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The Great Greyhound Goodwill Air Tour
Sunday, July 21, 2002
Maggie writes, "OK .... we are 22 cities down and 3 to go! Amazingly still on time and on schedule after 21 days in flight. Who knew??! After a great visit to Racine, WI (Cynthia Zember posted about our arrival, waterfront dinner and the fabulous "reduced to only half a mil" boat we saw), the lake, the company, the kringles, and some special handmade gifts that we will treasure, we and our two sweet pups Rush and Victoria launched for St Louis, MO. The local paper covered the story, so we hope it will help adoptions there.
In St Louis, it was wonderful to see Leanne again, to visit with the Rescued Racers group, and to meet the local REGAP people for the first time. Thanks to Sidney Hirsch for smoothing our way thru Spirit Of St Louis Airport (altho we were a bit concerned about the airplane flying in formation with 73N as we headed for the runway that the control tower appeared to know nothing about!), and to both Rescued Racers and REGAP for a wonderful welcome, fun dinner and lots and lots of prized gifts. The gifts we have received on this tour will serve to remind us of the fun times we had with everyone we met. I can't say enough about the hospitality everyone has shown us. When I get settled down, there will be a huge # of thankyou letters to be written. I really appreciate what each and everyone involved in this effort has done. More than words can say.
From St Louis we headed to Kansas City, MO to pick up greyhounds from Greyhound Support, headed by the untiring and dedicated Kate Bressler. A welcoming party of beautiful greyhounds and their people was there as we taxied in to parking at Kansas City Metro Airport in downtown KC. They were there again in the morning to send off 18 month old Bryce and 9 year old Yvonne for adoption in the Dallas area. The local paper ran the the story the day we left - even the airport air traffic controllers had seen it, and the local Fox station covered the departure.
Bryce and Yvonne made excellent passengers. Bryce parked himself on the bench seat of the airplane, and Yvonne staked out a place on the pillows in the center. Basically they hardly moved from those positions until we arrived in Dallas' Addison Aiport. By then Bryce's "happy tail" was pounding on the cabin wall. He's such a sweetheart. We were met by members of Greyhounds Unlimited, the oldest and most successful placement group in the Dallas area, and a greeting committee of gorgeous greyhounds. Also WB and Fox TV cameras and a reporter and photographer from the prestigious Dallas Morning News. With Bryce and Yvonne we were able to show the age range of retired greyhounds and point out that both had many good years as adored pets ahead of them. I also did a phone interview with the big Plano newspaper which ran today. So "Greyhounds Did Dallas", and did it good! We lunched with David Savage, who also transported us throughout the trip, and dined with many members of Greyhounds Unlimited that evening at La Hacienda. The margaritas were great, and we really enjoyed visiting with everybody. By now the gifts are starting to exceed the airplane's capacity, to GU took a whole load of stuff from the airplane and are mailing it back to me so that we, er....have room for the greyhounds!! Thanks for a greyt time, Dallas!.
We left Dallas this morning for a longish flight to Pueblo CO where we will pick up the last two remaining greyhounds from the recent track closure who will be flown to new families waiting for them in Albuquerque, NM. On arriving at Pueblo we saw a lot of oil coming out of the right engine. As in Houma, LA, a mechanic was kind enough to come out on his day off and confirm that yes, we had an oil leak. It was soon fixed and we are looking good for tomorrow's trip. More about Pueblo next postcard. And coming soon - the story of Dallas & Tex, two "greyhounds" who flew with us today. And we have pictures! It's a cute story, but right now I'm tired so we will do that one when we have the conclusion of their trip. More soon. Maggie "
posted by J Donnelly 2:00 PM
Friday, July 19, 2002
Maggie writes, "Continuing on from where we left off - we arrived at Pittsburgh's Allegheny County airport to find Going Home Greyhounds banners adorning the airport. So we knew where to park the plane. We were invited to the home of Jeanne Meaghr to meet the Going Home Greyhounds group and their pups. It was so nice to be in a home after all the hotel rooms, and hey Jeanne! Thanks for the use of the washer & dryer for the laundry! This is an awesome group of greyhound advocates. They are doing great adoption numbers which are increasing exponentially year over year. Go GHG! And thanks for all the kindness.
At the airport the next morning a huge group of Going Home Greyhounds and greyhound people came to see off "Flying Cobblepot" (now, what are we gonna do for a call name there?) and sweet momma "Ivy". Trainer Renee told us Cobblepot is a first class racer retired due to a broken hock which had been casted. Ivy is an adorable brood momma, 9 yrs old, fawn with white face and a personality like no other. Both were excellent travellers on the airplane. Thanks Going Home Greyhounds for a wonderful visit, terrific hospitality and a darling pair of greyhounds headed for Indy.
Indianapolis: We landed at Indy International and were met by an enthusiastic group of friends from USA Defenders Of Greyhounds (USA D.O.G) headed up by the amazing Sally Allen and one of the animals' greatest friends, Mari George, owner of the legendary Indianpolis Speedway. Mari lives by her belief in "Race Cars Not Greyhounds" and that message is widely displayed on her prestigious property. We were on hallowed ground. Upon arriving at the Speedway Maggie, co-pilot Val and Sally were treated to nothing less than a few spins around the Indy track in tha actual Indy Pace Car, piloted by an actual Indy race car driver, Stephan, who, as we whizzed around at 140 mph explained that we were really just poking along and it gets a whole lot smaller at the 240mph the Indy drivers use. Ah!!.. It's ok Stephan! ...140 is fine!...it looks good!!!... no 240 puhleeeze!!!!!! Boy, were we thrilled by that experience. A catered lunch was followed by a tour of "Gasoline Alley" where some 35-40 NASCARs were in practice mode for the upcoming "Brickyard 400". The noise! The activity! The cars! Like...wow! In the evening Ms George made a ramada available at the Brickyard Crossing Inn - part of the Speedway property - so that the USA D.O.G greyhounds could join us for a buffet dinner where we got to watch our greyhounds on the local news channels.
The next day we did a tv show starring the very gracious Ms Ivy, who quite charmed the anchors with her happy and pretty persona, and we hope also, the viewing audience. Mari, Sally and all the USA DOG people who visited - thank you for an unforgettable experience for us, and for giving a new life to Cobblepot and Ivy. Two hearts still beating and one (mine) racing at a gazzillion mph after the unbelievable Indy Speedway ride. Yikes!
That afternoon we launched for Racine, WI and Cynthia Zember has kindly updated everyone as to our good times there (Maggie..."I want that boat!!!") to pick up our sweet bubbas for adoption in St Louis MO
Going Home Greyhounds, we are proud to have met some wonderful greyhound adoption advocates. Ms Mari George - what can we say? The animals are so much better off because you care. Sally - you are you and there ain't no better thing I can say girl. Greyhounds are still here because of the work you do. Cynthia in Racine - you are doing a wonderful job for the greyhounds and I'm happy to be a part of the effort to get all of them into happy homes. So many people, so much heart and soul. This has been a wonderful ride meeting all of these dedicated groups and individuals.
I'm still not caught up. Gotta tell you about the Saint Louis reception. Now in position in KC. Tomorrow we fly our pups to Dallas ("Greyhounds Do Dallas" , eh?). After that Pueblo bubbas to ABQ then maybe a day off before the Phoenix to LA "Victory Flight" and then...............sleeeeeeeep. M"
posted by J Donnelly 5:28 AM
Thursday, July 18, 2002
Maggie and Val landed right on time at John Batten Field on 7/16/02 Tuesday afternoon. The weather here was clear and very warm. She was met at the airport by a reporter for the Racine Journal Times, our local newspaper. The reporter wanted to get Maggie's story on paper before the hustle and bustle of her departure. That time would be reserved for her passengers "Ytowk Rush" and "Iruska Victoria".
Maggie was given the Batten Field courtesy van to use while visiting our fine city.
After getting Maggie and Val set up in her room, we went to supper courtesy of Neil and JC Abrahamson, owners of the Trendsetter and Gulf and Bay Kennels, and care takers of Maggie's precious cargo, the Greyhounds. A short tour of the City, brought us to "The Docks on the Waterfront Restaurant". Maggie, Val and the rest of us at our supper outside on their deck overlooking our beautiful Lake Michigan Harbor. One of the yachts parked on the dock caught Maggie's eye, and we went down to check it out. Cost was only a mere half a million dollars and it was on clearance! We all thought of how many Greyhounds we could put on that thing, and also that maybe the next Greyhound Goodwill Tour should be on the water :-) We said "Good Bye" to the yacht, and agreed that if Publisher's Clearing House knocked on our doors or if we won the Lottery we would certainly come back and by that boat, and fill it with retired racers and float it down the Mississippi to meet adoption groups on the shore.
We got Maggie and Val safely back to their rooms by 8:00 PM, and told her to get some much needed rest, as she and Val were both exhausted.
I picked up "Rush, Victoria, John Sappington, the Trainer for Sunrunner Kennel at 7:00, along with Cheryl Geibel, Jennifer Barker and my daughter Rachel. Cindy Evans, from Paw Prints graciously donated two designer collars to Rush and Victoria, so they would meet Maggie and the press in style. We put their new duds on them and it was off to Batten Field to meet up with Maggie and Val and prepare for her flight to St. Louis, and the press. Betty Schmidt, the Director of Adoption from the Geneva Lakes track and Dr. Rodger Barr and his wife Donna, from Northern Lights Greyhound Adoption of Coon Rapids Minnesota were already there waiting on all of us, as well as the reporter and camera man. The cameras were clicking like crazy! Rush and Victoria were wondering what was going on! But, they went with the flow and enjoyed all the attention. Of course the attention they received here was probably nothing compared to their arrival in St. Louis! People there were waiting anxiously for their arrival!
Maggie and Val arrived, and the excitement began and more camera action! Introduced Maggie and Val to all, and conversation, coffee and Kringle (a Racine delicacy) was served until Maggie's takeoff. More pictures as John took Rush and Victoria to board the plane, along with Maggie and Val. Could not help but notice, that Maggie will need a bigger plane. Not for the passengers, but for all the wonderful things people donated along the way :). We added a gift basket of Johnson Wax products (Johnson Wax is located here) and a couple Kringles as well as some small tokens of our appreciation. Once the doors on the plane were closed, the hounds looked out the windows of the plane, like they were waving us all good bye. By the time Maggie taxied off they apparently had already gotten comfortable, as their beautiful faces were no longer in the windows. A wave goodbye by Maggie and Val and off they went, headed for their next destination St. Louis.
We are more than proud to be a part of Maggie's Tours. She is a special person and a pleasure to be with. A true Greyhound Angel! Fly safely Maggie McCurry! And Thank You for making us a part of your tour. We are honored.
Cynthia Zember
Independent Greyhound Liaison WI
posted by J Donnelly 4:37 AM
Sunday, July 14, 2002
Maggie writes," Hi there: The Paws4Rescue magazine featuring our greyhounds is ready to go. It started out as a Wings For Greyhounds story, but expanded to cover a lot of greyhound rescue and adoption efforts including Fast Dogs-Fast Friends, Greyhounds Of Fairhaven, North Coast Greyhound Support, Greyhound Friends West, AEGA, Grey2K and Greyhounds In Need, UK and Netherlands. Evidently we wound up with 4 pages and a greyhound on the cover! We'll take it!
Mail ordering info is:
Send check for $7 to Paws4Rescue USA to 1-3 Pekes Farm Building, Nash St, Hailsham, East Essex, BN27 4AD, England.
Unfortunately it's not yet in stores in the US.
Maggie"
posted by J Donnelly 6:25 PM
Maggie writes, "Hard finding time for the updates, but here we go.
After DC we went to Bridgeport, CT to pick up our greyhounds for NYC. We were met by Penny Swart and Teddi Clarke, and were treated to a great and welcome lunch. The next day we departed from Sikorsky Memorial Airport with the Misses Jersey Turnpike ("Jersey") and Direct Connect ("Connie"), both recently retired from Shoreline Star, and a huge tray of seafood, sandwiches and other goodies to keep us from being hungry on our trip. We also did a couple of local media interviews which we hope will help the adoption program in Bridgeport. Thanks Penny and friends for a wonderful welcome and send off!
Next was New York City where we landed at Teterboro Airport in NJ and the girls were handed into the care of the ASPCA greyhound adoption program headed by Jacque Shulz. The ASPCA is a sponsor of The Great Greyhound Goodwill Air Tour and played a major role in making this project happen. We rested to get ready for our big national shows scheduled for Tuesday morning. Our first call was at 7.15 for the CBS Early Show for an 8am taping. Everything went very well and Mark McEwan, the weatherman, made a very good pitch for the greyhounds, who looked very lovely on the monitors. The we headed across town to do the Paula Zahn Morning Show on CNN. We got a pretty extensive amount of airtime for the greyhounds and were able to give out the NGAP phone number. I haven't seen either piece yet, but am getting word that everything came across very well and that adoption inquiries are going gangbusters as a result. Also, there is a good chance that the interviewer will soon be a greyhound dad......
Tuesday pm was spent in the Emergency Room of a NJ hospital after the hotel room tv set fell out of it's cabinet and whacked me hard on the back of the leg. Nothing broken, so on we go. Also the Washington Post story ran. Haven't seen it, but read the really nice copy, and I understand it ran with 3 color pictures!
Wednesday we flew up to Concord, NH to pick up Lookie and Astonishing, retired from Lakes Region Greyhound Park. Linda Miranda was our contact there, and our beautiful boys were seen off by 2 Concord TV stations, the local paper and a reporter from National Public Radio. I think I heard we got the front page of the paper! The boys, along with personal care packages prepared by the folks in Concord, went on a quick trip to Louise Colman of Greyhound Friends in the Boston Area. A whole bevy of greyhounds and their humans were there to meet the airplane and the new puppies, as was a local news reported. We were able to tour Greyhound Friends facility and meet some of the dogs waiting for adoption. We also got to stay in the 300 year old Sherburn Inn. My room had a four poster bed and all antique furnishings - quite a change from the hotels we have been using so far! That evening we dined with Greyhound Friends, and friends of Greyhound Friends, in a private dining room at the inn, which is managed by a gourmet, Zagat honored chef, so the food was excellent, as was the company. Thank you Louise and Greyhound Friends for the hospitality. We really enjoyed visiting and seeing the terrific work you are doing for the greyhounds.
Friday, we made our furthest point North of the Tour - Portsmouth, NH, which was also the point where we reversed course and started to head back South and West. Chris Makepeace from the local REGAP brought our greyhounds to the airport where we also found two local newspaper reporters with photographers, and a photographer from an international AP Wire service. After an uneventful flight to Philadelphia we were greeted by David Wolf and a wonderful group of humans and hounds from the National Greyhound Adoption Program, as well as a group form New Jersey who decided to come along and welcome us in. The media coverage was very good - 2 TV stations, a radio station and a newspaper reporter were there to cover the arrival, as well as a writer and photogrpaher from London's prestigious Daily Telegraph! We are really going international on this now, what with CNN everywhere running clips from our stops, and now one of the UK's major newspapers.
NGAP took us to lunch and then on a tour of their very impressive compound. They are the only greyhound adoption group with a full-on in house medical facility, including an operating theater. Some 140 greyhounds were in the kennels waiting for homes, and we hope with the press we got on Friday, plus the national coverage out of NY, we can get them and hundreds more into home. A delightful dinner with David and his wife and then time to sleep.
Saturday was supposed to be a day off, but a quick call to the aviation weather briefers sent us scrambling for the airplane as Sunday there was a chance of poor weather. So, here we are in Pittsburg, and tomorrow we pick up our pups for Indianapolis. More on our enjoyable afternoon with Going Home Greyhounds in the next postcard. Now I gotta sleep. Maggie"
posted by J Donnelly 6:19 PM
Tuesday, July 09, 2002
Maggie writes, "Just a heads up we will have greyhounds on The Early Show on Wednesday 10th (tomorrow) somewhere between 7.30 & 8.30, and then we are booked on the Paula Zahn Morning show on CNN for the 9am hour. Fingers and greyhound toes x'd for our big opportunities to promote the greyhounds. Thanks for all the great work and support in getting the greyhounds this far. Maggie"
posted by J Donnelly 6:31 PM
Sunday, July 07, 2002
Maggie writes "Wow - what a welcome we had at Gaithersburg Airport with our two greyhounds from Charleston WV. We landed after an uneventful hour and a half flight to find a whole throng of greyhounds, their humans and a ton of media. The pictures tell the story. We got Fox, WRC, WUSA and News 8 tv news crews, WTOP Radio, and The Washington Post, The Frederick News Post and The Annapolis Sun newspapers for the greyhounds. It was quite the event!
GPA/ Maryland not only provided a terrific turnout of members and greyhounds complete with welcome banners, they also gave pilots Maggie and Val a great lunch and the most awesome cake that was decorated with the Air Tour logo! I was proud to see it on the t-shirt, but the cake??!! Just fantastic. They really went to town to make this a big greyhound happening. Thank you GPA/MD.
We delivered our two handsome boys, Raffle Man and Nail to their new families who were just thrilled to be holding their adoptive babies at last. The media interviewed everyone - GPA spokespeople, the new families, the already greyhound families and Maggie. As always we hope that this will have a positive outcome for the greyhounds.
Tomorrow, off to Bridgeport CT to pick up our New York flyers. Two sweet young ladies I hear, who will lead the media push into NYC. You go girls! And I'm sure they will. So far so good. More soon. Maggie"
Be sure to check out the photos in the Greyhounds In Flight section.
posted by J Donnelly 2:42 PM
Saturday, July 06, 2002
Maggie writes on July 5th: "Both greyhounds we flew in to El Paso fro Tucson are adopted. Doodlz found a home yesterday, and today Amber went home - in an airplane - with a pilot who saw the CNN story on tv. Guess she was destined to be a Flying Greyhound from the git go!"
posted by J Donnelly 5:15 AM
Maggie writes on July 5th: "We got a great send-off from GPA Emerald Coast this morning - two gorgeous greyhounds - the big beautiful Cole and the sweet, tiny Dancer, both dressed in silks bearing the Wings For Greyhounds logo - a handmade gift from the members of this hard working group. In addition we were sent off with a huge basket of goodies including "in flight snacks"...the beverages were for after flying. We enjoyed a wonderful couple of days visiting in Pensacola - so much greyhound talk. It was great. And, when Maggie went to pay the bill at the airport she was told that an anonymous donor had come in the night before and covered the tab! Wow! We are very appreciative of the kindness and generosity of whoever did that. It means a great deal.
The flight to Atlanta's Peachtree-DeKalb airport was uneventful, tho the skies were hazy. Our greyhounds snuggled on the pillows happily as we cruised north. When we taxied in at PDK we saw lots of cameras, but no greyhounds. Maggie deplaned Cole and Dancer and headed for the terminal. The huge doors of Signature Air Service parted to reveal a huge welcoming comittee of hounds and humans. People hugged, tails wagged, and everything was caught on tape by all 5 of Atlanta's tv news channels. Maggie preached The Gospel Of The Greyhound to all 5 channels, and a local newspaper reporter, and then we enjoyed a nice lunch provided by the Atlanta GPA chapter.
Meanwhile CNN Headline News has been running a segment trailered "Go Greyhound-Go Fly" all day featuring the tape we did in Houston, so it was quite a media day for the greyhounds.
Meanwhile DC and NYC are looking good and we seem to be set to have greyhounds on at least one of the national morning shows taped in NYC, which will be an awesome boost for adoptions all over the country.
Looking forward, we may be adding Chicago to our list of stops - another important market for possible adoptions. We'll advise as we go.
Tonight, a wonderful Italian meal with GPA in Atlanta - thanks guys! Your really turned it on for the greyhounds, and it worked. We hope you get gazillions of calls and some really good adoptions from all of this. For all of us involved in this Air Tour project, this is for the greyhounds. So many people from all over the country have been a part of this effort, and look what we are achieving. We're 5 days in and have had coverage from 14 local media outlets and a huge boost from CNN nationally. It wouldn't have happened without so much effort from so many smart people. I'm thilled, but right now very tired. Tomorrow to Charleston WV to collect our DC pups.
Love to you all, and many thanks. Maggie"
posted by J Donnelly 5:09 AM
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