Day 12

We had a really great day today. We are in Julesburg, Colorado right now. I'm in the truck working on the computer, just finished all my photos. I got some really good ones today. Dave is busy bbq'ing chicken breasts for dinner, and the horses are grazing on the tall green grass.

The weather was a little overcast, in the low 70's today. When I finished and got back to camp it was 70 degrees with 45% humidity. We were actually really comfortable today, it was nice. I rode Weaver, before lunch I rode with Pat Verhuel, Skip Dyke, Terry Nance and Debbie (from Texas I don't know her last name). Then after lunch I walked and let everybody leave me but later caught up to Terry and rode with him the rest of the way in to the finish. He was riding his mule Benny. We rode thru more of Nebraska today and the last 5 miles or so was in Colorado. So now I've ridden Weav in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. Pretty cool! Tomorrow I'm riding Rocky so he'll also get to go thru some of Colorado, and then back to Nebraska again. The scenery has changed some, at least there is some different looking grass here.

It was an easy day for us, at least for Pat and I. We were both riding our sane horses so just kinda cruised thru it. We both also have horses that think that Nebraska is terrifying , so those days we're a little more jazzed up. Of course, we don't want to fall asleep and maybe miss one of those fascinating corn fields. The corn is growing, it's getting higher and higher......pretty exciting. :>)

This week is a lot easier on us I think, than the last one was. It's the third week now, and we've got two days of it down and three to go. Maybe we are just getting used to doing this on less sleep, or our bodies have figured out that we don't really need any (sleep that is). I mean, how hard could it be to get up at 4 a.m. every day and ride a horse 50 miles? Today we passed thru a time zone, so started at 5 a.m., which made it seem really early for some reason when we got up but it is nice tonight. I'm waiting for the sun shower to heat up a bit more.

Everybody has it figured out to where they don't have to get up until 20 minutes till start. At least it seems like you don't hear a peep in camp until then, and then just like magic.....poof......all the horses instantly be tacked up and have riders aboard. It's kinda strange.

I've been seeing a lot of the regulars out on the trail every day. There are a couple more people that have done each day that I may not have mentioned before just because I didn't know -- Terry Wooley, and can't remember if I mentioned Sandy Skinner or Phyllis Bartholomew or not. There may be another person or two, I just haven't ridden with or seen anybody else enough to know. I think that Bud from Alabama may have ridden every day too. There were less than 30 riders yesterday, and a little over 40 today. There are several new horses and some new riders in camp. Pat Verheul, MJ Jackson and Kayla Ramsdell (junior) have still also ridden every day. Kathy has ridden Zane every day, except for two half days he's done them all and is getting BC a lot. I haven't been paying attention to who is winning or finishing in the front every day. I usually don't even see those people, just the regulars farther back.

We have train tracks right next to us here, oh joy we get to hear more trains. Will we ever be able to sleep again without the sound of trains all night?

Last night Rocky rolled and got his rope wrapped around himself somehow and the bungee tie at the top broke. The bottom half is cotton rope. We checked him over and couldn't find any rope burns or anything so hopefully he wasn't hurt. I have him tied shorter now (he wasn't tied that long before), so hopefully that won't happen again. So many horses in camp have rope burns it's not even funny.

It was kind of nice not having to take any easyboots off tonight, or put them on this morning. Right now both horses have easyboots glued onto all four feet without a heel strap. It works really well, I'll just leave the boots on until they wear out or until they come off. Sure makes things easier, and no worry about losing a shoe.

Tomorrow we ride back into Nebraska. It should be another nice day though I think it is going to get warmer again. I rode a little faster today on Weaver, mostly because it was cool, we still took nearly all day, I think we may have averaged as fast as 6 mph . I'll slow down if it gets warmer, and let the horses graze a bit more. I hope Rocky is okay after getting tangled last night. He seems okay now, I sure hope he's a bit more mellow tomorrow than he was on Monday. Rocky seems to get wound up after getting days off, and Weaver seems to have settled into the routine a bit better (probably why he's gaining weight, the dork ).......and is really happy to just cruise along at a 8 mph trot and 4 mph walk. The only problem that *I* am having (as a rider) is that I am having a difficult time sometimes riding my own ride. You get stuck with other people, and out here in Nebraska, there ain't no where to get rid of them! Looking forward to something besides rolling hills.

Trilby rode today, hope she does okay. I saw John Park out there on Skoldjur again, the Mitchells rode today along with Kayla and Troy. They are supposed to ride with me tomorrow. They've been riding with Jim or Dave Rabe. Dave (crew) trailered Troy's horse from the vet check today. Horse was okay but Troy had been bucked off and didn't look too good. There are other juniors here, but I think Troy and Kayla have been riding the most, Kayla hasn't missed a day yet. Elena and Jamie did a ride and tie one day, and another day Elena did one with Kat. Tinker rode Wes today. Louise and Clark, both from UT, went home. Wayne and Elaine took the day off, as did a few other people. I think it's better to take a day off and get the horses in good shape than trying to keep going and screw them up. Most of the people are pretty sensible about that....but.....I won't name any names but rest assured, there are a few people here with dim bulbs!

Smells like dinner is done.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
...currently in Julesburg, CO
only 28 ride days to go!

Day 13

Hello again! We're now camped on the Rushcreek Ranch in Nebraska. We had another great day on the trail. It was a bit warmer but still comfortable. Time sure flies, it seems like we are going along pretty good but then it still takes nearly all day to get thru the ride. Today I had three juniors with me, Jamie Mitchell and Troy and Kayla. Kayla ( 14 y/o) has ridden every day so far and is doing really good. Jamie and Troy have ridden almost every day. They all have really nice horses so should get to ride a lot more days. You'll see plenty of them in my photos for today. www.endurohorse.com

Doesn't appear that Rocky suffered any ill effects from his entanglement with his tie rope. Whew! I took him over to Barney last night and asked him to look him over and watch him trot to make sure nothing was wrong. I asked him did he see anything wrong and he said yeah, the horse needs rode. So we took care of that problem! He'll get tomorrow off and then go again on Saturday. Dave made it back to camp just a few minutes before I did, he was practically the last rig to get in, and got one of the best spots in camp in the shade. :+) He took so long because he stayed out to water us (and give out licorice), and then had to go fill up water and get diesel.

When we rode out of Julesburg, CO this morning we were lucky and missed any trains going by. The scenery is changing a little bit, less corn and more wheat. A few rolling hills, and then later in the day we got onto the Rushcreek ranch property and it's really nice. All green grass, hills, and water.....plus lots of trees. It's really beautiful here.

The horses look good, I think most of the ones out there still are doing pretty good and getting into the routine. I still have to clean Rocky up some from today but at least I put ice boots on him, well, I have to do one ice boot at a time because if I put more than that into the freezer then the refrigerator doesn't work. Anybody for warm yogurt? They probably don't even appreciate being pampered and just want to get fed. I didn't get to weigh them yet today to see how they are doing. Sure am glad to see them slurping up their soaked beet pulp plus all the other stuff they are going thru every day, they are even eating stuff I put electrolytes in. Everybody is surprised at how well my horses take their electrolytes in a syringe (when I'm on them), but that's just because they are so used to getting them all the time. They have given up trying to argue.

Dave is doing more repair work in the trailer. There is always something to fix or repair or replace. We don't have any cell phone signal here, so I won't be able to check mail for at least another day. We could use more hours in the day, these 5 a.m. starts are killer once you figure in that you aren't finishing until after 3 p.m. the next afternoon. I still have to mix up more electrolytes, I've been trying to do that every two days, just don't have enough room in the fridge for more than that. I have been using Lyte Now a lot, it's more convenient.

I better go get my chores done, horses walked and grazed, then sunshower and finish up the photo sets and get my card filled out for tomorrow's entry on Weaver. Nite!

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Nebraska still (again)
......only 27 days to go!

Day 14

Still in Nebraska, boy it's hot! We had another really good day though, Weaver completed his 300th mile on the XP trail today. When I say it was hot, boy do I mean it was hot out there. It was like an oven. It was really hot. Did I mention that it was hot? Thank god for all the great crews today, they really saved us meeting us with water so often to drink and cool with.

I did get a lot more photos today. The scenery is starting to change. We're not seeing as much corn (awww shuks). More wheat, some actual trees, evergreens and a little different type of grass. The trail was sandier in spots today, and we had more grassy areas and rolling hills, with real up and downs!

I think only one rig got stuck in the sand getting in and out of Rushcreek Ranch, where we stayed last night. I heard it took three trucks to pull them out. Everybody had to let the pressure out of their tires to get in and out of there. There were over 40 riders yesterday. Scott Powell was 1st and BC. I don't know how many there were yet. If it stays this hot, there will probably be less tomorrow.

I was worrying about Weaver earlier today because he keeps peeing. He is peeing often, and a large quantity. Then I talked to Pat and others and all their horses are too. But, (duh) they are drinking a lot and we're electrolyting them good. It just seems like a lot when your horse pees four times by the lunch check. I quit worrying when I weighed him at the finish and he had gained 10 pounds , people are teasing him. He really does drink a lot and spent most of the day trolling since there was so much grass along the way he goes along like a mower and has a mouthfull the entire way. I think we averaged a blistering 5.7 mph today. I have to remember that a lot of people would be done riding 50 miles by the time we make it to lunch. I was with Jas and we figured out that if we trotted a whole mile at a time, and then got off and walked for a few minutes that our feet wouldn't go numb and the horses would want to go, and so would we. It's difficult out there in the hot sun for 11 hours. The crews are great though, they take turns alternating and we had at least four of them out there after lunch plus the two ride tanks that volunteers put out so probably had water every mile.

The other half of the Mitchell's got here, and rode today. April, Alicia and Jamie rode while Jim (dad) crewed along with Dolly for Kayla and Troy. Kayla is the only junior that has ridden every single day so far. All the kids seem to be having a great time.

I should go check out camp, there is a historical marker of some sort up by the vet area. I swear there aren't enough hours in the day. We start at 5 a.m., just as the sun comes up, then spend nearly all day riding, get thru and take care of the horse I rode, the extra horse I didn't ride and next thing you know it's time for the 8 p.m. ride meeting. Between then we have to fix and eat dinner, mix up and give electrolytes, walk the horses, clean them up, longe the one that is going the next day to make sure he's sound so I can fill out his entry card by the time of the ride meeting and oh yeah take a sun shower! Sometimes I even remember to refill my water bottles and put them in the freezer. There is always something I forget to do every day, but usually it's not very important.

I can't believe that tomorrow is the end of our third week already! It seems to have gone by fairly fast. Next thing you know, we'll be riding in Wyoming!

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
.....near Dalton, Nebraska

Day 15

It's even hotter today! It's 99 in the shade. This will be our last full ride day in Nebraska. Next week we'll go into Wyoming. The trail was beautiful today. I'm uploading photos now from earlier this week (www.endurohorse.com) but won't get todays up for another day or two.

We had a really great week, everything going good with both horses. Weav did 2 days, and Rocky did 3. Next week I'll try and switch them around. Weav has been keeping (gaining) his weight well, while Rocky is doing well but not quite as good, he's probably down about 25 pounds so far. I hope that having three days off will allow him to put it back.

We're staying at the Flying Bee ranch, that we rode right by today on the ride. The rest of the ride went to the fairgrounds in Scottsbluff, which was a little farther to go. This way, Weav got to be turned out in a large arena all day and now both horses have a place to stay overnight besides being tied to the trailer. They've been living like that for a month now, and I really like to have them get some room to move around. Plus we can sleep in peace. Being in a large ridecamp like we have been every night along with wild turkeys and trains, and horses getting tangled up in ropes......kinda hard to get a good nights sleep, maybe 4-5 hours each night, if we're lucky. It's been so hot that makes it hard to sleep too.

I rode this morning with Tinker and Kayla. Tinker pulled at lunch, so Kayla and I continued. We also rode with Jim and Jamie Mitchell. The afternoon trail was really nice, we went up and down some real hills, beautiful canyons and really gorgeous scenery. The footing was excellent. Crews did an exceptional job of keeping the horses watered and cooled.

I better get off of this thing!

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
.....in Bayard, Nebraska
15 days down, only 25 left!!

Resting before Day 16

Hi! I've got power here at the fairgrounds and a really good cell phone signal. I'm sitting at a nice table inside a large covered arena where my horses are. It's really hot here, so it's sure nice to have them in the shade. The fairgrounds where we are at this weekend are really nice, there are quite a few very large trees for shade, bathrooms everywhere (with real soap and paper towels!), electrical plugs and horse corrals, arenas, etc. We're also not far from things like grocery, laundry and restaurants.

I tried uploading the rest of my saved up photo sets this morning, but was having trouble with the server at the other end so they didn't go. I emailed them so they may or may not go up this coming week. I probably won't get another land-line connection until next weekend and then I'll have quite a few more to upload. We've been putting all of the photos onto a CD so they are backed up, in case anything happens. I've been trying to get photos of everybody and think I did this last week. If anybody has a chance, can you look up the XP photos and tell me what days from last week are missing? Thanx! www.endurohorse.com

Wayne and Elaine are leaving to go home tomorrow. Darnit! Wayne got hurt early in the ride, so things haven't worked out real well for them. I wish they were staying. It did work out well for Dorothy Sue, who bought one of their horses. I got some photos earlier of Elaine riding Aboo, now I can get some of Dorothy riding him. :+) Louise Mahoney and Sue Hedgecock both left but are coming back. Clark P. left, and so did Janet Fredrickson, the lady with the 5 kids. I know Kat left and then came back, but all of her horses are out, or were, so maybe she's waiting it out......most everybody else is staying even if they aren't riding a lot. Karen N. said she has completed 2 days out of 7 starts. A lot of other riders have been injured too, and are hanging in there. Susan Dyke has a fractured pelvis, and Trilby's horse Clay went thru a barbed wire fence.......mostly horses have rope burns, though other horses have had some corral panel incidents too.....there is no safe way to confine a horse for this length of time, especially this many of them. I was really lucky that Rocky didn't end up with a bad rope burn. They are doing well on the trailer ties, but they have been used to much that they aren't tight anymore and everytime the horses move all night you here this eeeek eeeeeeek eeeeeeek sound, it's *really* annoying. So believe me when I say how great it is to have them in a corral somewhere safe on our days off. Sleep, at last! Just the sound of those lovely trains, turkeys, roosters and so on.

The wind is kicking up and dark clouds are looming overhead, looks like a thunderstorm brewing. Weaver is slobbering on my keyboard and Rocky is sniffing my computer screen. They want to help! I think they are doing okay with his mentally, Weaver is doing the best with it in that regard. I did just weigh them, and Weaver is at the same exact weight that he started the ride at three weeks ago, and Rocky is down 40 pounds, which puts him at his normal/regular ride weight. No ribs are showing but they might be in another week. He is eating well, but he really better get with it soon! If you guys look at some of the photos I've taken around camp you'll see that most of the horses look really good. Lots of them aren't going as often as mine have been though, so it's hard to compare. Rocky has done 7 1/2 of the last 15 days.

As far as how the ride is going on a daily basis, in case anybody is wondering.....it's just amazing at how well organized and managed everything seems to be. Maybe it's all an illusion :>), but in all seriousness it's obvious how much work was put into planning this event. It's just incredible to be here and experience it. Moving camp day after day is sure a challenge just for us riding, or crewing, I can only imagine how little sleep ride management has been getting and how many details they are having to contend with just so we can ride our horses point to point for forty days.

As hard as it has been for me to get up day after day, and ride in the heat, humidity, bugs, and rain.....I think that it's been just as much of a challenge for my crew. He's been doing a great job, some days he gets pretty wore out chasing water down, hauling pulled horses and trying to crew for me and take care of all the zillion things that crop up.

We went to the Purina dealer here in town today and asked for some Complete Advantage and they said "we only carry Purina products". Arrrrrggghhhhhh!!!! Criminy.....so.....we came back with three bags of Equine Senior. They have already eaten one bag of equine senior earlier in the ride. That should last us until next weekend when we get into Casper, since I had one bag of Complete Advantage left. Louise, if you are out there when you come to Casper can you please bring me 5 bags of Complete Advantage with you?

I've gone thru 150 pounds of beet pulp in the last three weeks, and have enough to last until next weekend (I think). Two bags of oats, 1 bag of Omolene, part of a bag of bran, and about 15 bags of Complete Advantage (some of that was crewing for other horses, or it got wet in the rain)......I've lost track of the hay we've fed so far. A lady drove into the fairgrounds yesterday with a big load of nice big alfalfa bales for $3 each so I bought two of those and will mix it in with the other hay I've got. The horses seem to be eating nearly everything I've given them so far. Their main hay has only changed twice since the start of the trip, and it's been mixed so they haven't had a lot of feed changes. So I guess after being on the road for over a month, we're doing okay. The horses are both sound, I just want Rocky to eat a little more but it could be worse.

Left their glued on easyboots on over the weekend. I hope I can do that for two week stretches at a time. It's sure a lot easier then taking them on and off every day. It worked good the first two weeks on Rocky, so we'll see how it goes. I did have somebody tell me that it wouldn't work . Well, it has only worked for 3 weeks so far, maybe it takes 4 or 5 for their feet to fully rot off? (ha ha ha)

Got the GPS ready for tonights waypoints for the coming week. This works out so well. After we get them, I download them into my map software on the laptop, and then Dave has them all week to navigate to the vet checks and finish, I go in and mark lunch and stuff for him, and also tell him where I want water. If he finds out where the other three water troughs are he'll try and fill them up too. Cindy Brown has been the one to arrange that, and it's been great just in case you get to riding inbetween crews. Most of the crews are really terrific, offering water for the horses (and people) and sponging. I usually have Dave meet me at the lunch stop, and then after that every 5 miles with water but that hasn't worked out most days because somebody gets pulled and he has to haul them to the finish and back again, so sometimes I've only seen him once just 5 miles from the finish, then he ends up being one of the last or second to last rigs getting into camp each night which is difficult because then my other horse has been tied to another trailer all day. At least he wasn't hauled all around everyday in the heat. This week we may have to try something different because I don't think this is working all that great for Rocky. It's okay for Weaver because everytime you look he has his head in the bucket or feed bag eating.

Allrighty....enough rambling, I need to go get more electrolytes mixed, water filled and my tack ready for tomorrow. Then go to the ride meeting and hopefully sleep. It will be a very long day tomorrow. We start at 5:00 a.m., but have to haul 40 miles to the start. It's going to be hot again.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Mitchell, Nebraska
& Rocky
& Weaver, XP horses ready for week 4!!! :-))))

Fourth Weekend

We're about ready for bed, it's almost 7 p.m. Since we stayed in Casper, we have to haul down to the start in the morning. We think that'll take about an hour. It's just easier to leave the horses in the stalls here, they can lie down in them and have shelter in case it rains. It's also cooler in there than outside. We have both fans going, it's 89 degrees now. It should cool off after it gets dark.

The truck dealer here couldn't fix our truck, they were too busy so we have to hope that we can find somebody that can fix it later on in our route. And we have to hope that we won't need 4WD in the meantime. Murphy's law. We have it when you don't need it and then when you might it doesn't work.

The two days off sure do seem to go fast. I think that they are harder than the ride days are because we have so much to get done. It doesn't seem like much when you just think about it, but when you actually get to doing all those chores the time really adds up and next thing you know, it's gone!

The second half of the ride will be really fun, we're really looking forward to it. We've got the routine down now. There will be new people, and others will leave. Karen Fredrickson left today, she was injured when her horse fell with her on Saturday. Dr. told her not to ride, that's too bad. Kat also left. A few people have left and come back with fresh horses and are ready to go again.

Somebody said that it feels like we are a bunch of Jim Jones' followers.....following the Duck across country. It's really pretty funny in a way, everybody does what he says no matter what. It's not like anything hasn't happened that he hadn't told us would happen. There have been a few occasions when people have had to pick up and move camp, once...or even twice in the same day. Or you have to move once you get set up at the vet check, things like that but that's all part of the adventure.

I've got Rocky's four easyboots glued on his feet for the coming week. He's wearing red ones this time, and is ready to roll! He got shod this weekend, and his feet were in great shape after having the last boots glued on for two weeks straight. (twice now) Sure is a lot easier this way! Tomorrow after I ride I'll do the same thing to Weaver's feet. I longed them both tonight, and it's always a relief to do that and see that they are still actually staying upright and on all four feet! :+) (knocking on wood)

Hey, I just realized that we aren't camped next to train tracks! Isn't it funny how you miss something like that? Most of our ridecamps haven't been all that quiet, we've had trains and wild turkeys, or roosters, or else crews and riders arguing. There are definitely people you try not to park next to, when they come rolling in to camp you want to chant 'keep going keep going' as they drive past where you are parked. A few people have had crews/drivers quit and still need help.

The weather is supposed to stay hot, but at least it is getting drier. It's more like we are used to though. I keep being thankful that Rocky hasn't gotten scratches. I've been using lots of desitin on him, which is easy to do on the days where we get off a lot to open gates. We're going thru a lot of alkaline soil now.

This weekend I did get all of the cinches washed and the wool pads washed at the laundromat. All the tack is clean now too, which was a chore after having desitin, gu, licorice (ever seen red licorice after it gets wet?) and electrolytes leak all over my packs in the heat. I even squeaked in a shampoo bath on both horses. I can't seem to get Rocky clean, those darn grey horses -- the brass on his tack is turning him green and he just won't come clean. (sigh) Those trails in Nebraska also turned him green, but of a different variety.

I've got the hay bags all stuffed, half each with alfalfa and grass hay, the blue ice chest is full of carrots for the week and we've got plenty of drinks, bottled water and food for us. We've got a little BBQer so we can fix some food during the week in areas where there is no fire danger. I eat a lot of peanut butter and simple things like beans or bagel sandwiches, and cheese and crackers. Peanuts and licorice are good snacks, but mostly I'm surviving on gu. I put on a pair of shorts today and they wouldn't stay up (Grin), so I guess the elastic is coming out of them. lol!

Speaking of food, boy we have sure lucked out and every place we've eaten at along the way has been excellent! Don Skinner told us about this Chinese buffet, and boy was it ever good. Yesterday I had a 3 1/2 hour lunch at the Flying J truck stop while I uploaded photos, they have phone lines right at the table. It wasn't so bad, it's air conditioned and the food was *really* good. Better than sitting next to the trailer sweating in the shade and watching the horse swat flies. oh, and speaking of flies -- the ones here bite HARD!!!

We haven't had any trouble so far finding feed for the horses. Lots of people found some hay at a ranch this weekend for $5 a bale. We bought some at the feed store, very large bales for $6.50 each. The Complete Advantage I bought at the feed store in Casper was bagged in 1998, needless to say it's not feedable. Jim Mitchell got some too but they replaced it with something else because he opened it in time. Just what were they thinking selling horse feed that old? @#$%!!!!

The last two days of last week, Dave gave out 150 gallons of water to riders on the trail. If we get to drier parts he won't be able to do that because we won't be able to fill up as often. He does a good job of crewing for me and some of my friends, and I think my spare horse even does better on the days that he takes him (whichever one it is) too because Dave walks them a lot, like a mile with the dogs and lets the horse graze. I think those days the horses look better than the days that they got hauled right to the next camp in a different trailer and then tied up. The horses are both a lot better about being separated, they are sure dealing well with the large variety of changes in their daily routine on this trip. We figure that each horse has probably been hauled four thousand miles by now, in addition to the riding miles.

It's really amazing at least to me, how good some of these horses look. Most all of them do look good (really, I'm not just saying it). There were several of us at the fairgrounds this weekend, and lots of horses were out being walked or longed and exercised around. I didn't see any that were lame or that were too thin or that didn't look bright and alert.

Last night Joyce Sousa had a party at her rig, and we had a 4th of July cake and everybody got to see all of the photos I've taken in a slide show. All the memories come back, and it's really neat when you see a photo of something and 8 people instantly know what day and where it was!

The fans have nearly cooled us down to where we can sleep, so I better hit the sack. We've got a new week ahead of us! Keep your fingers crossed, we want to keep riding!

Happy XP trails,

Karen

Day 22

It was another hot day, even the Texans thought so. We have some cloud cover now so it feels a bit cooler. Today we rode from Murphy Ranch to Ice Slough, Wyoming. It's the 4th of July, and everybody dressed up in red white and blue. We also put little flags on our helmets or our horses bridles.

Another 5 a.m. start, which is a good thing since it is so hot. I sponsored Kayla again today and we finished at 4:25 p.m. My GPS odometer says we went 52.3 miles today. In the morning we rode past Independence Rock, and then thru Devil's Gate and past all the handcarts, pioneer graves and other historical markers. Then we spent a good deal of the day riding on Pony Express, Mormon, California and Oregon trail. It was a really great day!

MJ pulled today, so the only two riders left who have ridden every day are Kayla (junior), and Terry Wooley. The most exciting part is that Kayla has ridden on only two horses and they are still going and in really great shape. :+)) She has more horses available now, but hopes to keep riding Gem and Buddy, they are both doing really well for her. We have fun riding together, she is my co-navigator.....I follow where the GPS arrow shows to go, and she reads the written directions and map to make sure we're passing all the right landmarks. It must work because we haven't gotten lost yet, at least not more than a few feet past any one turn.

Today a couple of people got lost -- Dave Rabe and Sands first missed a gate and kept going down a road, then later John and Steph Teeter followed the footprints the wrong way and also got misplaced. Steph said she lost her GPS, it fell out of her pack. We were kinda wondering why they ended up finishing behind us when they were ahead of us after lunch.

In the morning we passed two rattlesnakes. The first one was on the pavement, so easy to avoid. Then later, Dolly was trotting thru the grass and quickly decided to move over after seeing a big fat rattler over there. So we were really keeping a watch out for them. There are a lot of large badger holes around that we have to look out for too. Most of the footing today was excellent.

For a section or two, we had some awful bugs. We'd been warned, so the horses had been fly sprayed and wiped but it didn't do any good. We got thru those sections though, and it wasn't so bad after that. In one area we had a whole herd of horses gallop up and then ride alongside us. I got several good photos of them. We were picking which ones to take with us, in case we needed another horse to ride.

Before lunch we had a long section of about 14 miles without any water, and boy was it ever hot....much to our delight over the hill came Jim Mitchell in 4WD to the rescue, bringing water for everybody, and then going back for more after he ran out. The horses really drank a lot then, it was a real lifesaver. Jim was also busy crewing for April, Jamie and Alicia who all rode today too.

Ruthie rode the new horse she bought at the Rushcreek Ranch today to Independence Rock. He is a bay and looks really nice. Dave said it took him an hour to get water at the RV station, and he was one of the first ones there.....water is getting to be a precious commodity right now, in some places we have to pay ten cents a gallon, and lots of it isn't potable.

Well, I better get more done around here before the ride meeting, it's been a long, hot day.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Ice Slough, Wyoming
22 days down, 18 to go
& Weaver, 500 XP miles
& Rocky, 500 XP miles

Day 23

Have I mentioned anything about the wind yet? Well......oh boy is it windy! If it isn't battened down by now, no point in worrying about it anymore! It's blowing pretty hard, most of the horses are chasing their hay bags around, and the humans are chasing everything else! Looks like some thundershowers are heading our way, we've had a few sprinkles already.

Today was a really great day, I rode Rocky again and he finished his 11th day or 550 miles of the Pony Express trail. The weather was gorgeous today, it felt cooler probably only in the 80's and we had a breeze (which is currently a wind!). The trail is a lot of fun. There are historical markers marking the entire way showing where the Pony Express, Oregon, California and Mormon trails went. In spots you can see wagon ruts.

Still starting at 5 a.m. It's dark right up until we start, and still then not much light. So we get to see beautiful sunrises every morning, and since we're headed west we don't have the sun in our eyes.

Bob and Pat Verhuel both rode today. They had some truck problems and I guess some other people in camp helped get everything fixed, so Pat had her rig back in time for supper. She's riding tomorrow she says. I'll have to ask her if she misses the corn yet (just kidding). :+D

Steve Shaw is fixing another flat tire on his trailer. Their 3rd one. Barney and Linda have had two flats and are getting them fixed now. It seems like everywhere we go, somebody has a rig jacked up fixing a tire.

Louise took the day off but is riding tomorrow, and Steve Shaw is riding one of her horses. They had to put the top down on their camper since it's so windy. A little breeze is nice while we are riding, but tonight it's shaking our trailers.

We're camped up on this nice bluff overlooking this beautiful little valley below that is lush green with trees and an old wooden barn. Last night we had a lot of mosquitos eating the horses. Doesn't look like we'll have that problem tonight. ha

We see a lot of antelope and birds. Keeping an eye out for snakes. Lots of cows..........still in cattle country. There is some grass for the horses to graze but it's getting drier. Hey guess what, Rocky I think has finally realized what is going on (Grin), and has been eating even better than before...he never stopped while I tacked him up this morning, and he wants to eat constantly going down the trail too. Weaver is well......Weaver.

We stopped at the Sweetwater to sponge the horses off, and after a few dips, up came my string sans sponge! So Jim Mitchell gallantly rode to the sponges rescue downstream where it was deeper and retrieved it for me.

I sponsored Kayla again today, and also rode a little with Robbi, Dorothy Sue, and Jim and Jamie Mitchell. We all pretty much finished together. The kids went first, tied for 8th place then the rest of us. I told Robbi I'd give her a GPS lesson later, I think she needs it! (don't tell her I said that)

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
near South Pass, Wyoming 23 days down, 17 left!

Day 24

Hello from Farson, Wyoming! We just finished up the 24th day of the 2001 XP. It's raining and storming on us now, but most of the day was absolutely gorgeous. Today was another long day, over 52 miles. Weaver seems to be the one who gets all of the longer days, the last time I rode him he went 53 miles. The days are long, usually ranging from 9 to 11 1/2 hours with 5:00 a.m. starts.

The rain is really coming down right now. The horses have their rain gear on, and are happily eating away. Everything is covered so I just have to wait until the ride meeting in half an hour then go to bed. Tomorrow is the last day of the week and then we get one day off before starting the next ride week which will only be four days long. The schedule is going to change on us from here on out.

We walked over to the local cafe tonight and ate dinner there, it was great! Then we went and got an ice cream at the mercantile store, which was extremely good -- huge scoops, and I don't think there is anybody here that didn't get one (or two!!)

The trail today was on more of the official Pony Express trail, completely marked with historical trail markers--it's really something to be riding thru this country, most of it totally unchanged since the original Pony Express riders and Pioneers went thru.

We went over South Pass today, it was a gradual enough of a climb that it didn't seem like much. The wind kept us cooled down which was of great benefit for the horses. Crews were out watering us which was really appreciated. Along the way there is an occasional creek or pond to water the horses, and grass for them to eat. The Duck was out along the way with a water trough in the morning too, so that was nice.

On the way into lunch, not very far out from the vet check we were riding along, Kayla and I. She asks me every day "are you sick of me yet can I ride with you tomorrow", and of course I say yes because she smiles and is always happy. Some of those grown-ups get pretty grouchy you know! (big grin) So anyway.....her horse Buddy takes a stumble and then falls down and then next thing you know, with Kayla on his back he flips completely over. I was behind her and saw the whole thing and was so scared that he was going to land on her. Luckily, she fell off to one side and after he flipped over he sort of rolled onto her leg. She was able to get out from under him and get up and then she grabbed his reins and waited for him to get up. He was having trouble, and finally got up onto two legs. His back leg was bent backwards really oddly and the front leg was being held out as well so he could hardly stand up at all. I made sure that Kayla was allright, she said her leg hurt but she was okay and to go get help. So I ran the rest of the way into the vet check....Bonnie Way was ahead and went back to make sure everything was okay and John and Steph were behind (but didn't see any of this happen)......Dave Rabe was in camp and he knew something was wrong when I came running in on pavement because he told my husband that he knew I'd never run my horse over pavement if something wasn't wrong. The Duck and John (Kayla's grandpa) and Jim Mitchell all drove out to where Kayla was right away and they all took care of her, and of Buddy too. Kayla did say that nobody seemed to care about her horse (just her), which of course was all that she was worried about. After a few moments Buddy did get much better and was able to walk the rest of the way in camp, where he was taken care of.

Kayla is a real trooper though, and in true Pony Express fashion.......saddled up another horse and rode the second half of the ride. She doesn't want to miss any of it! I was so glad that she did that, and that she was out there again with a smile on her face. She wasn't going to do that until everybody promised to take care of Buddy for her until she got back.

On the way back there was a huge horned sheep of some sort, and Weaver chased him away for us. Rocky would have ran the other way---it's always funny how when things like that happen I seem to be on the horse that deals with it the best.

John and Libby Bass stopped by to visit us on their way to the Bighorn ride. We might see them on the way back going thru Schellbourne.

After lunch I rode a lot of the way with Steph, Patty, Karen B., and some with Jeff and Debby, and Carol.....finished with a whole hour and 20 minutes to spare, got into camp about 4 p.m. (5 a.m. start), these days are long and hot and tiring but nowhere else I'd rather be.

Tinker left today to go get more horses, and Louise is leaving tomorrow for the weekend. Most everybody else has been staying, though not everybody is riding every day. Steve Shaw rode one of Louise's horses today, and Pat V. rode a grey horse.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Farson, Wyoming
24 days down, 16 left!

Day 27

We're in Utah now. It was a really nice day, we had a really enjoyable ride. The weather was nice, not quite as hot and we only got rained on for a few minutes. There were some sections of pretty deep mud but overall the footing was pretty good.

I rode with Kayla again, she rode Buzzy again. She's still doing really good. We started again at 5 a.m. and it was still very dark. We left out of Fort Bridger and rode to lunch somewhere near the Kemmerer exit :+P.....then we hauled the horses about an hour to Echo Junction in Utah and rode the last half of the ride there finishing near Park City -- not too far from the Rolls Royce building. My GPS said 49.6 miles but I didn't turn it on right away this morning since it was so dark. Yesterday my gps said we did 52.3 but that included warming the horse up -- we are sure getting a lot of long days, just how it works out I guess.

There were only 17 riders today. First and BC was Linda Tribby, Steph Teeter was 2nd then Kayla 3rd and me 4th. Don't worry we weren't going fast, we showed up at lunch in 4:10, blazing trail at a blistering 6+ miles per hour! Barney really had to convince us that we really were in the first group of four into the vet check. Pretty funny. Trilby didn't ride again today, and I found out that the horse that has now done the most days is Skoldjur, John Parke's Icelandic -- at 21 days --- 16 of those being consecutive. Next is Carol and Sunny and Kathy and Zane -- they are tied or else one apart but I don't know for sure. Zane has gotten 9 BC's.

After lunch we rode on the rail trail which was pretty neat and really pretty. A lot of it goes along where the Pony Express did, so we got to see I-80 but it wasn't so bad since everything is so green and all the wildflowers are in bloom and there is water everywhere. Kayla's horse lost a hind shoe in all the mud so we stopped and I put an easyboot on and it stayed on till we finished, then he got reshod tonight.

After finishing we went over to Louise's and checked on Cheyanne and loaded up provisions then came over to the Heber fairgrounds where we are staying the night. We have hookups and water, and there are plenty of pens for all the horses. Pole bending and barrel racing for those who want some entertainment, some of the riders are participating. I am still a little surprised that I haven't needed the third horse yet (knocking on wood). Weaver is sound and entered for tomorrow, and Rocky finished today putting his lifetime mileage also over 4,000 miles -- now he gets two days off then starts again the following week scheduled to do two days.

Today was a long day -- we started at 5 a.m., then rode 25 something miles (a little over that), then had to haul for an hour after having an hour hold and vetting, then rode another 25 miles then hauled to Louise's then to Heber and got here about last, set up in time for the 7:00 ride meeting and now here it is nearly 9 p.m. and we have to get up early tomorrow so we can go to the 5:20 a.m. ride meeting to find out where exactly it is we are hauling to in order to start tomorrows ride. The horses will have to be loaded and tacked up and ready to go by then.

The ride tomorrow is supposed to be a really nice one, it's all in the mountains on nice singletrack trail so everybody is really looking forward to it. It's all marked with trail markers, no GPS -- let's hope we don't all get lost! ha ha

Guess we better go figure out who is hauling whose horse to the start tomorrow morning.........g'nite!

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Heber, Utah
.......only 13 days left!

Day 28

Hi! I'm actually on my day off now. I was too tired to do anything on the computer yesterday, it was a really long, hard day. We rode over the Wasatch mountains. We started by having the horses loaded into the trailers fully tacked by about 5:10 a.m. so we could go to the 5:20 ride meeting to find out what was going on and get our maps. Then we hauled to the start and hung out and let the horse eat because we didn't end up starting until 6:45 a.m. Then we rode all day, doing about 7500' in elevation gain (and about the same in loss)....though my altimeter watch might have been wrong that's what it came up with. Once we finished about 5 p.m., we hauled and got to the rodeo grounds in Springville at about 6:30 p.m......so we were up and going for quite awhile. I have blisters on my feet for the first time, because I did a lot of walking and running on all the downhill yesterday. The grass was as tall as I was in some spots.

The day started out really nice, we went up the mountain and got onto some nice singletrack trail that winded thru the trees and up and down, really pretty. We even saw a moose in a pond (got pictures!), then after being out for about 5 hours we made it into the lunch vet check. Lucky for us, Jim Mitchell was there and helped us (I sponsored Kayla again). That was nice. The horses were in heaven for sure, lots of green grass and clover and since we figured on not having any crews all day we had left prepared and brought their grain and carrots along with us and everything we needed for the entire day. I even brought my water bottle with a filter on it so I could refill from the creeks.

We went up some stuff that was pretty steep, stuff that made all our knees quiver (Grin). The kind of stuff most people would say no way could you get a horse up that! Our horses were all great though, Weaver loves mountains and is a strong hill horse and Kayla's horse Buzzy just followed right along doing a splendid job. After lunch we continued climbing and went up up up and around the mountain and around and then we started going down, but also had some more up in between. Jim Mitchell showed us the contours on the topo map and you could see that we were going to have a lot of steep downhill as well as the uphill we'd had going to lunch. I did a lot of it on foot, walking thru the really rocky sections (it was nearly all rocky), and running wherever it was level enough to do that. Kayla did the best she could, but was a little sore in the knees from all the bushwhacking we did on earlier trails. The Duck had warned everybody that this trail was every bit as tough as Tevis and not to take any questionable horses. Boy was he ever right! I felt kind of bad, because on one of the steeper rocky sections Weaver slipped and fell down completely. Luckily I was far enough ahead with a long lead line so he didn't slide into me. He got up and held his back leg up and kind of hopped for a minute and I just knew he'd be really hurt..(sigh)......so we stopped and rested a minute then took it really slow down the very steep parts.......in about a half an hour I got back on in a flat spot since he'd been walking normally and he wanted to trot and felt totally fine....but I got back off anyway and walked him all the rest of the way in to the finish because I was worried about him. Barney couldn't find anything wrong with him, he just had a small scratch on that leg but was sound on it. Looks good today so hopefully that didn't hurt him. He sure had a good day overall though, he just loves going down those kind of singletrack mountain trails.

Now this morning Dave is re-setting a lose shoe on Weaver. I took the easyboots off of the horses, they'd been on about another two weeks on both of them. This afternoon I'll glue them back on, I guess it'll be Rocky's turn to go tomorrow so I'll do his first then I can do Weav's tomorrow after I finish riding. Their feet look good.

While Dave (my crew) was waiting at the finish line to pick us up he had the dogs out in the brush playing and they ran across a great big rattlesnake! He said he was sure glad the dogs came right over to get away from it as soon as he called.

I should go work on my photos for the last two days. I still have photos of Fort Bridger to put up, and the ones of all the juniors doing their mochilla transfers. I can't believe we only have 12 more ride days on this ride, it seems to have gone by pretty fast. It'll be hard to go back to real life, we'll sure miss everybody.

Looks like breakfast is up! John is fixing pancakes for everybody, mmm mmmmmm.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Springville, Utah
......only 12 days left!

Day 29

It was sort of amusing to be riding thru Faust, Utah on Friday the 13th. It was another great day on the pony trail! It's hot out here, (99 degrees) feels like we're baking in an oven but there has been a breeze and some clouds so it doesn't seem too bad. Our day off yesterday went by all too fast, and a lot of us were pretty tired starting out this morning. About the time we finish it seems we are perking up, and as each day goes on in the week we feel better and better. Each week gets easier too.

We left Springville, Utah this morning and hauled to the start, it took us 62 minutes. Then I tacked up the horse and vetted then we started at 6:00 a.m. Today was especially neat because we started at the site of an actual pony express station and spent the entire day going from station to station. I took photos of all of the markers and buildings that remain. We're now camped at Simpson Springs.

The trail is rugged and beautiful, mountains and trees....we spent most of the time riding along on a singletrack trail that parallels the dirt road. Lots of crickets out here, on the road, in the bushes. Covering everything.

Oooops, John and Steph just came into camp the wrong way :+P and now have to go back out and around the right way. Awwwwwwww shuks! Their kids painted up their crew vehicle and I got pics of that today.

I sent my crew stuff with John and Dolly today, and that way Dave got a day off from crewing. Only his second day since starting the ride. The other day was when he had to go get the truck fixed in Wyoming. It worked out well since Dave got to the new camp early he got a nice big corral for my two horses and an even bigger one for the Lakso's horses. They were also crewing for Troy who rode with Dave Rabe and Sands and since they were going even slower they weren't back to camp yet (their rig) by the time Kayla and I finished. We took about 9 1/2 hours today. I don't see how we could go much faster in this heat. I rode Rocky today, I can't even recollect right now how many days he's done. So much for my math skills. ha

Dave took my camera to go take some photos of the pony express station. I'll get them downloaded and put together later, if I'm awake. I'll try to upload them at Schellbourne. I did at least take a shower just now and am sitting in the shade watching the horses in their corral. Oh goody, I can sleep tonight without them rubbing and itching and rolling while tied to the trailer.

Kayla rode Buddy today, her acrobatic horse (the one who did the flip). He did really good, seems to be recovered from his tumble. We're a little mismatched though, since before we were riding Buddy and Weaver together they go together better than when we mix our horses up the other way. Maybe next week we can get them back together again.

The desert terrain is a welcome change, though in a couple more days we'll probably be tired of the dry heat. I think that it was great for Rocky today, it's what he is used to and did excellent taking care of himself. He drank out of puddles that most horses won't look at and just inhaled all the grasses. He hasn't stopped eating since we finished an hour ago. I need to weigh him and see where he is, last night when I weighed him he was at 876. His normal weight is about 900 so he isn't doing too bad for having been traveling for 7 weeks now and gone a whole lot of miles in various conditions. Weaver is holding his weight even better and could maybe stand to lose a few more pounds (grin).

I should take a nap now..................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
at Simpson Springs, Utah
....only 11 days to go!

Day 30

Last night we were at Simpson Springs and today we are at.....well...somewhere in Utah :+). I could get up to go look but I'm glued to this chair, at least until it starts to rain! We had a really great day, one of the nicest rides so far. I rode Weaver today and he's doing really great, it was his 14th day. We rode on more original pony express trail, from station to station and marker to marker today. In some spots we could either ride the trail or use the dirt road since they paralleled.....there are bazillions of badger holes out there so it's safer to take the trail but funner to ride the trail even though they are right next to each other. I sponsored Kayla again and she rode Buzzy. The best part was at the end when we got to climb up a long steep canyon and then got off and led the horses down, it was rocky and steep but more like an endurance ride, we really enjoyed it.

Only 10 ride days left, or 5 per horse......hope they can keep hanging in there. I know Weaver can do it, I'm pretty confident with him. He's gotten better each week and is keeping his weight well and has a really great attitude. Rocky also has a great attitude but I feel that he's getting fragile to the point that it wouldn't take much for him to go off. I think he's totally fine metabolically and doesn't have anything wrong like any saddle or girth sores but one wrong step..........we'll see how he looks tomorrow and maybe I'm worrying over nothing. He's also done 14 days so far. I guess any horse can take a wrong step............(sigh)

It's beautiful here, the sunrises and sunsets are astonishingly beautiful.......the sky is blue, purple, pink, orange.....and the mountains are brown, green and yellow......with rock, and we have grass and sage and more rock....and badger holes (haven't seen a badger yet though!) We've even had rainbows over our camp. Everybody will go home with some incredible photos.

Steve Shaw was riding one of Louise's horses this morning when it took a dive into a badger hole. He was explaining that to us about why his horses head was covered in white dust. I wonder if the real pony express riders ever had any horses fall into badger holes?

This morning we were trotting along thru the pony express trail and zig zagging around all the badger holes, Weaver was feeling super good and it felt like I was riding a ballet. Kayla said that it wasn't as much fun in the back when she could see how close we were getting to all of those badger holes. There's no real trail, we just zag and wind around the badger holes......somewhere along the way right by a pony express marker Weaver stopped and grabbed a bite of grass to eat. At about the same moment I instantly heard a ratttttttttle........RATTLESNAKE!!!!!! It was underneath Weaver's front legs and winding and coiling up and hissing and rattling. In a blink of an eye I kicked him and pulled him up onto his hind legs and spun him around and got out of there! Kayla was scared even worse than I was because she saw the snake. I just heard it and knew that it was beneath us. Weaver has no idea how close he came to being bit, he may still be wondering why I kicked him so hard though, for no good reason (Grin). We had jello knees and heart murmurs for many more miles after that.

Lunch was great, Dave made it over the pass in time and was waiting for us along with Rocky and the two girls (Whinny & Dax, the dogs). Kayla came with us since her grandparents hadn't made it in time. Terry Wooley's motorhome broke down on the top of the pass, blocking everybody. So any rigs that hadn't made it over by about 8:00 a.m. were stuck. Ron Waltenspiel and Dennis Tribby pulled the wounded rig up over the hill. We both vetted and came over and gave the horses food and ate lunch. We really went fast :^D in the morning because of the heat. We started at 5:00 a.m. and made it to lunch by about 9:30 -- about 4 1/2 hours. Yesterday it was 99 degrees and already 75 degrees when we woke up at 4 a.m. So we were moving out pretty good so we'd make it thru lunch before the heat of the day so we'd have enough time to slow down should it get really unbearable. Luckily, we had a stronger breeze today and more clouds so it was really nice.

The horses are really perking up, they love this country and the trail. Winding thru a singletrack trail or thru sagebrush and up and down gulleys and mountain passes has given them a renewed enthusiasm. They love their work! It is such a blessing to be riding a horse that is having so much fun. We were less tired, our second day of a four day ride week.......the first day of each week always seems to be the worse. In two more days we'll get two days off in a row and then be ready to head across the Nevada desert from Fort Schellbourne.

Crews kept us watered and everytime Dave was waiting for us I'd dunk my hair in a bucket of water and we'd soak our shirts down to stay cool. They dry out in a few minutes but in the meantime the breeze really cools you down. The horses were getting sponged down too, and that helped them a lot. A couple of times we stopped to let them eat for a few minutes at the trailer and I think that was a real benefit to them. Weaver, of course....always has a mouthful of food if there is anything available. I figure that I better feed him because if I don't he'll go on strike and I'll never get him down the trail because he'll park himself in front of a grassy spot and that'll be that.

The thunder is loud and we can see lightning just a mile or two from camp. The wind is blowing and my computer is getting sprinkled on. The screen needed dusting anyhow. Now I've got mud dripping down. ha ha

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
somewhere in Utah
.....only 10 days left!

Day 31

Today we rode the rest of the way through Utah, and when we finished Barney vetted us in Utah and we crossed over the state line and are camping in Nevada. Tomorrow we are riding to Fort Schellbourne. It's hard to believe that we have come so far already! We had a really great day, this has been a wonderful week so far. After tomorrow we'll get two days off so we can rest and get ready for crossing the Nevada desert.

I rode Rocky today, it was his 15th day and he's not as fragile as I thought he was! (Grin) I had been getting really worried about him because whenever he'd get a couple of days off he was turning into an idiot (for lack of a better term) and spooking at whatever he decided was scary (everything), and in the process whacking himself. So we solved that process by using 4x4's and vetwrap and guess what.....no more boo-boos or owies and he felt really great all day. (splint boots only rubbed him in this heat) Now he will get three days off and then only has to do four more days total on the ride. I am feeling a lot better now and know he can do it. We just have to be really careful and take it one day at a time.

It's been staying really hot, but it hasn't been so bad because we've been blessed with some afternoon clouds and a bit of a breeze which makes it bearable. Also, Dave has been great with crewing for us and everytime we see him we are dunking our shirts and heads in the water to keep cool, and sponging the horses. We're also stopping and letting them eat too and I think that is really helping. Today Barney said that Rocky had excellent gut sounds. We've been getting places to fill up water each day so at least so far crossing this desert are we've not had any shortages. Howard Kent provided a truck and driver and Jim and Cindy Brown have organized it so that we have at least three water troughs out each day, one before lunch and two afterwards. Because of the late afternoon thundershowers we've also had puddles, which of course my horses are thriving on. :+)

The trail has been really wonderful of late. We're going thru a lot of real trail, singletrack or jeep trail and it's pretty much from pony express station to station or marker to marker which is really kewl. The scenery is gorgeous and the footing has been really nice. The horses are having a lot of fun and we're all having a great time. Kayla rode Buzzy again today. She may ride Gem tomorrow, her #1 horse. Gem is healing from a cut to his back leg, from the horses running around in an arena he got stepped on. I've been careful about how turn my horses out in arenas of late since they are so rambunctious they could easily hurt themselves. The big problem is that they are so itchy and scratchy, I have them tied short on their ties but they still roll and lie down. They also continue to rub themselves on their haybags and buckets. Gosh, it shakes the trailer almost as much as the winds! :+P

We are camped overlooking this beautiful ranch with lush green pastures, a creek and mountains all around. A few people have driven ahead to Fort Schellbourne to stay, like the Dykes and the Shaw's. I think Dorothy Sue may have too or else she went home, because we haven't seen her. (??) Steph and John and their entourage are camped across from us. The teenage girls are all gaga over their son and their friends.

Trilby did not ride today. I think that Clay was not acting right this morning. It looked like most everybody else was out there again today. Dave Rabe rode Cheyenne, the horse that I was supposed to ride as my third horse but haven't needed. They looked really good, glad he is getting used and not just sitting around. I haven't really been paying attention at the ride meeting about how many riders there have been, sorry. I'm just really pleased with myself that I remember to fill out my ride entry card for the next day and get the photos downloaded --- and the GPS tracks from each day. As soon as I get in each day I take care of the horses first, then take a sunshower and then do the computer stuff while watching the horses and then it's usually dinner time. Tonight we had cup of soup for dinner, and ritz crackers. Living high on the hog. Well, we kinda ran out of food for the most part. We won't starve, we just need to re-stock after we get to Ely for our next day off after getting to Schellbourne tomorrow. Our fridge has been having problems, as has most peoples'. I'm barely keeping one ice boot frozen now and if I'm lucky I have cool water to start with each day. Since it's been either 75 or 80 degrees at 5 a.m. when we start, the cool water doesn't stay cool for long. But at least I have it.

My computer has been having difficulty booting up. It won't boot up without errors now and awhile ago it wouldn't shut down or even turn off. Good thing for that reset button. Hope it keeps working for just two more weeks! I've got a lot of photos from the last few days that I haven't done anything with yet. Hope to on my next two days off.

Terry Nance said he learned not to park his trailer sideways in the wind. We all learn something new each day.

It's almost time for the ride meeting. Then 5:00 a.m. comes awfully quick. Wouldn't be bad to start earlier if it stays hot.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
at the NV/UT stateline
...only 9 days left!

Day 40 The Finish!

I can't believe we are finished! It was a really great and special day. We left Fort Churchill at 5:30 this morning and rode in to Virginia City. We did a loop out of camp in the morning so the mileage would be correct...and then headed across the highway and down to the river. It was a nice trail and Weaver knew something was up, because if there has ever been a day that I should not have been riding him in a rope halter (which I have been for over 4,000 miles now).....today would have been it! He was such a handful that I had to get Kayla in front of us to slow him down. I don't know what got in to him! He must have known he was heading home.

The mornings trail was nice, with great footing on singletrack trail. We had a couple of gates to go thru and then Dave met us with water. We continued on to the river and the horses drank again and we sponged them. We rode past the vehicle test center and along thru trails and roads that Weaver has done a few times so he just really knew that we were going home! We came up over some sand dunes and sagebrush and missed a couple of turns on the GPS and did some roaming around. I had bought some batteries at the grocery store back in Ely, and they weren't very good -- the GPS kept turning itself off so it wasn't recording the mileage accurately nevermind that it kept going off so I couldn't see where the arrow was pointing. We did manage to find our way until lunch when I put in a new set of better batteries. Jim Mitchell didn't ride today so he arranged for some troughs to be put out along the way which was really great. John and Dolly also crewed for us and met us with water. In one spot, John tightened up a lose shoe on Khairo.

The trail was now going down alongside highway 50. They were actually out doing road construction on a Saturday! For many reasons, I was really appreciating being on Weaver since he's so good about things like that. Kayla and I were trotting along down the road and everything was great then another horse who had been over to the left of us cut us off and just as Weaver jumped out of the way, or tried to...the other horse kicked him in the side of the front leg. We were all totally shocked, it sounded like his leg had been broken. Patty said she nearly threw up and Kayla was almost in tears.....I suddenly had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes and was so afraid that he'd been injured pretty badly. The sound was just horrifying, and then in an instant my horse went from having his ears forward and being strong and happy to holding his head down and standing in pain. We'd already gone probably 30 miles and only had 20 more to go to finish the ride, I couldn't believe that this was happening! I got off and walked him for awhile and after awhile he seemed like he was walking pretty good, so I got on. Later when we trotted he felt pretty good and everybody said that he was sound.

At the vet check I was so worried that he'd be off or sore or end up getting really sore after having an hour break. I brought him in and P&R'd and waited to vet barely able to breath. Miranda trotted him out and the vet said he was totally sound......was I ever relieved! We went over to our trailer and Amy and Julian were there. We rode right past their place earlier in the ride that morning, and Dave had stopped by so they'd know where the vet check was and so they came out to crew for me :+). I figured it'd be okay since they'd crewed for me at Tevis a couple of times. (Grin) So Weaver got the royal treatment. We put ice on him where he was kicked, and he got walked so he wouldn't get stiff. He went down to the trough and drank really good. The lump on his leg was swelling up but if he kept being walked it went down and he was fine. After our hour hold I led him out of the check for quite a ways.

Soon we were heading up the Chinaman trail. It's long, steep....and rocky. Plus, it was hot. Kayla went first since Khairo walks at 5 miles an hour....then Weaver and then Dee and Patty Danley. I got off to lead once it got really rocky and Weav decided I wasn't walking fast enough so passed me up and I grabbed his tail and he just literally drug me up the mountain. I couldn't believe how much energy and enthusiasm he had and how fast he was walking! Normally you can't tail on that horse, he stops to eat too much but today for some reason he knew he had a mission -- he had to get to Virginia City!! We made it up the mountain, taking some great photos along the way. Kayla and I were trying to get everybody else to go ahead so that we could ride in together by ourselves. Patty stayed behind us so it was okay......then finally.......the finish line loomed ahead and as we approached the horses quickened their strides....Weaver called out.....and did his head toss and body twist thing he does when he feels really good and we cruised on in to the finish! A crowed had gathered and everybody was clapping and cheering for all of the finishers.

It was a ways to walk into camp from the finish line, but neither horse wanted to walk. So we let them trot in. What a great feeling! Rode on in to camp and vetted the horses thru.......what a great feeling to hear that one final last "okay" from the veterinarian! I was so proud of Kayla who had ridden every single mile, and of her great horse Khairo who carried her to her first win the day before.....and of course my own horses who did more miles as a team than any.....they are my heroes!

I feel like I've lived a fairytale the last couple of months. It was an incredible adventure.....thank you, thank you, thank you to everybody who made it possible..........:^)))

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Virginia City, NV
& Dream Weaver, 950 XP miles
& Rocky, 975 XP miles