We're home. Last night at about 6pm we arrived at the shelter here in Boise. We helped unload the dogs, all of whom were in pretty good shape by then, walking them a bit and moving them all into cages inside the building. The other two trucks of dogs had arrived the day before, and so between them all we took up a bit of space.
Needless to say, it was strange and not very easy to leave that place. We'd grown attached to these dogs, felt responsible for them, and it was sad and disconcerting to leave them in cages and just go home. But we did, eventually, after many lengthy goodbyes, and we went home to baffle Gus and Henry with the stew of dog odors we'd been living in for the past few days. They were fascinated, though somewhat aloof and put-off.
We spent the night in our own bed, clean, and it was fantastic. Strange, though, to suddenly be at home, for the whole thing to be over, a vivid and surreal dream.
We had no internet access along the way, so I'm putting this together from notes and text documents we made along the way and posting them in chronological order. Unfortunately, we were so busy on this trip, so consumed during any stop or down time with taking care of these dogs and not losing our minds that we didn't get a chance to take many photographs. When you're scrambling in and out of the back of a truck and fighting the clock to keep from having to clean out any more crates than is absolutely necessary, or pressing hard forward to get over the next pass before the weather gets really bad, taking snapshots gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list.
This has been one of the best and one of the most horrible experiences I've ever had. But what it comes down to now is whether it was all worth it. These dogs need homes. That's been the point all along, and it'd be a shame to think they endured this trip for nothing.
