Another Pictureless Trip Report

We're so far behind maintaining our blog. We've been really busy experiencing things on our trip and haven't always had Internet access.

I last wrote from my brother's. We had a really nice weekend there visiting with the family. Molly didn't perceive his dogs as playmates, but she did try to herd the golden retriever. I'm not really sure what she thought of his smaller puppy. I think she was too busy herding the GR to notice her.

From there, we headed to the Smoky Mountains, where we had a cabin reserved. We spent Monday driving through the park, including one of the back roads. We saw 3 black bears on the backroad and turkeys, deer, and other wildlife in the rest of the park. Molly worked at some of our stops and just came along on leash at some of the others. She behaved really well and played SD ambassador with many of the other guests.

We ran into a lot more of those "I can't talk to you because you are working" people, but also met several who were very respectful of her SD status and either asked to pet her or refrained from giving her too much attention. While DH and I sat on the porch at one place, she got to talk to a few people, including a nice woman who really wanted to pet her but had refrained from asking because Molly was in her vest. We met a lot of people who knew she was a BC or asked... some hadn't realized there were tricolor BCs.

Tuesday we went to Cherokee to the museum and some shops there. Molly worked in the museum and one of the shops and did really well. She did get a bit frustrated with all the other people around, especially those who talked to her in silly voices and disturbed her. The floor outside the bathroom in the museum was a rough stone tile, so when I took Molly with me and couldn't get my wheelchair over the edge, she did get rather upset on my behalf. After Cherokee, we took a scenic drive back through the park then did some shopping in Pigeon Forge. Molly got to relax in the car while we shopped because I felt like she needed a break when she'd gotten so frustrated earlier.

Then Wednesday we headed to Nashville. I don't remember all the details of stops and when Molly worked or didn't.

Wednesday night Molly stayed crated in the hotel while we went out to dinner at Wildhorse Saloon. We brought a doggy bag back for her that we added to her meals the next two days.

Thursday was a long hard day for Miss Molly. She started working around 9am at the Country Music Hall of Fame and stayed on duty until about 4 that afternoon. She was perfectly behaved through the entire Hall of Fame. Then we walked through the park with the walk of fame in it and gave her a chance to potty.

Then came a more challenging bit--we headed up to Broadway to find a place for lunch. There was live music and she still settled nicely under the table. We gave her a bunch of ice cubes, which she loved. Then after lunch we rolled back to the car. She was really hot then and seemed to be hurting her feet on the hot asphalt and sidewalks. I was kicking myself for having left her booties in the car. But as long as we kept moving she was fine and she was happy to get into the car again. For a last stop, we went to the Tennessee State Museum. We were running on a tight schedule because of parking difficulties and rather regret not having had mroe time to enjoy the well-made exhibits. Molly, however, was tired and I think rather happy when we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

She was so beat that she got the evening off to relax and sleep in her crate while we went out to dinner. We fed her more of the doggy bag and she ate really well.

Friday was a long driving day and for the most part I slept through things and so did she. We made short stops at two Indian mounds though. She worked at the first one and got to be a dog on a leash at the second.

Then we went to a Cracker Barrel for dinner. The place was really crowded, so Molly really had a chance to show me how much she had learned from her training session with Erin and all her experience. She did very well ignoring the other people, even children, and just focused on her job.

Now today we are heading to a powwow and she will be working as long as we are there. Tomorrow is Cass Railroad and more work for Miss Molly.