WWAG: OPERATION BOISE HOWL I would say the trip for me started Friday morning trying to find a way to Staples to pick up the posters for the protest. When I got a call from Clarisa telling me she is going to pick me up and then we are going to pick up Micki and Sara at the airport, and then head for staples to get to the airport.She was going to meet up with Xotzin at a Waffle House somewhere. After that phone call I finished getting everything packed and went downstairs to get a cart to put all my stuff in. When I got onto the elevator going downstairs there was a woman on the elevator and she said to me, Hey protesting good job, go getm man. When in the lobby waiting for Clarisa to call me letting me know she was at my building. When she called me to tell me she was there, I grabbed the cart and went outside. I called back and told her I was outside, and she was across the street at another apartment. I thought that was funny and couldnt help but laugh. When Clarisa arrived at my apartment Xotzin was right behind her in her Volkswagen Bus, and she commented how cool the shopping cart I used was. We sat for a min and spoke about how difficult it is with wolf advocates. We said our good byes to Xotzin and we were off, I was happy to finally get going. So we managed to find a way to downtown Denver and we missed our first exit off I-25 and we had to make a u-turn to go the right way on Speer St. Then we missed our next turn and we had to backtrack a few blocks and we finally made it to Union Station, and when Clarisa called Micki to find out where she and Sara were she looked over and there they were, and we had to go a few blocks down and turn around to pick them up. And then we back tracked to get to Staples to pick up the posters. Then it was back to I-25 to head out to the airport to get checked into our motel. At this point Clarisa was referring to our trip as Groundhog Day. Finding the hotel was a pill in itself. We drove to the wrong one and then we went in circles finding the one we were staying at, and once again Clarisa declared it Groundhog Day. We found the hotel and got all settled in and I decided to go for a swim at the hotel pool. It was a strange experience since sitting in the whirl pool I was able to be in the moment, and just be in a state of total relaxation. When I got out of the pool I was so light headed I needed to sit down and ground myself. When I got back to the room I just found out we were going to pick up Wind Dancer, so around 12 midnight I went with Clarisa to DIA and we ended up circling the passenger pick up a few times before parking and meeting Wind Dancer at the airport. We also got word Peter was not going to make it, and I was looking forward to meeting the man that made this all possible. On the morning of the 17th I got a message from Kat Wyoming Wolf that she would not be able to make it due to the fact her medication made her visit the ER. We finally got moving around 10 am Saturday morning and was off for Boise. First thing was first, we had to print out some media info Peter sent Clarisa. So with a bit of frustration we made some calls and found an Office Depot in Cheyenne that could do it. We then made a stop for breakfast at a McDonalds somewhere outside of Denver, and when we had finished eating and went outside there were 5 golden eagles flying overhead. The girls were amazed and taking photos left and right to try to catch an image of the eagles, I however was not feeling in a good mood and was not confident with the camera on my phone so I didnt bother. We finally got going and by this point I was getting irritated over Clarisas constant looking and using her phone while driving so I offered the front seat to Wind Dancer, my hopes were if I didnt see it, it wouldnt bother me. So we finally got moving again, and Wind Dancer rolls down the window and points at a car magnet she had put on the van stating WWAG and our mission and she said to the biker, I-DA-HO, I-DA-HO. The biker simply pointed to his back seat and that was that. We got somewhere north of Ft. Collins when we made a pit stop at a rest area, we all took some photos and relaxed. When we finally got moving again we got as far as just north of the Wyoming boarder south of Cheyenne and a quick stop turned into a smoke break fallowed by some Facebook time. I was getting even more irritated at this point, every time we had stopped it seamed like 20 to 30 min before we got moving again. So on to office depot, unfortunately we missed our turn off of I-25 and ended up back tracking and doing another Groundhog Day. We found our turn off finally, lol. And we ended up next to this hunter lady and it was a big commotion about who she was and identifying her. And that was it for me, these women were driving me crazy, I was not officially losing it, but I got to thinking that it was all about the journey and not the destination and at that point in time I was able to relax and enjoy the trip more. We made it to Office Depot, got what we came for and we were off once more. We stopped outside of Cheyenne for some lunch and a passing storm, but we finally got moving and I was not to happy that a normal 2 hour drive took 6 hours...OMG, at this point I thought we wouldnt get in Boise until 6 am. I remember sending Peter several messages via Facebook that these women are driving me crazy. Once we got out of Cheyenne we got moving and it was a beautiful drive Sara was taking pictures like the camera was going out of style, and I do remember I get like that when I go somewhere new. Now it was sometime in the night where we ended up getting lost (again)....OMG. I remember waking up and hearing Sara say we need to turn here and then Micki and Wind Dancer are in the back telling Clarisa to go this way and that way, it was like Clarisa downloaded the 3 Stooges Navigator app, lol. Then we come up to this stop and Micki runs out asking this person for directions to get into Ogden, and wen she is walking back to the van Wind Dancer rolls her window down and says to the person, WE JUST ESCAPED!!! OMG, what did she just say?? Oh well it was nice to hear all these girls laughing up a storm. We finally got to a gas station and when I was climbing out the back Clarisa said, Steve dont leave us. And being half asleep and with a sarcastic tone of voice I replied, Where the f**k am I going to go? Lol, I think that made Clarisas day. Clarisa drove straight through the night and we got to our motel at about 7:30 am Sunday morning. Sunday was not very eventful, besides getting the info we had to pick up John Idema at the airport. After the pick up we went down to the capital for a little scouting mission, I remember I had to go so bad I went into the van and relieved myself in an empty water bottle, lol (and it was properly disposed of, thank you very much). We also busted into the box Jodi sent with her banners, and I spent about 4 hours making an additional banner, while Clarisa and John went to meet up with Jimmy. Monday morning came. For us wolf advocates in Boise, it was the day of days. As we were getting ready for the protest I ran into this attractive young woman who was working at the motel as the head maid. She told me boys are trouble and i told her girls are trouble, and she told me she was from Spokane and I asked her what she was doing in Boise and she told me she went to Boise for a boy, and i asked her if she would ever go to Denver for a boy, and that is when it happened she said, Can I get your number. OMG, how cool is that right. Unfortunately she has no phone for me to get a hold of her at, so if she calls she calls. So after all my excitement we got into the van and before we went to the capital we had to meet up with Jimmy and I gave him an amethyst crystal cluster, I think he was really appreciative of the gift. Clarisa gave me a thumbs up on that one. On the way to the protest we were short on time and pinching every min we had, but I remember the ice halo that sat above us when we were at a stop, I felt it was an omen of oneness. When we got to the protest the girls went first and me and John parked the van and had to bring the signs and bullhorn after we parked. Unfortunately John had to have a 20 min conversation with his daughter that was completely irrelevant at the time and could have waited until after the protest, and then I had to convince him the meter parking was the best...;GGGRRRRRR. We finally got out to the protest and I thought Clarisa was going to eat me for breakfast so I got a little snappy. I remember seeing a black SUV that had Governor Otter inside pulling up as I was walking from the van to the front steps, a few of us tried to talk to Otter, but he ignored everyone of us. I was surprised to see not very many people there. We walked around, and I remember there was an attractive young lady who was a local in Idaho was right there protesting with us. We handed out flyers and info packets, and I remember I gave an info packet to this one guy and he got off his bicycle and sat down on the steps and read through the packet and sat there for a bit it seamed in a state of deep thought. A few of us spoke in the bullhorn. It was the first time I had spoken out through a bullhorn so I was a bit nervous and I had to build up my confidence before I went up to speak. The first time I spoke I herd Jimmy next to me saying, wow, it really made my day, to impress an elder like that. Then we made our move,most of us went into the capital and stormed into the governors office. We demanded to see if the governor was there, and eventually one of Otters lackeys came out to speak with us. So we had a meeting in his guys office about wolf conservation, and this guy was in total support of bias scientific research. He talked about how nice it was to have wolves off the endangered species act, and the way he was talking about wolf management. He was trying to reassure us that wolves would be kept in balance and properly managed by Idaho Fish and Game, hired by Otter himself. Hmmm, makes you wonder doesnt it. It was about that time Dagmar lost it, had a conniption fit and stormed out of the office. Then Clarisa stepped out and took the camera girl with her. I got a call from Peter shortly after and was ordered to find Clarisa and get out of the building, that the meeting was a distraction from our mission. Luckily when we went back out side the media was just arriving, but this s.o.b. didnt stay to long and was gone shortly after arrival. I think Otters guy from the Idaho Statesman stayed longer then anyone else from the media. After Clarisa came back outside I herd she had spoken with Otter himself, I was not to sure what was going on but an attractive woman from FOX channel 9 news showed up and interviewed Clarisa and she was more than happy to tell all about her interactions with Otter. We went on protesting and to wrap things up I got on the bullhorn one more time. I had mixed feelings about how the protest had ended, I didnt think it was a success although we had media coverage and we did end up on the front page in a local newspaper and got on local FOX channel 9 news. Peter had told me earlier that day we were doing 100% although it seam like it. We even blocked the front doors of the capital but it did not seam like they had any interest in arresting anyone. So with doing everything we could we packed up and headed across the street to a small park where Jimmy gave blessings and gave people native american type names. During my blessing he told me my new name is not Mahgoohyeeh annah, translated mean wolf love. He then told me this is only my designation and people one day will know me as mahgoohyeeh annah, and that I received this name because of my love for animals. I felt so honored, I couldnt help but shed a few tears. After all the blessings everyone left and a few of us gathered at Kellys motel room. Jimmy showed up and shared some of his knowledge with us, it was a real treat. We all said our goodbyes and it was back to Denver, but first we had to drop off John Idema off in a small town kind of out the way. We had just dropped John off and Clarisa, Wind Dancer, Sara, Micki, and myself were headed back to Denver, and it was not an easy part of the trip. We ended up sleeping in the van at a rest area, somewhere not to far from Salt Lake City, and when I woke up I found an incredible pain in my back, oh it hurt so bad. I remember I had to be extra careful when getting in and out of the van. I remember tension rising as we moved trough Wyoming, but there was some scenery we got to see that was so beautiful, it was a blessing to be able to see it, especially since it was night when we were going to Boise through this particular area around the Utah Wyoming boarder. Sara and myself collected some sage along the road when we made pit stops either for bathroom needs, food, or gas. There was a moment in the early afternoon I was looking agt this mountain and I got lost in the moment, I recall we passed a hill on the interstate and it made this mountain look like it was not going anywhere and that everything was moving around this mountain, like everything became 2 dimensional for a few seconds. It was such an amazing experience, at that point in time I was in the moment. Sara had shared some metaphysical insight with me about rocks, and it was very interesting. The closer we got to Denver the more intense things got. It started to look like I was going to be dropped off at Union Station with Sara and Micki since we were getting into town so late, and then just North of Denver we ran into rush hour traffic. At that point everyone was flipping out about missing their train and their plane, I did my best to get everyone out of it and I was even affected by all the emotions running around the van. I invited everyone to come into the moment and had reassured everyone that they were going to catch their train and their plane. And it was getting to the point Clarisa had to drop us off at DIA because she didnt want to miss her plane. Wind Dancer was able to help us out by taking care of the van for us at the rental place so we could get down to the terminal. And once we got onto the shuttle I once again reassured everyone was going to get where they needed to go. That it was pointless to worry stess or freak out about something that has not been written in stone. Once we got to the terminal Clarisa gave us some cash for a shuttle and she was off to catch her plane and Sara, Micki, and myself were at the airport looking for a way to get to Union Station, and at this poin in time their train was going to be leaving in less then 40 min. Sara found some info about a taxi and we caught a taxi from DIA down to Union Station, and I remember Sara talking to me about gardening and I could here in her voice not all was well and that she was worried. I then reassured them once more that they were going to catch their train, and everything was going to be ok, and I was going to make sure they got on their train. When we got of the interstate I looked over and there was the train, so I became doubtful about what station the train was going to be lading at. We then got to the station I payed the taxi driver and we were on our way to the train station, and lucky for us the train was only pulling into the station as we arrived. I walked with the girls out to the train platform and made sure they got on board the train, I waited a few before I went to catch a local train home. A friend of mine from my building meet me at the train station where we boarded a local train, and after I got my ticket we got on a train and we were on our way, no wait at all. Then we transferred to catch a city bus and we were there maybe a min, and we had to transfer once again for the bus that drops off in front of my house, and the wait did not seam as long as it was. I finally got home 9:30 pm mountain time on Tuesday night. It was hard to say goodbye to my new friends and good to be home at the same time. My over all point of view of this whole trip was that I felt I was being tested every step of the way. Issue after issue popped up and i had to deal with it the best I could. In life no mater what we do, how intense things get or how pleasantly peaceful things are we need to remember this is only a journey and we need to enjoy the journey, it is not about getting to our destination because there will always be stops during our journey. The places we go and the people we meet are all part of the experience. I found peace of mind when I learned to enjoy the journey and not worry or be concerned when we or I was going to get there. Surround yourself with others who are like minded and the journey will become that much more enjoyable, so please be in the moment be in the now and enjoy your journey. I look to standing up with friends and warriors I have not yet meet for the next mission to bring peace to this world. Thank you and have a blessed time.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 02:57:06 +0000
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