Moses and Waldo together again . . .

So sorry that it has been so long since my last posting, but anyone that followed the last trip or knows me, knows that I am not the biggest Wyoming fan. This trip is not doing much to change that opinion. As normal, I started out in Cokeville and Neil of Fish and Game was his usual superstar self, letting us stay in the F&G pasture in town and finding someone to help us out of Kemmerer, Mark also of Fish and Game. Then it was on to Rock Springs, where I sat, for 2 weeks, waiting for hauler after hauler to no show on me. Finally, after my last hope just blew me off, I headed out for Rawlins on foot, leading Strip for most of the distance each day first the 2 day trip to Point of Rocks, only 26 miles from Rock Springs, but you wander around in the desert trying to get around the highway and it adds miles. Then we headed out for Wamsutter, stopping in the former town of Table Rock, having Strip leap the cattle guard to get into a safe area to spend the night, neither of us having much to eat or drink, before getting up in the morning, hauling the gear over the cattle guard again and having her jump back out. Its a good thing her former career was as a jumper, or I might never have been able to get inside in the first place and would have not gotten any sleep, watching for wandering mustang stallions looking to add her to their herds. We had a long day to Wamsutter, about 30 miles, to stay over night in the park, letting her graze for hours before Highlining her in the trees overnight. This brings us to the worst day of the trip so far, the journey to Rawlins. For those of you without a Wyoming map, it is a 38 mile trek by highway and much farther through the desert. Having done it once before, I was up an hour before dawn, packed and on the road as soon as it started getting light. We headed down to the railroad access road. My intention was to follow it as far out as I could. Trains have a tendency to go straighter and have way less slopes to climb than trails or highways, so this seemed like the best option. I also figured on trotting as much as I could, she trots at about 15 mph so that would shorten our day considerably if we could manage it. It was cold and clear that morning, light winds coming from out of the west and we headed off with me leading, I walked as fast as I could for about an hour and a half, then with much worry, Strip's back has been sore since I switched saddles, I found a spot to get on from and swung aboard. Bringing her back to the road, I urged her into a trot and after a good 20 yards realized that this was not going to work. The saddle was a friends, and while I had ridden in it some since Idaho, I had mostly been on the ground walking or when in the saddle walking too and I hadn't realized just how uncomfortable it was. Trotting was involving many parts hitting the saddle in a rather uncomfortable fashion. I smiled slightly, its a good thing I'm not a guy or there would be a lot of high pitched screaming. I broke to the walk for a few minutes before my sense of urgency about the day took over and I drew a deep breath, tried to focus on other things and headed back to the trot. We were heading around a corner when sudden movement on the trail ahead caused Strip to abruptly stop. My yelp almost drown out the angry hiss of the very large badger ahead of us. He spun sideways, humped up and hissed again, then took off in the fast waddle I have ever seen, pausing every 15 feet to spin sideways, hump up and hiss, before disappearing into a large burrow. Strip and I walked past it during this show, kind of watching it half amused and half wary. Badgers can be very dangerous if provoked and have no problem attacking something much bigger then themselves, Strip just found it odd, didn't snort or spoke, just looked at it like it was a big cat. I wonder how bad she would have freaked if it charged us... After a few more minutes a the trot, winding back and forth on the road, we came up a hill and right into a tangle of discarding wire. I stopped her immediately, but not before she hooked a leg into the tangle. Bailing off ungracefully I unwound it from her leg, frowning at the small cut on her fetlock(ankle). One of the bigger problems with desert crossings is the trash. It seems that when a fence is replaced or a trash can is full, you just toss the old wire, cans, tires, etc. out into the desert for some unsuspecting woman riding across the country to contend with. A second inspection and I determined she was fine so I started off again on foot, up a hill and around the next bend, where the road disappeared. I stood for a few minutes, carefully scanning the surrounding terrain, before finally noticing that the sage brush in one area appeared to be growing in 3 nice rows, that was my road, striking off again. This is how the day went, me on foot, or in the saddle, riding down a road that would suddenly turn and disappear, I would then momentarily appear to be Tonto, scanning for tracks of the outlaws, quickly sighting where the road started again, sometimes 50 yards to our left, right, top, bottom... We followed the train tracks til about 2, when I decided to head towards the highway. Opened another pass through and just cut straight across the desert, through 5 ravines, up 4 ridges and past the Emerald city. Dropping down off the last ridge, I found . . .A pipeline road! It was going straight in the direction I needed it so we followed it. After 2 or 3 miles it went over a ridge and turned around and headed the opposite direction, so I became Tonto again, hmmmm Kemosabe, new road over there, bad guys go that a way, and off we went, through the desert, picking our way around sagebrush and tiny cactuses or is it cacti? This went on for hours, me wandering around like a total drunk,searching for nearly invisible roads, watching the sun slowly dropping towards the horizon. Strip sensing me urgency, kept trotting, even when I really didn't want to and we pushed on, zigging and zagging through the desert, switching roads, climbing ridges, opening wire pass throughs, cutting my hands on the barbed wire. We crested yet another ridge, when I cried out loud, I saw the truck stop on the other side of the highway signifying we only had 2 miles before we reached the beginning of Rawlins. Strip looked around at me and I reached down to pet her, she had carried me almost the whole way, and my gear and I knew she was sore, but there would have been no way we would have reached here before dark if she hadn't. As we stopped and opened the last pass through, the sun dropped below the horizon and I looked back at the desert. It had been a difficult day, wandering the desert like Moses, playing a rousing game of "Where's Waldo" with the pipeline roads....

how many cowboys does it take to change a light bulb . .. .or shoe my horse

It has been sometime since my last entry and it would take too much time to catch you all up, so I am not going to try. I had to take some time off in Holbrook, with the Eliasons, to let my blistered feet heel up enough to get moving again. So after a few days, during which Kristy took me to see the new temple in Brigham City (forgive me on spelling please) and to the Tremonton fair, and of course over fed me . . . . Strip and I got to Malad, where I need to find a farrier to replace her worn shoes. One of the back shoes had been replaced by a reluctantly kind man, Jesse, while I was at the Eliason's, so now I needed 3 more done. I had a few numbers to call and was awaiting responses, when a group of cowboys showed up at the fair grounds to buck some horses. They kindly offered to reshoe her after they were done and I gratefully accepted, calls were mad to ones Dad to bring tools and shoes and I sat down to watch them get bucked off several horses. As the sun dropped down below the horizon, they loaded up the horses and circled the trucks. The shoes were brought out, tools appeared and a box of nails were produced, all covered in rust. It had been some time since the Dad had used any of them, but the young men were determined to make it all work out and they got down to business. The first foot #1 cowboy rasped the nails and pulled the shoe, there was some discussion about trimming, but it had only been 4 weeks since our last shoeing so it was decided to just smooth out the foot and set the shoe. Cowboy #2 grabbed the rasp, and attempted to smooth the foot, apparently the rasp was extremely dull, so this took some time. He was handed a shoe that he held to the foot, it needed shaping. Cowboy #3 took the shoe and sledge hammer and used the fence to widen it a bit, then he nailed it on, remarking that the rust on the nails would make them stick better, several grins followed this statement. Cowboy #2 rasped the nails off the second front foot, and tried to pull it, Cowboy #4 took over the pulling, then looked at the foot and the rasp and laughed, Dad offered a second rasp, without as much rust on it and he took it and shaped the foot a little, he was handed the shoe, the general opinion was that it fit, so he started to nail it on. The hammer broke. Dad grabbed a fencing tool and took over nailing the first 2 nails in(he was cowboy #5), Cowboy #3 finished nailing it on and then cowboy #2 cut off the nails and clinched it. One foot left, cowboy #4 rasped it and pulled the shoe, it was at this time that one of the young men, all about 25, asked where I had come up with the name Strip. Now I could have told them it was from her registered name, Sunset Strip, but I chose not to. Instead I told them, many years ago, when I was younger and much thinner, I used to be a stripper and she was in my act. This information was absorbed in silence and suddenly everyone was sitting up a little straighter, one of the men breathed a soft "wow", and cowboy# 6 jumped in to finished nailing on her last shoe. The Dads were both laughing very hard, they realized I was kidding, I am sure they told their sons that I was.... maybe. Either way, it takes 6 cowboys to shoe 3 feet on 1 horse. Not a bad job, though you can tell that 3 different people clinched the nails as none of the feet look the same that way, but they were good to my girl, entertaining and all wanted to shake my hand before they left, I don't think it has anything to do with the image of me and Strip swinging on a pole...

And then there were 2 . . . and we really do go in pairs

So once again, a long time has passed since my last posting. I have been trekking through non service and internet area for over a week now. Strip and I climbed a few peeks, and as said in the last entry, met up with some great friends made on the first trip. After my last post, we headed down into eastern Oregon, Unity, Ironside, Brogan, missing Vale and ending up in Nyssa. I was on my way riding and walking into Vale, Strip has been rather sore in her knee since her last shoeing and then aggravated when a driver cut incredibly close to us causing her to spook hard on it. So I was walking her at least half the distance each day, slowly working my way to Cindy's in Nyssa, hoping to take a break there. That was also the place where I would be losing Jessica and the car. It has been nice having them both in their own ways. The car, carries all our gear and keeps Strip from having to work as hard, as well as carry extra feed for her. Jessica brings us water in the day and when I am exhausted and Strip is tired, walks her for a bit to give us both a break. While I appreciate these things, I also really enjoy the solitary portions of the trip and with the convenience of the car I have not gotten into what I was looking for on this trip. So it is with mixed emotions that I say goodbye to both. I think Jessica has had some fun with us, learned a lot about her state and gotten exposed to places, people and situations she never would have. Strip and I are hanging one more day at Cindy's before heading off for Adrian, then Idaho and who knows what else. As some of you might have suspected I am not sure where this trip is taking me, so far I am following my old footsteps, happily reuniting with friends made on the last journey, but I don't know how long that will last. The last year and a half have been hard on me. Returning from the last trip and trying to pick up the pieces of my life was a total disaster. I have come to the conclusion that I need a major change. So Strip and I are off and walking, for now me on the ground mostly. I need to lose weight, and she doesn't need to be caring all my gear and me, and I am not in a hurry. I am savoring my time out here. Appreciating the good and bad, laughter and pain. Hopefully I will come up with a plan, if not, then I wing it. And in case you were wondering, when I stop to answer natures call, so does my horse, that whole girls going in pairs thing seems to cross species, go figure.

Playing a little catch up . . ..

So a lot has happened since the last post. We got clear of the mountain and headed off across central Oregon. Visited old haunts and found some new ones. I had a painful journey through Solo's last day. I shed many tears and tried to find some peace with that part of my life. I was very happy to reunite with Jody Foss. She is a warm and nurturing woman that just makes you feel welcome no matter who you are. Now she and her friend Fran had already made plans for the evening, so Jess and I would be left to our own devises. The farrier came and put new shoes on my girl and much to my surprise, charged me a very steep $90 for straight shoes. This may not seem to bad to my valley dwelling friends, but in the area I am, its about 30 to 40 dollars above average. I don't know if that was his regular rate, or he just charged me it because he knew I was from the valley, I hope it was the first. Like some shores, he spent the entire time tearing down the job my farrier and long time friend had done previously, even after I told him that I loved my normal farrier and he did excellent work. I wouldn't have minded the tear down as much if he hadn't taken it upon himself to straighten my slightly toe in mares feet. I saw him trim them that way and when I mentioned it, his response," we are fixing that right up." Knowing she would be sore, I was hoping it wouldn't be to bad to hold us up. After the shoer left, Jody and Fran got us fed and then they too headed off. Jess and I had been sitting out by the car talking in the shade, when I decided to head over to get Strip more hay and water and check on her. Finding her happily munching I went back to the car to find Jess sitting in the back on top of the ice chest. Not an easy feat since there was only a foot and a half of space above it. She was extremely upset and after having her repeat herself several times, I finally got that there was a snake near us. I turned and spotted a young rattle snake, about 3 feet long, I shook the empty water jug and it slithered a bit further away. It took several minutes for me to convince Jess to come out of the car and head for the house until it passed by. After she vaulted out of the car and ran for cover, I shut the car doors to prevent any snaky stow aways and followed her, smiling at the pretty snake calmly slithering along a few feet away. The rest of the visit was snake free and after a huge breakfast the next morning it was off to Dayville. Long day for Strip, with sore feet. I had been proven right, she was moving short and her feet were obviously tender. Taking the borium shoes off her did ease her discomfort a bit, I just wished her feet hadn't been so severely reshaped. We arrived in Dayville in the afternoon, found our place and made camp. It was a quiet afternoon and the only bumps to our stay there were several smelly ones that appeared around 1:30am in the form of 5 plus skunks wandering around our campsite. The next morning up an off early to avoid the heat, I started the day by walking about 5 miles. I knew it was going to be long and Strip's feet were still sore, so I planned on walking a minimum of 10 miles that day, spacing the rest of it out so she would get regular breaks. By the time I got to Mt Vernon, she was tired and her soreness had spread up to her knee, the one she injured at the beginning of the trip. I don't know if it was the distance we traveled or the change in her foot position, but the knee was really bothering her. I decided that I would walk her the rest of the way to our destination that evening. Jess spelled me a few miles, while I went in and signed the paperwork for us to be on the fair grounds and it was back out in the heat, walking in my baby. We settled her in, food and water in large amounts, rinsed her off to cool her down and let her go in the paddock. After a good dinner it was to bed for us, another early day to beat the heat, or so I thought. I got up at 5 am and checked on Strip and she was off. Her knee very sore and that meant we would be sitting for a day or two. I made a trip to the vet for some anti-inflamatories and iced the leg. She seems much better now, but I think I will sit at least one extra day to make sure. She is a lot like me, just deals with the discomfort, and I don't want her to have to do that, so we wait, until I am convinced she is good to go.

All Hail the Queen...

Those of us that ride all know that our horsey companions are wonderful, we would do anything for them and they for us. The bond formed between horse and rider grows strong through the years and we become a part of each other, loving them more each day, although, even the most wonderful of them has their moment of bovine behavior. At some time, during a ride our steady true trail master does something odd, crazy or just plain stupid. You could be riding down the trail, having just come over a pass in let's say, Mt Hood, jumped onto the old Barlow Rd and wound down miles of twisting, rutted dirt roads, crossed rickety bridges, carefully cleared tangled brush piles and then it happens. The amazing partner suddenly decides that the chipmunk running across the road is actually a fire breathing dragon, cleverly disguised as a cute furry critter. That calm, dependable champion of your safety, decides that spinning around on a 10 inch section of trail, with, of course, a 45 foot drop to the river below you, is the only recourse it has. Scrambling backwards, the bank crumbling under her formerly sure feet. You hall on the reins, trying to regain calm and solid ground. Raising your voice, while trying not to freak her out further, shouting words of encouragement, like "easy now," and "its ok, just a chipmunk." Your stomach drops as you feel her slide sideways off the path and with a momentous effort, you wrench her head around, kick her hard in the side and bellow "KNOCK IT OFF YOU COW!" It has happened, you have played the "cow" card. For some reason that particular word has the amazing effect making your cow, er, horse, regain her senses. I don't know what it is about it, maybe its the affront to their sensibilities. Possibly the fear that some other horse will hear them referred to by that term and mock them. I don't know, but it works. Now I hate to admit it, but my dear and beautiful girl has been christened with that term more times than I can count and usually after she regains her senses is rather offended. She sulks for a while, reluctantly forgiving me while giving me woeful looks. I feel bad, maybe I over reacted, I don't know. This trip has revealed some interesting facts about my dear loved horse. First, I turned her out in a pasture with 4 other horses and 14 yearling steer. Who did she choose to hang out with, the steer, interesting. Second, while riding to the Canby fairgrounds, we passed a field with 3 young calves all of whom ran after us, mooing at Strip like they would their mother (this seemed to offend her greatly). The third occurrence came as a total surprise to me. My shimmering example of horseyosity has always acted like she didn't like cows, wanted nothing to do with them, even "spooking" at them. Then, one day, riding away from the Mountain, I came upon a field full of cattle, easily 200 of them. Strip tossed her head up, snorted and blew. The first of the cattle looked up and stopped eating. One by one the whole field followed suit until eventually our progress towards them was being intently watched by hundreds of eyes. I tried not to tense up, wondering if I was in for a monster spook. Then it happened. As we started passing them they started calling, bellowing more like and one by one they began to follow us. I just stared at them, the pack growing steadily all bellowing at Strip. The Princess of Purity was looking around, I think searching for other horses, and snorting angrily at the cattle, "hush up, shhhh" Her secret was out. My perfect example of equine beauty, was the Queen of the Cows. Honestly I am not really surprised and now when she does something extremely silly I no longer tell her that her "Arab" is showing, I say "Oops was that an udder dropping?" So much more satisfying!

Who is that beautiful horse . . . don't you know how pretty I am

Now I realized when I started this trip, that of this pair, I would not be the one getting all the compliments. My girl is a lovely horse, if you like Arabs she is stunning and if you don't, she is stunning. So it came as no surprise to me when I was riding along, on my way to the Canby fairgrounds that people would stop, and tell me what a beautiful horse I had. It was an easy ride to the fairgrounds. Only about 15 miles from the pasture I had kept the girls in the night before, provided to us by our savior, Chia, after being refused entrance into Champoeg park. I was thrown for a loop there, having never been refused entrance into a state park before, but they were adamant that livestock(even lovely livestock) was not allowed inside the park. But we were rescued by our new friend, Chia, and after a restful night, Strip in a 40 acre pasture and us at Chia's house, it was on the road to Canby. I had gone about 9 miles when I was off walking for a bit and a bicyclist, who obviously didn't find Strip pretty, made some remark about it not being safe for me to walk along side a 55mph road. Being the ever so shy person that I am, I remarked that people were more likely to hit her, since they generally liked me and my horse and that "livestock"(lovely or otherwise) holds the right of way on the road. For some odd reason, she found that offensive and rode off in a snit. Reaching Canby with no other negative encounters, just loads of complements on my horse, I headed down an even busier road, Highway 99, into town. I had been riding about 3 blocks when Strip suddenly nickered. I leaned down and patted her neck softly, told her she was a good girl and then went back to watching traffic. A few minutes later, she did it again, I soothed her and looked around to see if she was worried about something I hadn't noticed and found nothing amiss. A third nicker and a slight look right and I began to worry myself. I looked right and saw nothing but an empty store front and I started watching her carefully. The next time she nickered and looked right I looked immediately, and saw our reflection. She was nickering at her own reflection in the windows as we passed them. I guess she must really be a beautiful horse to impress herself, since she has always been picky about what horsey company she keeps. Now I was heading towards the fairgrounds, to meet up with Jessica, she had tried to find us a place there, but 4H was having their annual horse fair and the lady running it, lets call her Schmanice, had told her everything was full but if she could find a place we were welcome to stay. She sent her around with her assistant to check out some possible spots, all unsuitable. So Jess was waiting for me out front. I arrived to find her not feeling well and to be greeted by one of the fair ground staff. The staffer was excited to have us there, she called her supervisor and after a call back it was decided to put us in the bone yard, not normally open to rental so not within the 4h woman's jurisdiction. We set up, Jess getting sicker by the minute and I ran to the store and returned just as she got sick. I think it was from the heat and the stress of trying to find a place. We were sitting there when Schmanice came zipping over in her golf cart, snapping at us sharply, demanding to know who gave us permission to be there. I told her who, just as the staffer arrived to back me up. Another staffer arrived, apparently Schmanice had been raising a stink with the fair grounds management about us being where we were, having not approved our existence herself, and the new staffer told us they were relocating us to behind the rodeo arena, once again a place not open to be rented. This seemed to annoy the poor representative of all that 4h stands for even more and she took off in her golf cart again. We pulled our camp, moved to the new digs, where they kindly set up a pen for Strip, and proceeded to plan our next few days. The next morning I was off to try and get some errands done and hadn't been gone 20 minutes when Jess called me. She had been given a heads up by one of the staff, someone, you guess who, had told the Fair manager that we had a rescue horse and it was obviously diseased and they were sending over a vet to check it out and see if we had papers for it. That was it for me. I turned around and headed back. Upon returning, I called the OSU Extension for 4H and asked if I was breaking any of their rules by being there. The kind lady on the phone said no and told me she would have the head of Oregon contact me. I then called the manager of the Fair Grounds to apologize for all the trouble I had brought her and to tell her that my horse, who I have had for 16 years was fully papered, health cert and coggins and I would be happy to get them copies. Then I explained to her what I was doing and why and told her that I would of course relocate, to which she said no, I was welcome to stay another day. I thanked her profusely and as I was hanging up the call from Doug rang through, I missed switching to it, new phone and all, and called him right back. He missed my call and soon recalled me. He was a very kind man, I explained my situation to him, telling him exactly what I was doing and wanted to make sure I wasn't violating any rules by being there. We had a long talk, about 4H and what they stand for, helping young people learn about animals and care and so much more, I was really quite surprised at the hostility I was receiving from this particular Schmanice person. He assured me there was no reason for my not being there and if the Fair grounds had placed me somewhere not related to the horse fair, then he couldn't see what the big problem was, laughing, he said maybe she was just over stressed with the fair. Personally, I think she was just lording it over her little kingdom and was mad because I went around her, but she might be in for a bit of surprise, since Doug was planning on having a talk with her. Either way, to call my horse a diseased rescue horse was a nasty low thing, I mean, look at how pretty she is.

Tally Ho and away we go and come back...

And moving once again, after sitting for a week allowing my horse to heal enough to move again. The vet prescribed one week of rest to allow the leg to mend enough to walk on, then she said walking on the road is pretty much the same as walking in a pasture. So one week later, leg looking nearly fully healed, and after a tense few days of Strip peeing what looked like blood and turned out to be a reaction to the sulfa drugs given by the vet that stitched her up, we got back under way. The original plan was to ride to the coast in short hops of 12 to 15 miles, but after a visit with the folks that run Flying M Ranch I discovered that the forest service has shut down all the roads between there and the coast. So we decided to just head for the ranch on the 4th of July. Strip and I headed out around 12:30, moving out in our usual 5 mph walk. I rode the first 3 miles before hopping off for the next 3, she just doesn't seem to understand why I get off and walk, and proceeded to nudge me every few dozen yards or so. After I got back on, she resumed our normal moving walk and we made short work of the rest of the distance on the pavement, turning off onto the Old RailGrade road. We had gone about a mile when we came to a wooden bridge, long and made of rail ties and 2 by 6's, I hopped of and we walked across without incident. I was just reaching the other side when little girl in the river below called out "Look Daddy a pretty horsey" and he not responding immediately caused her to scream "look look look" over and over, that freaked my up until this time calm horse and replaced her with an Arab. I swung back up, she spun and started to take off up the road. I slammed her to a halt and told her to walk, she decided to jig . . . for 3 miles . . . that action not only beat my bad knee to pieces, but also made my tender tailbone unhappy. By the time we reached the camp site, and Jessica, Strip was lathered and finally walking and I was soaked with sweat and still fuming. We both calmed down, somewhat, and the camp was set up and eventually we all got some rest. The next morning it was back to Alexis and James', making it all but the last few miles before my horse became the evil Arab again. I sit on the front porch of A&J's new house and watch my girl sleeping in the shade below and I just want to poke her, that little creep. Tomorrow we are off to go through Newberg on our way to Champooie (sorry no Idea how to spell that right now), hopefully it will be with no evil jigging horse behavior, my back side couldn't take it.

With a mighty Hi Ho Stripy and away we go . . .

Greetings and salutations to you all. Much has happened to me in the last year and a half some good, some not so good. All of it has brought me to this day. The day before I head out for a little ride again. The past few weeks have been filled with frantic planning, shopping, reprioritizing and general spinning in circles. I am sitting here in the room I have been occupying in my StepMother's home amidst a partially packed set of saddle bags, laundry finishing in the washer, staring off into space. I leave tomorrow, at 10 a.m. for the Oregon coast. This time not alone. Jessica, a long time friend and former client, will be accompanying me at least to the coast and back, possibly across the state. The final distance she goes depends on her, her new and very green horse, Sky, and whether or not I shoot her. Several of my friends have started a pool, which I am sure will make its way to Vegas, on what day I finally shoot her. I know, kind of morbid, but all of those that know me will agree on this, I am actually crazy. I mean who rides across the country alone? A crazy person. So I bid you all goodnight and sweet dreams as I finish my packing and clean my gun . . .

Home again home again

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post, getting back home has been a welcome relief and a hectic struggle. When I last entered here I was on my way home. Having tried every avenue to get the mares shipped home for New Jersey on a transport truck I was once again amazed and brought to tears by the kindness of the people I encountered on my trip.

The first leg was to haul to Pennsylvania and that was done by Mare and Claudia, the wonderful woman I stayed with in New Jersey and her friend, the fantastic woman that stopped on the side of the road and found me my last place to stay on the journey. Personally, I think that Richard and Mare were worried I might get them eating steak before I headed home so they hauled me out of the "I'm a bad influence" zone. Just kidding, they were a wonderful couple to stay with at the end of my and the girls trip, all of us were taken such excellent care of and the girls were sad to leave. Claudia and Mare loaded us up and hauled us to PA, where we stayed with Molly and her family, and I am still amazed that Kevin gave up his bedroom for me, what a guy! We stayed there, me with M and K and the girls across the street at the same farm we stayed at on our trip out, Mike is a kind and generous soul. Then it was on, we were picked up at Molly's by Lori W. taken to Ohio to meet our next ride, husband and wife team Janet and Phil, who took us across Ohio and into Indiana where we managed to reach our next destination by making only left turns. Not really, long story, but they did get me to Star and Roger's where we stayed the night. The next morning, in light to medium snow fall, and after another enjoyable cowboy breakfast with Star, Roger and some of their friends, Star hauled us to Illinois to drop us off at Hanna City where we stayed for 2 nights before getting hauled to Nebraska and picked up by our first total stranger, Tammy, who took us to her house after treating me to my first Runsa, an interesting type of sandwich if I do say so myself. The next evening we were hauled to Hastings to stay with Joni M., where once again I was stuck.
I called everyone I could think of and couldn't get a ride for the girls across Wyoming, half the people I tried were out of town and the other half had no access to rigs. When I was on the verge of just saddling up and riding the last 1500 miles, it was once again my dear friend Joel to the rescue, he offered to cover the difference of what had been donated by all the Wildride followers to pay to have the girls shipped home. I sent out requests for quotes to all the shippers I could find and Barb and Randy Ruhlman stepped up. They offered to take the girls home for less than half of what the rest of the quotes were. I was ecstatic. New vet certificates and coggins were gotten, paperwork was taken care of, I transferred the donations to Joel and he paid the entire shipping bill. That all being done, I booked a flight out of Kearney NE the next afternoon and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I would be leaving the girls for the first time this trip, but Joni was a wonderful woman and I knew she would care for them as well or better than I would.
The next morning, all was set and I was taken to the airport by a friend of Joni's and on my way home. I was both relieved and anxious, I knew I wouldn't be able to relax fully until the mares were safely home. I was met at the airport by my friend Alexis and the next morning was out to see my heart, Strip. I had missed her more than I could imagine and was very happy that I was alone in the barn as tears flowed freely when I stood next to her hugging her tightly.
I have been through a lot on this journey, and realized much about myself, and more importantly regained my faith in the total kindness of people. This trip could never have happened without all their help, so to each and everyone of you I say thank you. It seems to be so little to say, but every time I think of you, my eyes fill with tears and I smile, you are all amazing and I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to meet you. I hope that all of your dreams come true and that you all of the chance to take your own journey.
Now I am working on my book, this is a difficult process as I am not settled in to my own space. Currently I am staying with my father and stepmother and they have provided me with a peaceful and calm place to write. I am trying to ignore the stress I have, rebuilding my business, worrying about money, but that is nothing anyone else isn't doing, so I take heart in the fact that I am not alone and I know that there are others out there rooting for me, and that gives me the strength and determination to continue.

and so we wait . . .

This journey has been rewarding beyond measure for me. I have regained a lot of what I had lost of myself in the last difficult years of my life and feel that I have grown and strengthened as a person. Which is a funny statement cause what else would I grow as, a flower? Or perhaps a pigeon. Anyhow I digress, So it is with mixed feelings that I completed my journey. I reached my original goal of New Jersey and while I feel jubilant I also am sad to have finished my trip. That is until I remember that I am not home yet.
The girls and I are not done with our journey til we have reached our homes. They to the barn and me to an as of yet undetermined temporary haven while I get working again. The trip home is proving to be more frustrating and difficult than the ride ever was. I think that is because it is out of my immediate control. I am having to rely completely on others, and it is a bit disconcerting. Once again the people that are stepping up to help me are amazing. So far Claudia and Mare have hauled me to White Haven PA, where I wait for a ride to the border of Ohio. Once there I have rides across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. I have a possible lead on Iowa, not sure yet, and if I can get 100 people to donate 10 to 20 dollars to my paypal account I can have a friend drive out from Oregon to pick me up.
But that is still a lot of ifs,so I am stuck in PA trying to find rides home and all I can do besides call everyone in my phone book is to wait. The only person that might be as frustrated as I am is Kevin, who wants his bed back.

Welcome to New Jersey . . .

Now I have heard a lot about what different states were going to be like on this trip. Received dire warnings about how I was going to be treated and how help would not be available and each time I just smiled and knew everything would be fine, then I arrived in New Jersey and I began to wonder if some of those warnings might be right. I entered New Jersey over the toll bridge coming out of Portland Pennsylvania and was told by the people at the diner I stopped at for lunch that they would not let me cross the toll bridge. As I rode up the to bridge, one of the toll keepers came out and motioned for me to wait where I was so he could drive around to talk to me. My heart sank a little, I figured I was going to have to retrace my steps and cross on the narrow people bridge. He pulled along side of me and rolled down his window to tell me he just wanted to make sure I crossed without incident and he would follow me. He then asked what I was doing and upon hearing it grinned from ear to ear and said it was amazing. So across the bridge I went entering New jersey smoothly. I rode along side the highway, people driving by me, passing with care, disproving the "crazy driver" notion I had be given about Jersey drivers. Eventually a man stopped on the side of the road to talk to me, and upon finding out I was crossing the country, announced he was right and his wife was wrong and brought me up to the window of his car to have me tell his wife that. He then started driving up the road searching for a place for me to stay. I met up with him at a bar called Gunners Landing and for the first time I was turned down for a place to stay. They had a park area behind the bar, near the river and off the road and were not interested in my staying there, I was surprised but then laughed when I remembered how surprised I always was when people told me yes. I continued down the road, Super Frank driving ahead stopping at every farm he passed trying to find me a safe place for the night. The Mackey's stepped up and let me camp at their farm, in their backyard, they were somewhat speechless when I talked to them, but very kind and welcoming. The next day I was off heading for Hackettown and rode there without incident. I rode through town and decided to stop at Mcdonald's before riding up the hill at Schooley's Mountain. I met several people there, all excited about my trip, amazed that I had made it this far and soon they were arguing over where I should stay and what road would be best for me to take out of town the next day. Mike Mulina, sorry about messing up your last name Mike, found me a wonderful place to stay, with his friend Bob, a judge, and his wife, a retired judge. They welcomed me to there farm and into their home for the night and the next morning I was up early to head off to Morristown. Or So I thought.
I walked the horses down to highway 46, and started east, when I spotted a county police car and waved them down to ask if there was a cafe in the direction I was heading. Big Mistake! The officer driving asked if I was planning on taking the horses up the highway and when I said yes told me I couldn't do that. Surprised I asked if it was restricted, he said no but I couldn't take horses up that road, I asked if it was against the law for me to ride on the roads there, he didn't answer my question but instead told me if I choose to there would be consequences. Getting frustrated, I was trying to remain calm and not get angry and to find out why they were not wanting me to ride down the rode and how they wanted me to get out of town. I suggested going out Schooley's Mountain road and was met with the same statement, that I couldn't ride in that road, I asked them what I was supposed to do and was told that I needed to go and get my trailer and haul them where I was going, I explained several times before it finally sank in that I was riding across the U.S. and had no trailer or truck, but still I was threatened with consequences if I chose to ride either road. So I called Ann, the woman I met the previous day and asked her for help, she called the precinct and discovered that there were planning on impounding the horses if I road up either road, which I found odd since what I was doing was not against the law. Finally the passenger officer and I talked enough for me to find out that they were concerned for the safety of the horses. They insisted on running my license, and to know where I stayed the previous night. I find the running of my license kind of insulting, even though I know that they are just doing their jobs and trying to do what they think is best for the horses. My patience almost at an end, I agreed to return to where I was staying the previous night, calling Ann to see if she could find me a trailer ride away from these police. She started searching for a ride as I walked back to the farm. I was stopped by another officer, who had shown up at the bank I was talking to the cranky officers at and he told me not to worry about things he would try to help. I got back to the farm tied the girls up, Ann called back to tell me she had found a trailer ride that would be there around 11 ish and the Officer Bryan drove into the driveway to tell me that he had contacted the Morris County Mounted Patrol and they were sending a trailer to rescue me from Washington county. I thanked him and went back into the house for breakfast and then met with a reported from the local radio station that Judge Bob contacted to interview me about this incident and my trip. Officer Bob returned with Mounted Patrolman Gabriel and the girls were loaded up in the trailer and I was whisked out of Washington Township Police jurisdiction. I met with the Sargent and he and Gabe helped me find a good path to follow and I was off again. As evening started to fall, a woman stopped to talk to me and hearing that I was looking for a place for the night, jumped on her phone and called Mare and Richard for me to stay with. They came and got us in their trailer and brought us to their farm.
So after the last few days I have to say this about New Jersey: the people are kind, considerate and helpful. Well most of them are, some are opinionated and pushy, but in all honesty, this wouldn't be New Jersey without a little of that and I would feel kind of ripped off if I didn't encounter a few Stereotypical Jerseyians.

Was it a European Swallow?

I realized a few days ago, that I had been on the road for exactly 6 months. We were travelling along a lovely country road when it hit me. I pulled Delightful up for a few minutes in amazement. I really never thought that it would take me this long to get across the country, but I didn't take into account the time I would spend sitting. The first pit stop, Ali's to regroup and figure out a new path. The second was in Antelope waiting for Solo's booties. Third time was with Cindy Bachman, in Idaho when Mystic first got a sore back. Fourth was not much later in Buhl with Penny Hodges waiting for a girth for Joel's endurance saddle. Number five was in Malad City to let the girls rest up a day, then we stopped for number six in the next town for a week to make sure Mystic was back to 100% before taking on the German Dugway Pony express road and immediately had to sit again in Montpelier and then Cokeville to let her heal after the endurance saddle gave her a whither sore. We didn't sit again til we cleared the desert in Rawlins to let the girls gain weight and recover from the desert, continued the wait in Cheyene til I was happy with them and the vet was too. I took a day with Jackie in Waverly Nebraska and then we rode almost continuously until we got to Upper Sandusky and took a week off. Since being in Pennsylvania we have taken a day with Kimmie and the rest in Butler, A week with Tom Brown and Mary Lou, and then 3 days at the Jonas hotel, of course that was after the six month mark. There have been some days here and there I missed but all in all I think we sat for about 8 weeks this trip. So I guess six months isn't that bad considering. As I put Delightful back into a walk I glanced down at the ditch and was surprised to find a coconut. Riding away I wondered if it was brought by African or European swallows. It wasn't very big, I am guessing it was European.

I sense someone is trying win Delightful over. . .

We had a long day to ride to Punxsutawny. As we rode through town I smiled at the people driving by and waving at us, returning the waves and hoping the girls wouldn't poop in someones driveway. I was looking for the post office, I had a package from Glenn to pick up, so I stopped a few people and got direction. I pulled into the parking lot and was approached by several people that had seen me riding through town and wanted to know what I was doing. One of which was one Mary Lou Brown, wife to Tom Brown. Apparently he had seen me riding earlier and had called his wife, who told him he should have stopped me to offer me a place to stay. Which is what Mary Lou did, me at their home and the girls at their barn just outside of town. So I picked up my package, went over to the Brown's home for a few minutes and then headed out to their barn. Upon arriving their, Tom Brown (who is always referred to by his full name) bedded the stalls and brought hay down. I pulled the tack and gear and after Tom Brown made sure they had water, we went back to the house. Mary Lou told me that I could stay as long as I wanted a day, or two or six . . . little did she know I would be staying for several. A weather front moved into the area so I decided to stay over til it passed, and the Browns were wonderful hosts, feeding me, making sure I got to see Gobbler's Knob, keeping me entertained and well rested, though I did notice something odd after the first day.
Tom Brown got up early every morning and went out to feed the girls, he would also stop by a lunch to feed them again and then go over to give them dinner, it was no trouble at all . . . hmmmm. I mentioned that the girls were going to like him better than they did me and he simply smiled, I had discovered his master plan! I made sure that the next time I went out to the barn, I groomed them, let them graze, informing them that Tom Brown didn't want to do these things for them. I think I was successful in convincing Mystic, but that Delightful seemed skeptical.
I stayed there for 4 days, and left on Sunday when the weather cleared, Tom Brown brought me out and I think I almost saw a tear in his eye as we rode out the driveway, and I should mention that I had to drag Delightful down the road for several miles. She didn't want to leave her new sugar daddy.

The cold wind blows the hangover right out of your head . . .

So I woke up the morning after my birthday, about 2 hours too late to leave for the day, with a slight hangover, apparently I hadn't drank enough water the night before. So the girls and I got to stay an extra day with JR, Shelby, Kimmy, Matt, Marie, Page and Cody. We made good use of our day off, them eating constantly and me running to the store with Shelby, then to Page and Cody's school to drop off vampire teeth and talk to the kids classes about my trip. The second graders in Page's class were impressive, asking lots of questions, most of them valid, all trying on the hat and coat and looking at pictures of the girls and some from the trip. The kindergardeners mostly wanted to see if I could guess their costumes, which I could, they were impressed. After the big school speeches it was back to the Longhorn for lunch and a visit with Aunt Kathy, then home to feed the girls more hay and hang out for a few hours, finishing up the day with a hilarious go at wi dance challenge, Kimmy is the reigning champ, though I did beat her at Cotton Eyed Joe once, go me.
When I headed out the next day, it was into a cold snap, the wind has picked up and the days are decidedly colder, we rode down the rails to trails for a while, beautiful, even riding through a train tunnel, which was pitch black, and I only could keep track of where we were in the tunnel by the echo of the horses steps off the walls and rocks. The mornings have been very cold, in the twenties and snow is forecast for the weekend. I am in Punxsutawney tonight, maybe I can convince Phil to change the weather for me . . . I should have Delightful bite him till he caves.

Happy Birthday to me . . .

So we are finally in Pennsylvania, the last state we cross before our final destination. Wow, I must admit that there were times I didn't think I would make it this far, but here we are, tired, worn, a little beat up and still going. Yesterday, I stopped at Buster's bar in Koppel, where the owner, Buster, let me tie the horses to the front walk of the bar while I was eating my lunch. He kept telling the many people that came by that he was offering pony rides, lol I am surprised no one tried to take him up on it. Pulling my horses away from Buster, I headed on to Elport where I found a place to stay with Arlene, a kind woman, who had apparently had previously owned a lion. I did inquire what had happened to the lion, making sure it hadn't just gotten out of its cage and was lurking in the area. The girls got to spend the night out in a large pasture, grazing, and were also fed loads of hay. Up early the next morning, my birthday, and on the road, I don't think that Delightful and Mystic got the memo about that day, or they just decided they didn't care. I had a nice days ride, found out that there was a fair grounds in Butler, so I rode down highway 488 to 422 and headed east towards Butler. I had gotten about a mile when I was stopped by Toby, a Deacon of a local church. He talked to me for several minutes and was just saying goodbye, when I woman ran across the highway from the bar across the street to ask me what I was doing. She told me that the fairgrounds was actually back the way I had came from about 1 mile west of the intersection of 488 and 422. So bidding Toby and Kimmie goodbye, I headed back the way I had come. I had ridden to almost the intersection when I was stopped by Marie, she was sent by JR, Kimmie's brother, owner of the bar. They invited me to stay with them, and after finding out it was my birthday, asked me out for dinner and drinks, so, I am here, in Prospect, on my birthday. The people that are putting us up tonight, JR, Shelby, Kimmie and Matt, treated me to dinner at the family bar, the Longhorn Corral. While I was there several of the patrons, upon hearing what I was doing, stared at me for several minutes, trying to get their minds around what I was doing and then bought me a drink. Being out on the road, I made sure to not drink too much and to consume lots of water before heading back to the house. A good birthday, good food for me, lots of food for the girls and dry stalls and a comfy bed. We are once again well taken care of. Not sure if I will head out tomorrow or take a day off, will decide in the morning, it was a good day.

Heading down the home stretch. . .

I sit here tonight in Leanna and Don's home just west of Lisbon, Ohio, I realize that I am one day away from entering Pennsylvania, which means I am down to one map. Today the girls and I left David and Tracy's place just east of East Canton and headed down Highway 172. It is a narrow highway without much shoulder and a lot of traffic. Of all the roads I have travelled on this trip, this has been the most nerve racking for me. Cars were whizzing by us all day, most not giving us much room as the zoomed past us, the horses were their usual wonderful selves, not even noticing as they tried hard not to walk on the grass shoulder and stay on the pavement. I spent a major portion of the day repeating the phrase "you are horses, you are meant to travel on grass, stay off the pavement" and for some reason, they just didn't listen. We travelled down the perilous road for about 4 hrs, stopping to talk to the occasional curious individual, and to let the girls rest and graze, til I reached New Garden and a much need lunch break for me. The grocery store in town, Hulls, has the best chicken and jojos. The girls got some apples and cookies, I have kinda introduced them to all kinds of junk food, Vienna fingers today, nutter butters and chips ahoy yesterday, the occasional maple bar, though mostly they get granola bars, honey and oat is their favorite. After lunch I stopped at the golf course to use the only public bathroom in town and was given directions on the shortcut to the fairgrounds in Lisbon. The gold course manager let us ride down the fair way in order to stay off the road and we managed to use fields and yards for most of the rest of the travel today. As I approached the turn on my hand drawn map, I came upon a sheep farm, owned by Leanna and Don, and they called me over to see what I was doing. Upon hearing that I was riding across the US and staying at the fair grounds, they offered us a place to stay here, complete with a barn for the girls, all the hay they can eat and a bed, shower, dinner and wifi for me.
So here I sit, upstairs in the Kids apartment, typing away on my computer, answering email from various people I have met and reading the negative comment someone sent me regarding the horses current state and I am thinking. This trip has been long. It has been difficult and physically hard on all of us. The girls are thinner than I would like, we are all a bit beat up, but we have less than 3 weeks left and we will complete an amazing journey. No one can take that from me, no matter how much they try. The girls will gain their weight back, hopefully I won't, all our sores, bruises, etc. will heal up and we will be as good as new and we will be better and stronger than before we started. While I am excited to be finishing, I am also excited to see what the next leg of this journey brings.

Disoriented dogs and dead raccoons. . .

Now the girls and I had a long rest in Upper Sandusky, well they rested more than I did, since I had to walk out to the fair grounds to feed them at least twice a day, well it would have been twice a day if it weren't for the wonderful people of Upper Sandusky. The 2 Bonnies, Senior and Junior, secretaries at the fair grounds, ferried me back to the hotel on Wednesday and Friday morning and again Friday evening. I was picked up by several kind people on there way to or from work and even got my first proposition of the trip, a very nice young man, who apparently liked my backside, hah hah hah. The Lions Club orchestrated 2 kidnappings and my dear friend Steve came down several times to visit, keeping me up til after 1 a.m. each evening, soo much rest for me, but thank you to Joel for putting me up for the week, what sleep I was able to get was good and I appreciate it.
Now when we headed out for Bucyrus I figured on an uneventful easy ride for our first one back on the move. I was sort of right. The ride was lovely, following the Lincoln Highway through the countryside, we were stopped several times by people that wanted to know what the heck I was doing. Stopped for lunch at a little cafe. All normal occurrences of a daily ride, with a few exceptions.
I had been riding for about 3 hours when I came upon a house with many dogs chained all around it. As we approached the closest dogs started barking excitedly, running circles on the ends of their chains. As usual, the girls didn't even notice the barking leaping dogs and I, as usual, was talking to the dogs, commenting on their barks and leaping abilities. As I passed the house, I noticed one large black dog frantically barking and leaping at the end of his leash, he was facing the wrong way. He ran back and forth, leaping high into the air, barking happily, at I have no idea what. I watched him for a few minutes before I cleared my throat, causing him to look around. He paused, looked back at what ever invisible object he had been barking at, spun around and gave us his attention. I rode on feeling that I had prevented him from looking silly to the rest of his doggy family.
Now the other none normal occurrence is a bit gross, so if you have a weak stomach don't read this. We had ridden on about another hour and were riding into town, coming up on the school, when I noticed a large, dead raccoon in the road. It was hard to miss as it was really big, the size of a medium sized dog, well I thought it was hard to miss, but apparently not. A green mini van went speeding by us as we pulled almost parallel to the raccoon, and ran over it. Gross right, I mean how could you have not scene that, it was huge. This is not the grossest part, its wheels spun the body up underneath the car, and flung it out towards us. It flew about 6 feet, causing Delightful to spook and dive away. I was never so glad to have her spook since not only did the body get tossed at us, it was ripped apart a bit and the entrails sprayed the side of the road where we had just been. Needless to say, there was much screaming of the word "Eeew" and also "bleck" and praising of Pei Pei for her quick reactions, saving us from a gross shower. I don't believe that the driver meant to hit it, they were probably looking at us and hit it by accident, but still it is the grossest thing to have happened to us on this trip. could have been worse, so thank you Pei Pei, truly a princess maneuver.

Help I have been kidnapped by the Lions . . .

I have reached Ohio, it has taken 5 months to get here and we are in the home stretch. I am exhausted, the girls are exhausted, we are all a bit beat up so we are taking a rest in Upper Sandusky Ohio. We arrived on a Tuesday, dropped here by a wonderful woman, Star Eiseman, who hauled us nearly to Michigan to have her shoer put shoes with borium on the girls. As Wayne, an Amish farrier, nailed the last shoe on, I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that our chances of repeating the dive to the pavement had been greatly reduced, my knee gave a twinge of pain, or maybe it was sighing, one never knows with knees. Since we were so far north, Star hauled us to Upper Sandusky so the girls could have an entire week off, they need to gain weight and Mystic's saddle sores need to heal up. This trip has been a constant worry about the horses, and with about one month left, I decided to take some time and let them recoup some energy before we pushed to the coast.
So we arrived at the fairgrounds, right behind my dear friend Steve. We stopped and talked with Dennis, a Pacer race trainer, and he gave me the number for the fair secretary and offered to provide the mares with all the hay they could eat. That coupled with the 2 bags of grain Star provided would be enough to get them up and running again. I decided to put them in the round pen, clearing it with the secretary in the morning, filled the 10 gallon kitty litter buckets with water(Steve has many cats) bid Star farewell and a hearty thank you and Steve and I headed to the hotel to drop off my gear at the room my protector and provider, Joel, had arranged. After a good meal, Steve dropped me back at the hotel, we would see each other on Thursday to run to Findley to purchase a laptop with the gift card my anonymous donor provided and I headed to a shower and bed . . . ooooh a bed, for a week, ooooh my.
I was up at 7:30 the next morning and out the door to walk the 3.5 miles to the fairgrounds, the only drawback of the hotel. While we might be resting and recouping the girls still need to be taken care of so I would have to make this trek 2 or 3 times a day for the week we were to be here. After I fed the girls, cleaned and medicated Mystic's sores, I headed for the office to see the secretary. Well, the secretaries, the two Bonnies to be exact. These lovely women have been so kind, obtaining permission for the girls to stay, wrangling the paper to write an article and providing me with a lift back from the grounds on any day they were working, my feet thank you. After being dropped off by Bonnie Jr., I went back to my room and crashed for 3 more hours sleep. Getting up in time to walk back out to the grounds to feed for the night. I had reached the park when it happened. A truck pulled over and a sweet looking gentleman asked if I needed a ride. I said sure and hopped in . . . ooooh what had I done? He asked where I was going, I told him, he asked if I was living out there and I told him I was going to feed my horses. He asked if I was boarding them out there and I said I was riding across the U.S. on horse back. He turned sideways in his seat, the birds stopped chirping, the wind died, I could have sworn I heard someone scream, and said "Well, I am taking you to the Lions Club for dinner. You can give a talk and tell them what you're doing."
I was Kidnapped. Taken to the Lions Club dinner, introduced to them, Earl, my kidnapper, Francis, the treasurer, even John, the tailtwister, and yes that sounded kinda dirty to me too. We had dinner, pork chops, said the pledge, and I was asked to speak, I did. Told them what I was doing, told a few stories, answered a few question and sat back down, it was an odd kind of kidnapping. They actually voted to give me some cash for my trip, if this is what your normal napping was, I Like It!
After dinner, Earl took me to the fairgrounds to feed the mares and then back to my hotel room. He wished me luck on my trip and drove off, I knew I had survived a Lions napping, barely.
The next day Francis picked me up walking back to the hotel in the morning and kidnapped me to take me to lunch and then show me the sights around the area, apparently it is normal for Lions to pick you up, kidnap you to feed you, show you some cool stuff and then give you money. An interesting organization if I do say so myself.
We head back on our journey tomorrow, the girls have both put on weight and healed up. Delightful, fully and Mystic mostly. This might be the home stretch, but I am still exhausted, didn't get much rest this week, with the walking and visits from my Friend Steve, but I now have a laptop and have started writing the book. I can feel the end coming, I really miss my bed.

OJ Simpson has nothing on me . . .

Talk about your slow speed police chase. Our trip through Peoria Illinois was eventful to say the least, we got to talk to so many kind people, all supportive and friendly, we got to interview with the paper and had 2 news interviews, my first and second, ugh. The most interesting thing for me was the police escort I was given all through town. The Peoria police department and dispatcher Donna took very good care of me. I feel very sorry for the officers that had to follow the 3 of us through town. Driving behind us the entire way at 2.5 to 3 miles per hour. My officer said he didn't mind, with a staight face, and remarked on how he was catching up on his report writing lol. We even rode through the drive thru at McDonald's, and sat on the lawn of the fire station next door to eat, while the girls grazed.

Illinois was fun, hilarious, painful and heartwarming. I started the state with Steve and Barb and finished up with Marvin. Wally and Joan who kept an eye on me throughout the state, bringing me food, for me and the girls and Wally keeping me safe alerting the police to keep an eye on me as I crossed the state. Thank you all.

Indiana has been all of the above. Meeting Cindy, Shonn, Russ and Linda I have felt welcome, Cindy's son telling his mom I could be an ax murderer led to hours of jokes at his expense, such fun and my knee has been hurting a lot. I am almost through the state, near Peru, I have found something very difficult about being in the midwest. I can't seem to lose anymore weight. Everyone keeps feeding me. Oh well, maybe Ohio will be meaner . . .

Another one bites the dust . . . actually two

Some days I am amazed that I have only come off once on this trip and not been injured too badly. Today is not one of those days.

We have been having a good trip through Illinois so far, we have stayed with some wonderful people, Steve and Barb of the Stronghurst area, who are interesting, funny and apparently big tennis buffs . . . Terry and Alexsha of Roseville, who fed me pizza and let me mess around on their computer and let the girls spend the night in their pasture and eat all night, they were so happy. We met Dorothy and her friend Karen who brought us hay to Middle Grove where the city let us stay at the old school house. We had many visitors there, kids, parents and people out walking their dogs, who seemed surprised to find 2 horses picketed in the middle of town, like that doesn't happen everyday. So many people offered to feed me or let me take showers I was feeling guilty for turning them down. The kindness of the people I meet on this trip never stops to amaze me. I stopped in Farmington for a late breakfast, tried my first Monte Cristo sandwich, sounded good, and for the half of the sandwich, it was pretty good. My advice is to only eat half of them, then run, fast from the table, before you start on the second half, that's where you get a little ill. I was joined at Kersh's cafe by Katerina, a friend of Dorothy's, and we had a lovely talk about the trip and Katerina's dream journey. I look forward to reading her blog and facebook when she can make it.
We headed out of Farmington to meet up with several people at the McDonalds and have the ladies working there give me apples for the mares. I met a woman from the service posse who must have contacted the Peoria county posse since they met me when I got to Hanna City. They found me a place to stay and will be arranging a police escort across the bridge in Peoria. Thank you guys for keeping us safe.

It was leaving Hanna City, heading for Niles and Linda's barn to spend the night that our cool day took a temporary bad turn. We were riding on the right of way below people's houses and above the rode, crossing driveways and had reached the last one before we dropped down to the shoulder again. As we started across it, Delightful slipped in front and when she tried to balance from behind she slipped there too. She started scrambling, trying to maintain her feet and lost the battle. Her legs were swept out from under her and we went down on the pavement. I took the hit, right knee slamming into the ground, Delightful landing on top of me, smashing my ankle and sliding about 3 feet before she rolled free of me, struggling to regain her feet on the slick surface. I righted myself, started to get up to help her and hit the ground again, my knee giving out on me. I took a moment, and a deep breath and forced myself to my feet just as she regained hers and both of us stood perfectly still for a minute, then she stepped onto the grass and started eating and I bent over and tried not to swear like a sailor as several cars had pulled over and people were coming over to make sure we were o.k. It took me another minute to make myself move and I went over to Delightful, ran my hands all over her legs, chest and belly. She was not cut, and had no swelling or heat anywhere. I was relived, happy and slightly annoyed. I could feel my knee swelling and my ankle was swearing loud and clear, I'm glad I could break her fall, really I am.

Oh by the way, through this whole episode, Mystic was just happily eating on the people's lawn. I am starting to wonder if she might have tripped or shoved Delightful. Hmmmmmmm.