Con and Kalie left out of Carbondale, Illinois on March 31st. We traveled together to my hometown of Eldorado, Illinois. The visit to Eldorado was short, as we were on our way to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The journey included Con, my husband, two sister-in-laws, my mother-in-law and myself. Con was excited about the trip and decided he wanted to ride shotgun all the way there. We argued about who got to ride in this seat and meet in the middle by Con sitting on the dashboard of the car. He took short breaks from time to time to get some fresh air by hanging his head out of the car window. We traveled up through Illinois, going through many interesting cities like Rockford, Illinois. We crossed over into Wisconsin where Con viewed the fields and fields of wind farms, which he was very curious about. We reached our destination of Rochester, Minnesota at 4:00 in the morning on Friday. During the journey Con had been a shoulder to lean and cry on as he learned the reason for the long and spontaneous journey to the Mayo Clinic. My father-in-law had been diagnosed with cancer two months ago. My family sent him to the Mayo Clinic on March 25th where he went through a series of test to result in the cancer removing surgery that was preformed on April 1st. Con was very excited to meet my father-in-law Fred when he found out that he was also a fellow dog lover through the stories we shared along the way.
After a few hours of catching up with Fred at the hotel in Minnesota, the family was soon off to the Mayo Clinic to get Fred prepped for surgery. Con patiently waited for the every two hour updates on my father-in-law while he was in surgery. Con was a good dog and slept most of the time. In between napping and eating, Con and the family went an adventure touring the hospital and clinic. Con met a new friend, Dr. Jack the Mayo Clinic dog. He visited with Dr. Jack and read his story book in the gift shop. Dr. Jack told Con that this was not a scary place, but a place for people to get better. They soon became very good dog friends. After 6 ½ hours of surgery and 3 hours of recovery time, Con and the Cooley family was reunited with Fred. We had to sneak Con into the recovery room (as we know dogs are not allowed in hospitals - especially recovery rooms).
The next day the family and Con traveled back to the hospital to visit with Fred again. Con, my husband, family friend Terry and myself said our goodbyes and made our long journey back to my hometown of Eldorado. Con was sad as we had to say goodbye to Fred, my mother-in-law and two sister-in-laws as they stayed at Mayo Clinic with Fred. Con took his place back on the dashboard of the car and the new journey began. On the way home Con decided that we should go a different route to have a new adventure. We traveled through various cities in Iowa and Missouri including; Hannibal, Missouri (the home of Mark Twain), St. Louis, Missouri and many more. We made it home safe and sound with many new stories to share including how wonderful the Mayo Clinic had been for helping my father-in-law and Con’s new friend Fred.
Total Trip Miles Traveled with Kalie= 1342.89 miles
Total Miles Traveled by Con = 7861.89 miles
Latitude = 44.0216667
Longitude = - 92.4697222
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