The Quest for the Demon Donkey comes to an end

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The last chapter

Meet Donkey. Isn't he cute?


Sombrea, the demon Donkey was hurt. She needed medical attention. As we walked away from her, we were suddenly offered a sheep. Marina and her husband felt bad about us driving up there for nothing. Now we have a sheep.

Sometime between January and March, Marina and her family will be visiting us, bringing along with them the jack or Jenny that will be born in a few months. We will have a donkey then.

Donkey was soon loaded up, after a struggle and we said good bye to everyone. My husband and I really wanted to stay longer, but work awaited us at home. We took a different way out.We decided to take a different highway, hoping that it would cut a little time off our travels and we could avoid the major cities. How wrong we were! We lost 3 hours because of the "small" towns and all their stop lights. We ended up cutting across Texas and headed to Temple.

We left Fort Worth with a souvenir.


Yes that is a WARNING ticket. Did I mention that the trailer didn't have tags on it?

We laughed about being pulled over. Here we made it through 3 states, cops behind us several times, no tags, no lights. We get lights and we get pulled over. I wanted to get a picture of the cop handing over the ticket, but I was a coward about asking. {the above picture has been altered to protect my husband}

Outside of OK City I got to drive.

"Driving that train, high on cocaine Casey Jones you better. . . Highway ends? HIGHWAY ENDS!" no, this highway isn't suppose to end. Yet, there was a sign stating that it does. Husband woke startled and promptly informed me that only twice in his life has he allowed a woman to drive on a trip, and twice he has woken to find himself somewhere where he wasn't suppose to be. ~sigh, jerk~

I turned around in downtown Edmond OK. Found the signs and lost an hour. I swear I followed the highway, never did I exit and never did I see any signs pointing a different direction to Wichita, Ks.

It was 3 am by the time we made it home. I hit the dirt rode, startling my husband who yelled, "Woman, get back on the road."

"Go back to sleep."

3am, we discovered our fields were flooded and there wasn't a way that we could drive up to the pen. It took us 30 minutes to drag that sheep named Donkey into the pen. The goats flipped out. It was 4am before we got to bed, our alarm went off at 530 am. ~yawn~

Donkey is doing great with our goats. They are still a little too jumpy for him, and he isn't sure about us. We thought with a little time he will be less skittish. My boys were a little disappointed, but excited about the seep and the fact that we will have the baby next year.

The Quest for the Demon Donkey

My monitor went out. Thank you for the emails and the phone calls.

Now where were we?

We just left from meeting Texaswren and her husband, and headed south to Austin. Unfortunately I was so stressed from the traffic, that I only got a few highway shots, and that was after my husband reminded me. He did try to cheer me up by gawking at a man wearing a very large cowboy hat and driving a very small convertible.


Soon we were heading west, straight into the setting sun.

"hello"
"I'm blind and lost!"
of course I didn't take a moment to identify myself, but with the question of where are you I assumed Marina knew who it was. My husband and I saw a street with a similar name to the one we were to turn down once we arrived in Dripping Springs. Alas! It didn't look like a road, but a driveway. We ended in a parking lot with a sign declaring that it wasn't a turn around area. Luckily Marina knows here town and was able to tell us were we should go now. Once we were headed east again, it was easier to see the road.

my oh my! The back country that Marina lives in is so very pretty. It was getting dark so I didn't get too many pictures.or ones that aren't blurry.

And of course we were true to ourselves and missed Marina's driveway. We had to drive for a time before finding a place that we could turn around with the trailer. On the way back, Marina's husband waved us in, we had arrived.

As soon as we hopped out of the car, it wasn't hi, I'm....no it was, the bathroom is there. Then we were able to introduce ourselves {though Marina and I have been talking online for 4 years now, we seemed to already know each other and there was no need for introductions} Next we were placed back into a pick-up and driven into town for dinner. We were several hours late and the restaurant was closing shortly. We dinned at a Cajun style restaurant. I hear that the owners relocated there after Hurricane Katrina. Dinner was very good.

Back to Marina's and to bed.

The next morning, Marina and I were up before the men. We had coffee and looked at her land from the back porch. So many trees! We talked and giggled and waited for the men to wake. Once they did, Marina's husband made breakfast while my husband attempted to get some trailer lights.
With daylight and warm weather he was able to get the lights working.



After a wonderful breakfast, they took us on a tour of their land. So many trees. It's very pretty but after a while I realized that I could never live in there. I need the open prairie.


We spied some sheep


And soon the demon donkey was there.


She doesn't seem like that much of a demon.

She showed up with a hurt foot. They four of discussed what we should do. Was she fit for travel? Would it be right to send us home with a hurt animal? Would it be right to send us away with nothing?

We all came to decision. And after much bribing, tugging, wrestling, and fighting, it was time to take Donkey home.

The Quest for the Demon Donkey

Continued from Day One

Day Two
Part 1

We were tired as we set forth the next morning. Yet thrilled with the adventure and just escaping our family, if only for a weekend.

Oklahoma is very red, red and green.

Say hello to Ok City

They do have hills, I will give them that. The first place we decided to stop was a scenic overlook. My husband thought we should stop and take a picture for whiteraven, even though she probably already has it with her Markeroni.





The overlook was very scenic and pretty,



But what got my attention was the fact that out of six other cars parked there, I was the only female. As my husband started prattling of explanation for this, I merely giggled and said, they are peeing in the woods. I was then called a spoil sport and we went on our way.

Ok, was rather easy going, it was overcast the entire way through. And we made good time, crossing the state in a few hours. Has anyone had Fried Pies? We didn't stop for them, we did however get some Jerky from Robertsons. Many of bright red sign influenced our decision, ugh, it was like eating slightly peppered, chewy paper. Never again!

We don't have "big" in Kansas. Our small towns are just that, small. Now Texas I don't think they really know the meaning of small. The Texas Motor Speedway was enormous!




And the scary part was that it was a race weekend. We hoped that we wouldn't get stuck in that traffic either direction. The way into Fort Worth was clear.The highways are high off the ground. We could never have something so high because of all the ice we get. It was fascinating to see. It's been a long time since I had been in this part of Texas.

My husband and I joked and tried to enjoy the sights, while I did my best not to have an anxiety attack caused by the traffic. One thing that lighten my mood was the man in the mini van that pulled onto the highway.

"Does he know his hatch is open?"
"He would have to be deaf not to know."

We laughed pretty hard about the man doing 70 mph with the mini van hatch open, nothing in its way, it could have been shut.

Hillsboro Texas was are first Texas stop. Here we had a late lunch with Texaswren and her husband. My husband and I had a great time, and were sadden we had to leave so quickly.

Dripping Springs and a demon donkey awaited us.

Make it from Scratch

Make it from Scratch Tuesday is up.



Go see what others are making, and maybe learn a new trick or two.

The Quest for the Demon Donkey

Day One

Slush fell from the sky as we pulled out of the homestead. I had been watching the weather reports throughout most of the day, and was confident that we would miss the severe storms down south and the winter storms that were just beginning in my area, that is if we kept to our schedule.

We dropped our three boys off at my mother's house, then headed off to the local auto supply store in search of a trailer light harness. The slush was slowly changing into snow as we entered the store. Quickly we bought the gear needed, and jump back into our black truck, heading south on our way to my brother-in-law's.

We pulled in their driveway around 730 pm. The truck was swung around and backed up to the trailer. Soon the two were connected and we were on our way. Wait, why aren't we moving? The trailer was stuck in the mud! My sister-in-law and I spent some time shoving fencing and plywood under the tires, until the truck became stuck as well. We weren't going, I knew it.

Ten thirty pm, my brother-in-law arrived home after work to find part of his cattle field torn up and our truck slowly sinking into the dark mud. His Bronco was able to tow out our truck and then the trailer, via a chain and drier ground. Eleven pm, we have the wrong part for the trailer harness. This caused my husband and my brother-in-law to drive the thirty minutes to the nearest town, and 24 hour Walmart. They didn't return until one am, without a part.

My husband lay in the slush and snow, the water and mud trying to find a way to connect the lights to the trailer. By two thirty in the morning I had had enough, "We are running." We hit the toll road around three am, no running lights, no brake lights, no turn signals, we were outlaws. Alas, no police officers were around to see our crime.

The snow thickened as we entered Oklahoma. I knew we were in Oklahoma because the road abruptly changed, becoming pitted and uncared for. I was curios why the State felt the need to cover their signs with gray tape. How was anyone to know where they were, or how fast they should go?

The snow flakes grow larger and thicker. Soon you could no longer see the lines in the road. Luckily people aren't as determined as we are, and we were alone on this stretch of highway. The signs still covered in that gray tape, no not tape, snow, so we had no idea were to turn to find shelter, or when an exit was coming up until we were already on top of it. We were in blizzard like conditions.

Finally in the distance a blue sign high in the heavens. That must be a hotel, it must be! We pulled into Perry Oklahoma, and slept for 3 hours. Not a single snowflake littered the ground when we awoke.