It finally happened – Size Matter’s first interstate road trip to transport goats! Some of you may know that we have been waitlisted for a kid by a buck named Idaho located at Green Eggers Farm in San Diego. When a doe named Magic (already bred to Idaho) and her daughter became unexpectedly available in Arizona, I jumped at the chance to bring her home. Magic’s owner really wanted her daughter, Sugar, to go with her in order to reduce the stress and ease the transition to a new herd. Twist my arm…
A little back story: A sweet lady named Indra bought Magic and her daughter Sugar from Thanh at Green Eggers Farm in August. Then she learned that a dear friend of hers needed funds for cancer treatment and selflessly decided to sell these valuable goats to help raise money. It was heartbreaking for her to make this decision, so we struck a deal that will allow Indra to retain a kid from each doe. Now for the fun part….
I excitedly told my friend Noriko (Opus 7 Farms) about my plans and she blew my mind by offering her goat-ready minivan AND herself to help with driving. We made a plan to drive to Arizona – about 11 hours from Size Matters, pick up the goats and spend the night; returning home the following day.
It was a pretty uneventful trip. We left Size Matters at 0430 on a Saturday morning, and drove until we got to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We stopped for breakfast at a place called Clafoutis. What a find! It was a European-style restaurant and bakery, owned by a French lady….from France! We rolled into Flagstaff around 4:30 and ate an early supper at a top-rated Mexican restaurant and bar in the quaint downtown off the historic Route 66. On to Indra’s farm….
We arrived at Indra’s as the sun was setting and had a nice visit while we completed the paperwork. We loaded the goats in Noriko’s minivan and knocked 2 hours off of our return trip. We spent the night at a hotel in Holbrook, AZ (not much to report there). The goats bedded down in their make-shift minivan stall. They were nice and cozy and seemed pretty unperturbed by their new situation. After a complimentary hotel breakfast, we started the long trek home. Noriko and I had a number of good conversations and once again stopped in Santa Fe for mealtime. Sadly, Clafoutis was closed, so we ate at an El Salvadorian restaurant that was fantastic! We discovered that we really like green chile papusas. We drove the final leg back to Size Matters, and settled in Magic and Sugar with two other pregnant does. They were happy to be reunited with Blackberry’s Jackie, acquired from Thanh in October.
In order for me to make this trip, I needed a lot of support. First of all, Indra delayed a family trip in order to accommodate my tight schedule. Noriko donated her time and her vehicle (so that I could leave mine home for the human kids). Her husband covered at their farm. My husband held down the fort here, and my friend Lynde handled 3 milking sessions, with only one minor injury from Tinker. Thank you so much to everyone for making this trip possible!