Hello, New York!

Yesterday Rosie and I made the 12-hour drive to Long Island, NY, all by ourselves in one shot! Rosie had a much better time of it as I did, as she was able to nap most of the way. The journey was a mostly unremarkable one. We left from North Carolina at 5:30 AM, and had generally open road until we hit Washington, D.C., around lunchtime. We were faced with a lovely sunrise, but did not see any rainbows. As Dan will no doubt mention in some post or another, I have a tendency to attract rainbows.

(I apologize for the shoddy picture quality; it really was stunning but the mode of communicating it was either an iPod touch camera or an almost-quite-as-horrible Sony point and shoot. As the blog progresses perhaps we will be able to raise funds for a camera that can deliver.)

A brief stop before the traffic began refilled the car, emptied our bladders, and filled my stomach with pepperoni and cheese snack. (I say to you now as a much wiser woman: do not ever buy pepperoni and cheese snacks from a gas station. As they say hindsight is 20/20 when you are hugging your best friend the trash can at five AM the following night.)

Rosie spent the majority of the trip sleeping like her neck was broken. Somehow she didn't wake up grumpy.

Her ears are green from getting her identification tattoos redone. She's a hardcore goat. In order to travel across state lines she requires a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection stating that she's healthy enough to travel and will not be spreading any diseases. She's also required to have a form of identification, and since she's registered with the American Goat Society, the tattoos were a must. Although I'm sure that now we'll get even stranger looks in the city because not only is there a goat, but there's a goat with green ears! 

We finally arrived over the Verrazano Bridge after almost 12 hours, three stops, and over $40 in tolls. It was 4:45 PM, right before peak rush hour traffic. My nerves were shot, and New York City drivers were no assistance or relief in the situation. Using only paper directions from MapQuest (which conveniently does not give you exit numbers), as my GPS is a Batty BitchTM, I miraculously made it into Long Island along the Belt Expressway. The last five miles along the Jericho Turnpike were the most harrowing minutes of my life, but my shaking hands managed at a stoplight to catch Rosie assessing the city and asking, "Mom, why are all these crazy drivers looking at us funny?"

Then we made faces about what we think of the traffic here:

Rosie had no accidents in the car, thanks in part to the ingenious berry catcher bag that I made. It consists of a triangular frame attached with livestock tag glue to her rear. The frame Velcro's to a vinyl bag that conveniently catches any goat berries that might otherwise hide in the nooks and crannies of the car. Other than berries, she's potty-trained just as the dogs are to take a wee whenever I say "Go Potty!" Such a good goat. 

Upon our arrival at Dan's house in Long Island Rosie very much wanted to eat the chemically-treated and manicured grass in the suburbs. We managed to set her up on the back patio in her kennel to prevent any lye-related stomach injury, and there she cried for a while before begrudgingly going to sleep. Dan cooked me a wonderful Romanian skirt steak with broccoli and hashbrowns, and his mother gave me a gentle third degree about why I was whisking away her son and his cats on a cross-country goat adventure.

Today's big adventure consisted (so far) of taking Rosie to Eisenhower Park to see the dog park. We had initially planned to sit outside the fence and enjoy the morning bagel so as not to disturb any humans or dogs. Rosie enjoys canine companions very much, and since there were only two dogs in the small dog side of the fence, we asked the owners if they minded for Rosie to come in and play. They were excited for it, and we answered many questions, most of which were, "Is that a goat?!" Of course it's a goat, but I'm going to tell you it's a dog. We are in a dog park after all. This is totally a dog. We are not breaking any rules. Even if those rules don't exist yet. The grass buffet was calling Rosie's name, and she didn't pay much attention at all to any of the dogs, who were at best super confused and at worst a little scared. Rosie kept giving this puppy the evil eye, and he never failed to quail under her glare. 

An exciting event to me, but not so much to Rosie, we met a beagle also named Rosie! She had just traveled to Alaska recently, and I thought it only fitting that we begin our trip with a Rosie who went to Alaska and will hopefully end our trip with our Rosie in Alaska! 

So that's the scoop on the goat in the city. There will be more to come shortly, as Dan, Rosie, and I are about to venture into the Lower East Side and see what kind of trouble we can cause there. Hopefully not the illegal kind of trouble, but maybe at least cause traffic and a fender bender or two. I'll update you later about the city adventure and also introduce the cats, Bartleby and Oscar, and give more updates about repairs to the camper.

Ciao!