This was the LlamaLimo's second big trip in 2005. We started our trip in the afternoon on Wednesday. The second bed in the Limo was removed to give more space for the boys.To keep in Limo tradition - it was raining. Wet, soggy animals started the trip and filled the Limo with 'wet llama' scent.

On the first day, we traveled as far as the truck stop in Lebec. The first day was uneventful except for the bathroom stop on Hwy. 5 near Tracy. Wahoo got up from his relaxed position while we were driving and had to go ... NOW. We pulled off to the side of the Hwy. since there were no nearby exits. Out came the llamas and all three boys had back legs spread. Immediately after the llamas assumed their position, a C.H.P. Officer pulled behind us. We told him that they had to go, he told us to hurry up. That was it. A nice relaxing day.

The second day we would check into Del Mar with two bathroom/ P.R. stops. The first was near Magic Mountain and the second at Pendleton. We arrived at the Del Mar Fair mid-afternoon. This was the first year the Del Mar show was ALSA sanctioned. There was about 105 llamas entered. WOW, what a nice facility. Very clean & neat. Each llama was assigned two pens.

We were not allowed to take the llamas out of the barn areas. No problem, the area for the barns were huge. Livestock was separated from the amusement area so the amount of unruly fairgoers was limited. We did have a couple of concession stands near us and a great horse show with mostly draft horse breeds.

To us, the type of llamas and standards are different than what we have seen at Nationals. Body styles and animal size differences are accepted more evenly. We did well in the halter classes. The boys were pooped by the end of the fair. Our normally bubbly animals were dragging by the last day. All of us were released by 4 P.M. on Sunday. The Fair personnel closed the barn to allow all of us to pack up. Releases were issued by distance traveled. The top three to be released was Ellen Goldsmith from Nevada, a ranch from Arizona & us (not in that order).

We loaded up and drove to a rest stop on Hwy 99. We stopped near Oceanside for a bathroom break. Some surfers stopped to see the llamas as they walked down to the beach. Ever see a movie with a Southern California surfer? Bleach blond stringy hair, surf board in hand with baggy swim trunks. When they spoke, words like awesome, totally and rad are repeated over & over. Let me assure you - it is not only in the movies! We had to tell them not to hit the llamas with the surf board as they took a picture of the llamas & them with their camera phone.

The next day we headed to Yosemite. We spent over 10 hours in the Park & 8 of those hours were spent doing public relations. We had hundreds of people asking questions and taking pictures. We had to keep the boys in check though - they viewed Yosemite as a giant buffet!

As an example of the boys popularity, it took over two hours to walk a few hundred feet from the Limo to Bridal Veil Falls and back again.

We did not camping reservations so we left the Park in the evening and slept at another truck stop. Until that night Dave had slept in the drivers seat while traveling. Remember, we took out the second bed. On this night, Dave slept in the bed and I slept back on the floor with the boys. I slept along the wall with my pillows on the wheel well. Rebel laid down along side of me. This would have been nice in the winter but it was HOT in the summertime. I woke up later to Rebel's head down, SNORING on my pillow. Lakota was using the other corner of my pillow with his ear flopped over my head. Later, I would wake up to find I was nose to nose with Lakota. He was dreaming and both sides of his upper lip were grabbing at the air.

I did not get much sleep that night but I did get a great education in llama behavior. By the next day (Tuesday), we were home and needed to get some rest after our vacation