James Raymond Reese

Link: http://www.hua.org

We flew into Des Moines on Friday, rented a car and drove to Auburn. It was an uneventful 3-hour ride across mid-America.

There was one major change in the view of the landscape from I-80 since we traveled that road across Iowa a year ago. Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful, new windmills. A bit smaller than those I've seen in California but still huge by any definition.

We arrived in Auburn a little before 4 pm. That allowed some time for visiting before heading for dinner at Wheeler Inn. (Tip: Good food if you ever have reason to be in Auburn, Nebraska.)

After a good night's sleep we awakened to partake of the reason for the trip in the first place: spend some time with the rescued puppy-mill dogs at a shelter named Hearts United for Animals, known to all of its friends simply as HUA.

That was the very same Saturday morning I met Kid Rock.

Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself. First, let's back up a bit.

Several weeks prior to our arrival in Auburn, a man and his son pulled into the shelter's small parking area in their pickup truck. They had a small puppy with them. It seems the little fellow had been thrown from a speeding car in rural Nebraska the night before and the son saw the dog in a ditch. They wanted to know if HUA could, maybe, help the little guy.

If you know the people at HUA at all, you know the response was an immediate "yes."

They had no idea what was ahead.

They spent a few minutes with the puppy and noticed that his breathing was raspy and labored. He could take some water and small bits of wet food but was obviously in great pain. They soon realized that the little guy needed some serious vet care and a few minutes later were on an hour-plus drive to an emergency vet clinic in Omaha.

What they found was a traumatized eye, broken ribs and a jaw badly crushed in a place that rendered surgery to be not an option. All they could do was tape up the muzzle and hope the jaw healed itself.

Through the pain of it all the puppy tried to show his happiness. His tail would wag on the approach of people. At least as well as it could with broken ribs. He obviously didn't connect our species with his hard landing in a rural Nebraska ditch.

When I first saw the puppy, he was happy, running and jumping and wagging his tail at humans like they were his best friends. The only remaining signs of his ordeal were several 1- and 2-inch scars on his head, face and neck.

He is absolutely a charmer and should have no problem being adopted by a loving family.

Oh, I guess I had better get back to Kid Rock.

The volunteers at HUA started calling the puppy Kid Rock on the ride to Omaha when he showed signed of actually enjoying a song playing on the radio. Go figure.

And that's how I met Kid Rock in Auburn, Nebraska.

If you've made it this far in the story, please click on the link above. There is a picture of Kid Rock on the front page. At least there is as of the date of this posting.

If you have a few minutes more, please take a look at some of the other stories.

Thanks.