Amanda and her team, full of optimism before the terrible practice session
After all of our very successful practices, today's was
pretty disasterous. We spotted the sheep about 200 yards out on the hill so we
could run uphill, as we will at Soldier Hollow. Unfortunately, the sheep
blended into the brush and tall grass so successfully that our dogs all ran out
about 400 yards and totally missed them. We spent a frustrating hour at this, finally got in a couple of moderately good 100-yard gathers, and called it
quits before it got any worse.
Amanda attempting to locate Clive, who was trying to find the
nearly invisible sheep. Major frustration for dog and handler.
We were met at the bottom of the hill by a women in a big
flatbed truck who had a herd of cattle coming down the road toward us. It
seems three fields of cattle had gotten mixed together and loose. They had them
all rounded up and were putting them in the field next to our campers, until
they could get them sorted.
Cattle coming down the road
So Amanda, Marie, and I guarded the possible
escape routes while 150 cows and their accompanying bulls and calves wandered
past.
A nice photo op for the tourists.
Once the excitement ended we headed out for Utah. It's
only a 250 mile, drive but it's mountainous and secondary roads, so it's a hard
haul.
3:00 though and we were parking at Soldier Hollow. It's
always so exciting to arrive at a trial, with all that potential success so
tantalizingly close.
Herbert Holmes called me to say that he and his wife Alison had lost a
wheel on the camper and were running late. So I held them a parking spot as it
gets a bit crowded in the handler parking. Nice to see friends I only get to
visit with once or twice a year.
It's 9:00 now and handlers are still pulling in. Been out
to see the field. It's the driest I've ever seen it here. Today was quite warm--80s--and tomorrow is forecast to be even hotter. The sun here is really harsh
and makes it feel about ten degrees warmer than the thermometer thinks it is.
The shade is usually pretty comfortable, but of course the poor dogs will be
running up that big hill in the hot sun.
Soldier Hollow trial field
Soldier Hollow has a web site so you can follow all of our
fortunes tomorrow. We start running at 8:00 mountain time. Wish us luck.