|
|
Travelling to St. Joseph and getting ready to start
Almost to St. Joe!
By the time anybody reads this, we will probably already be there. Right
now we area cruising along on I-80 in Nebraska. We're near
Kearney. Kearney, NE is the geographical center of the United States.
The scary part is in realizing that we've been traveling for days
and still
have 300 miles left to go -- and then will turn around and ride
our horses
back 2000 miles and take two months to do it! We have lots to
do to keep
entertained though -- I have a book on gravesites so we can look those up
as we ride by, along with all the Pony Express stations. There are a lot
of historical landmarks along the way and other things to look at and see
too. We're going to be so busy just taking care of things, it's going to
be a blast! We are all so lucky to be on this great adventure!!
Getting to the ride itself has been quite an experience. For us, just
getting out of the driveway was the real challenge. Since then
we've had a
whole variety of experiences, but have been having a great time.
We've all
been testing out our cell phones and everybody is staying
connected to each
other that way. There is a group of several of us and we are all
going at
our own pace, splitting up but then meeting up again at night or else at
our final destination in St. Joe. We're all going to make a
great team and
get thru this together. :+))
The weather has been gorgeous. We've had a few sprinkles last
night where
we stayed at the rodeo grounds in Sidney, Nebraska. We've been stopping
every 3 to 3 1/2 hours to let the horses out. They are hauling extremely
well, better than I thought. There is an abundance of fresh green grass
for them to graze on during our rest stop breaks. We stayed over
in Kamas,
Utah for three days to also give them a break. The horses really
benefited
from getting turned out into a lush green pasture for a few hours each
day. They thought they had died and gone to heaven. There I got to meet
and ride my other XP horse, Cheyanne.
Cheyanne was supposed to go to the start actually, but as it
turned out he
ran around in his corral and slipped and fell on his side and
came up with
a sore hind leg. That was on Monday. By Wednesday he was sound
again, so
I rode him around the pasture and he felt great but I didn't want to haul
him two more long days and risk hurting him. So he gets to stay in this
beautiful pasture until I need him. It was a tough decision, but
as I say
(what is becoming our XP motto)...."nothing you can do about it now". So
we just go with the flow and let things happen. Guess there are worse
things then trying to choose which two out of three sound horses to take.
We've got enough hay with us to last two weeks, and enough other
feed to go
two or three weeks. We have only one 5 gallon container of water with
us. We'll fill up when we get to St. Joe. No use hauling all
that weight
since we are pushing the upper limits already. 140 gallons is a lot of
weight.
I've been electrolyting the horses regularly, this morning I did it while
they were laying down on the grass. It certainly isn't hurting
since they
are both peeing rivers every time we stop. They are trying to show each
other up with who can eat/drink/pee the most. We have to force
them out of
the trailer because that requires that they stop eating! lol
My biggest
surprise is that they are actually eating beet pulp!
Trying to type on the laptop while bouncing down I-80 isn't much
fun. And
I thought it was bumpy going over I-80 to California! The dog can't
understand while she is shunned to the back seat when I have the computer
out. She'll get two months to ride in the front seat, by the time we're
done with this ride I'll be the one in the back seat
I've got lots to do today even though we're just driving 495
miles.....Louise gave me a book on the 1979 Pony Express Race, with news
clippings to read. I've also gotta re-read my instructions on my
Suunto to
make sure I remember how to work it right. The first days start is going
to be plenty interesting without trying to figure out which buttons to
push! I'm already figuring out which buttons *not* to push in regards to
my crew
I've gotten a few photos ready to put up, and will get more in
St. Joe and
hope to upload them before the ride starts next Tuesday. After that, I
should be able to get photos up from the ride each weekend. The
first five
weeks of the ride we will have Sundays and Mondays off. The cell phone
works great for email but it's not fast enough for photos. I'll
upload the
photos here: www.endurohorse.com
Everybody we've met along the way has been really nice. Almost too nice,
you can't get away from them!!! Dave says they are all from the
conversation generation. Not like us techno nerds, eh? ha ha
Hooking the GPS up to the laptop thru the map software is really
nice. It's been really helpful for us in figuring out where we want to
stop and get diesel, and let the horses out. Plus, we know exactly where
we are going and how long it's going to take -- which lets us figure out
when to stop for the horses. It's been really helpful, and it's
all new so
may lose it's appeal after awhile.
Okay, enough for now. See you in St. Joe!
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
& crew.....
Dave, Whinny, Dax,
Weav, Rocky & Cheyanne :*)
Finally! Yippeeeeee, we made it, complete with sound horses and
all! Woohoooo. Today is Saturday, June 2, 2001. In three more days we
finally get to start the 2001 XP.
We are camped in a really beautiful spot right on the Missouri
River right
in St. Joseph. Contrary Lake is on the other side, and we are
right in the
middle. There are big trees and we are in a lush green field.
This morning we started out with walking the horses, then eating
breakfast
and getting situated a bit more then tacked up and went for a ride on the
levy. We can ride for miles from here, and the weather is absolutely
gorgeous! The horses only problem is that there is so much green grass
it's hard to keep them both going (we were ponying extra horses)......I
think we are all happy to be thru with the long days of travel to
get here.
We arrived Friday night and unloaded in the middle of a
thunderstorm. There were tornado warnings in two counties and 70 mph
winds. So right off the bat the horses got to try out their new rain
gear--once it stopped raining they got switched into bug suits. Got them
fly masked, fly sprayed, fly sheeted, fly collared and they still were
stomping and swishing around. It's much better today, the sun
has been out
all day and things are drying up.
Later in the day I tried connecting the computer to the internet and was
going to send some photos. What fun that turned out to be! Then we went into town and did some shopping, went to the Pony Express
(Patee House) Museum, ate in a real restaurant Till later,
We (Louise and myself & our 4 horses) just got back from the
most amazing
bareback moonlight ride on the levy. It felt like we were at Disneyland,
only better! The moon is shining bright, lighting up the river
on one side
and Contrary Lake on the other.....fireflies illuminated the way. The
sound of the horses hooves landing softly in the thick grass, the river
flowing and the city lights in the background made it seem completely
magical.
It's 63 degrees right now in Saint Joseph, MO. The weather is
gorgeous. Tomorrow we're going to our first ride meeting and
will get some
more shopping done. On Monday we vet in, and Dr. Barney will have his
scale so we can all weigh our horses too.
I think I have all the settings adjusted properly on the computer now, so
when we get back from Savannah tomorrow I can get these emails sent off,
and get the first set of photos up. Everybody here has been really
nice. When we told the clerk at the Patee House (Pony Express
Museum) that
there weren't any postcards with horses on them she pulled out
some really
nice cards with a pony express rider on them. :+)))
Guess we'll do some more sight seeing tomorrow too. We drove by the
psychiatric museum, and all thought that is really where we should be
checking in! :+P Lots of interesting things here in Saint Joseph.
Everybody here seems to be having a great time. All the horses are doing
well, eating plenty and enjoying all the green grass. We are all
learning
from one another, fixing meals together and planning our crewing
strategies.
Then we all have to start getting our tack and saddles ready for the
ultimate ride start on Tuesday morning!
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Just now crawling into bed. What a long day! We went up to the ride
meeting at 7 a.m. this morning at Old Macdonald's Farm. That worked out
pretty well, you've never seen so many laptops and Garmin GPS's in one
place before. It works pretty easily if the Duck downloads the waypoints
directly from his computer to each individual GPS. Nobody seems to have
been able to make the conversion thru a PC quite yet. I did it, but it was
labor intensive and not worth the effort since the alternative is so easy.
Then we spent a couple of hours at the vet with a friends sick
dog. Stopped by a hardware store, got something to eat. The best onion
rings ever at Sonic Burger, a drive-in. Of course, we had to be totally
weird and go inside to order, they thought we were loons. You're supposed
to stay in your vehicle to order. Ohhhhh. Okay.
Then we came back and I got Bud to let me into his office to use his phone
line and got some photos uploaded and emails sent. We also put the
waypoints from my GPS onto the Delorme map software so we could see the
actual trail and where the crews will go all of next week on the
ride. Figured out who is hauling whose horses where, and who gets to crew.
The clouds parted briefly, oh did I forget to mention that the weather has
turned? It poured rain (and I mean poured) all morning up at Old
Macdonald's. Rigs were sinking, and word has it that they still
are....anyways, when the clouds parted and it cleared up briefly I longed
both horses, and fed them some more beet pulp. Have I mentioned that they
are actually eating it, even with fat pak in it? I think Weaver has
gained weight, I had a hard time buckling the straps on his rain gear
Boy, that rain gear (and the bug sheets) are sure handy things to
have. The horses are not real happy right now, as it's been pouring on
them for quite some time. They are covered all but their heads, so are
hanging those down and pouting. I guess it's better than being bitten by
the bugs. When we come in the trailer each night we get to use the fly
swatter and try to kill as many mosquitos as we can. They are as big as
horse flies so it's easy. Others are busy plucking ticks out of themselves
and their dogs.
Since the sun hasn't come out I've had the luxury of using a cold
sunshower. Boy isn't that a treat. Yessireeeeeee, am I lucky or what?
Then while a couple of others went to the dinner and ball tonight we
decided we had to go to Wal Mart. So off we went, navigating about St. Joe
as if we knew where we were going. Which we didn't but we went right to it
nevertheless, and even found our way back. Even tho it's flat, it's dark
and cloudy and rainy and we have no real idea where the hell we are. Dave
needed to get some mud boots, he tried to get some at home but they never
had his size.....and I got more carrots, OHMYGAWD, carrots are like $.50 a
pound here. Jeeezus, we'll go broke just feeding Weaver his daily
allotment of carrots. He'll complain if he gets his carrot rations cut
back, what am I gonna do? Guess we'll keep eating bagels and peanut butter.
It is supposed to clear up by Tuesday, and get up to 80 degrees. It'll be
humid too, since everything is so wet from the rain. We're trying to
figure out what to do with the horses feet. They've been standing in wet
grass or mud for days now, and their heels are soft. So I gotta figure
this one out. We absolutely have to have easyboots on for the start, since
we are unloading on pavement.
It's raining harder now. Rocky keeps trying to scratch his butt on the
bucket holders on the side of the trailer. He rocks the whole
trailer. Okay, I lied earlier. It's raining even HARDER now. Gawd, it
hasn't rained this much in Nevada in 7 years!! It is comforting to know
that the Missouri river is on one side and a lake on the other. :+D
Dave just reminded me that our trailer is powered by solar. Oh
goody. Well, maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. That damn horse is
shaking the trailer again. Good grief, am I going to get any sleep?
Is that hail I hear?
And that bright light? Lightening, oh yeah........
Should I even mention the smell of two wet dogs and a weeks worth of
laundry? Boy, it's hard to swat mosquitos in the dark!
I know you are all just really jealous that you aren't here right
now!!!!!! rofl
k
P.S. it's raining even harder now, and more lightening, and
thunder! Dogs are scared. If it clears long enough I'll get more photos
of everybody tomorrow! Still haven't seen Trilby?
Well, it looks like most of us have all ended up at the riverfront park in
St. Joseph. It's paved, and we are sitting underneath a busy interstate
highway overchange, and right next to train tracks. Several trains go by
every hour, and the freeway above us is a double decker so it's pretty
noisy. But being on the pavement is still better than being stuck in the
mud. We didn't have any trouble getting out, but after another night of
rain we might not have been able to get out. The tractor has been busy
pulling rigs out all day up at Old Macdonald's Farm where basecamp was/is
(??). We are right on the Missouri river here, and have green grass on one
side. We opted, like most, to put our horses directly on the pavement
rather than having them stand in mud for another night. It is supposed to
rain again.
We have to go to a ride meeting up at Old Macdonald's at 8 p.m.
tonight. Then in the morning we have to tack up and haul the horses across
the river into Kansas, unload on the side of the highway with however many
other riders there are, and go, at 6 a.m. We still haven't vetted yet
either, Barney should be back here soon so we can do that.
It's really gloomy out, the sky has been grey all day and it's been
cold. Locals have said that it never rains this much here this time of
year (yeah, right!). It's just for our benefit I guess. Lucky us.
I have Rocky's hind easyboots foamed on already. In the morning we are
going to put his front boots on regularly, and hope it all works out. I
wanted his front feet to dry out a bit more.
Our refrigerator in the trailer quit working early this morning. So Dave
dropped me and the horses off (literally) underneath the freeway here and
left to go find an RV repair shop, to get it fixed. When he got back (they
fixed it), he noticed that one of the trailer brakes wasn't working, so he
had to disconnect and go get some more wiring and take the wheel off the
trailer and fix it. meanwhile I'm situated here with one really calm laid
back horse and one idiot arab who thinks that everything is going to get
him. He finally got over it, now he isn't phased about anything. Just
kinda wound up. He needs rode. :+P
Dorothy Sue drove by to turn around earlier with a flat on her
trailer. Louise made it back after taking their dog back to another vet
because he got sicker, and if he hadn't gotten treated he would have
probably died. He had a really bad bacterial infection from eating horse
manure. Scary!
I better get this sent, too much to do and too little time. spent most of
the day moving, getting re-situated and fixing things. Just finally got
the maps all marked for the crews tomorrow so they know where to go to
finish camp and for lunch. Let's hope the weather clears up.
We're camped next to Barney and Linda on one side, the Mahoney's on the
other, and across the way is Karen Nelson, Jim Baldwin and the Delbecke's
from Canada.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
http://www.endurohorse.com
www.endurohorse.com