We're moving back out west

Well, this idea has been rolling around in the back of my mind for quite some time now, and it appears that the forces that be, for whatever reasons, which is usually not my luck, are working with me to be able to make the move.
My husband and I have come to the conclusion, that we make better friends, than partners, I tend to agree, and am relieved, that he has seen to it that we part ways amicably and are able to remain friends through this difficult time. Actually, since filing for divorce a few weeks ago, we get along now, better than ever! Which on one one hand I'm grateful for, but on the other is kinda creepy.
I have contacted a livestock hauler, and he has taken on at the last minuet, my motley crew of sheep and horses, and so I'm now scrambling to get the necessary blood tests and paperwork to have them shipped, in the short time that I'm allotted before the pick up date at the end of the month.

I am really looking forward to being back home, Ive so missed Utah and my friends out there. My son and I, though we have to some extent, enjoyed the last three years years here in NC are really not cut out to be Southerners. Neither of us like sweet tea or grits, and I think its prerequisite, along with eating black eyed peas on New Years (of which neither of us can stand either) among a lot of other things, that are so typically Southern, and we just have not been happy here and not able to completely acclimate or bounce back from the culture shock in the differences between here and out west. There are so many, I joke about the grits and sweet tea, but the lifestyles between here and there, are so vastly different, that you'd have to live it to really understand it, and I'm afraid I'm not articulate enough to explain it. Its like living with the feeling that one is lost all the time, like being transported back to another space and time where you just don't understand or belong.

All the dogs will be coming with, and I will be happy to get back working with the folks in the Utah Stock dog Assoc. At least going back there, I wont be unknown, and it take a year as it did here to meet working folks, and I can keep my dogs going in the right direction, working with knowledgeable folks.
Of course, there are the usual regrets, and I wish I could take all the good folks Ive met out here with me, but for some odd reason they all seem pretty attached to this state at the moment. Maybe that will change some day and I can convince them otherwise.
I joined AAA the other day, because I fear driving back alone with a truck load of dogs, pulling a 4 horse open stock trailer with all our belongings in it, that if I do some thing stupid, (which comes quite naturally to me) like lock myself out of my truck, run out of fuel, or get a flat, that I wont be able to handle that situation very well with out freaking out and panicking, so the services they offer are quite handy. I also bought a new GPS system, (I named her Vera, she talks to me! ) because I am so horribly directionally challenged. I'm hoping that between Vera and I, that we can navigate the 1800 mile trip with little or no incident.

I will continue to keep the blog updated as much as I can, the trip will take 3 to 4 days to drive, and we will be taking lots of pictures along the way, we are not going to be in a great big hurry to get back on any certain date, and so we will be trying to stop and smell the roses so to speak along the way. I plan on getting a room each night, and most have Internet, so I hope to be able to chronicle the trip.

I have been offered a good job, doing what I know and love, when I get back home, with a gal that I taught to groom many years ago, she now owns her own shop, and I look forward to working with her again. Also between she and I, we have arranged for boarding for my horses, and pasture for the sheep, as well as I have been able to rent a Mobil home on the property where the sheep and horses will be. Not to shabby, for some thing that seems to have taken on a life of its own in only a short week. It seems in the course of one day, Ive gone to thinking about it, to actually going ahead and doing it. It seems the way Ive always done things though, so it comes as no surprise to me. I'm pretty adept at getting things together in a rush.

I have along the course of time, been doing a few things "just in case" so its not like Ive had to do it all in one day or anything. I had tried to find a job out here, but the economy here in NC is so bad what with folks loosing their jobs left and right, that dog grooming is low on most folks priority lists, and groom shops are having a difficult enough time keeping what folks they already have employed with work, and part time doesn't even begin to allow me to support myself and my son and the critters, much less my needs/addiction for keeping the dogs working and us learning.

So, in a few short weeks, we will be on the road, and headed home. I cant say I will hate to see NC in my rearveiw mirror, it holds many good memories, but I'm afraid that the bad ones outweigh the good, and its time to change that, for my son as well as for myself, and move forward. I always have enjoyed an adventure.