Marla and Eddie Collins were leaving the big city, moving to a rural property they purchased where their seventeen dogs would have plenty of room to run and play.

Alas, a tire blew and their vehicle spun out of control. Boxes of their possessions were soon scattered along Intersate 10 near Tucsan. Three of the five dogs they had with them on this load were killed. The other two ran off frightened into the Arizona desert.

Needless to say the journey to rural Benson ended for a while. The disabled couple spent days searching for the missing Kathy Mae and Baby Girl, and became well known to local shelters for their daily visits. They strode the highway margins at night, with flashlights, calling to their missing dogs.

The couple were overwhelmed with guilt, having rearranged their lives for love of their dogs, and in the process losing such a large percentage of their family.

Maria couldn't eat or sleep. "I can't concentrate on anything else but the animals." The three dogs that died were cremated. She well knew the other two were injured and likely died in the desert. But on the chance one or both survived, she and Eddie walked the interstate day and night, making their forlorn calls to Kathy Mae and Baby Girl. [2005]