A Wonderful Start To The New Year

On December 30, Tracy and I drove to South Carolina to pick up a group of 5 beautiful hounds and bring them back to Virginia!  It was the second time we have ever done a haul for VAGA and although it's exhausting, it really is so much fun too!  It's been over two years since our last Orlando Haul (I just skimmed through that post when I was grabbing the link, funny how things work out and that cute little Puddin Pop is now ours!  The family in Va Beach was crazy to give her up!) 

This time one of the GPA/GO volunteers, John, drove the hounds to SC.  We left our house at 7 pm for the approximately 6.5 hour drive.  We were supposed to exchange dogs at 4 am so we figured we would just sleep in the van for a couple hours once we got there.  This also happened to be the first night that I have ever been away from Lauren which is a big deal for me!  My daughter and I are as close as they come and to be honest I have never wanted a break from her not even for one night.  Tracy teases me that the umbilical cord is still there, it's just invisible.  Anyway, Lauren was in the best hands with my aunt and I was certainly away from her for a good cause so back to my story.  About 10:30 pm we got a call from John saying he would be at the meeting spot at 2:30 am, not 4 am!  We had to stopped to eat on the way and had to stop for gas as well, so it actually worked out perfect!  We got there about 20 minutes before he did.  We let the dogs out for a potty break and to stretch their legs.  After that, we were on our way!  We didn't get a nap in, but we just as happy as could be with our 5 dogs in tow! 

This is what we looked like going down the road:

Most of our trip was in the dark so I really don't have a lot of pictures since I didn't want to disturb them with the flash.  We had three females (1 brindle, 2 black) and two black males.  It is unusual to have 4 black greyhounds in one haul since that color is the hardest to adopt out, so that was great!  There were a few spats and a couple grouchy dogs that didn't want to be touched by anyone else, but for the most part they were all pretty well behaved on the whole trip considering all the changes they were experiencing.  We had one pup that wanted to drive, there's always one!  She spent a good bit of time standing in the middle looking out the window or resting her head on my shoulder!  She was just such a sweetheart and quickly became my favorite pup of the group.  I snapped this picture of her laying behind my seat with her head on the pillow.  Meet Mojo Nite, now simply Mojo.

I did the home visit for the couple that adopted her and they live just 15 minutes from me so I'm hoping I get to see her often at our Meet and Greet.  She was definitely my buddy coming down the road and is such a sweet little girl!  I didn't realize it until daylight when I began looking at their papers that her birthday was the day before and she turned 4.  She got the best birthday present ever!

We had to make a pit stop along the way for gas and a bathroom break.  Everyone wanted to know what was going on!

Digger decided to use our cooler as a step stool to get a better look.

Runner decided it was his turn to ride shotgun.

Once we were back on the road again everyone settled in nicely. 

Digger has great ears!

We met Mitch (you may recognize him from Loving Life With Hounds) and dropped off two dogs in Richmond.  We continued on with the other three to Fredericksburg to meet their new families.  Since we were over an hour early already, Tracy spends a few extra minutes with our three black beauties before we call to let everyone know that we had arrived.  It's amazing how much you can learn about and even bond with a hound in just a matter of hours!  

They're ready for their next new adventure!

Adoptions were held on Saturday morning, New Year's Eve.   What a wonderful way for these hounds and their new families to start off the new year!

We were tired from pulling an all nighter, but it was worth it!  Our kids were very happy to see us when we got back and we gave them a great big hug and are so glad greyhounds are part of our lives!