The Trip Home...

Our route home yesterday included the segment of U.S. 395 that stretches from the town of John Day to the Oregon/California border. All of these photos were taken along that stretch, which includes some tremendously varied flora, fauna, and geology. As always, click on a thumbnail to get a larger version. Counting from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, here are a few comments on the photos:

1. Between John Day and Burns, storm clouds over fields of grass...

2, 3, 4. Between John Day and Burns, white birch in their fall colors...

5. Stretch of U.S. 395 south of Burns, looking south down the rift-made steppes and into the storm...

6. South of Burns, looking north along U.S. 395, with a shadowed rift escarpment visible under the brooding storm clouds...

7. Lake Abert, a mineral-laden alkalai lake under the Abert Rift escarpment. The lake is home to many migratory and resident birds, including geese, phalaropes, and avocets. The plains are home to prong-horn antelope, deer, and elk. The escarpment is home to a large population of bighorn sheep. There is much more life here than one might imagine when zipping by this high desert community of sage, pinyon pine, and desert cedar...

8. Prong-horn antelope, grazing without apparent concern in a farmer's field...

9, 10. Migratory cranes, which gathered by the hundreds in many different places along our route...

Race...

Race is a purebred Border Collie, six months old and completely untrained (in anything, not just agility). He arrived in our household early this morning. Already he's the playful companion of our three field spaniels, and starting to get introduced to our cats. We've seen no bad behaviors (aggressiveness, shyness, etc.) to worry about at all, which is a very pleasant surprise. He slept in a crate last night with no problems, another very pleasant surprise.

Today Debbie started his training. He's getting a little crate training and some real basic obedience stuff. He's a fast learner – Debbie's having great fun with him already.
Here are a few first-day photos of Race...

Checking In...

At 2:15 this morning, Debbie and I rolled back into our yard. This marked the finish of a marathon road trip, from Jamul to John Day, Oregon, and back The purpose of this craziness? We picked up the newest addition to our menagerie: “Race” – a six month old Border Collie puppy.

We left early on Friday morning, and drove the 1100 miles to John Day in 19 hours. We met Angie and her son Clay (the young fellow who raised the litter of puppies Race was part of) that evening, and got Race. We also picked up Race's brother “Sarge”, whom we were delivering to another new owner in the Los Angeles area. Then we went to bed for a few hours, got up at 4 am on Saturday morning, had a wonderful breakfast cooked by Angie's mom, and then we were back on the road again by 6 am. Twenty hours and 1100 miles later, we rolled back into our yard.

You could say we were a little tired, but that wouldn't even begin to describe it.

More later, including some photos of Race and the trip...