Kansas City Road Trip

Mrs. YDP and I headed south last weekend as my southern kin had a need for a new yellow dog, and my buddy Fuzzy just happened to have access to a pup.  So we all departed - Fuzzy and Joe from Minneapolis, my cousins from Louisiana, and us from Green Bay - to meet in the middle and do a dog deal.

The trip was a good one.  For me, it was the first time travelling through northeast Iowa, and I was struck by the beauty of the country.  We stayed in Cedar Rapids, which was a sweet little town, and as we passed through picturesque Dubuque, I swore we'd someday return to explore.

We then headed to Boyt Harness Company, but found them closed on Saturday.  Too bad, as we had cash burning a hole in our pockets.  Their loss was Rogers Sporting Goods' gain, as I picked up all sorts of gear, and Fuzzy ended up being a pack of gum shy of spending four-digits.  

We all ended up arriving at our hotel in Kansas City within minutes of each other, and immediately got introduced to the newest members of the Yellow Dog Patrol:   

Here's Cuz with his new dog, Honey:

Fuzzy took one out of the litter as well, and here is Mrs. YDP getting introduced:

Seeing as you can't just love up one puppy when there are two available:

Since we were in KC, home of the finest BBQ in the world, it seemed only fitting that we should go to one of Kansas City's best BBQ restaurants, the great Jack Stack's.  And since KC is home to my buddy Pauly and his wife, and my Aunt Ms. C, we invited them all to join us.  Great BBQ and great people make for a great evening, and even though some of us had never even met before, we had a grand time:

Since we didn't want to take two rigs to the restaurant, I drove, but made Fuzzy and Joe "kennel up" in the back.  At first Joe didn't want to go.  It is amazing the positive reinforcement properties that beer has:

While it was a long haul - it took us over ten hours to get home on Sunday as we had to drive through rain the entire way - it was an awesome trip.  Individually, it is always good to see all of those people.  Altogether, it was a blast.  Throw in a couple of Yellow Dogs, and you couldn't have beat it with a stick.

Thanks, everyone, for an awesome road trip.