We awoke early on Friday morning and loaded the van with all of our gear: clothing, show whites, fitting equipment, and coolers of food and drink. We headed over to the Tollmann's where we loaded up Heather and Mrs. Tollmann, and all their gear. We were officially on the road to Kentucky for the National American Dairy Goat Association show just after 6:30 AM.
It was a pretty uneventful ride. The typical near misses with 18 wheelers and the crazy drivers who were talking on their cellphones while eating a burger and reading a map. We had great weather for the trip. Mrs. Tollmann won "Yellow Car, I Win" as we entered Louisville around 10 PM.
Our hotel was great and the next morning we discovered that we were literally a stone's throw from the arena where all the activities would be taking place. The complimentary breakfast included hot fresh waffles, biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, and Heather's favorite: Peach juice!
We learned a lot our first day. When the schedule says all youth must be registered by 11:30 AM, they mean youth with animals. Youth without animals don't need to be checked in until 2PM. The kids don't need to wear their show whites for the judging competition or the knowledge test. The fitting team needed a group name and a sign stating that name. So since we had two hours before we had to check in, we went looking for a Staples to buy markers and poster board. Matilda (that's what we had named our GPS unit) lead us in a quick circle before steering us to a Staples that was shuttered. We re-entered the info and Matilda once again lead us in some circles before directing us to a Staples that was open. We returned to the hotel where we ate sandwiches from our coolers since the food vendors at the show didn't open until Sunday.
It was a pretty uneventful ride. The typical near misses with 18 wheelers and the crazy drivers who were talking on their cellphones while eating a burger and reading a map. We had great weather for the trip. Mrs. Tollmann won "Yellow Car, I Win" as we entered Louisville around 10 PM.
Our hotel was great and the next morning we discovered that we were literally a stone's throw from the arena where all the activities would be taking place. The complimentary breakfast included hot fresh waffles, biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, and Heather's favorite: Peach juice!
We learned a lot our first day. When the schedule says all youth must be registered by 11:30 AM, they mean youth with animals. Youth without animals don't need to be checked in until 2PM. The kids don't need to wear their show whites for the judging competition or the knowledge test. The fitting team needed a group name and a sign stating that name. So since we had two hours before we had to check in, we went looking for a Staples to buy markers and poster board. Matilda (that's what we had named our GPS unit) lead us in a quick circle before steering us to a Staples that was shuttered. We re-entered the info and Matilda once again lead us in some circles before directing us to a Staples that was open. We returned to the hotel where we ate sandwiches from our coolers since the food vendors at the show didn't open until Sunday.
Samantha before the judging competition
Hannah before the judging competition
Abigail before the judging competition We returned to the arena for the judging competition and the knowledge test. From what we could see it appeared that Samantha was the youngest one to compete in those events. Mrs. Tollmann and I sat on the sidelines and made our own judging picks and actually did quite well! Samantha picked the correct first and last place juniors! The other girls couldn't remember how they had placed them. We're hoping the results get posted somewhere.
Those test ended at 5PM which gave us two hours before the Youth pizza party. We had discovered that one person from Massachusetts that we know had arrived at the show so Weston and the girls hung out on the bleachers and studied the ADGA scorecard while Mrs. Tollmann and I got lost Louisville looking for a decent place to eat. We ended up settling on the Arby's next door to our hotel. Matilda was no help...
After the pizza party we returned to our hotel for a early bedtime since Abby and Heather had 8AM showmanship classes.
1 comment:
There's a fantastic mexican restaurant about 2 blocks from the Hyatt hotel near the riverfront in Louisville. I eat there every time I'm visiting.
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