This sweet dog is Luc. (Rhymes with Farouk.) Four-years-old, 100 pounds, a French working dog typically utilized for rounding up sheep. Lots of character, extremely faithful and protective. He invests summertimes with us in Maine. Lucky dog.
The drive from Hilton Head, SC, where Luc and we live the majority of the year, to Wiscasset, where we are summertime individuals, has to do with 1,200 miles. Google Maps approximates it’s an18-hour journey, with about 120 miles o that on good old dreadful I-95
Luc generally enjoys to ride in the car. Upsy-daisy onto the rear seats when he’s prepared, Freddy. No hyperventilating, no barking, no smearing the windows.
He’s made the round-trip with us 3 times. We stop at dog-friendly hotels, taste the regional pizza and get up and gone at dawn the next early morning. We travel on weekends and change driving tasks every 3 hours or two.
Luc sleeps the majority of the method, we can’t do that. And although we have actually made the journey lots of times (with other dogs consisted of) it’s ended up being a bit much. Donna doesn’t rely on other drivers and is particular among those morons in the buzzing little black Kia is going to take a header off a guardrail and put us in jeopardy.
So, we’ve dealt with reality. The drive is excessive for us. The challenge … how do we get Luc to Maine if we don’t drive him? He is too huge to fly in an airline company’s dog crate. Amtrak ’s weight limitation, consisting of cage, is 20 pounds. We are wary of utilizing a family pet transportation service and even if a significant airline company would ticket Luc we ‘d fidget thinking about the boy in the freight bay.
So, we worked with Andy, a mutual friend, who enjoys dogs, to drive Donna’s car with Luc in it, while we made the journey by air.
Naturally we fidgeted about the dog being who-knew-where on the journey. So we connected an Apple Air tag to his collar to track the car and Andy. Unfortunately, Route 95 measured up to its track record and our previous experiences. What need to have been a 12-hour journey the very first day in fact ended up being 14 hours. But Andy rolled with it. The 2nd day’s drive was much shorter, however naturally it was still difficult for Andy. On the 2nd day, after another 8 hours of driving, they increased our driveway in Maine. To each’s relief.
BUT … here’s the remainder of the story – however it’s not ended up. Andy was scheduled to fly back south on the 3rd day while Luc stuck with us in Maine He had a morning flight, which indicated we needed to get up at 430am to get to Savannah for Andy to make his return home. Donna was the driver, and it looked like a good concept opponent everyone to go to the airport to see our friend Andy, off. Not a good concept. Fearing a possible THIRD day of travel, even with his brand-new friend, Andy, Luc would have none of it. He declined to get in the car. And when a hundred-pounder doesn’t wish to move … well, it doesn’t. Luc returned into your house while we headed for the airport. It took a couple of days for Luc to be comfy and calm down.
We question what it’s going to resemble when we head south in October. Will Luc freak when he sees Andy? Will Luc choose to remain in Maine for the winter season? Like I said, the story’s not over. Stay tuned.
