It is about a month earlier than we usually leave for California. There is a Greg Derrett handling seminar in Murrieta, CA. It is being run by our friend Stacy Winkler so we decided to go there instead of the seminar in Washington.

It was sad leaving home early. I will miss my son, his wife and my grandchildren terribly. The little girls are 6 and 4 and the cutest things on the planet! We have a lot of fun together and I miss them already.

This year we plan to stay in one spot instead of traveling all around. So, we decided to take our small utility trailer with our big freezer with our vegan fake meat and other necessities in it. Mel is driving the Global Warmer and I am driving the Extortion with the trailer.

Crushie and Charisse ride with me and MeMe, Isabella & Millie take turns. Josephine stays with her Grampa cause he is the only one for her. The dogs all fought over who got to ride with me because Mel has a terrible cold and is sneezing like mad. He is complaining about his nose running, his eyes weeping, his throat hurting and on and on and on and on and on (well you get the picture). Even the DOGS couldn’t stand it! Mel hates to sneeze and he was sneezing every few seconds. Every time he sneezed he cussed and I mean make-your-mother-blush cussing. I felt like I was living with an angry, allergic, Tourette’s sufferer.

Uncle Jef has the same cold and he is at USDAA Nationals. He said it was too bad we weren’t in Scottsdale with him. I said that would be my dream to be with TWO angry, allergic Tourette’s sufferers! I couldn’t think of anything I would want more. NOT! They both sound like Barry White. Yesterday, Mel, who has a very deep voice anyway, sounded just like Barry White or a base Do-op backup singer. I told him to sing Do-op Do-op DO-op. He did and we laughed. Well, I laughed, Mel broke a smile I think!   

We have done this trip a billion times. I think I know every piece of the road by heart. We have out favorite spots, like when we go by the Yoncalla - Elkhead, Oregon exit, I always have to yell, “YONKALLA ELKSNOUT!” I always laugh and Mel just stares ahead ignoring me. This time I yelled it and the only one that responded was Crushie. At least SHE liked it when I said it! My other favorite spot is the life-sized metal cow in Yreka. I always yell MOOOOOOOOOOOO. Fun for the feeble minded I guess. Sometimes they dress up the cow in pajamas or other clothing. It is very cute.

The first stop was Eugene, Oregon. It is about 4 hours from our home. There is a pizza joint there called The Pizza Research Institute and they make the best vegan pizza in the Universe. The owners were the cooks for the Grateful Dead and they sure know how to make “munchie” food LOL! We have been going there with Uncle Jef & Rossie for years and they came over to a trial one year to watch us run. When I called the night before to place my order and said my name, the owner got all excited and said she was in Germany and saw agility in the park there. They are so nice!

We got three pizzas, the chef’s special (broccoli, corn on the cob, peaches, eggplant with cinnamon, caramelized onions, and vegan tofu cheese); the chanterelle mushroom, spinach and roasted garlic with tofu cheese; the roasted eggplant with olives and other awesome stuff. We also ordered 12 vegan cranberry cookies. We froze 6 and ate the rest OINK!!! OINK!!!! I wonder why I am a fatso!

We spent the night at the Eugene Wal-Mart and headed off for Redding about 9:30 the next morning. We drove a few hours and stopped at the Feather-something casino and truck stop to walk the girlz, feed ourselves more pizza and gas up the GWs.

We are taking our time to get to the trial in Fresno this weekend. Tonight we stopped in Redding at an RV park so we could take the girlz to the Redding dog park. It is a great park by the airport. We threw the ball, tired them out and came back to the GW for more pizza.

Everyone always wants to know what kind of dogs the Girlz are. Somebody wanted to know why all the dogs at the park were following us. She asked if we had good treats or something. I told her they were following us because they were all of ours. You should have seen the look on her face! LOLOLOLOLOL

Thanks to all my phone friends (you know who you are :) who entertained my all the way down. I think I talked on the phone about 5 hours today. Thank GOD for unlimited long distance and roaming!

After some TV it is off to bed. Mel is busy editing the 2x2 video trying to get it finished once and for all!

Helen & The Horrible Hooligans

www.youtube.com/user/helenmel

www.recipetowin.com  

www.jility.com