Holy Snow!!

They say lightning doesn't strike twice...well how about three times??  Three times it has now snowed significantly right before a trial.  As I mentioned in the last post, it snowed the morning of a trial that was taking place in La Crosse and I was unable to get out of the cities.  I decided that the next time I would travel the night before if things looked ominous.  Sure enough, Michelle and I were traveling to another trial in La Crosse on Saturday, December 4th.  We knew what was coming, so towards the end of the week we decided to play it safe and go the night before.  Well the snow came on in full force.  By the time we left at 4pm Friday, a few inches had already fallen.  The first half of the drive wasn't too bad, but after leaving Rochester, the roads started to get caked with snow and it got very dark.  To add to it, Zoe wasn't feeling the greatest and we ended up with both vomit and diarrhea in the car.  Let's just say it was a tough remaining 60 miles to La Crosse.  We got there safely and were able to get to the trial site the next day.  Both teams ended up doing well and we went 4/5 despite Zoe not feeling the greatest.

If that wasn't enough, snow was in the forecast yet again for a local trial in St. Paul the very next weekend.  I figured it wouldn't be so bad because I only had to travel 20 miles.  Boy was I dead wrong.  When I got up Saturday morning, we had a little snow already, but it had stopped snowing so I went anyway.  As the day went on, the blizzard arrived.  It got so bad that the trial got canceled halfway through the day so that people could get home while it was still light out.  We spent about 1-2 hrs digging cars out of the parking lot and even then, it was questionable as to whether people could get beyond the parking lot.  It was a grim outlook, but everyone was in good spirits - even the judge from CA was shoveling and singing xmas carols.  When it appeared that it would potentially unsafe to drive home, Michelle and I again camped out at the hotel.  For a second, we doubted even getting that far and entertained the thought of staying the night at Leatherdale - as a few ultimately did.  We ended up getting out with my little Toyota Yaris and made it safely to the hotel.  It was definitely a weekend to remember!  Never had I thought I would get stranded 20 miles from home.  But better safe than sorry I guess.  

So I am done with snow for a while - at least snow that gets in the way of agility.  We don't have another trial until NADAC on New Years eve/day and I will enjoy the break.  It will be a nice change from all the CPE we have been doing lately.  Next month, we'll be at the new On the Run Canine Center in Ham Lake again for CPE.  It is a wonderful facility and Zoe seems to like running there.  After that, we may be going down to La Crosse again for CPE in February.  Happy holidays!!!