Is That a Donkey?!

The past few days we've been preparing for the big start of the trip, so I haven't had much time to blog about the rest of our New York City adventure and the drive back to home base. We last left our brave little goat story at the dog park in Long Island. Later that night we took Rosie into the lower east side of Manhattan and made some New Yorkers really confused. Dan drove because I can't deal with Yankee drivers and also because he needed to get a feel for the vehicle. Luckily he didn't have to deal with pulling the camper just yet. We got dollar pizza first while Rosie waited in the car. When we returned, we got our first question of the night from a shopkeeper who had been standing by our car. "Is that a goat in your car?! Only in New York will I see a goat in a car!" Actually, sir, it is not "only in New York." We'll be all over the place! A couple of passers-by stopped to ogle and take pictures, and on we went to Union Square.

Within moments of getting out of the car we were discovered. As both Dan and I are not smartphone users, we didn't realize that the selfie phenomenon was an actual thing. I thought it was just a joke phrase making fun of people taking pictures of themselves, or just a reference to that style of picture. Apparently people absolutely HAVE to have the selfie. It's not enough to just take a picture of the goat. There were multiple people who told us we ought to charge everyone a dollar to take a selfie with Rosie. It was a good idea, but we were already slightly concerned about what the NYPD would have to say regarding our odd friend, without the added issue of unlicensed operation of a street business. 

We made it across the street into the center of Union Square where all the young folks were hanging out. It was about midnight, and there were maybe thirty or so people who immediately needed to know everything about the goat, if it was a boy or girl, how old it is, does it bite, will it headbutt, do you keep it in your apartment, is it legal, and mostly "IS THAT A GOAT?!" Interestingly enough there were quite a few people who looked right at her and continued walking as if they didn't notice. It being midnight and those people having glazed eyes, we assumed that they were just so otherwise intoxicated that they assumed the goat was just a part of the experience. A surprising number of people could not identify what kind of animal we were walking, and we even had one fellow ask us if that was a donkey. I'm just going to start telling everyone she's a dog with congenital malformations.

To our relief the NYPD didn't seem to care much about the goat. We were slightly concerned that having a goat in NYC might be illegal or at least questionable, but we were never even asked for her Certificate of Veterinary Inspection papers which are require of inter-state travel. Maybe they were already complacent considering there were two decent sized boa constrictors being displayed in the square prior to our arrival. One of them was even named Rosie, and we got a picture with Rosie and Rosie together. For obvious reasons we couldn't wrap the snake around Rosie's neck for a picture, although that would have been adorable. Shortly after meeting her second doppelganger of the day, Rosie because tired of the city life so we retired to quiet Long Island.

Rosie and Rosie

The next day Dan and I packed up his bags, the goat, and his two cats, Bartleby Herman Meowville and Oscar Wildecat, who will be introduced on the blog shortly. Rosie had a snack while waiting for us to pack the car. (Dan's mom, if you're reading this Rosie said to tell you the lawn was just a little uneven there and she was fixing it for you. She also experienced no adverse effects from manicured city grass.)

Deeeeeelicious!

 We loaded up and set our sights for North Carolina. On our way from Long Island to Manhattan I managed to get an OK picture of the skyline.

Our delight at finally being on the road was short-lived when were were immediately accosted by traffic going into the Holland Tunnel. We left at 2:30 pm and it took us over two hours to move three blocks approaching the tunnel. In the meantime we amused ourselves in whatever way we could, which meant taking pictures and eventually putting Rosie in the front seat so she could stick her head out the window and cause even more traffic. 

Rosie's very interested in the cats in the kennel.

They're not so interested in her.

We attracted lots of attention and luckily didn't cause any collisions since we were hardly moving at all. Pedestrians who saw her in the crosswalk or from the sidewalk would come to the window, and fellow traffic jam friends were taking pictures and hollering questions from their car windows.

My legs were lacerated from her hooves, but Rosie didn't care for my comfort.

We even met a couple of NYPD officers who neglected their traffic directing duties to give Rosie a scratch behind the ears. She demands attention.

Rosie likes police officers. Piper barks at them.

After a grueling yet entertaining four hours in traffic we finally made it into New Jersey and on the open road. Taking an unconventional route we managed to avoid every single toll for the entire trip, saving us about forty bucks. On the Deleware/Pennsylvania border we came across a magical-looking little town called Lambertville that seemed like it should be a quaint little European village. A couple hours later we discovered that Mapquest doesn't always give the most direct of directions and is in fact occasionally just plain wrong. We drove around in circles for an hour trying to find the correct highway, but we were ecstatic that being lost wasn't stressful since we have literally no place to be for the foreseeable future. I played around with the GPS, and on a whim looked to see if we were anywhere close to my old roommate who now lives in Newtown, PA. We were only twelve miles from there! He was at work so we continued to drive along our planned route for half an hour before managing to contact him and see if we could visit. By this time it was almost 10 pm and we were considering finding a place to camp for the night. Brandon told us we were welcome to come visit for a while, so we set the GPS to take us to his house, which took us back exactly the way we had just came for an hour! Upon our arrival Brandon was slightly amused by the goat, indifferent about the cats, but happy to see me for the first time in two years. We had a pleasant time catching up, and Brandon donated an electric cooler, a propane lantern, and a 10-pack of mini flashlights to the cause. He also demonstrated the long-lasting kindling capabilities of Doritos and then decided he never wanted to eat them again after seeing how they react to being lit on fire. And so we left Brandon's house with an almost-full bag of Doritos that was consumed within five minutes. 

Upon reaching I-81 we stopped at a Love's truck stop and slept in the car before continuing south. In the great state of Virginia I came across an attraction listed in the GPS as Dinsosaur Land. Dan told me that he had once visited a park in Virginia that displayed statues of Civil War soldiers riding on the backs of dinosaurs, and we wondered if this might be the same place. It was not. We stopped at the attraction, which was a $6 fee to walk in an "educational prehistoric forest" made of cement-covered dinosaur sculptures that looked like papier-mache. We didn't go in because one, we're cheap, and two, they didn't allow goats and cats. Although I think that entering the park would have infuriated me as I'm a bit of a dinosaur enthusiast and noticed many scientific inaccuracies in the supposed "educational" forest before even stepping foot inside the actual attraction. 

Onward we went down the road, eventually coming to the Natural Bridge where the REAL soldiers riding dinosaurs statues were supposed to exist. Apparently that part of the attraction was sold and taken down, but we were still interested in seeing the Natural Bridge itself. The area also touted beautiful caves that "can't get any more natural!" That's interesting to me considering the floors were paved, handrails were installed, and light shows made the natural formations all sorts of unnatural colors. The added $30 admission to see a place that is outdoors and should be open the the public was so ludicrous that we left. It's pretty ridiculous that people are allowed to set up a building in the way of a natural land feature and charge people to walk past just to look at it. No thanks.

An hour or so later we left the highway in search of a 70-90% off bookstore advertised in a brochure about Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We had hoped to possibly acquire some books about foraging for edible plants or other useful camping and survival books. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered that it's only open four times a year. Bummer. On the way back to the highway we stopped at a roadside stand run by two young boys who were selling just-picked sweet corn. I did the same exact thing selling sweet corn on side of the road all last summer. We picked up half a dozen ears for two bucks and snacked on them in the car. Rosie makes for quite convenient corn husk disposal.

We finally arrived back to my parents' house in North Carolina to finish packing for the master trip. The next day we set up the camper and worked on getting the cats and dogs acquainted with each other. Packing and camper maintenance ensued. I'll post about all this later, but for now this has been an update! I may only post once or twice a week as internet connection will rely on our proximity to free fast food wi-fi for a while. We're heading to Asheville, NC today for the first little leg of the trip! Wish us luck!