A year and a half ago when we first heard about the opportunity to go on the ride, (due to bureaucratic and logistical difficulties this I will refer to this event as “the ride” in these posts), it sounded like a grand adventure, 200o miles in eight weeks, two thirds of the way across the country, fifty miles a day. Someone else to do the planning, all Janis and I had to do was get up, saddle up and get going each day.
It soon became apparent that there would be considerable planning required on our part. Thanks to Janis, a financial plan was implemented that is making the money aspect of the trip itself fairly painless. Initially we bought one entry, one of us would ride and the other drive the truck each day. Then our neighbor, Searl, became interested in accompanying us and volunteered to do the driving. So we began looking into buying more riding days as all the full entries had been sold. We were able to buy the first three weeks from a teacher that wouldn’t be able to join the ride until mid June. Eventually we were able to buy more dates for the end of the ride. Now we have a full 40 day membership plus 29 more days. For the other 11 days we plan to either rest or try and pick up more days as the ride progresses.
The second big issue has been our four horse with living quarters trailer, affectionately known as the “condo”. The condo had been lurking, crippled, in the barn, the victim of a freeway accident. To make repairs required that we totally unload and strip the living quarters, mid tack room and part of the horse compartment down to the frame, which is contained inside the walls, so that structural members could be inspected and repaired. The hollow shell was then transported to a fabrication shop that did a great job in making repairs. In addition to repairing and reinforcing the original structure they added an exterior frame under the trailer. The condo is now stronger than it ever was.
Naturally the stripping down of the trailer, which I thought I could do in a day, ended up taking a week. Then, I told the repair shop I wasn’t in a big hurry, they got jammed on another job, and it was six months before the condo came home. The two weeks I allowed to put everything back together took another couple of months or more. When it was time for our shakedown cruise to Utah last fall I didn’t even have the LQ done yet. That trip did expose some items that we wanted to change or add so when we got home the condo made another trip to the fabricators, this time it was only for a couple days. Because we don’t know how severe the conditions are going to be on this trip, we’ve opted not to have the exterior repainted until our return. We ended up giving the whole interior a face lift, though there will always be a touch here and there that I want to do, we are pretty satisfied with our end result.
As far as horses, Sam and Mack were obvious choices; both have considerable traveling and endurance experience. Aspen and BG having survived the Utah trip are the backup horses. I was concerned about the girls, both have been to the mountains a couple times, Aspen has done a few limited distance rides but BG had no endurance experience. We took them to Eastern Washington for the Home on the Range ride in March to see if they could get through a 50 mile event. It was kind of a hurry up, last minute decision to go. I made all the rookie mistakes, abrupt change of feed, lack of conditioning, new tack. Aspen struggled a little with a belly ache after the first 16 miles, but was able to recover and continue, BG handled it like a champ. Found a few more things to change on the condo.
As the date approaches I’ve been suffering serious second thoughts as the scope of this ride changes from a dream to reality. Decided a fresher truck might be a good idea, we sure didn’t want to get stuck with a broke down rig in the vast wilderness of the Rockies. We found and purchased an ’04 chevy, dually, crew cab, with all the bells and whistles and low miles which we’ve named “Searl’s Truck”. New tires, brakes, hitch, trailer wiring all is ready to go. How much hay and grain do we need on hand? Where will we find more? How will the horses hold up? Can I hold up? I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to see. If I may quote one of the leaders of this ride “There’s not much that can’t be fixed with enough cash or a credit card with a big limit.”
Oh yeah, the blue truck is hooked up to the Yurt in the barn, I may need one of you to come and get me – I’ll tell you where the credit card is when I call.
Gary
