If This is Thursday

We must be in Nevada.  The dust coats everything; somehow I find myself missing the thunderstorms and tornadoes.  The dry lake beds have lots more vegetation (okay sagebrush) than they did in '04, but they do go on.  We rode almost 30 miles across a single valley which was mostly lake bed.  One day we went from lake bed to summit to lake bed, repeat 5 times.  The days are longer and hotter:  we are averaging 10.5 hours per ride, and most are over 50 miles.  We have multiple ranges to cross everyday.  On the really fun side, the horses are so fit they don't seem bothered at all.

On the other hand, the horses are lying down just about every night, and they sure love the dusty sand.

Camp drama continues.  One morning, in the Austin triangle (we were camped in a dry lake bed just outside Austin), we had to leave camp at 4:15 to drive to the start of that day's ride.   After I took off on my horse, one of the bigger rigs jackknifed trying to turn, and shut down Hwy 50.  Judith Ogus, who had dropped me and her rider off, blew a tire in the same spot.  Another rig, coming down the hill from Austin, caught on fire when a wheel bearing went out.

And in that very same spot the day before we had an actual fist fight between a rider and the husband of another rider.  The first rider was a guest, using some of the spare days from one of the regular riders.  I don't think I explained that only 35 entries were sold but anyone could resell or gift unused days.  The problems arise when people drop in with fresh horses and compete against the horses that have been going week after week.  So after Wyoming Dave declared that no guest could win or show for Best Condition.  On this particular day the guest Dyke was a real jerk and just pushed the regular Kathy all day, then raced her for the finish.  She won, but he then rode into her camp and pushed her horse off her own water bucket and wouldn't leave and go to his own camp.  Kathy's husband Bob asked him to leave several times, and after listening to Dyke mouth off finally said "Take the swing."  Dyke, 10 years younger and 50 pounds heavier did throw a punch.  Bob took him down (wrestler in high school) and they rolled around until Bob finally said "I've had enough, have you?"  Dyke said yes and they stopped.  Then Dave went over and threw Dyke and his wife out, permanently - they can't ever come back to an XP ride.  Camp morale was a bit low that day.

I think I told you a dog was run over in camp?  The next week a cat got out of the trailer and was run over.

Rigs continue to break and get fixed.  We had a flat tire, and various broken hinges, but nothing spectacular.  Actually, our trailer is doing really well.  We haven't run out of water or exceeded our black water holding capacity.  We have kept up with repairs, broken hinges and the such, but nothing big.

Water and fuel are big concerns these last few weeks as we wander in the desert.  The water truck we hired as a group (one of the rider's husband) has become essential out here where there is so little water available.  He usually gets to us at least once a day, and then gets us each 20 gallons or so in camp at night, which is enough for the horses.  Steve has been going straight to camp, unhooking, and then driving back to find riders and provide water.  And the Australian rider's wife LeAnn is amazing.  Most days she follows him or meets him about every 5 - 8 miles with water.  She is wonderful to the rest of us, sharing when she can.  One day there was just no water on trail the whole day and no way a rig could get out there.  She and a couple others drove the whole trail the night before in their truck, and she agreed to take care of us the next day.  For almost 56 miles she stayed with us, giving us water, our crew bags half way through for lunch, and the water to sponge the horses as the temps got into the 90's.  12 miles from the finish her husband's horse went lame so she stayed with him as he walked in, but the rest of us had well hydrated horses and made it to the water trough just a few miles from camp.

We usually have only 9 - 12 riders on any given day doing the whole distance.  About that same number do short rides (Duck miles we call them).  In the beginning there was a fair amount of time between the first and the last riders, but these days we are all going pretty much the same speed and finish within 30 minutes of each other.  And those of us doing the long days are pretty brain dead.  I go to bed around 9, get up at 3:30 (or earlier on the mornings we have to trailer to the start), ride from 5am to 3:30 or so, clean up the horse, feed the animals, go to a ride meeting, get my gear together for the next day (each horse has a different saddle so I have to transfer things and refill things), get a crew bag together with food for the horse the next day, charge my GPS batteries, make dinner, walk the horses and dogs, and shower and go to bed again.  Steve is equally busy from 3:30 to the end.  And he often does the final walk when I just can't stay awake a second longer.

I don't think I've had a coherent thought since Utah.  Judith, who is from our area and from whom I bought my horse Alex, arrived last week to ride on a friend's ticket (the couple who had to go home because her cancer went into her bones; last email said she only has a very short time left).  She has been a great riding partner and fun in camp.  Yesterday we decided to go to Fallon together to do chores, including getting her  tire replaced.  We head off with shopping lists and laundry and go 18 miles before she realizes she doesn't have the tire.  So we come back, load the tire, and take off again.  20 miles later we see a sign for Austin and realize we are going in the wrong direction (again).  1.5 hours after we left initially we finally left camp for real, in the right direction.  Several days earlier we had gotten lost a couple times on the trail as were weren't paying close enough attention to our GPS.  We are now known as the Wandering Jews.

The dogs are so dirty I almost don't recognize them.  The dig themselves pits in the sand to stay cool,  take dips in a nearby stream when we walk, and then go back to their sand pits.  I had to soak Lincoln's front feet this morning to get all the cheet grass out - it feels a bit like foxtails although it isn't barbed.  His front left leg gets pretty sore from all the running around so he will get a good long rest in a few days.  Bob the vet says it is tendonitis, which is what he had when we got him.  They both hang around the trailer very faithfully when I ride off, and Steve is just the best dog dad ever they say.

I will leave you with one more picture (they take forever to download so that is all for now).  I told you about Morgan, my crew for the week Steve was gone?  Here she is with Sage at a lunch stop this past week when she had crew duty for about 5 of us (there is a lot of cooperation between crew at this point, so only a few rigs show up at any one time but we are all taken care of).

We will be home Monday evening.  Sometime after that I'll put up more pictures.  In closing I've ridden all but six days and should finish with 32 out of 40.  I'll be 5th in the rider placing (out of 66) and the Sage and Scarlet will be about 10th out of 136 (they are currently 9th and 11th but Sage doesn't get credit for the day Steve rode her).  We are all healthy and happy and miss you.

And the Ride Goes On

We have finished traversing Utah and are now camped on the Nevada border.   We are actually quarantined there, giving the horses a chance to clear out anything but weed free hay and giving us a chance to power wash everything east of Nevada BLM off our trailers and trucks.  We haven't had any cell coverage since Park City and won't for most of the rest of the ride, so we bombed into Wendover NV this morning.  We will also fill up with food and diesel.  We have no place to dump so I forsee us digging a hole sometime in the near future....

I'm doing a terrible job of getting pictures onto this blog but I"ll make up for it from the comfort of my deck.  This was in Wyoming, coming out of Esterbrook.  Western Wyoming was less beautiful, but still full of grass and water along the way so the horses were happy.  Utah was much drier and the winds were huge, equal almost to Wyoming.  The rain continues sporadically, but lasts only a little while.  Scarlet and I came into lunch the other day white from hail, but by the time we left 40 minutes later were dry (and clean!).

Utah went fast - just 3 days with me riding 2 of them.  I'd intended to ride Pema the middle day and got up, saddled, and started out, but she was limping so we quit after 3 feet.  She has scratches (a fungal infection from the alkaline soil here) in her healing rope burn.  Who knows if she will get ridden again.  Meanwhile Sage and Scarlet continue to thrive - they look great and are going strong and sound.  We have 11 riding days left and after tomorrow, 3 of them are in the Schell mountains.  We will do loops there on trails that had been part of a regular 5 day ride.  Steve will finally get to ride - we will take the two healthy horses and ride together.  The dogs are now comfortable staying alone so no problem there.

The dogs went 2 whole days without a swim and were much relieved to find an irrigation ditch where we are currently camped.  They too are thriving and love the freedom of these wide open spaces.

Great to have Steve back - Morgan was wonderful but she wasn't him.  Crew is getting ever more critical as they do have to find us on the trail between start, lunch and finish to get us water.  We did have some water on the trail (flooded ditches and rain puddles) which we won't from here out, so I'm happy Steve is so good at finding me at the right time.

Last bit of news:  Scarlet did most of the ride by herself (well, with me) yesterday - a first for her.  She is pretty herd bound and this is particularly tough as she doesn't know where she is.  But she did great and we came in 3rd, just behind the first two.  Best of all, she looked and felt great.

Got to get back to camp and our horses.  Love from the 7 of us!

Across the Continental Divide

Here 's I sit in a Starbucks in Rock Springs, Wyoming, waiting to meet Steve's plane.  The horses are in camp in Granger, in a semi-flooded field with enough grass to keep them happy.  The dogs are outside greeting all newcomers.  Walmart is across the street, beckoning.

The days have all run together.  I've now taken 5 days off out of 25, but it sure doesn't feel like I've ridden 1000 miles.  Sage and Scarlet both have 410 and 415, and Pema 175.  There have been some long days but we've been blessed with very little hot and dry, and the grass continues to be abundant, even at 7500 feet on the Wyoming plains.  The Wind River Range is covered in snow and all the rivers are still at risk for flood.  We had a tremendous hail storm yesterday, topping off a morning of sun and thundershowers.  As soon as I got my jacket off it started to rain again, until I finally just waited out the storms, drying in between.

We've been in Mormon country for a few days now.  We rode past Independence Rock and around Devil's Gate.  And as we ride the original Mormon/California Trail and Pony Express route, sometimes in the very ruts left by the wagon trains, there are groups of Mormons re-creating their journey west.  We see them dressed up in costume, pulling loaded hand wagons, which is how10s of thousands made the journey. We see the grave markers along the trail for the thousands that died of cholera, along with all other manner of illness.  One morning we stopped our horses to take pictures of the handcart procession along Martin's Cove (where a group took shelter from the disaster of a late start meeting an early winter).  As I looked around I noticed another group of costumed folk taking our picture!

Scarlet is rideable again; her saddle rubs have healed enough so that I can cover them with gauze and ducktape and the saddle (now refit) doesn't bother her.  Sage is however out of the lineup for a few days as she reacted badly when a stray tarp blew through my camp yesterday.  She reared up and cut her lip.  The rig next to me had a small animal vet and board certified surgeon who sewed her up and gave me the needed antibiotics.  She is feeling good enough to head butt me for attention, and all three had a good gallop in the roping arena where we stayed last night.

Steve has been home this past week and I hired a young woman Morgan from Eureka to help me.  She had a parting of the ways with the woman who hired her originally, but I've found her wonderful crew and company.  Hula follows her around like a puppy.  Happily, another woman's crew has cancelled his last 3 weeks and now Morgan is hired on with her for the rest of the trip.

If there is a rest of the trip:  our leader has been in a terrible mood lately and very very churlish.  Last night he told us at the meeting that we don't have any permits to ride in Nevada.  The BLM in its infinite wisdom has now added so many requirements we can't possible meet them.  They've had the paperwork for 2 years, and a supplemental list of stuff for the last nine months, and just looked at them last week.  The final straw was that the person in charge is now on vacation and can't even answer questions until 2 days before we are supposed to get there.  So Dave is looking at alternatives, such as going as far as the edge of Nevada and the Shell Mtns (we get there weekend of the 4th) and then turning around and riding east again as far as Nebraska.  Some people are thinking of just getting the GPS coordinates and doing the rest of the trip as individuals, since that is okay.  Somehow a group of thirty five is dangerous, but any number of individuals is safe.  More on this later.

All the events now seem routine and not even worth mentioning.  People fight, gossip, and then make up; horses go lame and then heal; people fall off and then get up again.  Crews continue to quit and get fired, and then rehired by someone else in camp.  We have hired, as a group, a water truck to get us water on the trail and in camp (horse water only), but there are fewer access points for them as we go down the original trail.  Yesterday we rode 20 miles with no water for the horses, and it was tough.  Hay has also been a problem as no one is haying yet, given the long wet winter.  But we are figuring it out and working pretty well as a group.  It is completely up to us as the entry fee only buys us the place to camp (sort of - sometimes we have to scrounge) and the maps and coordinates.  And 3 checks per day of our horses - we trot by Dave and he gives a thumbs up or down.  The good news is the group is very resourceful and skilled and we are all (almost all) capable of taking care of our horses.

Time to get Steve now.  I promise more pictures as soon as I have more time - maybe on our rest days this week (Monday and Tuesday).  We plan to go to Park City UT to stay with Deb and Janice again, get supplies, do more laundry, find horse food, etc.  I'll try again to get Steve to blog then.

Hugs and I miss yous.

Greetings from Torrington, WY

Out of Nebraska at last, and up to 4100 feet.  Although I had dreaded the endless flat plains I found that I really enjoyed the scenery.  After the rolling hills in Kansas Nebraska really was pretty dern level, but green and hospitable.  The skies were fabulous - the good side of all the weather we've had.  The last week or so the thunderstorms have been warm and short-lived, and all after the ride day.  And I've grown quite found of cows, although less so of feedlots.

Pema has been off now on two days, so she gets a total of 2 weeks off.  We both think it is the concussion from the hard packed roads, and she is certainly not the only one:  the second day we pulled at 25 miles, 7 other riders did the same thing with their horses.  Sage and Scarlet are doing well soundness wise, and Scarlet had what I think was her best day ever in this sport yesterday.  She seemed eager and happy and forward the entire 51 miles.  We finally got some climb going over Hubbard Gap (which would be a pass if it were in a western state) and we all loved the bluffs rising out of the fields.

Sage has had an event free week, unless you count her getting away from me and trying to jump back into the electric paddock, getting caught, and running through the other side dragging our new and expensive fencing through camp and causing another horse to flip over backwards and bang it head on the trailer.  The fencing we fixed, the other horse turns out to be fine, but our name is mud in camp.  And I don't trust her.  I thought of buying another horse when we spent two days at Rushcreek, the home of some of the finest bred Arabians in the country, but I would have had to leave Sage there and just couldn't do it.  So I rode her out of there and she was good for 50 miles.  Guess I'll ride her again.

A word about Rushcreek Ranch.  The story is that a Nebraska rancher owed a Texan a lot of money and couldn't pay, so he gave him his ranch in Nebraska - about 250000 acres.  The Texan knowing nothing about cows was advised to use Arabian horses to work them, and so started a breed line that is world famous.  The ranch bred horses for their own use and if they didn't work out as cow horses they were sold for endurance.  Soon the endurance community was paying big bucks for the horses, and so now they are breeding just to sell, as the cowboys are using their own (quarter) horses to work cows.  But the ranch has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.  We were here in "04 when we did this ride and loved it; it is even more beautiful now.  Steve and I took the three girls (ponying Pema, if you can call it ponying when she is leading) for a ride and felt like we were in a western movie.

It has not however been an accident free week in camp.  We have a rider with a broken pelvis and another with two broken ribs (neither are me).  We have a horse that got away and ran straight through a barbed wire fence (not one of mine) and another that went to the hospital with colic (again, not mine).  Most have at least one lame horse, some have several.  Two riders bought new horses, one at Rushcreek and one a week earlier.  But the worst is a horse with a badly bruised foot because Scarlet kicked it when she was frantic at a lunch stop, trying to get to her buddies in our trailer.  I didn't hear that it was her fault until yesterday, and I feel just horrible.  The owners are gracious but I have definately altered their trip for the worse.  We have been working hard on her manners and she will now stand quietly at lunch even at our trailer with the other horses inside.  I just wish I'd done that work before we came.

The dogs are their same ebullient selves.  We continue to camp near water for them to play in.  Here in Torrington we are in a field near the N. Platt which has flooded a bit, and so has some calm water for them to play in.  Two nights ago Lincoln jumped up on the sofa in the trailer at 8pm and was sound asleep, running, almost instantly.  He continues to get up with us at 3:30 or 4:30, depending on time zone, while Hula continues to sleep in.

Steve says the context of the week has been that we went from the confluence of the N. and S. Platt rivers down the south bank of the S Platt, crossing it at Julesburg CO, and heading north to reach the N. Platt again at Melbetta, NE.  In the process we went from the transistion of the long grass and the short grass prairies and into the cow country in the sand hills of western NE.  I've noticed the footing getting easier as the roads are sandier.  The horses have noticed the new grass species as they continue to graze their way west.  It really has been sensational with the roads lined with grass:  we trot a couple miles and graze; we trot a couple more miles and eat some more.  Scarlet has learned to dive in for a mouthful without breaking stride, and all three continue to gain weight.

This week has been 3 ride days and a day off, then 3 more ride days and a day off.  I've taken an extra day off each section of 3, as Pema is out of the line up and I don't want to ride the others more than planned.  So I'm 14 for 16 now with two half days, which amounts to 600 miles.  Whew.

I'd like to close for today with a shout out (oh god) to my mother who stands between me and starvation.  She is selling a product called Juice Plus which gives you 17 servings of fruits and vegetables.  She sent me a supply for the trip, and really it is my staple.  Who can eat at 4:30am?  I carry some nuts and raisins in my pocket but at lunch (somewhere between 9:30 and 11), when Steve brings me and the horse food, the horse gets my time and attention.  So then it is 4 or 5 when I finish and an hour to clean up and get ready for the next day then the ride meeting (and a glass of wine or vodka) and soon it is 8 and time for bed.  We mostly have a salad with some protein component before bed, and that is my meal for the day.  Even I think I look thin now.  But healthy, and I'm thinking it might just be this Juice Plus thing.

Enough for now.  We love and miss you.  Forgive the typos please.  More pictures at some point.

5 more days, 5 more "events"

Greeting from North Platt NE.  Another 250 miles (or in my case, 225) down.  We have been so lucky with the weather, unless you think daily tornado warnings, thunderstorms and gale force winds are not optimum.  But we haven't had the 95 degrees with 80% humidity which is so hard on horses.  Yesterday was the hottest but we are up to 3100 feet so it just gets cooler and drier from here.

As some of you know, we ended our 2 days off in Oak NE huddling in the school basement as the tornado went just a few miles to the south of us.  We were rousted by the local fire team who insisted we all take cover with the rest of the town.  After loading the horses in the trailer to be safe from flying debris (we had 90 MPH winds) we took the dogs and met everyone else in the basement.  There were more dogs than people there - and all were perfectly well behaved (the dogs I mean).  Then not being able to resist some of us headed back out to watch the skies:  remember Shock and Awe in Bagdad?  That's what we saw.  And the rain was in front of us, then over us, then behind us.  Event:  trailer door was caught by wind and slammed shut against my ankle.  No breaks.

The basement

The first day (Oak to southwest of Hastings) was a nice ride as the roads were softer (okay muddier) and we had lots of puddles to drink from.  We camped in a nice place called Prairie Lakes, and only one rig got stuck the next morning.  Actually it was a behemoth motor home and it went off the road.  Pema did a great job again that day.  No events.

Rode Scarlet the next day (Prairie Lakes to Fort Kearny) and had a great ride helping Lynn get her horse Mio through with some degree of sanity.  It was a shorter day, and again somewhat softer roads due to rain.  Cooler and getting prettier.  Scarlet did have a very sore back at the end of the ride, due to the saddle adjustment the saddle maker had made at the start of the ride.  He and his wife flew out to adjust saddles as part of publicity for his company, and he added some padding that really screwed her up.

Campground was in a wonderful park, but the winds picked up.  And up.  It thrashed all night and was still about 40 MPH when I got up to saddle.  But it was warm so I just put on a windbreaker and climbed on Sage, riding with Brenda and her solid mustang Bart.

Event 2:  Sage danced and shied until we got out of the park and to the road where the wind gusts hit us sideways.  Brenda started to say "I think your flapping jacket is bothering her" when Sage bolted.  She was  a dead runaway for at least a quarter mile until we caught the first group of riders, then I finally had her stopped by the third group.  I didn't stop shaking for about two hours, but she got much better when I took the jacket off.  I checked max speed on my GPS and it read 31.6 MPH - Steve did the calcs and that is Kentucky Derby speed.

We ended that day at the Rankin Ranch, close to Lexington.  The horses waded and the dogs swam and chased sticks in the Platt river.

4th day  (Rankin Ranch to Hiles Canyon, south of Gothenburg) I took Pema again as Scarlet was still back-sore .  She was the perfect babysitter with Lynn's Mio again, and we had a most beautiful cool morning with lots of water (more rain the night before).  The terrain is changing and we had hills and different kinds of grass now.  But Pema was not her usual self, which might be why she was such a good babysitter.  I decided to stop at lunch at 25 miles - the occasional off step and head bob were enough to put me off.  Cindy took Pema back to camp (Steve had already dropped our rig and horses in camp and was there for lunch crewing in the truck) and we went to do some shopping in Cozad.  I might also add here that I will marry Cindy and Lynn as soon as we get to Utah - I need some wives and they would be first rate.

First some groceries at the Cozad Super, then to the feed store for beet pulp.  The owner was loading the bag in the truck when it split open, so he wouldn't take any money for it.  We chatted a bit, telling him what we were about, and he asked what we did for breakfast - didn't I get up and cook a big meal?  No, sez I.  Follow me, sez he.  Turns out he had just purchased Cooper Flour from Elwood MO and was moving it to Cozad.  He wanted to give us pancake mix for the entire camp.  So we set off to follow him to the flour wearhouse.

Event 3:  We were driving down the road from the feed store when I saw a really cute dog running and sniffing along the side.  My stomach dropped as we got closer and I glanced in the back seat - NO LINCOLN THERE.   But we drove up to him and he looked up, wagged, and jumped in the truck as if nothing happened.  "I can jump out and explore and they will find me, I'm sure".  Again a couple hours before I calmed down.  No more than an inch cracked window for him from now on.

Camp the 4th night was along the TriCounty canal - a beautiful spot.  Lots of people and dogs went swimming/floating from one end of camp to the other. 

More rain, but no winds.  Finally day five and Sage had to go again as Scarlet was still sore and Pema had a slight filling in her leg from the day before.  I had committed to riding with Tom Horn who had a mustang that everyone hated, mostly because he was kicking horses and people.  I'd gotten nominated to talk to him about the problem some days earlier.  The horse was an orphan (born and the herd ran off hours later due to some commotion; Tom's wife adopted him at 12 hours, and the horse never got any socialization).  We talked about a plan where he rode with only one horse for a while, then maybe two, then later in the summer more.  We set out at the end, but trotted by others with no problem, and then were passed with no problems.  We got him nuzzling Sage on camera - very cute.  However, event 4:  just before lunch we found crew Cindy for water and while he was tied to the trailer a lot of horses passed behind him. He started drinking and more horses came and he freaked, probably defending his water.  When he kicked out he got Sage and tore a flap of hide off behind her belly.  And everyone saw, so now Tom's and Whiskey's rep was worse than ever, and people were "I told you soing me".  Tom and Whiskey stopped at lunch and I went on with Brenda for a while, but Sage was unhappy.  The ground was hard, it was hot and the wind quieter.  We did find a ranch owner to invited us into his yard where he filled water buckets, but the afternoon was very very long - 30 miles of hard packed hot road.

Event 5:  I was turned in the sadlle talking when Sage saw a cemetery which was somehow scary.  She shied and threw her head as I turned in time to get a fat lip just before I came off.  Sprained ankle - the one I always sprain.  By this time we were both pissed off and just left the people we were riding with (who were vocally angry at the day) and just kept catching the horse in front of us, Sage calling for her herd the entire last 11 miles.  We finished finally around 3:45, and I took some Aleve, a vicodin, drank a vodka tonic and fell asleep until 9pm.

And here we are camped at Lakehouse Campground just south of North Platt.  Laundry and shopping, and we are now lounging by the lake, taking the dogs swimming every once in a while to cool off.  Lincoln is actually swimming now; he swam out close to some geese but they convinced him to return to shore.

 

If we get all the chores done tomorrow Steve will blog about what it is like to be him on this trip.  He is awesome, if he won't say so himself.

Miss you all.

One down, seven to go

Sunday morning and it is a day off.  Whoohoo!  This past week has been a challenge along with great fun, drama, and some trauma. All of which make for great stories - here are a few:

(Elwood KS to Kennekuk in Horton KS) You remember the saga of easy boot gluing?  Well, day one minute one Scarlet lost a boot.  I didn't realize it until we got out of camp about 200 yards as she was so much of a handful leaving.  But then I did and got off to put on her backup boot.  Well, she still wanted very badly to return to camp and ended up kicking me, sending me flying about 5 feet.  She got me in the arm and not on any joint or bone, so I climbed on and we set off, 3 booted.  About 6 miles later she was calm enough for me to get it on with the help of a boot guru.  All was well until we hit lunch and a huge thunderstorm.  We stayed for only a few minutes as the horses began to shiver and we couldn't let them stand.  Riding with about 5 people, we got across the road in what was now clay muck, and saw two big white horses coming towards us from a farm.  "They are behind a wire fence, no problem" says Karen, at which point they hit the road right behind us and we found one was a stallion.  Scarlet helped by immediately throwing that easy boot and going into heat.  I jumped off as the stallion tried to jump on.  You try getting an easy boot on in mud you can't stand up in with your horse spinning as another tries to mount her and 4 riders try to shield us.  I did finally get back on (Scarlet 3 booted still) and thinking we would be okay with the two back riders driving the horses off, when the tornado siren goes off.  We quickly pooled our knowledge of what to do with an approaching tornado and came up with NOTHING.  So we kept riding,  kept keeping the stallion at bay, and began praying.

Eventually it stopped raining and two crew guys caught the loose horses and put them in the closest field; who knows whose it was and what happened.  I then got the boot back on and we made it home.

Second day (Horton KS to Seneca KS):  the forecast was for really violent weather with more thundershowers and hail.  Only 20 or so set out.  The morning was beautiful and Sage was fun to ride.  I was with a different group of 5 after lunch when the storm hit.  8+ inches in four hours.  The roads turned into rivers in places and the horses all carried at least a pound of mud on each foot.  They kept trying to turn their backs to the storm but we pushed them on.  At this point we were just behind the first two riders and following their hoof prints.  At mile 40 or so we found Allan's wife and mother, there on a lonely muddy road, with horse food and water:  a truely wonderful sight.  Two of our group didn't even have jackets and Lauren gave Lyle her's.  We continued, battling the mud and hail and lightening and thunder.  At what we later found to be 3/4s of a mile from camp, Sage had a dramatic bucking fit and I hit the ground on the first solid patch we saw that afternoon.   Wind knocked out of me, I couldn't move.  Luckily I was numb with cold so I didn't hurt too badly.  But we missed the turn there and went 6 miles out of our way, in that horrible storm.  Ended up in last place of course.  And still it rained.

That camp had a huge pond and the dogs loved it, swimming in the pouring rain, happy as the frogs that croaked all around us.

(Seneca KS to Cottonwood, or Hanover KS)Third day was Pema's turn - my least reliable horse.  I took a lot of Aleve and a Vicodin with me, fearing the worst.  But she was brilliant - easy and forward and we had a wonderful ride that did last 10 hours but was really really fun.  At mile 39 we met crew, loaded the horses for a drive across Blue River, then road the last 10 miles in.  The camp was beautiful - a field below a community center.  Our camp looked like a Chinese laundry as Steve dried everything out.

Day 4 (Hanover to Big Sandy, NE).  Scarlet again, and she was perfect (except for lunch when she was horrible about not being with her herd).  We were on the Oregon/California/Pony Express trail the entire way, with signs to follow.  We went 1 mile straight, then turned left for a mile, then right for a mile, then left for a mile, then r, well, you can do the math.  Not as many rolling hills as Kansas but the same corn and wheat and barley fields, farms, little town with water towers.  As so many rigs had gotten stuck in mud the day before, they parked along the road instead of in the field where we had planned to camp.  I was tired, and so glad around 8:30 when I was headed off to bed.  Then little David, our youngest rider at 13, sounded the alarm that the state police would ticket everyone on the road.  I came close to crying, but we packed up again and moved to the field.  Sure enough many were stuck the next morning as it was raining when dawn broke; the local tractors did a great busines.. Steve got out on his own, as he is the man!

Day 5 (Big Sandy to Oak NE).  Fog and rain in the morning, and Sage and I set out faster than I usually go. Then we got hooked on a couple of riders and I was committed, unless I wanted to get off and walk until the riders disappeared.  But she was strong and her heart rate low so we kept going.  Lots of old trail markers to stop and see, and lots and LOTS of marijuana growing on the side of the road.  After lunch we found a pig pen with some very happy pigs - one of the biggest plants I've ever seen growing in their midst.  We rode all day with Tracy, a woman from San Jose who I didn't know until we met here.  We stopped at a house that had been the Kiowa Pony Express station, the last one unburned by the Indians.  Current owners had a table out with lemonade and water and buckets of water for our horses.  They even let us hose the horses off (getting humid and warm now).  The man had a silk screening business and had made some tshirts and bandanas with the Pony Express rider on them for us to purchase. We of course didn't carry any money, but he said take them and my card, and send me the money or call me with a credit card number.  Filled my water bottles with lemonade and set off for the last 8 miles of the week.  We rode into Oak, which is a dear little town with lots of abandoned houses - just a few folk still living here but there is one that mows all the public land (parks, side of the road, etc.)  There is also a bar/restaurant, and they were happy and prepared for us - great food and karaoke into the night.  We are parked in a field near the grainery.  Horses have the big electric fence paddock and lots to eat (did I tell you that there is so much grass along the roads the horses eat their way through the day - they are all gaining weight!).  We are here for two days and will spend it doing laundry (in the next bigger town), getting food for us and the horses, and catching up on sleep.

One more story:  I bought enough contact lenses for the trip before I left, from Costco.  I put one in last week in Elwood, and couldn't see a thing.  Bad lens I thought, so I tried another.  Still couldn't see.  With glasses on I found the prescription was exactly backwards -2.75 instead of +2.75.  I called Costco in Santa Cruz, and they admitted that in fact it was their fault and I should come in for replacements.  I explained the situation and asked them to send the new ones to General Delivery  here in Oak.  Can't do that she said, store policy.  So I explained again that I was riding across the west and would not have an address, and she said let me see what I can do.  When I rode into town today Steve had them:  turns out the postmistress here in town and come to the RV park where some rigs were pulling in, asking if anyone knew Debbie Boscoe, she had a special delivery.  Let's hear it for big box stores and small town post offices.

I don't have a cable now to download pictures - will borrow one and post some later today or tomorrow.

One more while I have power

We are packing up to head over to the ride start.  This has been a good 2 day rest for the horses - they are finally peeing clear and the older mares have put some weight back on.  Pema is looking ribby but I expect she might be until she learns the routine.

Yesterday was occupied with fixing the manger door Scarlet ripped off and getting the easy boots on: both epic tales.  Our neighbor Randy (which is really his name, not Ray as I've been calling him) and Steve drilled out the hinges and took the door off.  I just happened to have replacement hinges and all the tools we needed.  Steve did scour town for counter-sink rivets but no luck.  After only about 3 hours the door was back and I had once again learned not to tie Scarlet anywhere near any door.

For those of you who know what gluing on Easyboots means, here is that tale:

Until this morning, I was a virgin:  I'd never glued on a glue-on glove.  Unless you count using gorrilla glue with regular gloves, which does work quite well.  But here I am in St. Joseph MO getting ready for XP2011 ride, which will take us all the way back to Virginia City NV on as much of the original Pony Express trail as possible.  (NOTE: please do not mention this ride to anyone outside this group as we are trying to fly under the radar.  The US gov types are not as amenable to this sort of thing as they were in the 1800's.)

I have used every kind of Easyboot ever made, but most often over shoes as added protection or during the winter months when I give my horses feet a break.  But I didn't want to rely on any farrier I might find in Nebraska, so I decided last November to go the whole barefoot way.  And of course glue on gloves were the logical choice:  who wants to mess with boots day after day after day.

So I talked with Kevin, with several barefoot trimmers, with my farrier, and I watched all the videos  on the Easycare website, several times.  This morning I watched them again, knowing I needed to dry the hoofs (did I mention the tornado last night?  Storm Watchers was parked in the entrance to our campground!).  I laid out the alcohol, the hairdryer, the rasp, the wire brush, the hoof stand, all the boots, Goober Glue and Vettec Adhere with their own guns.  I rasped and cleaned and fitted and grooved and alcoholed and dried each of the 

8 hoofs I needed to protect. By now I had a crowd watching, and several volunteer helpers.

So we prepped the first four boots with Goober Glue (making a froglike figure in each).  Then, as the crowd held it's collective breath, I donned my gloves, cleaned one hoof again, slapped on a temp glove, fitted the Adhere in the gun, cut the tip, squeezed some out, put on the real tip, squeezed some more out then squirted and spread until the glove was covered and pulled off the temp, put on the real one, and grabbed my gun to do the top line.  Tip had congealed. Okay, grabbed another tip and did the top line, smearing nicely with my gloved finger.  I stood up and we all took a breath.  "See how easy that was?"

The horse was still calm and the ground was still orderly with stuff, so I did the next.  Again, with only a little more glue on my gloves and oh a bit on my leg this time it went well.  By the end of the 4th shoe the ground was a bit messy, and two fingers were glued together, but all in all pretty cool. Most of my audience walked off, impressed if I do say so myself.  Then, with one horse to go and only one helper left, all hell broke loose. 

The Vettec tube was faulty - one flange was gone so the tip didn't seat.  I of course, a bit cocky from my first success, didn't really notice.  Until there was glue all over me, the boot, the ground.  Frantic now I tried to get two boots done with the badly leaking Adhere.  After all I had several full changes to make and only so much Adhere with me so I didn't want to waste any.  But by the time my fingers were glued together and to the gun, and the horse was covered up to fetlock in gunk I was ready to concede that tube's demise.  I ripped off my gloves and prepped another - cutting my leg in the process but the Adere dripped into the cut and that was the same as sealing it with Superglue right?

My last volunteer smiled wanly and drifted off so my husband tried to help but was baffled by the mess and distressed by my appearance (what with all the blood and black glue). And the gun was once again stuck to my hand, and my glove was a mitten.  But by goodness we got the last of them on and sealed and done.  And I actually think they might stay on.

40 minutes in the shower didn't do much for my appearance.  The t shirt and gloves were tossed, but my skin is not as fungible.  And during that long scrub I summed up my lessons:

1.  Do try this at home first.

2.  Keep long pants on no matter the temp and humidity.

3.  Don't try to teach a pig to sing - won't work and will annoy the pig.  Just toss the bad tube and start over.

4.  Trade in the chestnuts for black horses - mistakes won't show as much.

/debbie, humbled.

 p.s.  I do think the chunk of hair I had to cut out will regrow by the time we get home....

Today we have a meeting at 1 to get everyone ready for tomorrow, and dinner at the historic Pattee House (http://www.stjoemo.info/history/pateehouse.cfm). Tomorrow Scarlet and I ride off to the west.