Planning a trip to collect goats means not only did I need to plan for Denny and my travel; I had to plan for the goat’s travel.
The plan started several months ago regarding what the goats would be traveling in. The young kids were small enough to fit into a large dog crate. The crates we had would not both fit in the back seat of the pickup truck. They would fit in the back of the Chevy Traverse. We would be driving the Chevy pickup truck.
As I came across my Pygora Facebook page post of 3 mature does need new caretakers; I investigated further and was given the contact information of the current owner.
I found 3 mature goats on the Pygora Breeders Association Facebook page that needed a new home. Their owner had passed away, and the young lady that now owned them was not able to care for them. As you can see in the photo, it had been a while since they had been sheared. We would give them the home and attention they needed.
If this panned out we would be adding an additional 11 hrs to the trip. This meant we would want to put the mature goats in the very back of the truck. The pet pen that I snagged on an online market came back into play. We practiced where our suitcases, hay, water, and picnic basket would go. We still needed inspiration for the 4 kid goats to safely travel inside the pick-up. When we got our puppy we used a portable plastic fence that came in sections. It had a door. We realized this would fit in the back seat of the pickup truck as long as the seats were in the up position. We planned a tarp for the floor and a large contractor bag full of straw to use for the bedding. Denny found the largest tarp possible and added rachets to our take-along list.
We made a checklist of everything we absolutely HAD to do prior to us leaving for Indiana.
The focus was on the parameter fence on the pasture that would someday be 3 pastures. For now, we needed something to put water in, the pole barn fully secure, gates up on the parameter, and latches all working. We knew the breeder that we had secured the baby goats from was bringing along food so we could transition well.
A good part of the morning was spent doing the pretend to drive. GPS is so fabulous! I was able to try several routes and several ideas for stopping and staying and even watched some YouTube videos on what to do in Wisconsin and Indiana. Friends of ours travel to Wisconsin and have surprised us with a case of New Glarus Spotted Cow beer from time to time. I watched the story of the spotted cow on YouTube and felt like I now absolutely had to make sure we picked some up for our friends to return the favor so that was in the Wisconsin plan.
The route we decided on took us from Bismarck to Lake Lawn Resort Wisconsin the first day.
We were on the road by 7 a.m. and arrived at the resort in time to have a relaxing dinner at the resort. The place was just what we needed for a mini-break before the driving with no break began. We stayed Wednesday night and Thursday night, leaving for Columbia City, Indiana, on Friday morning. Denny drove the entire 2200 miles. I maintained the GPS, the hotels, and the phone and tried to make sure we didn’t go to bed without supper. Denny did get to golf one day, and I came with them to hang out with him.
Spring had arrived in Wisconsin and Indiana, and the grass was lush and green. Trees and shrubs were in full bloom. North Dakota has been experiencing a drought. The fresh smell of rain was a break in itself!
We took the route right around the tip of Lake Michigan, through Chicago, and took in a national park just South of Gary, Indiana, ending up at Michigan City. We had a seafood lunch overlooking the coast guard station, the beach, and a lighthouse with a huge power plant just off to the one side of everything.
We arrived at our hotel just in time to take a business call and almost missed dinner time. Small towns were shutting down at 9 p.m. The next morning as planned, the baby goats arrived.
Polly the owner took time to show us how to give the CD-T vaccines (under the skin). She showed us once and had me do 2 shots and Denny 1 shot.
We then listened as she told us about worming, how to see their eyelids to see if they are in need of worming, and then she went over the paper registration papers and health traveling papers. We had not purchased a microchip reader yet so she lent us hers in the event we were stopped by an animal board of heath person.
We loaded them one by one into their playpen and got ready for our 11-hour trip to Leavenworth, Kansas.
The family that had the mature goats happened to own a horse boarding stable. They had extended the stables as a place we could leave the kid goats for the evening.
With the help of our British guide – GPS Niles- we arrived just as it was getting dark.
Katie, the owner of the boarding stables helped us unload the kids, water them and feed them. She also had the mature goats in the next stall and let us say good night to them.
We again got back into Leavenworth just in time to have all the restaurants be closed.
One was a Jamaican bar. They were having Salsa dance lessons. We explained how we had been driving all day, just arrived, and would they please find something in the kitchen they would let us eat? They agreed. They surprised us. A fabulous plate of Jamaican shrimp and scallops with spices that made it all come together was served. The owner-bartender was military and Denny and he spoke military while I drank beer, watched salsa dancing, and ate and ate and ate!
The hotel was just across the street and it was the nicest room. We were in it for less than 7 hours!
The thunder and heavy rain almost woke us up.
We were at the boarding stable by 8:30 a.m., and again Katie did it all. She loaded the little goats, she loaded the big goats, she helped us wrap the outside pen, she gave us goat pellets, and she had all the paperwork.
During our driving to Indiana, we found out the oldest goat had lost her scrappies tag. The Kansas DVM helped facilitate Katie and her husband putting a new tag into the ear. That happened at the last minute and the health papers were good to go for the trip back to North Dakota.
As I write this, Denny and I are still sleep-deprived. We are no spring chickens!
We arrived home in time to pick up our dog at our daughter’s. We drove the pickup truck into the pasture through the gate…in the dark and the latch scratched the side of the truck.
Almost a perfect trip!
