If you’re like me, you’d take in every sweet, adorable, pleading homeless pet and give them the love and care they deserve…if you could. The next best thing, however, is promoting pet adoption all acr
oss the country.
What is it? Get Your Licks on Route 66 is a mobile national pet adoption tour rolling along the length of the America’s Favorite Highway, Route 66.
When? The event kicks off in Chicago on September 10th and arrives in California early October.
Where? The 36-foot Mobile Adoption Unit will travel through eight states, with stops in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Meet Susan Sims, publisher of FIDO Friendly magazine, and founder of Ge
t Your Licks on Route 66.
Q: How did this adoption tour begin?
Susan: Early in 2009 I had the idea to travel cross-country to help promote pet adoption.
FIDO Friendly magazine is such a great venue for all things dog, but I wanted to get out on the road and start a grass-root awareness campaign about pet adoption. We partnered with North Shore Animal League America, (NSALA) the world’s largest no kill animal shelter.
Q: So, do you bring pets for adoption along with you?
Susan: The bus drivers take pets from the local shelters along the way and bring them to a designated venue where people can come on board the climate-controlled pet adoption bus and look at pets for adop
tion.
The 2 bus drivers from NSALA are the true heroes, as they transport pets to the different adoption sites each day and at day’s end, take pets that had not been adopted back to the shelters. At this time, they sanitize the bus and get it ready for the next day’s adoption. This process is repeated at each shelter.
Q: How can we find out if/when you’ll be coming to our town?
Susan: We will be posting the entire schedule on our blog and online.
Q: Why have you made this event one of your personal missions–what does it mean to you?
Susan: Just before the Get Your Licks on Route 66 pet adoption tour last year, we lost both of our two Labs within a few months of each other and as fate would have it, we adopted Junior from our local shelter just before the last sweet spirit passed over Rainbow Bridge. There are a lot of great dogs sitting in shelters right now, just waiting for the chance to become someone’s best friend. By making this month long pet adoption tour something fun and hopefully news worthy, I feel that more and more dogs will be adopted as a result of what we do. Junior is a pure bred black Lab, found at a shelter, so he made a perfect choice for spokes-dog. You just never know who you will find that needs a new forever home at your local shelter. These are not throw-away dogs, ju
st sweet spirits looking for a home.
Junior came with us last year, in fact, you could say he grew up on the road. He had never been on a car trip, never in a plane and we just got lucky that he loved the entire experience. We made sure that we stopped at places like Camp Bow Wow when we had extra time so he could run and play with a few ‘new friends’ before we jumped back in the car for the next city stop. I think if pet parents remember to exercise their furry best friends, making a long road trip like this one can be a great experience for all concerned.
Thank you Susan!
Be sure to stop by again Friday to
Learn more about Junior
Read some of the heartwarming adoption stories
Find out how you can help!
If you want, you can leave your good wishes for Susan and Junior and their travels here. And, if you have any questions for Susan, feel free to ask here too.
