One Dog at a Time

Tornado Dogs

2011-05-10T07:42:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! We are so blessed to say that we personally did not have any damage from the horrible tornadoes that ripped through Birmingham. We had 4 humans, 4 dogs and one cat hunkered down in our basement to ride out the storm.

Shelby Humane really kicked it into high gear after the storm. They sent vans to Tuscaloosa to pick up dogs from the damaged shelters there. They also sent THREE vans full of dogs up north last week (http://www.goingthedistancetosavelives.blogspot.com/) in order to make room for incoming storm dogs.

Check out this great video from a news station in Maine about that transport!

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article/158538/2/Tornado-Dogs-Rescued-and-Brought-to-Maine

Brittany and I are still trying to work through our schedules to find a date when we can make another trip together, hopefully it will be sooner than later!

Please continue to keep the storm victims in your prayers, 2 and 4 legged!

Trip and Event

2011-04-19T19:04:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Two quick news tidbits. Our friend Jenny (who is the NEW Executive Director for Shelby Humane!) is leaving on a Shelter Partners trip on Thursday. You can follow her trip on her blog http://goingthedistancetosavelives.blogspot.com/

Also - the annual Bark n' Wine event for Shelby Humane is coming up in a few weeks. See the invite below.

Bark n Wine Invite[1]

Brittany and I are both starting to get the 'bug' again and are looking at dates to plan our next trip!

Just Crusin'

2011-03-06T18:52:00.001-06:00

Ok, I've been holding out on this one for a few weeks. Life has been a little crazy for Brittany and I lately. We had an unexpected trip back home to Tennessee, Brittany accepted a very exciting new job, I've been dealing with sickness and a car wreck (everyone is fine) and the husband and I are leaving for Mexico tomorrow! So I just had to stop for one moment and share these photos with you guys.

A few weeks ago my husband and I were on our way home from church and all the sudden he just started dying laughing. I could not figure out why and then I noticed a motorcycle to our left with a side car. All the sudden I see an ear flapping in the wind. I went NUTS. Screaming 'SPEED UPPPPP!!!'

We got next to them and I was literally crawling on top of Daniel who was driving, so I could take photos.

I took the first photo (right as we blew past our exit so we could enjoy it a little longer) and then all the sudden the second dog popped up! We seriosuly laughed about this for hours.

Enjoy.....

New Sprinter

2011-02-08T15:52:00.000-06:00

I just had to quickly share some photos I got today of the new sprinter with the wrap on it.

Isn't it so cute! It demands attention!

Rachel Ray!

2010-12-16T19:24:00.002-06:00

What a great day! Kristen really wanted to go to a Rachel Ray book signing tonight in Birmingham but was unable to make it to Books a Million to get her line assignment so being the great friend that Brittany is, Brittany went to get one for her. While she was there Brittany just went ahead and got one for herself even though she was not planning on going to the signing because of prior plans.

Well, everything happens for a reason and when Brittany talked to Michelle - a fellow board member at Shelby Humane today, Michelle had the great idea to go meet Rachel and see if she might be interested in buying one of the Shelby Humane ornaments. But Michelle didn't know about the line assignments.....but Brittany had an extra!!

So - Michelle and Jenny (another board member) went to the signing and met Rachel! She was super sweet, and bought an ornament. Apparently she picks a local rescue group to donate part of her proceeds from each signing to. She picked the Basset Hound rescue here in Bham which just happens to be where Kristen's new pup Chandler came from! Rachel Ray has raised $1.4 MILLION dollars so far! Wow! Read about it here.

Also check out the great article about Shelby Humane and One Dog at a Time in the latest Over the Mountain Journal!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-14T10:28:00.000-06:00

I just got this e-mail from Brittany (of Brittany and Andin) about one of the dogs that was on their trip back in September. Brittany said that Max was very very timid and did not want to come out of his crate. This just makes my heart swell! Merry Christmas to all of you!

Hi everybody (written from the view of Max)--

I asked my companion, Peter A Thomas, to take my picture and and send it to you. He adopted me in September, I think. My name used to be Mario, but now its Max (which suits me much better). I am SO HAPPY to be with him. It has taken me awhile to learn to trust him and his friends since I had a rough puppyhood, but I am so aware of his love and caring that I am relaxing and want to please him.

We go for a walk every morning on the way to his dental office, usually in the marsh, then I spend the morning in my own room in his office on a Tempurpedic dog bed! At lunch, we usually go to the beach where I sometimes meet up with dog buddies of all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we chase each other around like mad—so much fun. Then, its back to the office for my afternoon nap.

He takes me everywhere he goes, but I know I won’t be going to Colorado for Christmas with him and his mother. One of his helpers will be taking care of me—she has a pug, but playing with a pug is beneath me.

Life is good!

Thanks for introducing me to Peter—he’s my kind of guy.

Merry Christmas, Max

Ornaments

2010-12-02T07:23:00.001-06:00

How cute is this photo????

Hello everyone! We just wanted to share a link with you to the new Shelby Humane blog where you can buy an ornament and sponsor a dogs trip up north!

http://shsornaments.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas!

Recap coming

2010-11-05T13:12:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Brittany and Kristen are still recovering from their wonderful trip and will hopefully have a recap of the whole adventure up soon. Here is a link to the sweet post from Joan about their stay.

http://fortheloveofahouse.blogspot.com/2010/11/way-too-much-fun.html

Heavenly New Hampshire

2010-11-01T15:25:00.000-05:00

Kristen and I want to apologize for being M.I.A. the past few days. It is hard to explain how exhausted you get after doing the drop offs. Even though we wanted to update the blog and call all of our friends and family, we decided to enjoy and soak in every moment of our short time in New Hampshire with our new friends Joan and Dan. We knew we would have plenty of time to share every single amazing detail of our adventure with everyone once we get home and settled. Just know that our trip was such a great experience in every way. Thanks for all of the thoughts, prayers, comments, and emails from all of you!! We also want to say a HUGE thank you to our friends and family who sent us goodies, CDs, etc. for our trip! They have all been enjoyed and appreciated more than you know.

Update: we are currently about an hour outside of NYC. Kristen took the first driving shift and I will be taking over shortly. She did the scary NYC drive on the way here, so it is my turn now... Wish us luck!

Almost There

2010-10-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

Brittany and Kristen made their final drop off and are headed to Joan's house. They are obviously sleepy but in good spirits - everything went well and now they get to have fun! Thank you so much everyone for the support and prayers!

First drop off

2010-10-30T10:38:00.000-05:00

I just spoke to the girls and they successfully dropped off at the first shelter and are headed to the second. They are running a little behind schedule but all is well.

Good morning Sunshine!!

2010-10-30T06:42:00.000-05:00

Good morning from Connecticut! We just filled up and switched places again. I'm not gonna lie, that was a tough stretch...NYC is much better when being chauffeured around by a cabbie ;)but we made it and the pups are doing great!! I think they know something good is just around the corner. 2.5 hours to go to the first shelter!

Pennsylvania

2010-10-30T01:04:00.000-05:00

We just stopped to get gas in Pennsylvania. Kristen just took the drivers seat for her second shift. I am going to try to get a little nap and will post more in a bit! Xoxo!

One Dog at a Time Headquarters

2010-10-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

Well, after a short stop in Brittany's hometown of Kingsport, TN. we are finally settling in and making our way through Virginia. We had a short visit with Britt's sweet dad and walked a few of the older pups. It's like the One Dog at a Time headquarters in here...we have every type of communication device you can imagine. I am completely tangled up in cords. I wish we could post some pictures of our sweet pups but we are having some technical difficulties. I will say they are a good group and whoever adopts these babies are going to be beyond lucky or should I say blessed?! I've got my eye on a few, but someone told me "every pup you take up there stays up there" ;)

Ok, I'm going to leave you with two things I have learned in Virginia...
1) It's very cold in Virginia.
2) Off highway diesel fuel does not go in the Sprinter and will cost you a $2500 fine.

Peace,Love,PUPS-
B & K

P.S. Anna wins...GPS has a name. Carmen.

Pals!

2010-10-29T19:15:00.000-05:00

Brooke here. My Dad just sent me this photo, he met Brittany and Kristen in our hometown of Kingsport, Tn and brought them some Pal's for dinner....very jealous!

The girls are in Virginia now and truckin' along!

Don't Be Jealous....

2010-10-29T13:56:00.001-05:00

Ok, we feel kinda bad for rubbing it in but.... check out this link to see our amazing prize at the end of this journey!

We love you Joan and CANNOT WAIT to see you, Ella, and hopefully Dan soon!

Sweet Home Tennessee

2010-10-29T13:47:00.000-05:00

We are just coming through Chattanooga, TN and are admiring the beautiful scenery of Tennessee in the Fall! We are very lucky to have such wonderful weather for our drive! We stopped to fill up with gas (Diesel!) in Georgia are back on the road with Kristen still driving! She was worried about driving this HUGE van, but she is already a pro! The pups are doing amazing..... they are so very quiet right now! :)

We are trying to come up with a name for our gps... actually Suzanne's gps (she was VERY generous to loan us her trusty gps this weekend).... any suggestions for a name??

Surprise!

2010-10-29T11:11:00.000-05:00

Brittany called me as she and Kristen were hitting the road and said they were meeting Kristen's husband on their way out of town to pick up something. I decided that I just had to meet them too! I'm so glad I got to see all the pups and give them one last hug. They will be the first trip to drive the BRAND NEW van! Whew, makes me feel good to know that the van is in tip top shape. Here are some photos from our quick visit.

Brittany and Kristen pulling up

Read to go!

Lucky Pups!

I love their shirts!

The dog named Brooke, oh my I almost kidnapped her!

Sugar or Spice...so tiny!

Kristen's husband Jonathan checking out the van and giving some last minute driving tips "Be careful changing lanes!"

Brittany and I

Oops.....JUST KIDDING!

Last Minute Additions

2010-10-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

We had two pups pulled yesterday, this happens sometimes for various reasons. But, this morning we have some last minute passengers!

Capo

Prissy

Brittany and Kristen should be leaving for the shelter any moment now! Keep checking in throughout the day to see their updates!

The passengers are chosen!

2010-10-28T13:37:00.001-05:00

Here is the full list of the 33 lucky ducks (dogs) that are hitchin' a ride to NH with Brittany and Kristen! ALL dogs that make this journey are lucky but these are extra lucky as they get to go with the two coolest girls from Birmingham to New Hampshire! Note that there is one named Brookie and one named Brooke. I hope that they can represent me well! This is when it starts to become 'real', when you see these beautiful faces!

Honeycomb

Leon

Little Hooch

Lucky Charms

Mister - Has been waiting for his forever home since July. Mister, it is going to be worth the wait!

Molly - Not many came with 'comments' but this one came with a note that says 'sweet dog'. Joan?

Moxie

Oso

Pixie- Was dropped off in the parking lot and the owner was overheard saying 'someone will pick it up'. You bet cha', someone is gonna pick 'it' up and drive it to New Hampsire!!!!

Raisen

Rascal

Ringo

Rocky

Rooster

Spice

Starlet

Sugar

Tizzy

Vegas

Waggles

Winky

Brooke

Brookie

Caboose

Cargo

Carly

Chaos

Cocoa Puff

Elmo

Ginger

Adelia

Treat Bags

2010-10-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

Only four days until Brittany and Kristen leave!

We got together this weekend for pizza and wine and to put together some gift bags for the lucky pups on Brittany and Kristen's trip. I can't take credit for any of this, it was totally their idea. They put in some doggie treats and a note with our website and a gift certificate for one of our collars, what a great idea! Hopefully this will put us in touch with some of the adoptive families so we can get updates on the dogs.

Keep on praying for safety please!

I leave you with a video treat....Aunt Brittany bought a laser pointer for my cat but it seems like someone else was A LOT more interested in it! This is for you Joan!

ONE WEEK

2010-10-22T09:41:00.000-05:00

It is only one week until Brittany and Kristen's departure! I am so excited for them, and honestly pretty jealous that I am not going. They have decided to take an extra few days off and will be hanging with Joan in New Hampshire. I can't wait for their journey to begin, I know it is going to be great!

I am going to give them a blogging crash course before they leave so they can keep us all updated right here on the blog. Please please please start praying for their safety. I now know what it feels like for our loved ones when we are on the trip. I don't think I'll be sleeping much next Friday night as they drive through the night!

I googled New Hampshire in google images and this came up......so jealous.

Collar Photos

2010-09-30T14:58:00.000-05:00

We have received so many cute photos of some of our 'customers' and are finally getting around to sharing them. We love these, if you have bought a collar from us, send us photos! We are proud to announce that we have raised enough money to pay for Brittany and Kristen's trip and then some!

The last photo is my dog Jed modeling our new Auburn collar! We don't have it on etsy yet but if you would like one, just e-mail me.

Birmingham News Article

2010-09-27T11:37:00.001-05:00

Our article about the collars came out in the Birmingham News last week! I only have it in PDF form so I hope this will work. If you can see it, you should be able to zoom in to read.

Tear Sheet

tearsheet(2)

Only one month until Brittany and Kristen take off for NH!

2010-09-17T22:42:00.000-05:00

Well, we are only 6 short weeks away from Brittany and Kristen's trip up north! The collar sales have been going great, we have raised enough money to pay for this trip and most of another, there is a chance that Brittany and I may do another trip in May so we will keep on selling and hope to raise enough for that one as well!

This video was created by the shelter for the annual Thank You dinner that is held for drivers. I had to miss it as I was out of town but Brittany and Kristen went and had a wonderful time. Take a moment to watch it, I dare you not to cry!

Amazing Video

2010-09-01T20:23:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, my Dad sent me this video today. One of the best dog videos I have ever seen. I love that her tail is wagging the whole time, she loves it!

Brittany and Andin

2010-08-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! We have two exciting bits of news.

My friends Brittany (different Brittany!) and Andin are doing a dog drive this weekend! They will be traveling to the New Hampshire Humane Society and to the Salem Animal Rescue League. Please keep them in your prayers!

                                                                                Andin and Brittany

Brittany (sister) and I are meeting them for dinner tonight to talk through any questions that they have. I remember how nice it was to talk to some friends that had done the trip before we went on ours, so I am happy to return the favor.   They do have a blog but I'm not sure if they will be blogging along the way or just do a recap when they get back.

Second bit of news is that we finally have set up a Etsy site just for our collars. Brittany and Kristen have been doing a fantastic job of selling collars and have raised quite a bit of money. Check out our store here. Also - there will be an article coming out in the Birmingham News in the next few weeks about our collars! We will be sure to share a link once it come out - very exciting!

Collar Crafts

2010-08-10T15:37:00.002-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Brittany and I had a great night last Friday cranking out some collars. Brittany and Kristen have sold over $300 worth of collars (all proceeds are going towards their trip in October)! Kristen does not know how to sew so she has been cutting and ironing the collars which is a HUGE help. Brittany has been sewing them and I, well, until Friday I hadn't contributed much. Oops.

Brittany taught me how to sew them together and we ate pizza, drank wine, and made collars. While sewing we reminisced about our dog trip (and I started to get a little sad that I wasn't going on this trip in October). Of course Joan came up, I cannot tell you how often we talk/think about Joan. So, we decided to send her a text and let her know about collar craft night and that we were thinking about her. A few minutes later Joan called and we had a great speaker phone conversation. It was wonderful to catch up and hear her voice. We are kindered spirits! There are many reasons that I am jealous that Brittany and Kristen will be driving to NH without me, but the fact that they get to see Joan is the one that I am most jealous about!

Here are some of Brittany's co-workers dogs modeling their new collars!

For those of you not from Alabama - this is our University of Alabama collar. Big seller. I about fell out of my chair when Brittany sent it to me, hilarious. Brittany and I are both Auburn fans but have yet to find some Auburn fabric. It is about to be football season around these parts and we take our football very seriously.

Collars!

2010-07-12T12:18:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone! We finally got our act together enough to get some of the collars posted on Etsy. We will be adding more as soon as we can get them made. We only posted Smalls and Medium, but we can make them in Large as well. If you see a pattern that you like, just let us know and we can make it whichever size you would like!

Small - $14
Medium - $16
Large - $18

ALL proceeds now through October will go towards the Shelter Partners trip Brittany and Kristen will be taking at the end of October!

We received another good story about one our pups, Pupperoni!

From Salem Animal Rescue League....

Just came across this photo of Pupperoni and family. This is one of our volunteers with his son. They fostered and just couldn't let go. They love the little guy.

A Happy 4th of July for Some Lucky Pups!

2010-07-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

One of Brittany's fellow Shelby Humane Society Board members (and current President of the Board), Jenny Miller, will be departing tomorrow morning for her SIXTH Shelter Partners trip! She and her friend Claire Woodall will be taking this trip together to transport a van full lucky of pups to New England to find their forever families!! Check out their blog and follow along on their journey this weekend! What a perfect way to celebrate the 4th of July holiday!

http://www.goingthedistancetosavelives.blogspot.com/

All Kinds of Good News!

2010-06-29T09:32:00.000-05:00

Brittany and her friend Kristen have signed up to take trip to New Hampshire at the end of October! I am very excited for them, and slightly jealous as well! I know that Brittany and Kristen will make a great team, those are going to be some lucky dogs.

Me, Kristen and Brittany

Brittany and Kristen came up with a great fundraising idea for their trip, to sell dog collars handmade by the three of us. We don't have all the details worked out quite yet, but we will soon add them to my etsy store, with all proceeds going towards their Shelter Partners trip in October.

One more note, I recieved this info from the Salem Animal Rescue Leage about one of our pups.

"Bella was adopted to a gentleman that came all the way up from Cape Cod to meet her yesterday. He is a single older guy who is very quiet and gentle. He had a dog that resembled Bella for many years and was very interested in her when he spotted her on line. He drove a coupld of hours up to meet her and we had a little glitch getting her to the shelter from our foster home so he had to wait another two hours to meet her. Although he knew the minute his eyes set on her she was going home with him he spent a few hours getting to know her before he adopted her. He left just in time to catch the ferry back to the islands where they will live together. Very nice adoption."

Sweet Bella and her new owner!

PHOTOS!

2010-06-11T08:52:00.000-05:00

I received a wonderful e-mail from Deb at Nashua with photos of our pups and their new families! Their camera unfortunately wasn't working on one day (when 4 dogs were adopted) but here are the rest. And she informed me that Bruce, one of our few dogs that has not been adopted, was meeting a potential family as she typed!

I cannot tell you all how happy these photos made me, I cried many happy tears. To see these dogs that were about to be put to sleep with their happy new families is so AMAZING! I look at the photos and can see years and years of happiness a head of the dogs and people.

I also wanted to let you all know a quick breakdown of our expenses. Our trip cost a total of $499 which is all our gas and one nights hotel stay. I think that is pretty good! We did have the van that takes normal gas, the Sprinter takes diesel and I think it is a little more expensive.

Thanks to donations from Joan and Dan, Cheryl and Bud, Susan and Doug, Kathleen and Brenda we will be sending a check for $170 to Shelby County which means our trip only cost them $329! Yippie!

Part Two

2010-06-03T20:13:00.000-05:00

Once Brittany and I wrapped up our tour of the shelter we went back outside to visit with Joan. She had been so kind and such an encouragement to us, I cannot tell you how nice it was to finally meet her! We didn't have very long as we still had a lot of driving to get done before we could rest for the night, and Joan was so understanding of that. We talked for about 15 minutes and took some photos and then had to pry ourselves away, but not before Joan gave us the homemade cookies she had made for us! AND healthy organic apples and carrots! What a sweetheart and let me tell you something, those were the best cookies I've ever had! We punched 'Home' into the GPS and hit the road. We probably talked over an hour about how kind Joan was and got teary eyed when she disappeared from our rear view mirror.

Sweet Ella!

Time seemed to go by SO much faster once the dogs were not in the van anymore. For 20+ hours all I had done was think about how they were so unsure of what was going on and hearing their little claws scrape in the crates with each bump in the road just tore me to pieces (I promise, they were actually very comfortable but I tend to let my anxiety get the best of me). It was such a nice to change to think about how happy they were! Before we knew it we were back in NYC, except with a lot more traffic this time as it was around 3 pm. But, it kept moving the whole time so we didn't get discouraged. Being from a small town, Brittany and I just laughed about how we never imagined we would drive through NYC, much less in a jumbo van! The roads in NYC were so rough and the cages rattled really badly, especially without the weight of the dogs in them so once we hit the highway in New Jersey it was smooth sailing.

We had agreed before the trip that we were not going to worry about how far we made it back that day, although obviously we wanted to make it as far as possible we just decided there was no reason to put pressure on ourselves and we would just stop whenever we felt like it. Ronda from the shelter had told us that when she did the trip over Memorial Day weekend she had a hard time finding a hotel room so we had booked one in Winchester, VA just in case. When we left New Hampshire I thought there was NO way we were going to make it that far, 10 hours, but by a miracle neither one of us got sleepy. We had to cancel our room by 6 pm but wouldn't be there until 9 pm so we had to make the decision on if we were going to keep going or not. We decided to go for it. I'm not going to lie, those last 2 hours were ROUGH! It wasn't that we were even sleepy, just SO ready to be there. Once we arrived we had been driving straight for over 30 hours.

Brittany enjoying Joan's healthy treats!

Winchester was the first city once we crossed into Virginia and I've never been so happy to see Virginia. Our hotel was right off the interstate and we pulled Big Green into the parking lot for a much needed nights rest. I went to check in while Brittany gathered her things. We had called the hotel a little earlier to confirm our reservation and when Brittany said our name, the man immediately said that yes, he did have our reservation. We thought that was odd that he knew right off the top of his head and when I was waiting in line he was telling the people trying to get a room that they were full (glad we followed Rondas advice) so I couldn't figure out how he knew about our reservation because we had made it about a month ago. But, as I was checking in he said that someone had called and left us a gift so that is why our name was fresh on his mind. Our sweet Dad had called and gotten us a little welcome bag with fruit, special k bars, muffins and a water! We felt very special!

We had ordered a pizza before we arrived at the hotel and had just enough time to get showers before it arrived. We hadn't really eaten much of anything since the dinner our parents brought us the night before so we were starving. So, I guess pizza in our hotel room has become part of our Shelter Partners tradition. Not eating for 24 hours sure does make pizza taste good and I knew that going without sleep for 2 days was about to make for a wonderful nights sleep.

When Brittany woke me up the next day she said I was in the exact same position as I was when she turned off the light. It was the best nights sleep I'd had since last years trip. Even though we had 'lost' a nights sleep, we woke up feeling great. We went to breakfast and then we were back on the road. We picked up some Starbucks and headed south! We picked up this great radio station out of DC that was playing their Sunday morning 'acoustic sunrise' show and it was amazing. I felt so a peace, it was a beautiful day, we were feeling great and knew our pups were too!

Our windshield was NASTY!

It was about 5 hours until we were back in our hometown of Kingsport, TN. Our parents met us again outside of Pal's, our favorite fast food joint. This time we actually were able to visit for a while. We parked Big Green (Joan's name for our van!) and hopped in our Dad's car to go through the drive-thru. Pal's doesn't have seating so we found a shady spot and ate in Dad's car. We don't get to see our parents very often so it was such a treat, even if it was short. After about an hour we knew we had to get back on the road.

It was about 5 more hours to Birmingham and it just flew by. We pulled into town around 7:30 and decided to wait until Monday to take the van back to the shelter since it is about 45 minutes further away. We unpacked all our stuff and had a good laugh watching my dog go bananas over all the 'smells' on my clothes. I let him smell the van the next day and he didn't even make it past the bottom step of the van before he started drooling, I thought he was going to explode.

I can't believe that another trip is behind us. We can't thank you guys enough for all the prayers, donations (I'll do an expense breakdown later), and support. On a happy note, Joan went to visit the pups on Tuesday and two of them were on hold only an hour and a half after they had come out of quarantine! I REALLY hope we get some updates and photos from the shelters as the dogs get adopted and if/when we do I'll be sure to share them!

Part One

2010-06-01T18:14:00.003-05:00

About to pull out (the first time)

Brittany and I had decided on a 10 am departure and the Shelby County Humane Society is about 45 minutes away from where we live so Brittany came over to by house around 9. We drove to the shelter in my car, with a quick detour at Chick-fil-a for a chicken biscuit! When we got to the shelter there was the huge Sprinter loaded up and waiting on us. We signed a few papers, loaded in our stuff and got ready to pull out. As we started to pull away I tried to turn on the AC and it wouldn’t come on. Uh oh. Sara from the shelter came out and could not get it to work either. Sara called the maintenance men from the state facility across the street to come over and check it out. They were so nice and checked the fuses but had no luck figuring it out. The shelter employees made a few calls and found a place in town that worked on AC. We quickly drove there (the dogs were still in the van) and they got to work. No luck, after about an hour they determined that it was the fan motor and there was no way to get it fixed. Brittany and I drove back to the shelter and Sara and her team quickly started to get another van ready for us. It took a little over an hour for them to unload and reload the van. I will admit, at this point I was getting a little anxious because we were loosing so much time but before I knew it the van was ready and we were on the road.

The guys at Wilson Paint and Body checking out the van

Amazingly, they were able to fit all the dogs into the smaller van and we were happy to have the ability to recline the passenger seat, which was not an option in the sprinter. I took the wheel and off we went! The first few hours were great, we ran into a little traffic in Chattanooga because it was 5 on a holiday weekend, but everything kept moving and before we knew it we were in our hometown of Kingsport, TN. Our parents were kind enough to pick up dinner for us and meet us in the Perkins parking lot right off the interstate. We had just a few moments to grab a hug, let a few dogs out and go to the restroom and we were on the road again.

It soon got dark and we found ourselves driving through the never ending Virginia! We did a great job of taking shifts and making sure that neither of us were driving when we felt sleepy. We did seem to switch out more this year but managed to get through the night and pull into NYC just around sunrise! Brittany did a great job driving as I navigated and we managed not to get lost this time! After New York, things start to move quickly and we breezed through a few more states. Our pups did great and were quiet as could be for the majority of the trip. Before we knew it we were getting close enough to call the shelter and inform them of our arrival time. Those last 45 minutes or so were pretty rough and the dogs were getting restless but we knew it would all be over soon.

At a toll in NYC!

NYC at sunrise!

We pulled into the Salem Animal Rescue League around 9:30 and were greeted by a friendly group of folks waiting to unload the dogs. We were only dropping off 6 dogs there so we couldn’t stick around for long as we still had a vanload of dogs for the next shelter. As we were pulling out we saw each dog being walked by the shelter staff. It was so nice to see them all so happy and out of their cages!

Pupperioni!

Unloading at Salem

It was a little more than a 30 minute drive to the Nashua Humane Society but we got to see some beautiful New Hampshire communities along the way. When we pulled into the Nashua Shelter we were so relieved to have completed our trip! When we got out we saw our friend Joan and her Dog Ella waiting for us. Even though we had never met, it was so nice to see a 'familiar face'. We just had to run over and give her a quick hug before we started unloading.

Joan contacted us a few days after our trip last year. She said to be sure and contact her before our next trip and we did just that. Joan and I had been e-mailing back and forth for a few weeks and because our original second stop was supposed to be an hour and a half further north, we didn’t think we would have time to meet up. But, just days before we left there was a shelter change to Nashua, which is only 30 minutes from her home. It was fate! Joan gave us a quick hug and we gave Ella a quick pet and then on to unloading. Joan was such a trooper and even helped us clean out the cages, she really is an angel! After all the dogs were unloaded we were able to go see them (Joan had to stick behind because they must be quarantined for 3 days) in the special receiving area. The shelter director told us that they had built this wonderful area of the kennel just for Shelter Partner intakes! It was so nice and organized; they had a chart already printed out showing which kennel each of our dogs was going to. They also had dinner ready!

Someone was very excited to be home!

The organized kennel chart

Dinner is ready!

It was so nice to visit with the staff, they were so friendly and had such a passion for what they do. We took a quick tour of the whole facility and even got to see an Alabama dog from the previous weeks transport being adopted! This shelter takes photos of all their dogs with their new owners so we hope to get some great photo updates to share with you all. We only got two last year, but they meant the world to us.

Charlotte

This is getting a little long, so I’ll finish up with Part Two tomorrow!

2010-06-01T10:24:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Brittany and I are back at work but still recouping from the trip. Hopefully I can pull our full recap together tonight. But, until then here is the super sweet post that our Northern (southern!) Angel Joan posted.

http://fortheloveofahouse.blogspot.com/2010/05/have-you-ever-seen-puppy-angel.html

2010-05-30T18:53:00.002-05:00

home sweet home

2010-05-30T08:31:00.002-05:00

on the road again! we are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a great night of sleep!

2010-05-29T20:34:00.001-05:00

clean and happy at our hotel in virginia and about to hop into our hampton inn heavenly beds. goodnight!

2010-05-29T15:16:00.001-05:00

crossing the george washington bridge in NYC!

Mission Accomplished

2010-05-29T11:23:00.003-05:00

Wow- this day has been everything we hoped for AND MORE! We successfully dropped off 6 pups at Salem Animal Rescue and then the rest of our pasengers to the Nashua shelter. Both shelters had staff and volunteers waiting on us to pull up to welcome us and get the pups out of the van and into loving arms! All of our little passengers were finally out walking and playing in their new state of New Hampshire! Everyone was very happy and excited! And... we had a special treat waiting for us at the Nashua shelter- our new friend Joan (and her sweet pup Ella) came to meet us (and she brought TREATS!!). We cannot wait to tell you all of the details about the entire day (we will gush all of the fun details and pictures once we have more time and rest)! I will just say right now that this has been the best day I've had in a long time! We know that every one of these dogs are headed for a life of love with new forever families!
We are back on the road and going to drive for a few hours until we get tired- we will then stop and sleep in a hotel tonight and finish up the drive tomorrow.
We will be checking in with updates! ~b&b

going good with about 4.5

2010-05-29T04:30:00.001-05:00

going good with about 4.5 hours left. about to pass throught nyc!

West Virginia

2010-05-29T01:30:00.000-05:00

onward bound...

Does Virginia ever end???

2010-05-28T22:55:00.003-05:00

Brooke and I feel like we have been in Virginia FOREVER!!!! Oh well... I guess it doesn't really matter what state we are in as long as we are moving along in the right direction.

Brooke is driving now- we stopped to fill up on gas and take potty break. Amazingly, all of our little pups stayed quiet and calm through the stop!

Good night to all of you guys who are headed to bed.... sweetest dreams of happy pups! :)

Love, B&B

Finn

2010-05-28T21:49:00.001-05:00

You guys are amazing! Just got this photo of encouragement from Finn and Brenda in New York. The support from 'perfect strangers' is amazing!

2010-05-28T21:31:00.001-05:00

photo that our dad took during our quick kingsport stop. just outside of roanoke va now

Sam & Ruth

2010-05-28T17:13:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of cute little Sam and Ruth- they

are taking a little nap..... Ruth snores! :)

Everyone is good! ~B&B

rain rain go away...

2010-05-28T15:10:00.003-05:00

We just drove into some rain- but it looks like it is clear skies ahead of us. We are still in Alabama but should be hitting Chattanooga, TN in about 30 minutes. Here is a picture of the inside of the van. Talk to ya'll soon!

On the road.... finally

2010-05-28T13:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, we are finally on the road…. Amazingly, the shelter staff was able to get ALL of the dogs on this smaller van! We are all a bit cramped in here, but we are glad we didn’t have to leave anyone behind! All of the pups are doing great so far! Brooke is driving the first leg and doing GREAT so far (we are just now about to pass the Green Springs Exit on 65! Ha!). Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers! Lots of love, B and B

2010-05-28T12:44:00.001-05:00

well- off to a slow start. the air on the van would not work so after a quick trip to get it checked out we are switching to another van, prayers please!

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The Dogs!

2010-05-27T17:01:00.008-05:00

We got a tentative list of dogs for our trip today! They are so cute!

3 Days!

2010-05-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

Wow, hard to belive that we leave in three short days! We found out which shelters we will be going to, The New Hampshire Humane Society and The Salem Animal Rescue League. We don't have any details on any of the dogs yet, but we will be sure to post some photos on Friday!

Shelby Humane shared some great news today, their intake in 2009 was down 17% from 2008! That is a total of 1200 fewer animals coming in. This has allowed them to include some dogs from from The Greater Birmingham Humane Society on the trips as well which is wonderful!

I also learned today that Brittany and Andin from my bible study and supper club have signed up to do the trip over Labor Day weekend, I am so excited for them and can't wait to hear about their first experience!

8 Days!

2010-05-19T14:53:00.009-05:00

8 days and counting! We are getting very excited about our trip, it is hard to believe that the time is here. We have not received the information on which shelters we will be going to or which dogs we will be taking, but I did snag these cuties off the Shelby County Humane Society site today.....maybe some of them will be traveling with us!

On another note, we have exciting news! Brittany has been selected as a new Board Member for the Shelby County Humane Society! She is very excited and I am very proud of her!

Bark n' Wine Rescheduled

2010-04-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

Subject: RESCHEDULED!!Due to the bad weather, we are rescheduling Bark n Wine until next Friday, April 30th at 6:30 pm. http://www.facebook.com/l/faa95;www.shelbyhumane.org. If you purchased tickets and cannot make the new date, you can receive a refund. Please contact Jennifer Russo for a refund, 669-3916 x25.
Otherwise, next Friday is forecasted to be sunny and beautiful! We look forward to seeing you all there!

Bark n' Wine

2010-04-22T08:34:00.002-05:00

For those of you in Alabama, clear your calendars for Saturday night! The Shelby County Humane Society is hosting an even called Bark n' Wine at the Ozan Winery in Calera. There will be great food, wine tasting and a silent auction. Brittany and I are both very upset that we have a concert to go to which we bought tickets for months ago so we will be unable to be there. It looks like it will be a great time!

5 weeks and counting until our trip!

7 Weeks

2010-04-08T07:42:00.003-05:00

Well, the date has been set for what I suppose could be called our second annual Dog Trip! We will be driving to New Hampshire again over Memorial Day weekend which is only 7 weeks away.

We plan to try to raise enough money to pay for our own trip again this year. The Shelby County Humane Society does provide full reimbursement for the trip which costs between $750-$850 but we would like to raise as much money as possible on our own. Thanks to all of you, we were able to meet that goal last year and actually raised $1500 which allowed us to make a donation to the Shelter Partners Program.

The biggest request that we have for all of you is your prayers!

I knew I liked her!

2009-12-04T13:46:00.002-06:00

I've always liked Katherine Heigl (even though her character on Grey's drives me nuts), all the way back to the 'My Father the Hero' days.

According to this article, Katherine paid $25,000 to have 25 Chihuahuas flown from L.A. (where they were going to be put to sleep) to The Humane Society for Greater Nashua of New Hampshire! Brittany and I did not go to this shelter, but it is one of the shelters that participates in the Shelter Partners program.

Pretty neat!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Shelter Partners Trip This Weekend

2009-11-05T10:42:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! Brittany and I just wanted to share with all of you the new blog of our friends that are making the great Shelter Partners trip this weekend. You can see the note below from Jenifer, this will be her 4th trip and she will hit the mark of 10,000 miles of driving dogs! Everyone making this trip needs encouragement and prayers so follow along and keep them in your thoughts this weekend. Thanks! Brooke

From Jenifer:
Hey guys, This Saturday I leave on my fourth Shelter Partners trip, transporting dogs from Shelby Humane to a shelter in New Hampshire. My driving partner and I will reach a milestone on this trip - 10,000 miles total that I have driven saving dogs through the Shelter Partners program and 10,000 miles just this year that Jenny has driven. We have created a blog http://www.newhampshirebound.blogspot.com/ to document our trip along the way (thank you Brittany and Brooke Maness for this idea) and are also trying to raise $10,000 for the shelter to commemorate our 10,000 mile marks. I realize it's a lofty goal and many of you have supported Shelby Humane monetarily in the past. Therefore, if you would please forward the link to all your contacts (donations would be great too), I would greatly appreciate it. Just $1.00 from each person who receives the email would help Shelby Humane enormously! Thank you all! Jenifer

Hello~

2009-08-24T09:12:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to let you know that we have not abandoned our blog.

We hope to make many more trips and blog about it each time. And we have even talked about passing the blog onto others making the trip.....any takers???

Brittany and a co-worker actually had a trip planned for October, but I messed that up by getting married on their chosen date...oops.

We decided we can't handle the harsh northern winters so looks like it will be spring. So we are signing off until then. Unless there is anyone else taking the trip that wants to take over the blog!

I know I can speak for Brittany when I say that we think about the trip every single day. I think about the dogs and how happy they must be. I think about the memories we made, but mostly I think about you guys and the amazing support we received. There is no way to thank you all enough and we can't wait to do it again in the spring!

Update

2009-07-20T18:45:00.006-05:00

We have received our first photo updates! These photos made my day!

Here is Sammie (Ernestine) Who was adopted only three days after we dropped her off. Apparently she is doing great at her new home!

Here is Parker (black) with his new brothers (dog and human). Woo Hoo!

Hopefully we will have more to share soon!

Still Here!

2009-07-08T09:23:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! We have not forgotten about you guys but have not received too much information to pass along. I did find out that all but 4 of our dogs that went to the Cocheco shelter have been adopted and most of the ones at the NHSPCA have as well! Both shelters have promised to send us updates from the new owners as they come in. Considering it has been just over two weeks, they should be getting updates pretty soon.

Update

2009-06-25T12:45:00.002-05:00

No more updates on the dogs, although I did spot a few of them on the NHSPCA website.

I am going to make our $300 donation to the Shelter Partners program today via paypal and I have some great news! Apparently there was a total of $250 donated directly to the Shelby County shelter for our trip which brings our grand total of money raised to $1,500!!! You guys are awesome!

Also, the van is being picked up in Bristol by the couple that left the Tuesday after us. Kudos to them for taking on driving the 18 hours back solo. It is a great relief to know that the van is back in action.

Budget Breakdown

2009-06-24T09:22:00.002-05:00

Ok - here is the breakdown of our expenses for the trip.

Gas $210.91
Flights $336.40
Car Rental $37.67
Tolls/ Misc. $60.00
Hotel $110.88
TOTAL $755.86

Total Money raised $1,247.57

Here is where it gets a little confusing. We had a $192.07 charge at Sullivan Tire for the oil change and diagnostic tests. So, technically we raised an excess of $491.71. But, when you subtract the Sullivan Tire charge that leaves us making a donation of $300 to the Shelter Partners program. You guys rock! Not only are they getting this $300 donation, but they did not have to pay for any of the other expenses of our trip so that give the shelter quite a bit of extra money to put towards the van repairs. We just can't say it enough, but thank you all so much not only for your donations but your support as well.

Part Three

2009-06-23T18:27:00.008-05:00

We hit the road heading towards the airport and I started looking for cars online. As we mentioned before, our friend Rodney let us borrow his air card and had we not had it, this part of the story could have turned out very differently. It saved the day...big time. I looked on online at Enterprise and saw that they had a bunch of cars. I ended up calling and found out that they don't do one way rentals. So I moved on to Alamo, out of cars (for one way trips). We tried about 4 other renters and no luck. It was seeming very grim at that moment but on a whim I decided to check online for plane tickets just out of curiosity. When it popped up at $152 I about had a heart attack. The $300 for plane tickets were cheaper than sticking with the van until it could be fixed (which wasn't an option anyway) because of the cost of a hotel room and it was cheaper than a rental car would have cost plus gas. It was a miracle. So, about 10 miles outside of Hartford I bought our plane ticket. I then went back to Enterprise online and reserved a car for the day, and then went online to Hampton Inn and got our hotel room. We pulled up to Enterprise a few moments later and picked up our little Toyota Yaris and hopped back on the road for the 30 minute drive to Bristol, CT to drop off the van. This is about the time we saw our first few drops of rain, another miracle. I wasn't going to tell you all this (our Mom would have worried) but Sara told us as we left the shelter that they had ordered new wiper blades for the van but they hadn't come in yet so the ones we had did work but not very well. This made me very nervous as it was supposed to be rainy the whole trip. But the Lord was watching out for us and we didn't see a drop until our short little drive to Bristol. This entire trip is such a testament that God always has a plan. I don't know if I have ever felt so stressed and hopeless but God was in control and everything just fell into place and worked out better than we could have ever imagined.

Me in the Yaris and Brittany in the van.

We pulled into the Doge dealership right around 5 o'clock and met our hero Norman. He was so kind to us though out this entire disaster and had talked to Sara for over an hour on the phone trying to help us figure out a plan. We unloaded our stuff out of the van and into the Yaris. Some mechanics came over to talk to us (the van demands attention) and when we told them what the issue was, they informed us that it was a very good thing that we had brought it in and that we probably would not have made it home. We apologized to them that they would be stuck working on the stinky van!

We hopped in the Yaris and headed to our hotel back in Hartford. I started laughing when Brittany got in the car and started talking to me because in the tiny Yaris it felt like she was sitting on my lap. We had been so used to the big van! Bristol was such a beautiful little community. We passed a super neat looking pizza place and also a quaint little wine bar. We would have loved to stop but number one, we were too sleepy and number two, we would have cleared out the place with our stench!

Enterprise, Hampton Inn and the airport were all within a half mile of each other, so convenient! We checked in and decided to carry everything up to the room to sort it all out. As soon as we walked in Brittany started ordering some pizza. I hadn't eaten much at all since Pal's the day before because of all the stress but now that the pups were safe and we had a sure fire plan to get home, I was ready to eat! I got in the shower and then Brittany came in to tell me she had ordered the pizza. She said that for $4 more we could have gotten the family meal that included cheesy bread and coke but she had decided against it. I screamed 'CALL THEM BACK! WE NEED CHEESY BREAD!' And that she did because she is the best sister ever.

Once we were both showered and in our PJ's we took on the task of packing for our flight. Flying when you have no luggage is not very fun. We had our cooler and one big beach bag and one smaller tote bag. We stuffed them to the rim. Once we got done packing we both ended up under the covers. I never thought the pizza would get there but when it did I killed it. We were both in our beds with the pizza on the floor between us and the dipping sauce on the nightstand. We are very classy.

As soon as we swallowed our last bites it was lights out. Amazingly it was 9:30 and we had been awake for about 38 hours. Needless to say, we slept like logs and 5 am came quick. We were out the door by 5:45 and after sneaking some yogurt from the breakfast bar the didn't open until 6. We headed to a gas station to get some duct tape to secure the cooler for our flight. We looked like hoodlums entering the airport. We were not planning on seeing the mass public at any point in our trip so we had not brought very appropriate clothing but I guess you just have to make due. On top of that, we had our duct taped cooler, a very colorful beach bag and our pillows. Once we boarded the plane I realized yet again how amazing our God is, it was full. I have no idea how we snagged our (cheap) tickets only 12 hours earlier.

Almost home!

The flights were easy and the layover in Atlanta was perfect. By 10:30 am we were in Birmingham and my last little worry was put to ease as I saw that the cooler had made the flight with the lid intact. My boyfriend Daniel picked us up and I think he was more relieved for us to be home safe then we were. He took us to my house to get my car and then I drove Brittany the 45 minute drive to the Shelby County Shelter to pick up her car.

When we drove up the dogs in the outside runs started barking so we went over to see them. It was overwhelming. Here we are feeling like we made such a difference (which we did) but there were still SO many dogs. It just broke my heart. But, thanks to the Shelter Partners program, thousands of dogs a year get a second chance.

It is great to be home but I can't stop thinking about our pups. I wrote both of the shelters today and asked them to keep us updated on our dogs. One wrote me back and said that 5 of the puppies went up for adoption today (I think they are held a few days to make sure they are healthy enough for adoption) and the others would be put up soon. Then they told me that Binx, an Australian Shepard from our trip had just been adopted and was on his way to his forever home. Yup, I cried. Thinking about him meeting his new family for the first time and seeing his new home and it is amazing feeling.

As for the Van, I'm not 100% sure what the plan is. There was a trip originally planned to leave today and last I heard they will still be going but in a smaller van. The shelter was going to see if those drivers would be willing to pick up our van. I'll keep you guys updated. But, thanks to your generous donations the Shelter Partners program did not have to pay for our trip which saved them over $800 which can go towards the van repairs. Plus the excess that we will be donating this week. I have not had the time to break down our expenses yet but as soon as I do I'll let you all know the total.

Part Two

2009-06-22T15:53:00.002-05:00

We asked some of the people at the shelter if they knew of a oil change place and they directed us to a place a few exits down the interstate. At this point, we were to worn out that all we wanted to do was get on the road and get as far as possible before we crashed. But we knew we needed to get the van checked. We made it to a place called Sullivan Tires and informed them of our problem. We walked down the road to a breakfast place to eat while they checked out the van. I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had in my stomach. Once we got to the diner and ordered I just lost it. Brittany was being so calm and just asked what I was so worried about but every time I tried to talk I would cry (exhaustion does not help with emotions). So I had to excuse myself and step outside and take a few breaths. Once I got back, Brittany said to let her know when I felt better so she could have her breakdown. What a great sister! Unfortunately for her, I continued on with my meltdown for the next 3 hours so she never got her turn.

When we got back to Sullivan Tires they still had to finished with the van. They kept rising it up and down and up and down and I could see people under it knocking on things. Then they would take it for a test drive, come back and load it back on the lift. This went on for three plus hours. Not a good sign (which is why my breakdown continued). I just kept envisioning us stuck in New Hampshire forever and I had used my last vacation day to leave on Friday.

We finally found out that there was a bearing in the drive shaft that was bad. They informed us that this bearing would need to come from a dealership and so they called the closest dealer and found out it would have to be ordered and would not come in before Tuesday. Great. So, I start asking questions. I cornered the actual mechanic who had been avoiding the smelly girls from Alabama having the panic attacks in the lobby. I asked him what he thought our odds were of making it 1200 miles on the bad bearing. He said they were pretty good. I then asked if it did fail if it would cause further damage to the van. He said no. I then asked if it was a safety concern and he said no. He said that if the noise got worse or we felt a vibration in the floor then we would need to pull over and 'seek assistance'. That was all I needed to hear, I just wanted to start heading south while I had at least a few hours of consciousness left. We called our contact at the Shelby County Shelter, Sara, and informed her of our situation. She was very calm and told us to get on the road but that she was going to call the dealership where they had bought the van to get a second opinion on if it was safe for us to drive.

I drove for about 45 minutes until I hit my breaking point and had to pull over and switch with Brittany. We had both attempted to sleep at points along the trip but neither one of us were successful so at this point we were at about 28 hours without sleep. By this time in the day, our original plan would have had us almost to New York City. But instead we were still in New Hampshire. When we got about an hour down the road Sara called us back and very calmly told us that she had spoken to the dealer and he had informed her that we should not be driving the van and that we should get it to a dealer as soon as possible. This was not what we wanted to hear. We pulled over in Auburn, Massachusetts and sat in a bank parking lot while we tried to figure out what to do. There was a lot of calling back and forth to Sara and we finally found a map in the van and I just had her calling out cities in Mass and Connecticut that had dealer and I would try to find them on the map and see how close they were. The plan was to drop the van at a dealer and then rent a car to drive back. We finally settled on Bristol, Connecticut. Sara called them and spoke to Norman the service manager. Sara then called me and ask that I call to get Norman to get directions. While talking to him I asked if he could suggest a place for us to rent a car. Norman then informed me that all the car renters in Bristol close after noon on Saturdays and would not be open on Sunday either. Not good. I then look at the map and notice that we will be going through Hartford, CT to get to Bristol so I had the bright idea to call the rental places at the airport as they would probably be open. By this time, we had been sitting in Auburn for over an hour so I just typed in the address for the Hartford Airport and told Brittany to head that way. It was about 45 minutes away and I figured we could find a car before we got there. Oh little did I know, it would not be that easy......

Part Three coming soon!

I know this is getting lengthy and not as interesting since it does not involve the dogs anymore. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't read. But, don't leave us quite yet. Sara said that the two shelters that we went to are very good about updating them when our dogs are adopted and one even usually sends photos of the dogs with their new families (I am going to loose it every time I see one). So we hope that they will trickle down to us and we can share them with you!

Part 1

2009-06-22T10:36:00.005-05:00

Where in the world do I start? I want to tell you all everything! But I might have to break it down into parts. Sorry the updates were not better along the way but after about hour 10, we had to use all the energy we had to drive and focus on the dogs.

First, here is a little video that Brittany took before we left which will give you a better idea of the layout.

The drive really wasn't too bad. I drove from Columbiana, Alabama to Marion, Virginia. That is the first time we let any dogs out. We had one beautiful and sweet 4 year old yellow lab and knew we just had to let her out because she was probably holding it. We let about 5 of the bigger (older) dogs out but only had success with two of them. It was very hard to let them out but also very hard not to.

Here is our sweet lab friend Josie.

Brittany started driving from there and drove us from Virginia through West Virginia, Maryland, and most of Pennsylvania. We stopped again to get gas somewhere in north Pennsylvania and it was dark at this point. The van runs on diesel and at most place they only had diesel in the 'trucker' areas where the big rigs fill up. Not very fun but we survived. At one stop around West Virginia we found a gas station that had diesel at the regular pumps and we decided it was probably time to try to give the dogs some water. We pulled over towards the back of the building and started the process. It was very dark and the van did not have lights in the back so we had to use flash lights. We managed to give everyone a little bit of water but there was one small puppy in the very back that would not drink any. (Thinking about this makes me cry) She was in a cage with a friend and they were just pretzeled around each other at the back of their cage. I got her out and she just snuggled up into the nape of my neck. I am so upset that we did not get a better photo of her because she was adorable but so skinny. I got down on the pavement and put her in between my legs with the water in front of her. She wanted nothing to do with it and was just leaning as hard as she could into my leg. All she wanted was to be close to another living being. She had her tail in between her legs but as I started to put her back in the cage it perked up a little. She really wanted to be with her kennel mate. Brittany suggested putting her up front with us and had she been alone I would have, but I knew she was happiest with her friend. (there is a happy ending to this, I promise)

I started driving from there and got us through New Jersey. This is about the time I started noticing the 'grinding' noise. It wasn't that bad on the interstate but very loud when going slow speeds. I just ignored it because there was nothing we could do in the middle of the night and we just had to focus on the dogs. We made our way into NYC and just as Brittany was typing up a post on my phone about seeing the Statue of Liberty, there was a fork in the road. The GPS did not specify which way to go and so I just took a 50/50 shot and it ended up being the wrong one. It was around 3 in the morning and suddenly we were in the streets of NYC. Not a good feeling. I would have been very nervous driving my own car through New York but driving this van with 31 dogs which was making a scary grinding noise certainly made for a stressful situation. The GPS was redirecting us but it was an awfully long route back to the interstate. We went through Holland tunnel and ended up on West street in Chelsea and drove right by the piers and saw all the big ships. We went about 6 miles down West Street which had lights at every block.

Holland Tunnel-as we went through 'Without You' from Rent came on my ipod. So appropriate.

The stopping and starting was killing me but we finally made it back on route and only lost about 20 minutes. And I actually think the adrenaline from it kept me feeling wide awake for quite sometime!

We made it into Connecticut and took a quick bathroom break. I went first and then Brittany, the dogs were going crazy so I just circled the parking lot. It was so amazing, as long as the car was in motion they were fine. But, as soon as it came to a stop they would get restless and bark. Obviously taking this trip is a lot better for them than the alternative but looking back there and seeing their puppy dog eyes just broke my heart.

This little guy was right behind us. He was very protective, at one stop during the night some poeple walked by the van and he went crazy doing this deep bark.

I was really getting anxious and just wanted to get them out of the cages. We continued through Connecticut and saw the sun rise there. It was very beautiful although it started to get very foggy. We entered Massachusetts and kept on trucking, Brittany took over driving somewhere along the way. Things start to get a little bit fuzzy about this time. We went through a lot of tolls and finally entered into New Hampshire. We arrived at our first shelter around 7:30 am. There were a few volunteers there to help us out. Each kennel had clear a plastic envelope with their information in it which had the name of the shelter they were going to written on it. We just started pulling the papers and getting the dogs out one at a time. We transported them to a big fenced in area where they had baby pools full of water. One of the puppies ran straight to one and just laid down in it. They were so happy.

This shelter took most of the puppies. When we were unloading I wasn't paying much attention to anything as I just wanted to get them unloaded as soon as possible. We still had the other half to take to another shelter so we didn't have much time but when we finally had everyone in that group unloaded I stood there for a moment and tried to take it all in. Then I spotted her, my little friend that wouldn't take any water back in West Virginia. Her tail was up as high as possible and wagging and she was playing with everyone. (I'm about to start crying again). I think that might have been my favorite moment of the trip. They told us that they leave them out for most of the day which made me happy to know that they could run around and play. I also made sure to point out my special friend and told them that she should share a kennel with someone else.

I felt very uneasy as we still have the other dogs in the van most of which were the larger ones so I really wanted to move on and get them to our next stop. It was about 30 minutes to the other shelter and our route was through the gorgeous quaint neighborhoods of New Hampshire. I am a little upset that we didn't take any photos but at that point the one and only goal was to get there. But Brittany and I kept telling the pups how lucky they were because this was their new home!

We arrived by about 8 at the New Hampshire SPCA and it was a very nice facility.

They had a lot of people there to help us unload and yet again all I was focused on was getting them unloaded as quickly as possible. Unfortunately as they were unloaded they were taken inside, checked in and then taken to the back into the clinic. I'm sure we could have asked to go see them but we were focusing on cleaning out the van so we didn't get to say goodbye or love on any of the dogs. But that is ok, it isn't about us! About this time is when the reality of the 'ginding noise' started to set it. Also, the van was due for an oil change and the light kept coming on saying that we were low on oil. As much as I wanted to ignore these two issues and just hit the road, I knew that we had to get it checked out.

Part two coming later today!

Here are just a few more photos of the pups!

Home

2009-06-21T19:09:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone, we made it home! I cannot wait to tell you all every single detail about our journey. I am delirious and need to wait until tomorrow when my mind is working a little bit better. But let me say one thing, our trip was absolutely amazing and I would do it again (but not anytime soon)! All I can think about is how happy those 31 dogs are right now! Thanks again for all your support it would be impossible for us to thank all of you enough.

We're Alive!

2009-06-20T18:05:00.002-05:00

We are in our hotel room in Hartford, Conneticut. We have A LOT to share with you guys but for now here is a short update. Once we dropped the dogs off (they were sooooo happy) we decided to get the oil changed on the van because it was due and the oil light was coming on. We also wanted them to check a noise we had been hearing. After sitting at the auto shop for 4 hours we learned that a bearing in the drive shaft was bad.....LONG LONG story which I promise we will tell, but we are now flying home tomorrow. The van has been dropped off to be repaired (parts had to be ordered). In over 80 some trips, ours is the first that something like this has happened! But don't worry donors, we are STILL going to come in under budget. We got both our flights for $300 which is almost what our gas for the second leg would have cost anyway. We can't wait to be home and promise to tell you more later. We are currently at 35+ hours without ANY sleep so we are waiting on our pizza to be delivered and then off to bed we go. Thanks for your support along the way, you guys are amazing!

2009-06-20T09:31:00.001-05:00

dropped off the dogs successfully. getting something on the van checked out. we will update as soon as we have the energy. thank you everyone!

still merry in maryland!

2009-06-19T21:53:00.001-05:00

still merry in maryland!

west virginia. just took a

2009-06-19T21:32:00.001-05:00

west virginia. just took a long stop and gave everyone water. we are a traveling circus!

Put a Leash on it

2009-06-19T18:41:00.001-05:00

The crazy has set in. We have made our own song to the tune of Beyonce's Put a Ring on it. It goes a little something like this....

All our single puppies....
(Alabama) If you liked it, then you shoulda put a leash on it!

Only 11 more hours!

Virginia is for (dog) Lovers

2009-06-19T17:36:00.004-05:00

We are in Virginia now, rollin' though some pretty farm country. We did manage to get some Pals......

We took a pit stop to get some gas and tried to let a few dogs out. It was only simi successful because only two went to the bathroom, the other just wanted to play. And those that didn't get let out seemed a little bitter. But, everyone is happy again and napping. We will be in Virginia for quite a while, the weather is still very nice. Brittany is driving now and I'm going to try to get in a good nap soon so I can drive through the night. I know I don't have to remind any of you, but keep on praying!

Sweet Home Tennessee

2009-06-19T13:33:00.003-05:00

We made our first stop for gas earlier and checked on the pups.... we still have a van full of happy campers!

Update: We are now going through Knoxville, TN! We are only a little over an hour from our hometown , Kingsport, TN! If you have been reading all of our posts, you will know about our excitement about our favorite fast food restaurant- PALS! We have been snacking on healthy foods so far, so we have plenty of room for a fabulous dinner! Dont worry.... we WILL be posting pics of Pal''s!

New Hampshire Bound

2009-06-19T10:38:00.007-05:00

Hello from the road! We finally got settled and thought it was time for a real post with pictures and details. Brooke is driving... so, heres to my first official post!

First of all, we would like to say a huge THANK YOU to a few people:

Our friend Rodney Hightower, who so kindly let us borrow his Verizon Wireless air card so we would have internet access on the road! This is priceless! We are currently blogging while trucking down Interstate 59! Isn't technology amazing?? Thanks Rodney!!!

On our way to the shelter this morning, I surprised Brooke with a 'Shout Out' from my friend Reg who is the morning DJ on Live 100.5. I emailed Reg about our trip yesterday and asked if he would play a Guster song for Brooke and he came through for us! He informed all of the Live 100.5 listeners about the Shelter Partners program and played the Guster song "Happiness" for Brooke! She will thrilled and surprised! Thanks Reg!

We arrived at the Shelby County Humane Society this morning at 9am to find the van already loaded with the pups! Sara at the shelter gave us a notebook with information about the trip as well as a list of the 31 dogs who will be traveling with us.
So far so good! We have been on the road for two hours and the dogs have been extremely quiet! They all look very comfortable and relaxed! There are a couple of barkers, but even those have settled down and are napping now. Out of all the dogs, about 75% of them are young puppies (under 4 months old!). They are all beautiful with sweet personalities and we just cannot imagine how none of them have been adopted!

Just in case you are curious.... the van is very nice! We have way more room and comfort than we had anticipated. The CD player is already coming in handy for the mix cds all of our friends made for us! Logan (Brooke's co-worker)- we are already on track 15 of your cd and we LOVE it!

Please pray for good weather- it's looking like it might be a little rainy up north!

Here are some photos.... more to come later:

We will leave you with a pic of our two friends, Happy Harold and Positive Polly the Parrot (compliments of our friends Valerie and Lauren) who are here to keep us in good spirits!

P.S. About to cross the GA line!! Please feel free to comment- we will be checking often!

on the road!

2009-06-19T09:46:00.001-05:00

so here we are... officially on the road! the 31 pups are doing great and so are the drivers! we will post again soon once we get settled.

We're Off!

2009-06-19T07:51:00.004-05:00

Well, I’m sitting here at home waiting on Brittany to pick me up to drive to Columbiana to pick up the pups and the van. I just wanted to share with all of you some amazing news…. We were able to raise $1,122.57! Wow! When we set up the paypal account I really thought we might get a couple hundred dollars from friends and family but man, you guys sure did step it up. I cannot express to you the feeling I felt every time a donation came in. Especially those from people all across the country who don’t even know us. We will never be able to thank you enough. The average cost of the trip is around $800 but that is including food which Brittany and I are planning to pay for ourselves so I hope that when we get back, we will be able to make quite a nice donation to the Shelter Partners program.

We also have felt so unbelievably lucky to have such wonderful friends and co-workers who made us CD’s and care packages. A big shout out to all of you, whom I’m sure we will be calling and harassing as we make our way through all the wonderful music.

P.S. We got a sweet note from our friend Kristen asking us to show all of you this cutie which is available for adoption at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. If any of you are thinking about adopting, I think she'd be a great candidate!
www.gbhs.org

2009-06-17T15:56:00.003-05:00

I have figured out how to post from my phone so look out, you'll be getting a post with each state line crossed. And probably quite a few in between!

2009-06-17T12:57:00.001-05:00

testing sending text and photos from my phone

Pal's

2009-06-16T10:58:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I know that we talked all this big game about eating healthy on our trip in an attempt to keep our energy up. But, there is going to be one exception..... Pal’s. Lovely, glorious, mouth watering Pal’s.

Pal’s is a fast food restaurant in our home town of Kingsport Tennessee which we will be passing through. In 1956 Pal Barger opened the first Pal’s restaurant and he now has 21 locations throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Pal’s is the most efficient restaurant you will ever visit. A drive thru line that might take 20 minutes at McDonald's will take about 5 at Pal's. They even won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award in 2001 which was presented to them by President Bush. This was (and I believe still is) the first time this award which is usually reserved for manufacturing type companies, was awarded to a restaurant. Unfortunately for us (and you), Pal’s has no plans to franchise. Most of the time, when I go to Kingsport for a visit, I’ll stop by Pal’s before I even go home. My personal record for the most Pal’s eaten in one weekend is almost embarrassing. Especially since they added breakfast items. Whenever Brittany and I have a friend that we know will be passing through Kingsport (a very busy south/north interstate passes right through K-town) on a trip, we make sure that they stop at Pal’s. They are never disappointed. We even got an e-mail from one of those folks when we sent out our blog information. He asked if we would be stopping to get Pal’s for all the dogs. The pups are out of luck but Brittany and I certainly will be enjoying it on our way up north and probably again on our way back south. We suggest that if you are ever around those parts, that you do the same. If not for the food, at least to check out the amazing architecture!

http://www.palsweb.com/

With the exception of the two original locations, they all look like this!

Photos

2009-06-10T16:11:00.000-05:00

We asked friends, family, donors and readers to send us photos of their dogs (most of which are rescues) and here they are. These beautiful faces are the reason we are doing this trip! Send us a photo of yours, we'd love to add more to the list!

Randy's Dillon

Randy's Nebula

Randy's Pepper

Jess and Brett's Sammie

Chace and Josh's Molly

Jimmy's Charlie

Ed & Connie's Brown Bird, PHD (The Professor)

Erika's Paisley and Penelope

Anastasia's Zac

Anastasia's Sunny

Anastasia's Mini Moo

Anastasia's Lina and Elvis

Nikki and Logan's Chance and Josie

Jeff's Charlie

Taylor's Lucy

Taylor's Emmie

Taylor's Charlotte (Charlie)

Rebecca's Poker

Kristen's Norah Belle

Valerie's Lulu, Jack and Millie

Bryn's Charlotte

Brenda's Finn

Guster

2009-06-09T09:04:00.001-05:00

We have been promised a lot of mixed CD’s, although the only person we have actually received one from is our Dad. But to be honest, his is one of the ones I am most excited about! Our Dad started off his career as a DJ at the local radio station back in the 60’s. And from what I hear, he was one cool cat! We requested a mixed CD full of oldies and he didn’t just make us one, he made us three. I can’t wait!

But long with all the mixed CD’s that I’m sure we will be receiving soon, there is one band in particular that we will be blaring on our road up north, Guster.

Those of you that know me know that Guster is my favorite band. I even named my cat after them. They only come around these parts about once every two years and it just so happens that they will be in Birmingham the weekend of our trip. When we started looking at dates, the weekend of the 19th just seemed to work the best for everyone and when I looked at my calendar and saw that it was the same weekend as City Stages, the festival they will be playing at, I decided it would be worth it to skip out on my bi-yearly Guster concert. They actually are playing on Sunday night at 7:30 so there is a small possibility that I would be able to make it. Although something tells me that even if I am back in Birmingham by then, I’ll probably be in bed. But, there is a chance I could catch a second wind. So, if any of you are at City Stages Sunday night and see a tall girl with huge bags under her eyes and smells like dog poo, that’s me! I know Brittany will be kind and let me listen to all the Guster I want on the trip and we shall live by the words from my favorite Guster song, The Captain…

It’s simple so says the Captain

Face forward

Move slow

Forge ahead

The Sprinter!

2009-06-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

We don’t have any photos of the actual Shelter Partners van, but here is a photo of a beautiful blue Dodge Sprinter straight from the Dodge website. Something tells me that our passengers will not be as happy as the models in this photo.

You might recognize the Sprinter, it is the same van that John and Kate drive. Or drove, seems like they are all fancy these days and have ‘drivers’.

If they can (or could) drive 8 screaming kids around in their Sprinter, (I believe I remember an episode where they drove from Pennsylvania to Orlando) seems like we can handle it with 33 barking dogs……maybe.

Food

2009-06-03T09:42:00.000-05:00

We will be on the road for over 40 hours and obviously will be eating a lot of meals along the way. And although neither of us are ashamed of our love of McDonalds, we have decided that in order to keep our energy and spirits up, we probably need to try to eat as healthy as possible on the road. This is pretty much impossible unless we pack a cooler and bring the food with us. From what we hear, there is an extremely limited amount of space but we don’t plan on packing anything other than one change of clothes and shared a bag of toiletries. So, we should be able to fit a cooler up front with us. The only food we have though of so far is some O’Carrs chicken salad. For those of you in Birmingham, I’m sure you know what I am talking about and if not, shame on you, go get some NOW! They sell it by the pound and I think it would be a great snack to take a long. But, other than that we are stumped. Do any of you have some healthy recipes that we could prepare in advance to take along on the trip?

Thank You Erika!

2009-06-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

A huge thank you to Erika of Urban Grace Interiors! She is by far my favorite blogger and we can’t thank her enough for posting about our trip on her blog today. As Erika said, we are trying to raise money, (every dollar counts, no amount to small) but we most of all are so thankful for the encouragement and prayers. And we are dead serious about the mix CD’s!

Erika’s adorable rescue dogs Penelope and Paisley!

Brittany's Fur Babies

2009-06-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

Name: Chloe
Mom: Brittany
Likes: Making new friends, 'human food', play dates, feeling the wind in my fur on car rides, pretending I am a Circus Dog, and sunbathing.
Dislikes: When my mom leaves every morning to go some place she calls "work" (wouldn't she rather stay home and play with me all day??).

Name: Luckie
Mom: Brittany
Likes: Exploring the neighborhood, snuggling with anyone who will snuggle back, wrestling with Chloe, playing in my water bowl, and ruling the roost!
Dislikes: Being told what to do (as I said before: I rule the roost!)

We would love to hear about your Fur Babies! Do any of you have a great rescue pet story? We'd love to hear it! Send us a story and photo to brooke(dot)maness(at)gmail(dot) com!

Brooke’s Furry Friends

2009-06-01T08:47:00.000-05:00

Brittany and I decided we should introduce everyone to our furry friends. I can’t imagine a life without the unconditional love of my pets. If it were up to me I’d have one of every breed but unfortunately I don’t have the space or finances to make that possible. So for now I’ll love on these two.

Name: Jed
Mom: Brooke
Likes: Hunting, hiking, walking, running, fetching, swimming, tormenting Guster, car rides, and playing with my friends.
Dislikes: Getting caught doing something bad.

Name: Guster
Mom: Brooke
Likes: Sleeping, watching lizards outside the window, and playing with any round object. Sometimes I steal fruit off the counter (which I am not supposed to be on) and carry it upstairs and hide it in my mom’s closet.
Dislikes: Being held when I am not in the mood and when Jed just won’t leave me alone.

Up next, Brittany’s crew!

iGive.com

2009-05-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

I just got an e-mail about a great way to contribute to the Shelby Humane Society for FREE! By registering on iGive.com and accessing your favorite online stores from their site, a percentage (up to 26%) of all your purchases will go to the Shelby Humane Society. They have over 700 sites participating including Pottery Barn, Snapfish, Endless, Amazon.com, Gap, Banana Republic, iTunes, Ballad Designs, Best Buy and soooo many more. Many participants also run specials for iGive shoppers such as free shipping. All you need to do is use this link to register

http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?causeid=17987

Happy Shopping!

Q&A

2009-05-27T11:18:00.000-05:00

We had the pleasure of meeting with Mary and Jennifer yesterday after work. They are both on the Young Professionals of Birmingham board with Brittany and have done the Shelter Partners trip together. We are so appreciative that they took time out of their day to tell us about their experience and answer all of our questions. Although there were a few ‘negatives’ (like how bad the van and you smell), Mary and Jennifer had a very positive experience. So much so that Jennifer has done the trip 2 more times! It was wonderful to hear that they had such a good time and not only made it back safely, but with their friendship intact! Claustrophobia, exhaustion, and hunger can bring out the worst in anyone and I (Brooke) must admit that I am slightly worried. Brittany and I get along amazingly well, but I will be praying extra hard for patience and a good attitude!

Thank You!

2009-05-21T17:51:00.001-05:00

We have received our first sponsorship! Our Mom’s book club has decided to sponsor a dog on our trip. We are beyond excited and it is starting to feel like reality. Thank you ladies for your incredible generosity!

It's Official!

2009-05-20T11:46:00.000-05:00

Well, it is official. We will be leaving on June 19th and will be back (hopefully) sometime June 21st. We will be traveling first to Stratham, NH and then on to Dover, NH for a grand total of 20 hours. We are asking all our friends to make us mixed CD’s just like in the old days for our long journey. Feel free to contribute, we will take all we can get!

Our Route

2009-05-19T11:06:00.000-05:00

We are not sure which of the partner shelters we will be delivering the dogs to, but here is a map from the Shelby County shelter to Nashua, NH.

Great Info

2009-05-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

Here are some great articles and a video that provide more information about the Shelter Partners program.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/01/20/dogs_in_south_escape_death_thanks_to_friends_in_other_regions/?page=1

http://www.uab.edu/kscope/kaleidoscope-article-658.html

Shelter Partners

The Beginning.....

2009-05-18T14:28:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog! We have been talking about participating in the Shelter Partners program for over a year now and when it came up at our ‘sisterly bonding’ dinner last week we decided it was time.

For those of you who have not heard of this program, let us fill you in. Because of the strict spay and neuter laws in New Hampshire most of their shelters actually have a shortage of adoptable dogs. What a great problem to have! So, volunteers (that would be us) drive 19-23 hours with 33 dogs in a van from the overcrowded Shelby County Humane Society here in Alabama to a partner shelter in New Hampshire. From what we have learned, all the dogs are typically adopted within a matter of days! We are both a little nervous but most of all excited about this awesome journey. The trip costs $750-$850 which is usually paid for by donations to the Shelby County Humane Society. But, we really want to try to raise all or some of the money ourselves. There is a donate button on the right side of this page where you can donate any amount of money. Or, click on the link to the right that says ABOUT SHELTER PARTNERS and you can pay $50 to sponsor a dog from our trip. Just be sure and let Jennifer know that you would like to sponsor a dog from our trip which as of now is set for June 19th. We hope to keep you all updated throughout the planning process and along the way. And we also hope to have many posts once we get back and start receiving information about the adoption of our dogs.

Most of all, we ask for your prayers. This is going to be a long journey physically, emotionally and mentally and we will need all the help we can get leading up to and especially throughout our journey. 33 days and counting!