Going Places With Gabe & Ziva: FastCAT and Railroad fun in Boone

Both my brother, Patrick, and Doug's brother, Cal, live in the Des Moines area. Doug also has lots of friends who congregate at Bob Bourne's EJ&K 1:8 scale railroad track near Gilbert. Lastly, Iowa Coursing Association was holding AKC FastCAT in conjunction with a Barn Hunt trial at the Boone County Fairgrounds. So, on May 12, we headed over to the campground at the Fairgrounds.

FastCAT is a 100 yard "Coursing Ability Test" invented by the American Kennel Club. Dogs are restrained by their "releaser" behind a start line, then chase a plastic bag that is attached to a motor-driven pulley system down a long, fenced "chute" that's at least 100 yards long, ideally with a long run-out space to allow time for the dog to slow down and (hopefully) return to his "catcher." Many clubs use electronic timing. It's not competitive at the local level; stats are kept at the national level by breed. Most dogs LOVE it! Gabe definitely does. Points are awarded based on how fast the dog runs. At this event, Gabe earned enough points to bring his total up over 500, meaning he got a fancy ribbon and his DCAT title.

Gabe with his lovely DCAT ribbon

Outstanding In His Field

When is it my turn?

I feel the need for speed!

What crazy? I'm a good dog!

Cal and his wife, Susan, came up to watch Gabe run on Saturday morning and we got to ride in their new hybrid Camry to check out Boone, including the depot for the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad, now also home to Rail Explorers, Boone division.

We met Patrick and Ninya in Ames at Cornbred BBQ -- Everything is good but you've got to have the Brussels Sprouts, and I say that as someone who hates Brussels Sprouts! -- and then they came back up to Boone to join us for a sunset cruse with Rail Explorers. There are four sites in the US where these specially-designed electric-assist bikes go on railroad track excursions and Boone is one of them. It was super fun -- would highly recommend it! A lot of people are wigged out by the high bridge but it really was less scary than a roller coaster, and the rest of the ride was pretty tame.

These are the specially-engineered rail bikes. The battery assist is quite powerful and really only the guy in the back on the right side (Patrick) had to pedal for the vast majority of the trip, and he said it wasn't too bad, although he does spend half his life on his bike and has the calves to prove it.

So glad Patrick & Ninya could join us!

Flagger before the high bridge. It was quite safe.

A "post office" for the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad's Christmas excursions

Sunset on the Des Moines River

Rose's Landing, the turnaround point on the trip. They use a small hydraulic turntable to turn the (empty) cars around "in place," very efficient.

Flagger monitoring the road crossing as we approached town

Rail Explorers Depot at night

This was a great chance to celebrate Ninya's growing success as an author. "Better Than Before" had just been named one of Barnes and Noble's "Five favorite Indie ebooks" and her new release, "Hawt Flash, Midlife in Aura Cove Book #1" comes out on June 1. So happy for her!!

Doug isn't as familiar with this part of the world as I am, so we drove through the Ledges State Park, one of my childhood haunts in which I still can't believe we didn't all kill or permanently maim ourselves. It really is a nice park with some great trails and several fun drive-through water crossings.

We stopped by the Iowa Arboretum but they've added an $8 per person admission fee and it was hot, so... maybe next time. And we went to High Trestle Trail to check out the bicycle trail bridge over the Des Moines River. It's better at night, but pretty spectacular any time.

Doug grew up in Cedar Rapids and that's where we met. We didn't learn our ancestors had likely known one another until much later. This is the view north from the Bridge.