Preparing for Noelle's journey to me

Well, we committed to it, and we are preparing. Noelle and Arthur are moving north, driving nearly 1,000 miles from her home state, through 5 states and into a 6th one. We have 5 days to prepare. How to getthem here? What will they need when they arrives? How to get them here? Did I mention how to get them here?

As you can well imagine, forefront on my mind was how to get Noelle , at that time called Babee, and Arthur to my house from a point nearly 1,000 miles and 6 states away! It is no small undertaking, and of course life was busy rolling along as well. A life that included me working my job on weekends, hubby working his on weekdays, 3 kids all in different schools, and no time to arrange for anyone to have off. Shall we also, mention that the one vehicle large enough to transport dogs comfortably, not to mention my family, was being uncooperative at the moment? Of course, that's just the icing on the cake. I had a van that would go, but wouldn't stop. Not only was my front brake bad (not both, just one - I just replaced them 2 months previously), but apparently the wheel cylinders were leaking AND there was a hole in the brake line. Go figure, but of course....that's life for ya! Always unpredictable!

To further add chaos to my life, my work was putting together a float for a local parade. Not just any float, but a float that involved living breathing dogs, with their handlers riding on top. Of course after nearly a week of gloriously warm weather (for November anyway) the weather was predicted to be just plain nasty....rainy and cold. So there I am, on Wed, trying to figure out how to move this dog 100's of miles (x10), helping my friend weather proof. brainstorm, and gather last minute items for the float; while I'm fighting off my first cold of the season. Sorry folks, not trying to gather pity, really. Just setting the stage for the insanity of that week, and to properly show just how grateful I was for two friends volunteering to transport these two lucky dogs from the shelter all the way to me themselves! Oh I don't care to know what would have become of Noelle if it hadn't been for them.

B agreed to pick Noelle, than Babee, up at the shelter and Arthur from his Grandma's house. Than leave to drive north early Saturday morning. She met M and L 600+ miles away at around 8 PM that evening. B than went and stayed with a friend for the weekend while M and L drove Noelle the rest of the way to me. A quick unexpected detour through a 7th state had them arriving at my home around 2 AM. Everyone was exhausted and quickly fell asleep with the exception of the dogs who after being cooped up for nearly 20 hours had some nervous energy to burn. It was great meeting M for the first time! I had previously met L on another transport, but that day was exceptional freezing cold so we didn't visit for long. We had a wonderful morning chatting with each other and visiting before M and L drove nearly 8 hours back home.



Several wonderful and caring friends unselfishly took a good bit of time out of their lives for Noelle. I'm sure they were just as busy as I was that weekend. They had plans, families, jobs, lives, pets and kids just like I did. They dropped everything on short notice, got in their cars, and drove into areas they'd never been, went through states they'd never been to, and stayed at people's houses they'd never met! All to save these dogs lives! I'm so grateful to be able to call these people my friends.