Leaving Lucy (part one)

In order to join the Peace Corps, I had to leave behind my dog. My parents aren't really "dog people" and I thought it rather unfair of me to make them take care of my Australian Blue Healer, Lucy. Fortunately, my college roommate's (Anderson's) parents were in the market for a dog; moreover, Lucy was a good match for them. Last Saturday, I left for the Denver area with Lucy and all her belongings. This blog is about our trip...

I ended up leaving for Colorado a little later than expected, as per the norm. We left around 11:00, 11:30 for the 10+ hour trip across the heartland after I finished loading up the food, breaking apart her kennel--so it would fit in the back seat, gathering up her toys, and bidding one, final goodbye to mom. The drive went better than expected and Lucy was great on the journey; she was content with sleeping, poking her head out the window, and occasionally whimpering for a good petting. We stopped in the western side of the state to enjoy a few last moments in Iowa before pressing onward into the uncharted wilds of Nebraska...
...5 hours later, I awoke in a daze and somehow at a rest area just inside eastern Colorado. I didn't question it; I was glad to have Nebraska behind me.

In the morning, I awoke and, after my morning "freshing up" in the men's restroom, I met a man named Omar. He was on his way to Denver to visit a sick friend. Born in Africa, his mother gave him away to a couple in Sweden, so he wouldn't fall in with the wrong crowd and become some gun-toting miscreant disguised as rebel. How he ended up in America, I'm not sure. It was interesting to talk with him, especially on Mother's Day. He had a sincere appreciation for his mother, the very woman that gave him away. Even at the age of 7 or 8, he understood that his mother was, in the best way she could, protecting him from a most-likely, short and difficult life. I suppose that Omar could have been feeding me a line about all this, but he had no reason to be making this up. Why impress some guy you met at the rest stop? Even if he was though, it was nice to have someone to talk to for a few minutes.

3 hours later, I arrived in the Denver suburbs. Lucy was at her new home.