Roadtrip to Kamloops
A new Home
The puppies from the first two litters (Irish Wolfhound, Boston Terrier) are now old enough to go to their new families. All puppies are already spoken for, at least on paper. But Canada is big and to get the young dogs to their new owners without it being too much of a hassle for one side, a certain ability in planning is needed.
Luckily, most of the buyers live in British Columbia and one place that seemed to be more-or-less halfway between Seven Pines and everyone else, is Kamloops.
Kamloops is still about five hours of driving away from Seven Pines, and to have Leah not sit alone in a car for ten hours straight, one of the helpers joins her for the journey - and this time I was the lucky chosen one.
We already prepared the trip the evening before - transport box into the car, pee pads and some toys inside and on top of it, the gift bags for the new dog owners behind it, done! Thusly, we were able to leave on time the next morning, still well before sunrise. Of course, we also remembered to take the puppies with us.
The drive was blessedly uneventful, even the streets were in good condition, despite warnings from the forecast about snow, slush and ice. And even with one and two half stops in between - one peeing break for the puppies, one drive-through for breakfast and one for snacks - we already reached the meeting point about one and a half hours early. The first new owners were early, too, though, so we did not need to wait long to give the first pup to its new family.
Our over-punctuality also gave us the chance to have a little chat with all the new owners (they all turned up one after the other in a two hour window), about things to look out for with the puppies and just some chit-chat to get to know the people behind a little more personally, too.
Karaoke and Fast Food
After even the last puppy had found its way into their new owner’s arms, Leah and I made our way back home, after a short shopping break.
Road trips are part of the Canadian culture, and turn a long car ride into a real experience. One aim is to eat as much trash food as possible (we went through a couple more drive-throughs on the way back, for lunch and later for some ice cream), another is to stop spontaneously when you see something you want a picture of - like an empty highway with mountains in the background, or impressive icicles by the side of the road (check out my gallery for some pictures!) - and of course, a roadtrip playlist is a must as well. Only problem there was that Leah’s and my taste in music, including “classic” Karaoke-Music, differs so much that we only had very few titles we both knew all the lyrics off to sing together.
Instead, we spent the time telling each other stories, about out childhood and youth, about our wishes and plans for the future, and chatting about current topics, whatever crossed our minds, really, and we introduced each other to our music and personal stories hidden behind certain songs.
We got home after nightfall, with new impressions and in a fabulous mood, even though the driving had tired Leah out.
Yet, as smooth and problem-free as the handover had been, it was only a question of time for a real mess-up to happen with getting the rest of the puppies to their new homes - and the big mess already happened the very next morning, when we realised one of the puppies should have already been on the way to the airport hours ago…
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