realized that I had forgotten my new purple raincoat and pants. However, I had my heavy duty Carhartt jacket and ski pants. In addition, I had lots of winter base wear and of course, the warmth of Jeanne ’s trailer. Jeanne and I had talked about getting groceries so between the two of us on the food supplies we would have tons of food.

In addition, Suzanne and Wayne Anaya would be there with their trailer. They had driven up from California and were already at the trial site. Last year, I met Suzanne and Jeanne and had a blast with them. We had drinks at their site and laughed most of the time and I truly enjoyed their company.

As I was wandering about in the ferry line, much to my surprise, Jeanne was in the line too. We chatted for a bit and she got on the next ferry while I had to wait for the next one. It was nice to sit, relax, enjoy my latte, and watch the seagulls bombarded the tourists as they walked by with their food in their hands. Some of the folks were so startled that they dropped their fries, which were quickly scooped up by the marauders.

The ferry ride was quick and the sharp salty smell of the sea was refreshing in contrast to the vehicles fumes that were in the ferry line as we boarded. White frothy waves broke in unison against the bow of the ferry as the rain cloud danced above and Tess, Nan, and Lucy comforted me with their wet noses pressed into my neck.

As I pulled into the trial site, the sight of trailers and trucks lines up and black and white dogs racing about in glee, greeted me. I found Jeanne’s trailer and parked my truck. I let the girls romp about while I unloaded my gear into Jeanne’s trailer. Jeanne ’s new dog, Rocky greeted me at the door and I must have passed his inspection as he let me in with my bag of food.

Suzanne and Wayne parked next to Jeanne and we had the party palaces all set up in record time, complete with pop-up tents, outdoor tables and chairs, which was swiftly followed by robust red wine. Jeanne and I compared our grocery items and we laughed hard at each other as we pretty much had gotten the same items, unbeknownst to each other. Salad, bananas, cheese, crackers, yogurt and snacks. I also brought fried chicken. She brought salmon for the potluck and I had brought pasta.

Dinner was salad and fried chicken. Tess worked her “pitiful eyes” on Jeanne and got lots of fried chicken. Now, Tess has a new friend to add to her “food chain! We all had a fun evening and I crashed hard on the super soft Queen bed in the trailer.

2 comments:

Jodi said...

Lucky you! Talk about some great company! I haven't seen Suzanne in years! Maybe we can talk her into coming back up for Lacamas, eh? Jeanne, what do you think? Can we twist her arm? ;-)

Now I'm dying to know how Rocky did! More more more!

Anonymous said...

It was a greta place to be, you and your dog put down some awesome runs. Nice to see you again.