Home from a Fabulous Adventure

My friend above posed for my very last photo on Bill and Marianne's Excellent Adventure yesterday afternoon. 

This guy lives in Dillon, Mont., and I hope the dog pen where I left him was his home.  He wanted to come home with me.  I think he recognized my FOBC (Friend of Border Collies) tendencies. 

Bill was visiting the fly shop in Dillon.  I knew he would spend more than five minutes, so I took my camera and set off on foot through a residential area. 

About halfway down the street, my friend appeared from a lawn (I hope it was his lawn) and proceeded to follow me and then herd me as he trotted in large circles around me. 

When I turned around to head back to where we were parked several blocks away and near the main highway coming into Dillon, I noticed that the pup was not making any effort to go home.

So, as I knocked on doors, he came with me, jumping up and putting his paws on my front begging for a pet or two.   He was a well-trained Border Collie cuz he knew "Down," but he didn't know "Leave the lady alone and go to your pen."  

Nobody was home in that neighborhood, so I guessed that maybe the open gate to a dog run behind one of the houses might be his home.  

I latched the gate and said "good bye,"  hoping someone in the neighborhood would direct him to his correct home if I had guessed wrong.

How strange is it that a Border Collie would find me on a random walk through a Montana town!

Well, life has always been strange that way, and I must say the experience added one more anecdote to what had been a wonderful trip for Bill and me.

So many images, so many memories, so many phenomenal and interesting people along the way----ALL positive.  

For example: 

• The couple sitting in the lobby at the Marriott Center.  The friendly, interesting lady who'd grown up in Las Vegas,  told me---a perfect stranger wearing a Gonzaga sweatshirt---that if the folks who usually sit next to them 13 rows above the BYU bench did not show that night, she'd come and find Bill and me in the nosebleed section and we could sit with her husband and her. I think the folks in the next seats did show up cuz the place was packed. 

• The owner of the CALF-A in Dell, Montana, where we stopped again yesterday for lunch. She bakes the pies, cinnamon rolls and THOSE DONUTS.  We bypassed the huge calory delights yesterday for a basic hamburger and a chili burger, purchasing pie for our home arrival.  She was pretty tickled about "Bulwinkle," the moose eating all their alfalfa and causing her husband some frustrating moments trying to get Bulwinkle to exit the hay pile.

• Jim and Laurie in Phoenix who showed us some great Phoenix flavor.  

• Dave, the Minnesota cowboy, who has his vet papers ready to go the first of January so he can get on the road to Wickenburg with his horses for another year of ropin' in the sunshine. 

• A Gonzaga fan with ties to Sandpoint.  When I mentioned I was a teacher, her husband said, "We know an SHS graduate.  Have you ever heard of Monte Collison?" Well, yes, he's only an extended family member whom we've all known and loved since he was 9 years old and showed up at a 4-H meeting cuz "I want to learn about horses."  Yeah, he's learned about horses many times over since then.  And, yeah, we had to have pictures taken there in the lobby so we could tell Monte we'd met.
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• The wonderful young man from BYU who wrote a nice comment on my blog yesterday.  We were so impressed with everyone we met at the Marriott Center. 

Again, so many people, so many experiences, too numerous to count, so priceless.

Before we left, not knowing which way Bill would turn the pickup on our excellent adventure, I featured a Dierks Bentley tune as a theme song of sorts.

Well, we arrived back around 9:45 last night, safely, to a spotless house and a bunch of welcoming pets.  Thanks so much, Jim, for all you did here at the Lovestead to help us enjoy our trip. 

And, this morning as I re-acclimate myself and cherish the feeling of being "home" after a great time away, Dierks' song "Home" seems to express a lot of the emotions I'm feeling as I look back on our adventure.  

I've featured it before on this blog.  One more time seems appropriate, just as one more "GO ZAGS" seems like the right thing to say as the Bulldogs finish their season at home today.   28-2  GO ZAGS!!!