Visiting Room 229

We had a hotel room for the Ride-In.  Down the hall there were three more members of Women On Wheels®.  I bumped into them one night when Cooper and I were outside doing a poop walk.  He heard their bikes before I did.  

I introduced us after they parked then we talked a little.  I told them I was with another member.  They invited us to their room so Lisa could meet them too.

During our visit, of course everyone wanted to take pictures of Cooper.  He was being really cute laying on their floor.  One of the ladies wanted a good picture of him so I laid on the floor with her camera.

I wish I had the picture I took.  It was much cuter than this picture is but you can imagine.

The Barkery Bistro

How Great is this?!  A store in South Carolina JUST FOR DOGS!  Not that they aren't starting to pop up as great new specialty shops, but this was just want Cooper needed.

Especially after all the traveling and hot weather.  An air conditioned store where he got to sniff and meet other dogs.

He had so much fun here.  I even bought him a new collar. 

We left his card on the bulletin board and the woman took his picture.  She said she is going to put his picture on their web site. 

cookies!!!!!

I found their web site...

The Barkery Bistro - Welcome

... but I didn't find his pictures there. 

Then I found their FaceBook page... 

The Barkery Bistro

... there he was!  Take a look for yourself.  They posted two pictures on July 11th.

Grape NeHi

Lisa bought me a soda.  A Grape Nehi.  It was delicious!

I would have loved to bring one home for Jesse but I've found from experience that transporting soda isn't always successful.  Sometimes the vibration can cause the soda to build up too much pressure and POW!!!

Mast General Store SC

What a fun store!  This is kind of like half Life Is Good, half Vermont Country Store.  It was so much fun to walk through.  The front half of the store was t-shirts and fun gifts and the back of the store is old time toy store and penny candy store.

They even had an upstairs where they had all kinds of great footwear that you don't find in regular stores.  I loved it in there.

I would like to go back but it's in South Carolina.

Lunch With Pam & Lisa

We had lunch with Pam at the National Women On Wheels® Ride-In.

We met her for the first time in Vermont at the 2010 Ride-In.  We spent quite a bit of time with her there.  Last year we spent time with her again in California at the 2011 Ride-In.  This year in South Carolina Cooper seemed to recognize her.  He amazes me sometimes.

 We had lunch together.

We had a table with four chairs. One for me, one for Lisa, one for Pam and one for a very well behaved Cooper.  

Quilt Raffle

At the National Women On Wheels® Ride-In, there was a hand made quilt being displayed for raffle.  I bought tickets but didn't win it.

I thought it would be a great back drop for some nice pictures of Cooper.  There were too many things on the table for him to agree to sit.

That's kind of funny... because at home he sits on stuff all the time.

National Women On Wheels® Welcome Desk

Cooper has known Becca since he was about 2 months old.  He recognizes her right away. 

She actually lives 10 minutes from us, but this time we rode all the way to SC to see our Becca. 

Becca is the current national president of Women On Wheels®.  She has been on the Board Of Trustees for years so she usually works the welcome desk at the annual Ride-In.

Cooper greets her like this each year.  He loves his life long friend.

Ride-In Greetings

Cooper is becoming a familiar face now with Women On Wheels.

This year they greeted him by name.

Some still ask about him but not nearly as many as before.

Here we are at the welcome area of Women On Wheels® National Ride-In of 2012 in Greenville South Carolina.

He sure does have some friends here!

Some Scratchin' Goin' On

Cooper loves to have his body scratched.  He's really happy to have me rub and scratch him all over.  When he has to wear his riding harness for the majority of the day this is an even more valuable activity to him. 

He REALLY appreciates a good scrubbing.

Meeting New Friends

At one of our stops we got to meet another dog and a couple of kids.  The dog didn't appreciate Cooper's over-friendly approach so I leashed him to let the other dog have his space while I filled ice bags.  

One of the kids thought it would be fun to have his picture taken with Cooper.  I wish I remembered his name.  It was a really unique name.  My hands were wet when they said his name so I couldn't make a note in my phone.  Maybe he'll see this and they can tell me his name.  :)

Sometimes Cooper Won't Listen

When Cooper won't listen I sometimes have to loop his leash over something to keep him near while we pack our bikes.    

If the smells are intense or there is a lot to investigate he would rather do that than stay close.    

He doesn't look TOO unhappy... does he?

Raaahrrrrr!

We went shopping and this big bear was in the store.  

PHOTO OPP!  

What do you think?

Exhausted

Some days are SO HOT.  

Some days we ride SO MANY MILES.

Some days we get SO TIRED.

Some days THIS was what the end of the day looks like.

Under The Over Pass

As we got to SC we came up on some incredible rain.  It didn't start too heavily but became impossible to travel in.  There were heavy downpours with thunder and lightening.  We pulled under the overpass with another biker.  We didn't get the other biker's name, but we got to talk for about half an hour about our travels.  He's ridden some fantastic roads in some great states.  

I was sorry not to have given him one of Cooper's blog cards.  We were all wearing rain gear so it would have been really hard to get one out of my pocket and it would have gotten soaked.  

When the rain started to slow a little we decided to brave the elements.  We didn't have far to go to get to our hotel, so we just wanted to push on.

As far as how Cooper handled this whole thing goes, all I can say is that he didn't like it any more than we did but he got to stay drier than we did.  He was in his crate and the only reason he got wet at all is because he can't resist taking a look, so he would poke his head out and get it wet.  His body stayed dry.  Lucky dog.

Getting A Good Drink

Cooper getting a drink at one of our 100 mile stops.

Yum

Such A Cutie!

You never know who you're going to bump into when we stop at a rest stop.  I love when other people have a dog.  Cooper loves the puppies.  

This one is SO CUTE!  Cooper got along with him right away.  They sniffed each other for a few minutes then just followed and played a little bit.

  

This one was a very fun visit for Cooper.