Photos

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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!