This sweet dog is Luc.  (Rhymes with Farouk.) Four-years-old, 100 pounds, a French working dog traditionally used for herding sheep. Lots of personality, very loyal and protective.  He spends summers with us in Maine.  Lucky dog.

The drive from Hilton Head, SC, where Luc and we live most of the year, to Wiscasset, where we are summer people, is about 1,200 miles.  Google Maps estimates it’s an18-hour trip, with about 120 miles o that  on good old awful I-95

Luc usually loves to ride in the car. Upsy-daisy onto the back seats when he’s ready, Freddy.  No hyperventilating, no barking, no smearing the windows. 

He’s made the round-trip with us three times.  We stop at dog-friendly hotels, taste the local pizza and get up and gone at dawn the next morning.  We travel on weekends and switch driving chores every three hours or so.

Luc sleeps most of the way, we can’t do that.  And although we have made the trip dozens of times (with other dogs included) it’s become a bit much.  Donna doesn’t trust other drivers and is certain one of those idiots in the buzzing little black Kia is going to take a header off a guardrail and put us in jeopardy.

So, we’ve faced reality.  The drive is too much for us. The challenge ... how do we get Luc to Maine if we don’t drive him? He is too big to fly in an airline’s crate. Amtrak ’s weight limit, including cage, is 20 pounds.  We are leery of using a pet transport service and even if a major airline would ticket Luc we ‘d be nervous thinking of the boy in the cargo bay.

So, we hired Andy, a friend of a friend, who loves dogs, to drive Donna’s car with Luc in it, while we made the trip by air.

Naturally we were nervous about the dog being who-knew-where on the trip. So we attached an Apple Air tag to his collar to track the car and Andy. Unfortunately, Route 95 lived up to its reputation and our past experiences.  What should have been a 12-hour trip the first day actually became 14 hours.  But Andy rolled with it.  The second day’s drive was shorter, but of course it was still stressful for Andy. On the second day, after another eight hours of driving, they drove up our driveway in Maine.  To every one’s relief.

BUT ... here’s the rest of the story - but it’s not finished.  Andy was scheduled to fly back south on the third day while Luc stayed with us in Maine  He had an early morning flight, which meant we had to get up at 430am to get to Savannah for Andy to make his return home. Donna was the driver, and it seemed like a good idea foe all of us to go to the airport to see our friend Andy, off. Not a good idea.  Fearing a possible THIRD day of travel, even with his new best friend, Andy, Luc would have none of it. He refused to get in the car.  And when a hundred-pounder doesn’t want to move ... well, it doesn’t. Luc went back into the house while we headed for the airport. It took a few days for Luc to be comfortable and settle down.

We wonder what it’s going to be like when we head south in October.  Will Luc freak when he sees Andy? Will Luc decide to stay in Maine for the winter?  Like I said, the story’s not over.  Stay tuned.