For my long weekend, I decided to drive home to Iowa and visit the fam. Of course, this has been something I enjoy doing ever since I walked out of the house years and years ago to pursue my own (cough: independent -yeah right) life. It just relaxes me. I can drive for 7 hours straight and sort out everything that is happening in my life. It's like my 7 hour meditation, well, with a lot of loud music mixed in there. I really enjoy that drive.
Of course, this was a drive like no other I've taken. This time, I made the trip with my doggy companion, Lilli-mister. She was absolutely awesome. 7 hours of doggy-Tara time and she didn't annoy me once. Before the trip, I prepared by buying a doggy hammock (the link doesn't show-but it's there if you want to go see the one that I have) that, if you do not own one of these and you have a dog, you should think about investing in one. It keeps her claws from ripping through my seats and it creates something similar to a dog kennel out of the back seat. Her own little space to move back and forth on. It also creates a "gate" between her and the front seat as to not bother the most important driver. Lastly, it allows me to still put some of my stuff on the back floor and she can not bother them or mess with them.
We stopped a lot more times then needed on the way down to prevent any peeing and/or pooping. Um, now that would have been gross, stuffed in a closed car with a poop or pee! YUK. Anyway, I found that with my sniffing-obsessed hound (as my dad called her all weekend), we can no longer stop where other dogs do their business. She just gets so overloaded with smells that she can not even think about doing her own business. So, I would sneak her into the grassy (umm, I mean snow piles) areas around gas stations to have her go. It worked and she did good...no messes in the car. On the way back...well, that was a drive from Hell and Lilly did wonderfully.
Lilly got some doggy bonding time while I used that moment to have some friend bonding time, as well. Lilly met Sid ("oh Shit" or "Oh Tit" as Taryn refers to him); they spent the night growling at each other, running around chasing each other, and of course Lilly was her hyperactive self. I got to eat a fabulous dinner that Shawn made and catch up on what is happening with my lovely preggers friends Kendra and Shawn! Taryn was absolutely adorable and even came to me a couple of times, which always makes my heart just melt. I always mean to take pictures but then get caught up in the moment. Kendra and Shawn are my cute married couple friends who have Taryn, their one and some year old, and then another baby a brewin' in Kendra's belly. She's so cute and huge belly pregnant. When I finally get around to settling down, I hope that I have a belly like hers when I'm pregnant. It's as if there was a basketball sitting around and she stuffed in right into the front of her. After trips like this, I always wish I lived in Iowa to see these special things everyday.
Mom and Dad got to hang out with Lilly for the weekend and meet the dog that I've been bragging up. I think they would agree with me that she's as sweet, gentle, caring, and obedient as I've bragged about. I'm so proud of her! yay! Mom has taken to calling her, "her grandpuppy" as suggested by A. haha! She even has her own little kennel at Mom and Dad's house to hang out in when we go shopping and stuff.
Now...to the crazy part of the trip. This weekend's weather caused Iowa to freak out a bit. As I traveled I-80 towards Des Moines, I realized that the road was about a 3 inch deep ice skating rink and there were a lot (over 200 reported on the news this morning) of cars, trucks, semi's, and other rigs that just did not know how to skate.
I have a road in my hometown that is always littered with dead-car-struck animals that's exactly how this road looked. Only the dead animals in this case, were cars and other vehicles. The extent of damage ranged from completely smashed to looking as if there driver just decided to "park" it there for a couple of nights. Semi's (I'm not sure if that apostrophe should be there or not) weren't able to make it up hills and caused an incredible amount of road blocks when they would fishtail in the middle of the road or a long line of truckers would stop and allow themselves some "runway" room.
After 5 hours of driving a distance that normally takes me 2ish hours, I had the sense (thanks to my Mom's pushing) to grab a hotel room in Grinnell, Iowa. Mom had looked up hotels that allowed pups and this one was really nice too (I was afraid of getting stuck in a pee invested, poop washed, germ over run stink motel). I decided to not venture out and ordered a taco pizza, bread sticks, and a salad. I ate two pieces of the pizza and a tiny bread stick and was full. I so needed an adventure buddy (well, other than a hound that would have thrown up had I given her any of my yummy food).
As I was sitting in my hotel room (in between my many phone calls to friends, the brother, and family members caused by boredom), I decided to play a friendly game of "TUG" with Lilly. I was sitting on my bed, crossed legged (pretzel style or Indian style, whatever we properly call it or whatever is PC), and started the game of TUG. Lilly gets fierce when playing this game. She LOVES it. She whips her head back and forth and pulls with her entire body. It's hilarious. Well, half way through the game, I got bored and started watching the t.v. while tugging with her.
Of course, the last big TUG caught my off guard and I flew forward off the bed. Since my legs were crossed under me, I was unable to get them free in time to help catch me, so I landed with a loud thud on my hands and knees in front of a very surprised dog. HA! I was laughing so hard that I'm sure if someone heard they would think I was crazy. I could not stop imagining what that had to have looked like if someone had been behind me! HAHA! (I'm laughing right now just thinking of it.)
After all that major excitement, we got a good start this morning and I was pleased to find that the roads had cleared up from Grinnell to the cities. Thank goodness because my eyes and brain couldn't handle another stressful day of driving and concentrating the entire way. So, I spent another 5 hours today driving and meditating my way to MN while Lillister slept the entire way.
As I type this, she is now sleeping on the couch beside me. She and I are both very worn out from our big trip south. And with big hopes, we'll be doing it again sometime in March!
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