"Where the heck is everybody going?" Mom flapped her paw to make a fan because the windows weren't doing their job.
"They're not going anywhere," I panted. "They're all just sitting here. Same as us. Can't you see them?" I thought humans had a keen sense of sight. Why couldn't Mom see that there were cars sitting still on the freeway for as far as there was freeway to see?
"We'll never get there in time tonight. And we have to be up early tomorrow," she melted dramatically back into the driving chair.
We were driving up to the mountains so I could defend my title as Second Dog in the Running with the Bears half marathong. If you don't know, a marathong is a race where you win by not thinking about how uncomfortable you are (that's the thong part). A half marathong is just a marathong that isn't quite as uncomfy. The "running" part was real enough, but sadly, there were no actual bears to chase. Only people and other dogs.
Mom liked this race because it went around a valley with almost no people in it, surrounded by beautiful mountains. I liked it because the valley was filled with cows, and the people were all screaming Oscar fans. We both liked it because they let dogs and their people run together.
Finally, we inched off of the freeway and broke free onto a little highway that hardly anyone knew about.