I have already posted about my trip across the country to attend the CPE Nationals on my website as a blog.  I decided that I would like to also start blogs on agilityvision, and it seemed that this was the perfect one for me to start with as I already had it written

I am going to put the short version on this page.  If you'd like to see the complete blog (with lots more pictures!) go to www.agiledogs.net/cpenationals.htm.   Pardon the less-than-perfect sentences; I made these entries after long days of driving on the road, some nights holed up in hotels but others at campgrounds.

Trip to 2006 CPE Nationals in Elk Grove/Sacramento, California

Sunday, May 28, 2006 - Sunday, June 11, 2006

Part I - Trip Out

Day one (Sunday, May 28)
     After getting a late start from New Lebanon, New York (which I knew would happen on Saturday night, as 11pm came and I wasn't near ready to leave first thing in the morning!), I had an uneventful first day of driving.  With the late start, my planned overnight stop at a state park campground just south of Chicago (in Indiana) was changed to a stay in a Red Roof Inn about an hour east of there, in Elkhart Indiana.
     I travelled through the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and lastly into Indiana.  I went 746 miles.
     Nothing unusual to point out in terms of scenery/sightseeing, as it was all familiar to me from past trips.

Day two (Monday, May 29)
     Today I went through the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota.  I took I-80 all the way to Sioux City, Iowa, where I turned north on Route 29, then West on I-90 (because tomorrow I am going to see Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone Park).   I traveled an incredible 914 miles today!  

Day three (Tuesday, May 30)
     The day started off fine, I left the Kennebec South Dakota campground at 6:45am. 

     I decided to go through the Badlands after seeing the amazing view in the distance.  It was well worth it, amazing red jagged rock formations rising up out of the prairie. I was glad I took the extra 2 hours or so to take this detour! 

     I was on my way to Devil's Tower now, another slight detour I had planned into the trip.  It was worth seeing, very impressive, although a bit off the beaten path.  I was thrilled to see dozens of Prairie Dogs, and got several pictures - they are so cute!

     Now, the harrowing end to my Tuesday: I was behind schedule, and was trying to get as far as possible before overnighting - I drove past Sheridan, decided to go a little farther, not realizing at the time that I was next going through the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.  This would've been fine, except that about halfway up the steep grade my  van's temperature gage started rising (it was a very scenic drive, btw, but I wasn't concentrating on that at the time!). 

I nursed my engine up to what seemed like the summit, then saw a sign for a visitor's center, just as the engine light came on.  I limped into the parking lot at 7:45pm, and the center had closed for the night.  I walked and fed the dogs while I waited for the engine to cool off.  The pay phone inside was busted, and I was at 8200 ft, no cell phone signal, yikes!  I checked the water level, and thought it was ok -- I didn't check the radiator itself, just the side reservoir.  After almost an hour I tried again, the temperature almost immediately rose.  I almost turned back to the visitor's center to spend the night and wait for the workers to come in in the morning (and knew it would be a cold night, that high up in the mountains; it was already pretty cold!), and saw a sign for lodge/resort 1/2 mile ahead.  Again I limped there.  They had rooms, and accepted dogs!  The lady there said they had maintenance people that could look at the van in the morning -- as we were in the middle of nowhere, at the summit, there was no town for at least 15 miles, so this was welcome news!

Day four (Wednesday, May 31)
     Good news!  The maintenance guy found that the only problem with my van was that the radiator coolant was just about empty.
     Interesting side story: the owner told me that some local folks (a town about 20 miles away) hold dog agility trials, and she would like to get involved with it too.  Even at 8200 feet up you can play agility :-)

     I traveled West across the state to Yellowstone National Park.   One thing I was thrilled to see was lots and lots of buffalo (called "Clinton"? Bison), in one case blocking the road.
    I felt bad for my dogs, as I was pretty sure they weren't allowed in the park (even on leash), so they had to stay in the crates in the car for about 4-1/2 hours.  Luckily it wasn't a hot day, so that wasn't a worry for me.
     I went through Teton Pass, Route 22 west over the border from Wyoming to Idaho.  The car behaved very well through this steep grade up, over, and back down the other side.  After a lot of driving to find a hotel I ended up in Pocatello, and am finally in for the night!  Tomorrow I finish the trip and can rest for 3 days and just run my dogs in agility :-)

Day five (Thursday, June 1)
     After a short night, I got up early and was on the road by 6:30am.  I had forgotten about one more time change, from Mountain to Pacific time zones, and was pleased that it would mean I would get into the Sacramento area in time for check in, which was from 4-7pm.
     I passed into Nevada, and the first town was Jackpot - fitting, as I was going to a CPE trial!  It was a gambling town, as seemed to be many others in Nevada, likeWells and later Reno and Sparks (Nevada seems to have cornered the market on gambling towns).
     The landscape was flat, with craggy (bushes/dirt/rocks), straight roads, mountains at right (west) and ahead (south).  At a rest stop after reconnecting with I-80 westbound, I let the dogs out.  It was very hot, stifling, and Sandy didn't even want to walk, I guess her feet hurt from the hot ground/dirt.  The mountains in the distance didn't really look any higher than my current elevation.  It felt like we were on top of the world, there were several small towns for about a 60 mile stretch, in between there was desolate landscape with mountains in the distance.
    Then I descended to 2000 feet in the next 10 miles or so, and then onward to Sacramento.  Unfortunately, however, I arrived just east of Sacramento on Thursday afternoon at 5pm, right in the middle of rush hour!  I got to the show site by 6:30, and was settled in my hotel room by 8pm.  Tomorrow is the nationals!!

 Day six (Friday, June 2)
     Check in for the nationals was early; I had to be on the road by 6:15 as it took 1/2 hour to get to the show site.  It was going to be a hot day, and I had put a crate, mat, and electric cords in a spot just inside the arena next to a power outlet last night, so was prepared.  
     They had it set up similar to the USDAA Championships, with 6 groups.  Whatever group you were in you had all your dogs in, and only walked/ran with that group.  There were 3 runs today (std, wildcard, and fullhouse) in 4 rings, standard ran in 2 rings at once, levels 45C in one ring and 2/3 in the other.
     I ran wildcard first; Buddy wandered around a bit in between obstacles, I think he was out of sorts (he was more normal for his other runs today).  Sandy ran nicely, I thought pretty fast.  Both dogs did a tough little jump sequence nicely (which most people handled as a wrap, but I brought my dogs around the other way to give them a smoother path).  It was around 10am, and already hot out.  I just made time with both dogs, and suspect the times were set a little tighter than on a normal trial weekend, which makes sense.
     Next was standard; a nice course with several tricky sections.   It was now noon, and very hot, although luckily a breeze kept the heat manageable.  Both Sandy and Buddy ran clean, and again not much under time (Sandy about 2 sec under, and Buddy 8). I was pleased with both runs.
     Last, about 1/2 hour after standard, in the covered indoor dirt ring, we ran fullhouse.  Both dogs ran nicely, got enough points, and got to the table in time, so 2 more Q's.
     I was back to the hotel room by 4pm, and am going to catch up on sleep tonight :-)

Day seven (Saturday, June 3)
     Another hot day - it got up to 93 today.  It wasn't as windy as yesterday, so I felt the heat more today.  My dogs did really well despite the heat.  In fact, I think they ran faster than yesterday!  I made sure to wet them and keep them out of the sun before each run, and Sandy wore a terricloth coat I soaked down before each run.  Plus, they had fans on them in the crating area in between runs.
     They ran Standard around 10am -- both ran clean, under time.  There were 2 dogwalks and no A-frame to perform, which made Sandy happy!  Second to run was Jumpers, around noontime, inside.  By now it was hot the air inside was stagnant.  The jumpers course was nice and flowing, with a serpentine at the start which required turning the dog away from 2 tunnels.  Both dogs ran this course nicely - and I thought Sandy ran this course faster than on her standard run.  However, she came in 2 seconds over time, and you have to be clean in Level C, so she got her first NQ.  Buddy was just a fraction of a second under time.  You pretty much have to run clean at the nationals, so Sandy's shot at HIT (High In Trial) was probably gone.
     Last in the day (and we were in the last group today) was Jackpot.  It was traditional, with the difference being you needed only 20 points in the opening and could start the gamble before the whistle blew.  I did that with both dogs, as it was hot and the end of a long day, I saw no need to keep them out there any longer than necessary!  Sandy got the gamble and Q, but I miscued Buddy slightly and he didn't get the gamble.  Now each of my dogs is 5 for 6.  Oh well... they both ran very nicely for me today!