To Spokane...

I decided to head back to Spokane for a family reunion that was happening North of Spokane, right by Canada. While there, I needed to get some paperwork done including applying for my 501c3 which is the federal level of a non profit status. Even though I have 2 other licenses including City and State level, apparently they don't really do much for me and I was very unaware of that.  As larger corporations want to donate to the cause the 501c3  status will make that doable. I Had to take more time off then I wanted to but it all had to get done.

While planning the trip I came across a few obstacles on how to get LeeRoy Spokane with me.  I really don't like to leave him places and I seem to have to do that more often then I'd like. But for this trip I wasn't sure when I would be back in Boise so I wasn't going to leave him. Either he was coming with me or I wasn't going at all. 

I have people I rely on to help me get problems solved when I can't do it myself. I call them my "brain trust". My crack team of smart and very capable people that can make just about anything happen in minutes ( they  really can). At first everything seemed to be running smoothly. I had my flight booked, the airline said they would ship LeeRoy for any extra cost so we were set. However that plan fell apart as quickly as it came together.  Leeroy is around 110 pounds but the airline won't take any animal larger than 55 pounds. So they sent us to a different airline who would ship him but the cost ended up being more than my round trip flight ....so that plan was out.  I had to tag in the "brain trust" to help me find a way to ship us both. To make a long story short, there is a website called "you ship".  How it works is you post what you want to ship and where and people bid on the job. We got a bid from a company in Iowa and everything seemed perfect. The deal was they had a crate big enough for LeeRoy and an air matters for me to sleep on in the back of what I thought would be a cargo van. Haha..... you know how you picture something in your mind and it's nothing like that at all? Ya well that's what happend here.  they were going to pick me up at 11 pm the night of July 26th but they didn't end up getting me till about 2 am.  

Ok ok ok to the good stuff.  I'm sitting on Noah's porch waiting  while everyone inside has gone to sleep. I'm super excited to sleep the whole way to Spokane ( I love sleeping on long car rides). Soon a green mini van pulls up to the place and larger women jumps out. She was a burn victim from I believe a car fire when she was a child. She was so nice but ALL business.  Inside the van in the back part was 4-6 crates and  between the crates and the front seat was an air mattress. There was no room for LeeRoy's pack and my pack. We had to put them under the air matters. One at the top and one at the bottom which created this very uncomfortable V shape. We did our introductions and then she ushered me in to the van. The plan was to put LeeRoy in one of the crates but he couldn't fit so we had to share the air matters. I got in first then LeeRoy .. As soon as he got in the dogs that were in a few of the crates started freaking out. I hadn't seen them in there prior to getting in so they freaked me out too. And of course by this time LeeRoy is freaking out as well. So picture this, I'm laying down on the mattress and trying not to get trampled as LeeRoy goes wild. This wasn't going to work so I was able to get him and myself out of the van with out injury.  We coverd the crates with blankets and made a second attempt. It seemed to be working. LeeRoy calmed down and we headed out.

 We goat about 10 mins in to the ride and LeeRoy pees and poops... at this point my butt was at the lowest part of the air matters so it all ran right down to my shorts. Sucky!!!  We put down a sleeping bag and some blankets she had but what do you know he just keeps peeing and peeing. Within a few hours, I'm soaked from my shoulders to my feet in goat pee. Not only that but the AC was on and I mean on high. I'm trying to stay warm in a socked sleeping bag and blankets but started to shiver. The whole time this was happening, I was also trying to hold LeeRoy back from horning the driver while we speed at least 10 over on the freeway. Oh ya one other thing... The driver (her husband) was also watching X Files on his iphone while driving. Every now and again we would hit those little bumps on the side of the road and he would jerk the wheel. I was stressed!!!  After a while I didn't care anymore and  hoped we crashed so I can just go be with Jesus and get out of this situation.  Later LeeRoy eventually laid down but every time the driver jerked the wheel he would head-but me and stand up. I was in hell... God was punishing me for something and I was sure of it.

 We stopped about 7 am at a Denny's for breakfast. I try hard not to be a complainer so when I was asked by them how I was I lied and said fine. While we were sitting having breakfast, we got to know each other a little bit and had some great conversations. It was really hard to focus as the smell of goat urine radiated from me ... The look on the waitress face was so funny every time she came up... The smell started to fill the air at Denny's.  Ok if there was ever a moment that I wanted to quit, this was it. I was so embarrassed and humbled at the same time. After breakfast we deflated the air matters and I sat on my bag... All I could think was why didn't we do this earlier. I made it to Spokane at about 9 am and was so stoked to not be in that van any longer.