Costa Rica Journal - Monday, 4-13-09

It was a long drive from SLC to Denver. All of our belongings barely fit in the Subaru and we had a difficult time getting Shardul in there. We wanted to have him up by us near the front of the car, but he was stuck in the back, because it was the only place we could squeeze him in. The cries of confusion and protest from his carrier were heartbreaking, but soon his sedation pills kicked in and he fell asleep. It was probably better that he was further away from us, so he couldn't see us. The few times when he awoke, he was very loud. I ended up putting a sweater over his carrier and that seemed to help keep him calmer.

It took a while for us to find the farm where we would be storing the Forester for the next three month, but we finally arrived there around 8pm. After parking the car and locking it up, we loaded our stuff once more into the farm owner's truck and got a ride to the Denver Airport, Shardul crying the whole way, as his pills were starting to wear off.

Checking in didn't take very long, no doubt most of the time was because of Shardul. We gave him two more half pills while waiting for an agent to come to take him, then we accompanied the agent in checking in cage. After that, I reluctantly said goodbye to him, hoping that he would be all right.

By this time, we were still about 4 hours early for our flight, so we decided to jump online and take advantage of the easy internet access available to say goodbye to our family and friends. We had not stopped anywhere to eat recently, and Joe was able to get a sandwich while I watched our belongings. However, when I tried to get some food, it looked like all the shops were closed. I was happy enough to eat a Probar, as the airport options have never excited me much.

At 11:45, it was time to board the plane and we took flight soon after. The seats were very uncomfortable and we didn't get much sleep, even though we were both extremely tired. It was also very cold, and there were no blankets or pillows available. The one nice thing about the ride was watching the sunrise come up over the blanket of billowy clouds that covered the sky.