28 and No One Was Left Behind
Rhonda Miles invites us in on her regular tour…
We started doing this regular run a year or so ago, with me flying my Skywagon at 5am from Chattanooga, TN to Savannah, GA. There I pick up a load of dogs from Diane Abolt with the Savannah Animal Control.
Then I fly to French Lick, IN to meet Mike Selwa in his Cessna 172. Mike takes the load and continues to Clintonville, WI. There, he meets Amanda Reitz who then takes the pups to her Sanctuary, Happily Ever After in Marion, WI.
The ideal situation would be Mike doing the first leg because his plane doesn’t haul as much as mine. I have always been afraid that I would get to Indiana and have 1 too many crates full of dogs. The only thing to do would be to continue on to Wisconsin with Mike in formation. I was a bit antsy when I had 17 dogs one time but was not disappointed with Mike’s ability to jigsaw puzzle the crates in that 172.
Well, Diane and Amanda decided to challenge Mike and I again.. Sunday, we were able to fit 28 pups in my plane and then transfer to Mike’s with his trip home including one crate empty. My 81 year old Dad again went along as dog wrangler.
We had 9 hours of flight time, many poops, one puke, and one escapee during flight. And I think if I do it right, I can get 50 pups in my plane, but I bet Mike will make me fly all the way to Wisconsin with that load… LOL !!!