Counting down.. 2 weeks and counting

I have 2 weeks before I leave on the "Great Adventure".  My plans currently are to leave on March 29th or 30th to go to a NATRC ride in Bullard, Texas.  From there, on to visit a friend in Miami, New Mexico before going on to the next  NATRC ride in Farmington, New Mexico.

 Bullard is about 640 miles from my house.  I want to drive about 6 -7 hours a day, so will look for an overnight spot.

 I plan to start out for New Mexico on Monday after the Texas ride.  I'm going to Susie Jones' home which is near Miami, New Mexico.  That leg is about 700 miles, so another overnight location will need to be nailed down.  From Susie's, I'll go on to the Farmington, New Mexico area for the NATRC ride.  That's a short haul, around 350 miles.  So no overnight stop on that leg.

I was able to ride Buddy for the first time on Saturday. Only got 6 miles in, but really wanted to see how I would do with hooking up the trailer, loading and unloading the horse and tacking up.  All of that went well, considering my wrist is still healing.

Right now, I'm filled with a mixture of emotions, excited to leave, worried I won't be prepared in time (I'm a hell of a procrastinator), thinking of all the bad things that could happen, but then so looking forward to  riding  in new places and visiting friends and family.   I have an Uncle, Aunt and cousins in Portland, Oregon who I'd like to see when I go to the ride in Washington.

So far, I'm planning on competing in Texas, New Mexico, Northern and Southern California and Washington. There is a NATRC ride near Fairbanks, Alaska, perhaps I could find someone to loan me a trusty mount?  I've looked up how far that ride is from Auburn, California  and it's 3600 miles one way.   That helped me make up my mind about loading up Charlie and  Buddy and  heading north to Alaska..   (Which isn't gonna happen).

Today was a busy day, getting my trailer back from the repair shop, I had  preventative maintenance and only 1 repair done.  Lowell and I got the water lines un-winterized and  Lowell began installing some slide out drawers to improve my storage in the kitchen area.

Thursday is a  day set aside for major trailer  interior cleaning, then repacking and restocking.  I know everyday from now on will be completely focused on getting ready to go and telling friends and family "see you",  it's not good bye, it's just "see ya later"

On that note..  I'll believe I'll close and "see ya later"   Don't forget to feed my fish..