No Elvis in Memphis, but plenty of dogs!

Okay this is coming with such a massive delay I can't be expected to remember everything! I'm just trying to catch up with the now asap!
I left my grandparents on Monday and drove the 5 hour drive to Memphis, TN. We checked into a motel (quite the dump!) and I was a bit scared when Dracu would stand most of the night at the door and growl... Luckily everything was quiet and my truck was where I had left it in the evening! Also I was at Wal-Mart and just walking back to my car next to a couple with a cart. Out of nowhere this lady backed her huge SUV right at us! We jumped out of the way just in time but she knocked the couples cart over so it was really close! And believe or not, she jumps out and starts yelling at us how it was not HER fault!!! Not a single "sorry" or are we okay.

That's something I've noticed about a lot of Americans. Nothing is their fault, someone else is always to blame. Someone made them do it or they could not help it. They are not responsible for anything. Jumping a bit in time, I was trying to get some sleep at the first night at Nationals around midnight when a lady in a stall next to me starts blow drying her dog! I get up and tell her I'm trying to sleep and it's pretty late so could she do it in the morning. And guess what she said: "It's not my fault there is all this noise, this is not my dog!" So because she does not own the dog she can't be blamed for anything she does with it? What kind of logic is that??

Anyway, Tuesday morning we pack up and drive to downtown Memphis. I park the car (of course later I notice it was to most expensive parking lot, go figure...) and walk around with Dracu. I got a hint from Ally Bryant about a lady called Andrea Hoffman who lives in the area and I went to meet her at her work place in downtown. Otherwise we just walked around looking. Can't say I'm a fan of Memphis... Downtown was pretty dead, and the black men where coming onto me a lot. Lucky I had Dracu, people seemed to think twice before approaching us! After wandering aimlessly around for a few hours I drove to Andrea's farm where I also met her roommate Tish Brockmire, who believe it or not, breeds Finnish Lapphunds! (Suomenlapinkoira) It was pretty weird seeing this Finnish dog (and a Finnish import!) all the way in Tennessee!

This cool house houses college students! I'm green with envy...

Yeah that's a firetruck!

The yellow schoolbus is NOT just a Hollywood invention! They are everywhere :O

They don't make riverboats like this in Finland!

I ended up spending two nights with Andrea and Tish. Andrea was kind enough to let me have her bed and she got the couch. Me and Dracu even got some herding lessons with the sheep which was really cool! I got a lot good points of how to work distance onto her. I got to watch all Andrea's aussies work and it was real cool. It's so nice to see the dogs in real life work, not only trials. We also did some agility, I showed them some Finnish handling and vise verse. And of course we spent hours just chatting about dogs, training, breeding etc.

They also took me out to eat at Taco Bell for the first time ever! Tish told our cashier I was a Taco Bell virgin and she was stunned! Called all the workers to see the girl who had never been to Taco Bell and they were amazed we have no Taco Bells in Finland! She even brought us some free dessert! Must try this again ;D Tish took me around a bit on Wednesday and we had a great time. The only not so nice experience (but fun for Andrea and Tish!) was when I met Peking the duck! Tish had told me about her being a guard duck and chasing some lady out of their yard and I could see why someone would flee from that duck! It was scary as hell, making all kind of weird noises and looking really weird :O



Big American smile at Taco Bell

Peking the duck...

Love that shirt! Thanks Donna!

I really liked Andrea's dogs, she breeds with a kennel name Istari. Her lines are based on Twin Oaks and a little something else. I was specially taken with her super fast girls Lin and Lizzy and fast & sweet boy Motley. But they sure had a fun pack! Thanks again guys for having me!