Thursday, April 14, 2011

Back on the grid

In Farmington, New Mexico this evening, traveled from the Springer, New Mexico area today.  I was very close to the Philmont Boy Scout camp. Had a great time at Susie's place.  More on that later.

 I now have 3G Internet connection again, so will update my blog as soon as I can.

Right now freting about the fact my RV Fridge won't run on the  LP gas and my truck seems to have developed a small coolant leak.  Let's just hope it's a hose on the truck and the need to purge the air out of the LP line f r the Fridge.  Had to refill propane bottle today so sometimes air gets in the lines.

Time for bed, was a long day...

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Waltzing across Texas

Can't believe a week has flown by.  Wonder if the rest of the trip will go that way?

So far, good traveling.  Monday and Wednesday were particularly hard with  strong winds and wind gusts of 30 mph.  Today - same thing, except stronger gusts.. You just have to pay attention and drive slow.   My fuel consumption has dropped from around high 13 to about 10 right now..  Mostly due to the wind.

Buddy is traveling fine.. What is going in, is going out.. in mass quantities.

Charlie is happy,  we are in an enclosed area so I took him off his leash for awhile (with permission).

So far, all 3 of us are getting along fine except for when I have to load Buddy and he wants to stay where he is..
We are all still speaking to each other.

Had a great time riding at the Grasslands with Jonni and Bill.  Stayed 2 nights at a very nice Bed and Barn.

Today, I'm outside of Amarillo, headed to the Springer, New Mexico area.  I'll stay there a bit, then on to Farmington, New Mexico for my next competition.

Let's see what challenges this wind brings me..

For those interested in the Techy stuff like how far I go on each leg, how often I stop and my mpg etc.. I'll post that later this week.

Check out the fish.. see if you can see which one is the new one..  Probably need fed too.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

In Texas..

Just completed the Tarrant Ranch CTR this evening.  Had a good weekend riding with old friends (Alice) and new friends.. Barbie, Candy, Linda, and Christa.. Saw lots of people I "talk" to on different chat groups and some I hadn't seen for years.  Saw 2 of my fellow Appaloosa Distance Riders, Bill and Julie..

I had a nice and uneventful trip coming from Pryor, Oklahoma.  Had rain for  about a couple of hours then, nice sunshine..  I must have gone the long way as 325 miles took me 9 hours, with stops.

Buddy didn't travel well.  He had not eaten or drank in in Ok.  Worried about his new roommates, there trying to eat him, I guess.

When I unloaded him at the ride site Thursday afternoon, he hadn't pooped in the trailer at all.  For those non horse people reading this, that's a sign that  a horse is stressed.  It's never good to take a stressed, dehydrated horse out and ask them to do hard work.  Never a happy ending there.

So pulling out all I have learned on taking care of Endurance and CTR horses, I dived in and got him
re hydrated and much happier.   We had all day Friday to make sure he felt well, and I asked my friends on different distance horse related  "chat lists" if they thought I should "follow my gut" and compete at the lower stress level.  Most people agreed with my gut too..  Funny how that works.

 So he went slower and shorter (miles per hour and total mileage).  He was tired on Saturday (it was really HOT) and today he was so perky, he was pulling on me to get back to camp. We finished, but didn't get any ribbons, however, he didn't lose any points for being unsound (lame) and no metabolic issues.. Hooray.

Now I'm making plans to go to an area of Texas called the LBJ Grasslands to meet up with my friend Jonni  and ride there with her on Tuesday..  I'm hoping the weather cooperates and the high winds die down,  it's supposed to storm and have high winds tomorrow.  I know they need the rain here, so let's hope it's just showers.

Then off to New Mexico.

Disclaimer: I will admit to a major anxiety attack and wanting to have my head examined on  the Tuesday before I left..  But- so far, I'm having a great time and don't plan to go home anytime soon..

Feed the fish!