Okay so now about 5 years have passed since The Story of GoatWorld Part III and many of you have grown less than amused by the pictures here of me that haven't been updated...well I haven't changed much. A few more grey hairs and a bit older, but still the same goat lover all the same eh?
Well in 5 years alot has changed for us here at GoatWorld. Where to start, oh where to start. From the time I last wrote, we lived in Missouri just north of Branson in a little whistlestop named Highlandville, infamously known for the "world's smallest cathedral". Really! There actually is a small cathedral there inundated with weeds. (They need goats!).
But now here it is 2007 and this year finds us several hundred miles away in a little out of the way place named Ordway, Colorado located about 50 miles due east of Pueblo in the Arkansas River Valley. But how did we get here you ask. Well, it's a long way from Huntington Beach and Southern California. Yes, I was a surfer (miss it). And yes, a wild California Musician (still do that). But how the heck did I get here and what's my name again??
I can't remember the exact dates now except it was the month before we went to war in Iraq. There was a lady known as "goatmom" who lived in Monte Vista, CO who I met online and talked with several times over the course of a couple years. She repeatedly told me and asked me if there were anyway I could "help" her out with her rather large herd (100+) LaMancha goats. Up until then, it had always come down to a scenario of "I'm here in Missouri and your in Colorado".
Well, she really needed help and my wife and I were rather inclined to leave the humid, bug infested Ozarks of Missouri in search of a different climate. Besides, sometime in 2001, I had accomplished one unintended but important goal; having the State of Missouri add the Kudzu weed to the noxious weed list (another story and several chapters of itself). Still to this day, I meet quite a few people who ask me, "weren't you the guy who got the Kudzu weed banned in Missouri?" Yessiree pally. That was me. Ugh.
My wife flew out to Colorado ahead of me to survey the scene. The report was exciting. 80 acres of land with lots of goats and lots of potential. We were excited as we would be moving. The elderly goatmom was excited as she was getting the help she so desperately needed. It looked to be a win-win all the way around. Can't ask for anything more than that - people helping people.
So we packed everything we could into the largest U-Haul available and every animal we owned into a large stock trailer and headed west young man. Headed west. And quite the sojourn it was. A typical caravan of frivolity and excitement. People I meet who find out I lived in Missouri are always quick to say, "Missouri is such a pretty state." I tell them, "Sure is. The prettiest sight I ever saw was the sign that said You're Leaving Missouri. But don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking Missouri per se. It just wasn't the right kind of climate for me. The humidity and bugs just didn't set right.
As a kid in California, I'd see a spider of any size or shape and shreik loudly as I ran fast and far. Slowly I began to adjust...a small spider wasn't bad and I actually overcame my fear by measuring it with my thumb, and squashing it thereto. Can you imagine how I regressed that one early Missouri morning when I turned around and saw a spider as large as my hand? I've "almost" gotten over my phobia...the big ones still get my legs itching for a good run though...
In retrospect, it was kind of a tough decision to leave behind our house and land in Missouri, but shoot, those are things you can't take with you anyways. And we both knew that there would always be another house to buy in the future. And for all we knew, we'd end up in Monte Vista living near the Goatmom for many years to come.
