We drove into Lincoln today to find the SitStay store.
Background: SitStay.com is an online dog supply store that I've been shopping at for over a decade. I always thought the owners, Darcie and Kent, were extremely cool people. Obviously, I had never met them, but A) they run a dog supply store B) they have Belgians (Tervurens) and C) they ride motorcycles. Winners all around. Plus, they run a great store. Customer service rocks and I always enjoy being entertained by the newsletter and Darcie's blog. Their dogs test all the products (aka play and chew on) and they take their dogs to work with them every day. I wanted to be them. :)
Soooo...when we started planning this trip, I mentioned to Bill that I would like to go through Lincoln at some point and see if I could stop by their warehouse to meet them (remember - it's an online store). As you know, our trip was spontaneous and we just drove when and where we wanted to go. Over the summer, I wasn't sure if we would get to Nebraska, but then a few weeks ago, I got an email that SitStay was opening a RETAIL store in Lincoln. Wooohoooo! Someplace for me to go and have a legitimate reason for being there! You see, I didn't want to appear to be a stalker. Bill encouraged me to email Darcie, but I really felt weird doing that.
"Hi, you don't know me, but I'd like to meet you and check out your store and see what your thoughts are on doggie biscuits and me starting up my own dog bakery." I don't want to be a stalker and I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to take advantage of them.
Also, we didn't have a particular timeline as to when we'd be anywhere so I didn't want to commit to a meet and greet when we could potentially be delayed by something (you know, such as a tire replacement or hitch repair). :( So...we just decided to visit the retail shop and hope that Darcie would be there.
We were in luck. We made it to the shop late morning. We had to first swing by a Dodge dealership for yet another oil change (the third since we left home). Oy.
I mentioned that Darcie has Tervs - but she lost a very special girl by the name of Dancer awhile back and she just loves the Belgian breed. When we walked into the store, her eyes lit up. Not because we were new customers walking into the new shop, but because we of course had Merlin and Twist with us. :)
She had her new puppy, Gibbs, with her. She's training him to be a service dog. I could never do that - I'm waaay too selfish and wouldn't want to give him up.
Anyway...we spent a couple hours at the store chatting with her. As we were getting ready to leave she asked if we had a place to stay the night. We told her we were camped at Louisville State Rec Area where the train chugged by every 20 minutes and where we were awoken by gunshots (presumably hunters) at 5:30 this morning. Much to my amazement, she offered her house up to us. Huh? Uhhhmmm...okay. What happened next was even weirder - she gave us directions, the code to the garage, and told us to go make ourselves comfortable and she'd see us later tonight when she got home.
Wait a minute...you just met us and you're offering your house for us to use in your absence? WHO ARE YOU? No one does that. Do they? Well, apparently they do, because that's exactly what she did. I just didn't know what to make of it, but the idea of sleeping in a real bed after 4 months of sleeping on a 4 inch thick foam mattress kind of appealed to me. Truthfully, it was more about the fact that she has a good size chunk of property and the Boys could run free and play. I really like giving them the opportunity to do that, and while there have been a few places where they've been able to have a lot of freedom, I'd like them to have more. They're so happy when they can be off leash and running free. When they're happy, I'm happy.
So...despite the fact that we had already paid for another night at the campground, we took her up on her offer. We drove back to the campground, ate a quick lunch, hitched up and headed to her house. Wow. It was even more amazing than we pictured. The half mile driveway led to a beautiful lake and an amazing home in the center of the 300 acre property. Uh, yeah, this will do. We were so wigged out by the idea of going into her house when she wasn't there that we just took advantage of the lake and the field and spent the evening in the trailer.
She got home around 10:30 (she's a crazy busy woman) and asked us to come in and check out the house. It was amazing. Easily the nicest house we've ever been in. Definitely the coolest we've ever been in (it's an "underground" dome house - hard to explain, but the majority of the house is literally underground). Brilliant if you ask me. Especially if you live in tornado ridden Nebraska! :P
We offered her our roasted vegetable leftovers for dinner and we spent a few hours sitting by the fire and chatting. She's a phenomenal person. Truly, the most gracious, trusting and hospitable person I've ever met. Again, who offers up their house to complete strangers??? She does. And it's very cool. I only wish that I was so trusting. I am not. I'm the type of person that will always clean my own house because I could never trust a cleaning service to come in when I'm not there. Sad, I know.
Anyway, she gave us her bedroom with the gigantic and ridiculously comfortable king size bed and the monstrous master bath (we were SOOOO looking forward to a real shower!). Again, who gives up their own bed for perfect strangers?
We got to bed around 1:30 and we looked over at each other - shocked that we had forgotten how large a real bed is - and smiled big, big smiles at each other. Is this really happening? :)
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