Date: 2008-05-15
From: Troutdale Baptist Church Hostel

To: Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0

Trail Days in Damascus, VA.Last night was great. The folks at Troutdale Baptist offer a wonderful hostel. We had a great nights sleep in a dry warm building with a nice place to wash up in the morning.By 9 AM we were headed down to Jerry's Kitchen to meet up with Jerry for our shuttle into Marion. It was a busy morning for Jerry, but he got us into town and we rented a car. From there we drove to our hotel room, checked in, and headed to Damascus. Never having been to Trail Days before we weren't quite sure what to expect. Our plan was to pick up our boxes from the post office, get the schedule of activities and decide what to do from there.We got the boxes, drove around town to get a feel for where everything is...that took ten minutes...driving slow. We checked out the outfitters and Owl and Tigger bought hiking skirts. (I've never been a trendsetter before!) There were two things on the schedule we wanted to do, the pet show and the free dinner at the Baptist Church. The pet show didn't start until 5:30, so we had a lot of time to blow.Finally 5:30 came and we went to the ball courts at the end of town to check out the pet show...turned out to be a dog show, though there was one goat and one cat. We looked at the categories and realized there wasn't much Roo would fit into...she's not a senior, not a puppy, not a mutt... we all laughed at "Obedience/Trick". We signed her up for Trail Dog (she lost at that one because she only has 523 miles so far and there were more experienced trail dogs competing). We came in 3rd for owner/pet look-a-like with our matching pink and purple bandannas. We also came in third for playing with a toy, though she almost blew it. Actually the whole court went a little crazy. All the dogs wanted each other's toys. It was funny.The best part though was as we were sitting there waiting for other categories Roo was getting restless so I had Owl bring me some of her favorite treats. As soon as I had them she immediately sat. Then I remembered, we do have a good trick, so we quickly signed up for Obedience/Trick. First she sits, then she 'pounds it' (hits my fist with her paw), then I lay a treat on the ground and say ¢leave it¢. She'll stare intently like a hawk over its prey... but she won't take the treat until I say ¢this is River's¢. She really impressed them... and won first place! In Obedience/Trick! We were all very proud...and just a little surprised.From there we made our way across town to the First Baptist Church. We had picked up free tickets for a dinner they were serving. Our tickets were for 6:00, but we had missed that because the dog show went for so long, but they let us in with the 7:00 group. What an awesome dinner and a great ministry.   The food was excellent, the people were friendly and they had fun music playing while we ate. Before they let us in they talked a little about why they were doing this and said a prayer that I thought really showed their heart for the gospel and sharing it with the hikers. Very well done.After dinner, we were done. We loaded back in the car and headed to the hotel. I have to say I'm very glad to be in a hotel bed rather than tent city tonight. Tomorrow morning we are heading in early for checkups... vet check for Roo and med checks for the rest of us¢¦ all free for hikers and their dogs. It'll be good to see how we're all doing.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9