Day 33, 2001 XP

[Karen <karen@storallnv.com>]

Greetings from Ruby Valley!  We just finished up day 33 of the ride, it was 
another really terrific day!  I rode Rocky, making this his 16th day or 
800th XP mile and leaving him now with only 3 days left to do.  Kayla and 
Calina both rode with me today.  We left Fort Schellbourne at 5 a.m. this 
morning.  It was not really hot today so we didn't have to start any 
earlier -- when I finished today it was only 87 degrees, a lot cooler and 
it felt really nice.  There is a slight breeze blowing.  We rode up thru 
Egan canyon which a lot of riders from years ago would probably remember 
from other rides.  The entire trail was great, good footing thru the 
mountains and on Pony Express trail.  I don't recollect seeing any pavement 
anywhere.

A few more people rode today, I think close to 40 riders.  We all felt 
great after having two days off in a row, well rested and looking forward 
to another week of riding. The horses also were ready to go. Early in the 
morning some goats jumped over a fence and came bounding towards 
Rocky.  That was interesting, as if he needs something to get him excited 
after getting 3 days off in a row!  What felt really weird was getting back 
on a horse after having two whole days off -- boy it felt like an 
eternity!  :^D

The kids both had a great day, Kayla rode Gem again and Calina rode Boomer, 
Libby Bass' horse. All three of our horses did well together and we had a 
great day, finishing at one of our earlier times -- 2:05 p.m., so just over 
9 hours total time.  We rode a little faster because it was cooler, 
probably not much over 90 degrees and we had plenty of water which was 
nice.  Plus the horses were strong.

I've been downloading my GPS tracks each day still, and it's neat to see 
how they match up with all the waypoints, just like they are supposed 
to!  It is really neat to look back at each weeks worth of trail and see 
how far we've come....it's just amazing at how much trail we've been over 
and how everything has worked out so perfectly well.  Most one day rides 
I've been to have more problems than this entire event has, this whole 
thing is just incredible.  All the detail and planning is unbelievable, 
what an amazing thing for this to have gone off so fantastically well.

The hour vet check wasn't really accessible for crews so we brought 
everything with us for the day when we started.  Rocky bummed some hay off 
of Phyllis and ate the bag of complete advantage that I brought along.  I 
just mostly ate Gu and granola bars and peanuts.  After lunch the horses 
grabbed bites of grass as we went, and of course we're careful to look for 
snakes now!  I just put a regular splint boot on him this time, and that 
worked fine.  I'll have to keep watching for any rub marks.

Dave stopped in Ely this morning and bought more stuff, including ice 
cream.  So after I took my sun-shower I got to pig out on ice cream.  Oh 
boy!  Ain't nothing as good as that, being clean and eating ice cream after 
a nice 50 mile ride :+).  Dave was on top of the trailer watching us come 
in, and when I got here he said that as soon as my other horse knew it was 
us out there he started bucking in place -- he's ready to go tomorrow looks 
like.  ha

Happy XP Trails,

Karen,
near Ruby Valley, NV
....only 7 days left!