Smokey Goes On Tour!!!

Smokey and I traveled 750 miles from 9/22 to 9/27!! We started off by hanging out at The Wesley Foundation on campus. We enjoyed the company of some very close friends of mine. Smokey discovered a passion for music, and decided to attempt to play drums at our praise band rehearsal. He had a hard time holding on to the drumsticks. It's all good because we a place for him during our worship service as the band guard dog. After worship, we enjoyed an exciting game of border patrol. Friday night, Smokey joined my friends and I on a leadership retreat at a cabin on a private lake outside of Carbondale. There we enjoyed fellowship and the laughs and hanging out with a "deer" friend of his. The adventure doesn't end there! After the retreat Smokey travels with the band all the way to Maquon, Illinois (where I am from). The Wesley praise band, Awake the Dawn, ran three church services Sunday morning. Smokey tagged a long for the ride. Upon our arrival home, Smokey decided to take a long deserved nap in preparation for his next outing.

Smokey Jr.'s Blading Adventures

Smokey Jr. started his adventure on 9/20 when he went to an intramural football game and experienced a win of 32-0. On 9/21 Smokey Jr. visited the oldest standing building on SIUC campus, Altgeld Hall. Altgeld Hall is located at latitude 37.716 and longitude -89.218. Altgeld Hall was built in 1896. Smokey Jr. traveled a total coverage of 5 miles around campus. He had first hand experience with roller-blading (which was his only transportation besides walking). We were accompanied by a friend (Daniel James) who was kind enough to blade around campus with us and give us a tour of Altgeld Hall. Smokey Jr. also attended my 6th grade math class where he learned how to create a coordinate plane and label ordered pairs. Smokey Jr. ended his night relaxing and preparing for his next adventures!

DJ Smokey & Dexter

I learned very fast that Smokey is a risk taker. This could explain his accident. Every time I would turn around, Smokey was into wires or climbing onto high places. I took Smokey to the radio station cluster that I work at in Marion. Since we broadcast the SIU Salukis games, there is a huge dog house on the front lawn. This made Smokey very excited while pulling into the parking lot. Naturally, his first response was to climb on top of it just like his cousin Snoopy.

One of the stations at this location is one of the first FM stations in the area, W3D. At this location, it was originally a drive in for movie goers. There are rumors it was once a burial ground, but I am unable to find documentation to confirm this. If you are there late at night, you will think so also. Almost everyone that has worked there has a "ghost story" to share...

From the starting point to the radio station and back was a total of 34.8 miles. The location is N37 45.230' W 88 56.028.

Smokey runs away!!!!

I have good news and bad news. Smokey is no longer going to be with us on his travels. He has broken free of his leash during a walk one night and has gotten away to begin what he told me as “His personal quest for freedom and adventure”. No worries thou, Smokey sent me a post card telling me that he has just the dog to take his spot as the class mascot. Smokey Jr the 2nd. That’s right, one of his long lost brothers!!!!!

It seems Smokey Jr. had gotten into a bit of trouble with an alley cat and was picked up by the Humane Society. Since Smokey Jr. needed a home, I went and adopted Smokey Jr. and have been spending the weekend getting him shots, and groomed at the Indian Creek Kennel and the Lake Side Veterinary Hospital.

After a long day of hanging out with Smokey Jr. we went and trained some martial arts to finish our long day of excitement!

Latitude and Longitude: 40.633125, -89.398528 (Lakeside Veterinary Hospital); 37.665544, -89.171358 (Indian Creek Kennel); 37.75251, -89.266673 (Humane Society)

17.A.1a Identify physical characteristics of places, both local and global (e.g., locations, roads, regions, bodies of water).

17.A.3a Explain how people use geographic markers and boundaries to analyze and navigate the Earth (e.g., hemispheres, meridians, continents, bodies of water).

17.A.2b Use maps and other geographic representations and instruments to gather information about people, places and environments.

Brianne and Smokey's Journey!!

Smokey traveled home with me by car. Then, I took Smokey to the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center which is a branch of the University of Illinois. It was 57 miles from Carbondale, so it was 114 miles altogether. The latitude and longitude coordinates are 37.4347, -88.6675. The Dixon Springs Ag Center has a green house department and a crop science department. They used to have an animal science department as well. Teresa actually works in the crop science department in the summer. The workers have to take samples and send them in. Smokey enjoyed his visit to the Ag Center.

Smokey Supporting the Salukis!

Smokey had quite an adventure from September 1st to September 5th! He traveled to my house in Carbondale on Wednesday night where he slept on my desk. We both slept in on Thursday morning because we had a long night and weekend ahead of us. Thursday night we rode with Amelia in her car to the new football stadium to watch the Salukis play their first game. Smokey had a great time because he got to enjoy a Dr. Pepper and a hot dog while watching the Salukis win! From Wham to the new arena is 1.3 miles one way. The coordinates of the stadium are 37.712778,-89.216667. After the game, my roommate Megan decided to take Smokey for the night. After we woke up on Friday, we packed and headed by car to Eminence Missouri which is about a 3.5 hour drive for my family reunion. We covered a ton of ground so the coordinates would be impossible to find! Smokey got to observe me zip lining, zorbing, and miniature golfing. We also took him to Ally Springs and one of the old one room school houses in town before eating at the family picnic and heading home.