ETA: I no longer recommend Camp Bow Wow.

Zane and Arran had their “test” at Camp Bow Wow in San Antonio yesterday.  This test involves a three hour trial, where staffers determine whether or not the dog will be suitable for “camp”.  Indeed, the dogs are referred to as “campers” and come home with a little certificate that shows they passed the test.  Zane and Arran are pretty easygoing dogs and they’ve been boarded a few times.  They did fine at Camp Bow Wow and are all set to stay there while we attempt our hop.

Hopefully, we’ll have good luck and get to go somewhere interesting.  But when Bill and I travel, interesting things usually happen.  The last time we took a hop, we ran into a flash mob in Luxembourg, as well as a high school band from Munich.  A drunk man was trying hard to “conduct” as the band played in the gazebo in Luxembourg City.  The funny thing is, we went to Luxembourg in 2009 and never expected to ever go back there.  We went back in 2012 just by chance.

We also went to Salzburg, Austria and got caught in the rain… and delighted a local restaurant owner when we stopped in for lunch and came back later to get out of the rain.  We passed the time by drinking lots of Austrian beer.

Anyway, I do feel better about leaving the dogs now.  When we lived in North Carolina, we had a great place for the dogs and I knew they took great care of them.  I think Camp Bow Wow, while a touch on the corporate side, has good folks working there.  The dogs obviously had a blast there yesterday and were pretty much knocked out for the night.

Knowing they are taken care of makes it easier to have a good time on our trip.

I still don’t know where we’ll go.  I have a feeling we’ll start our trip in Germany, though it’s still possible we’ll go to the Azores at least for a couple of days.  I’d be delighted if we ended up in Spain or Italy… though I am still a little Italy-ed out.  Half the fun and excitement of this upcoming trip is the prospect of where we might go.  For all I know, we could end up going to the West Coast or even Hawaii.

Here’s a word on Space A…  A couple of years ago, I joined Dirk Pepperd’s Web site for Space A.  It was free until very recently, when Pepperd moved his site to a new location.  Free memberships are still possible, though for either $29.95 or $39.95 for a year, you can get enhanced access to the site and you can use it as often as you need or want to.  If you have a free membership, you don’t get full access and are limited to a certain time limit per month.  I got a premium subscription because I think the site is worth it.  It’s full of very useful information and time and money saving tips.  Of course, it’s only for people who can use Space A travel.

Anyway, as the time draws nearer, I will post more… hard to believe I could be recovering from jet lag in a week.  Here’s hoping something interesting happens.