National Convention

Tim and I have been thinking about going to the ARBA National Convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Whoa, you say- North Carolina----Michigan? That's quite a ways. Yep, it sure is. We were prepared to drive (oh yes- DRIVE) 11 and 1/2 hours for the biggest bunny show of them all.

But now, we're not gonna.

To begin with, part of the way we were going to be able to afford this trip was by staying in a Sheraton hotel (we're part of a vacation clubish thing...hard to explain really). Anyway, we could stay in a Sheraton or affliate through the usage of points, which we earned when we signed up and bought some property. However, the closest hotel we could use is in Lansing, MI- an hour away. That's two extra hours of driving! EEK.

Then, I went to look at our rabbits. We have some great stock, but we're still developing our own line in all three breeds.. My Holland lops are still in the overhaul stage, the mini's are getting there, and my line of Jersey Woolies practically doesn't exist yet, since I have so few of them lol. I think by next year, we WILL be ready to compete!

I also didn't prepare adequately by breeding for Convention juniors. So our juniors would be too young to really compete, or else my newly turned seniors would have to go up against more mature animals.

We also decided to purchase a mini lop from a friend out in California- so if we weren't going to show, did it make sense to drive 23 hours round trip to pick up one rabbit, or pay insane prices for another rabbit once there? Not very smart. As I said in an earlier post, I refuse to trust anyone else to bring the rabbit back for me- and even if I did, that's another $20-$30 transport fee, on top of the $20+ to get the rabbit to convention.

Instead, we've decided to concentrate on preparing for next year! As for the mini lop, come this winter, she and a few buddies will be making a long flight out to NC :).

Thanks for reading!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry