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| Smurf and Woo resting Saturday night. |
I'm usually fanatical about packing. Somehow in the cross-over between winter trial gear and summer trial gear or perhaps because I've lived in Vermont's version of Seattle weather the last two weeks I totally goofed in several key areas of packing when traveling to an outdoor spring/summer trial. Like Arthur Dent (HHGTTG) a hat or baseball cap is your "towel" - a hat keeps sun and rain off your face and hair-line. I forgot my hat. Which wouldn't have been so bad had I also not forgotten my sunscreen. Yep - forgot them both! I know that my sunscreen was in my van as recently as Syracuse - I'm not at all sure where it went. Shame on me for taking it for granted and leaving it home. SHAME SHAME SHAME. I managed to borrow several doses of sunscreen from friends this weekend, thus escaping from a burn - but I know better and should do better on both accounts. I DID however plan for rain and packed three fleece jackets which I didn't use at all.
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| Woo's winnings! |
I have a winter trial box and a summer/spring trial box. The winter box contains ummm-winter gear {GRIN}. The summer box has the tarps, shade cloths, bungees, alligator clips, etc. Shade cloths were there and some bungees/clips were there - but I'm missing about 75% of my supply. Over the years I've lent and not gotten back, I've re-purposed and I'm sure I've left more than my fair share of clips in parking lots all over New England. I'm still figuring out how I want to tarp and mesh my new van - there's a bit of a learning curve I think I have a configuration that I like now and I had exactly the number of clips I needed - not a single extra clip. I'll be making a trip to the hardware store for replenishment this week. I really should have spent some time last week going through the box to make sure all the pieces and parts were there.
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| Murph says: "Look NO CONE!!!!" |
I usually bring a tent down for the outdoor trials....it gives me someplace to park the dogs - and myself out of the sun. I worked out of the van this weekend, parking in the shade, getting the tarps on the van early in the day and checking on the dogs often. I think I was actually able to keep the dogs cooler in the van than dogs in the tent. From the "know your dog" perspective - both dogs rested significantly MORE this weekend then they do if they're in a tent ringside...We're mostly staying indoors this summer because it's so disappointing to drive 4 hours, stay in a hotel and then scratch your dog when the turf deteriorates to unsafe conditions...
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| McDonalds' parking lot - Randolph, VT at sunset. Vermont really is a beautiful place.... |
DRINK MORE WATER. It's Monday and I'm still recovering from dehydration. It's really easy and handy to grab a soda from the workers' cooler, or from my own stock - but I really need to drink more water on trial weekends. I spend all week hydrating and all weekend dehydrating. Ironic too that I put so much thought into the dog's hydration and just don't do the same for myself.
I stopped at the Randolph McDonalds (an hour from home) on the return trip for a coffee and Teller's cheeseburger. I think it's quite possible that of all the THOUSANDS of McDonalds in this country the Randolph McDonalds has the best view - Unreal.
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