Day 32, 2001 XP

[Karen <karen@storallnv.com>]

We had a really great day and are now driving to Ely to do laundry, shower 
and eat.  Then we can have more time to rest and relax at Fort Schellbourne 
on our two days off.  The ride today was a really nice one.  Each day has 
been getting better and better, and I think that this was probably the best 
one so far.  Great country we are riding thru.

We started at 5:00 a.m.  It was cooler this morning, finally!!  It's pretty 
dark then too so I've been using a flashlight so I can see the arrows on 
the GPS.  We started out walking slowly, I had three juniors with me -- 
Kayla who ride the 50 and Troy and Calina who did the first 25 miles to 
lunch.  It was just starting to get light but still pretty dark when Troy's 
horse Quest jumped and spooked and ended up jumping over a barbed wire 
fence.  So he was stuck on the other side!  Luckily a little farther down 
the wire was down so he was able to get out.  Gem was a handful for Kayla 
today too because he's had a week and a half off and really feeling 
good.  I rode Weaver, this made his 15th day or 750th mile on the 
ride.  He's really doing well, feels great and has a hearty 
appetite.  Shawn Bowling even called him a lard butt today (well, he worded 
it differently <g>), guess that's not a bad compliment after doing that 
many miles in the last six weeks.

We rode from Deep Creek on the pony express trail thru Schellbourne pass 
and into Fort Schellbourne.  The trail was really nice, we saw lots of Pony 
Express trail markers and went over the highest point on the entire pony 
trail -- 7550 feet I think it was.  It was fun coming over the mountain and 
recognizing the familiar trail from the Schellbourne ride.  The horse sure 
did remember it!  It's so beautiful here with lots of green grass and 
really great to be riding in trees, mountains and rocks!

After lunch it was just Kayla and I.  She still has ridden every single 
mile of the ride and is the only one that has.  Her horse Gem has healed 
from his cut leg so everything is going well for her.  I am pretty sure my 
guys are both okay and each will now only have 4 more days to do.  Piece of 
cake, right?  :+D

So after we finished we were in camp and I was just about to wash my 
hair.  I had the shampoo in one hand and the towel in the other......and I 
heard some commotion so looked outside and saw something that I never want 
to see again......a trailer with a 425 gallon water tank (it was full) on a 
trailer headed straight for me.  Straight meaning directly right at 
me.....I jumped out of the trailer door and we all got out of the way.  It 
hit the trailer and just slammed into it, knocking it off of the block and 
moving it over a foot.  Rocky must have spooked and broke his tie when he 
pulled back and was roaming around grazing.  Ann came driving around the 
parking lot, she had not realized that the trailer had come unhitched from 
the truck.  The trailer was lined up parallel with our truck, less then two 
feet from it -- it was too close for comfort, that is for sure! (see photos 
later)  The trailer came loose up in the front of the parking lot, two 
telephone poles away and headed straight for us.  We were sure lucky the 
dogs or the horses weren't tied on that side of the trailer, or that one of 
us wasn't napping right there.  Been an exciting week.  :>)

Trilby rode today, with Phyllis.  John P. rode, and the other two who have 
been going almost every day -- Carol and Sunny...I think she has 26 days 
now and Kathy and Zane who are only a few days behind, and has about a 
dozen BC's.  Lots of others are riding nearly every day but I probably 
can't remember them all -- Roxanne Greene, Pat Verhuel, Shawn Bowling, 
Sandy Skinner, Phyllis, John, Kathy, Bonnie, Tinker, Dave Rabe --- he rode 
Cheyenne again today and rode with Sands.  Sands driver passed out parking 
the rig in camp and ran into somebody elses trailer and tore the door off 
of her trailer.  Hope nothing was too serious.  John and Steph rode, I saw 
them at the lunch check and their kids were out crewing.

I better go get to work on the photos for this week.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
......at Fort Schellbourne, Nevada
only 8 ride days left!