 |
|
 |
Flying Pooches
| |
|
|
Rosemarie shook her head and kept saying, "All this for a dog", as we drove from the Red Wing airport to Rosemount, MN to Dakota's new home. On Friday, July 30, 1999, Bandit's dad, Guy Schlak flew from Lakeville, MN to New Holstein, WI to pick up Lisa, Rosemarie, Dakota and Sammy. Lisa and mom were heading to the Mall of America for a little shopping, Dakota and Sammy were going to new homes in Rosemount (with Bandit) and Bloomington, MN.
Guy has a private pilot license and belongs to the Airlake Aero Flying Club. For the sheltie and shopping fly-in weekend, he piloted a Piper Archer, a single-engine 4 seat airplane. It had just enough room for 3 adults and 2 dogs - it was a 5 seater that day! If you ask Rosemarie who sat in back with the dogs, her opinion on leg room and seat room may differ.
Friday was a sweltering day. Guy was up by 6am to check weather and do some flight planning. The original plan was to pick up Lisa, Rosemarie and pooches at 5pm, but Guy decided that storms were due in the Twin Cities by 5pm, he better be in the air at New Holstein by 2pm. His flight from Lakeville to New Holstein took just under 2 hours, they were off the ground again by 3:15pm. In the meantime, storms blossomed in central Minnesota, a little hook came around to pummel Dakota County (location of Red Wing and Lakeville).
Since Guy requested flight following from Air Traffic Control, he was on MSP and Green Bay radar for the entire trip. Halfway between New Holstein and Lakeville, it became apparent that they would not be able to land at Lakeville. The MSP tower gave Guy the correct headings to dodge t-storm cells and land at Red Wing. "Impressive" and "Surgical" were two words Guy used to describe the job done by the guys at ATC. Red Wing airport called Guy's wife, Julie, to let her know they were landing at Red Wing and would need a ride home. Julie was very relieved to hear from Red Wing, she had been trying hard to not watch weather all afternoon. "All this for a dog".
The flight was fine, it was about 25 degrees cooler at 6500 feet. Lisa even slept for awhile during the flight. The dogs weathered the flight just fine, but on the car ride from Red Wing to Rosemount, Dakota barfed in the car. "All this for a dog".
 |
|
Julie and Bandit met the Crew Who Flew at the Red Wing airport. Julie, Lisa, Rosemarie, Bandit, Dakota and Sammy took the car back to Rosemount. Guy stayed with the plane; he heard from Green Bay flight services that he had an hour to get the plane to Lakeville before the second wave of storms hit. Lakeville is about 15 minutes from Red Wing by air. Guy took off, a few minutes into the return, the weather looked bad. He listened to AWAS (weather for pilots), decided to return to Red Wing. Meanwhile, Julie, Lisa, Rosemarie and pooches arrived at Guy & Julie's house; Dakota was home! We had a bite to eat, then the phone rang "Collect call from Guy Schlak, will you accept the charges?". Guy explained what happened, he was downtown Red Wing and needed a ride home.
Julie took Lisa, Rosemarie and Sammy to their hotel, they left Bandit, Dakota and 8ball (the cat) at home to get acquainted. We discovered there are two Best Westerns on the 494 strip, and one isn't even named Best Western any more. After finding the hotel, Julie then hi-tailed it back to Red Wing to pick up Guy. "All this for a dog".
Sammy went home to Denise in Bloomington on Saturday morning. Sammy had a weiner dog to play with, Denise was fostering Buster, the weiner dog, for an organization called Second Chance. Buster went home over the weekend, Sammy has been more low-key since; according to Denise's "email secretary" and brother, Brad.
Julie and Guy drove to Red Wing on Saturday morning to pick up the plane and bring it back to Lakeville. Guy and plane finally landed in Lakeville about 9:30am Saturday morning. Julie can now make the car trip from Red Wing to Rosemount in her sleep.
Lisa and mom shopped all morning, but the only thing they had to show for it was nail polish. Guy told them they could bring back up to 80 lbs in merchandise and still get the plane off the ground, but Lisa said that it must be more fun to shop there at Christmas. They did enjoy some good people watching - ask Lisa about the man attired all in pink!
Guy, Lisa and Rosemarie left Lakeville at about 3pm on Saturday, July 31, 1999, after a little debate about the winds holding. The winds were fine, Guy, Lisa and Rosemarie landed in New Holstein about 1 1/2 hours later. Guy made it back to Lakeville and proceeded to begin bonding with Dakota. "All this for a dog". Yes, for a dog and for the adventure! It beats driving 5 hours one way for a dog.
 |
|
We can't guarantee an adventure such as the tale just told, the adventure is just beginning the moment you bring a new dog home. There are many shelties in need of a good home. If you would like more information on adopting a sheltie, visit the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue web site or email WSR: crtrstr@fox.tds.net
Flying Pooches by Julie and Guy Schlak: schlak@charter.net Any errors in aviation terminology by Julie Schlak