Hello! We just finished the first day of our fifth week of the 2001 XP. It's been pretty hot, and just so anybody else shows up to the ride and thought that when I say it has been hot, they aren't expecting it to be only 80 or 90 degrees (Grin). It's been really hot! It's 4 p.m. and now because of cloud cover the temp is only 92 degrees. We are baking!

I sponsored Kayla (junior) again today. She's not only one of three people who have ridden every single day but the only person who has ridden the entire way so far on just two horses. The other two riders who have completed every day are Terry Wooley and MJ Jackson. They each have four horses. I'm not absolutely positive that they are the only three but we're pretty sure. :+)

We left Stinking Creek at 5:00 a.m. this morning. Got up at 3 a.m. to leave Casper in time to get there for the 5:00 a.m. start. I wasn't tired today though, not like some of the other first days of the week. A few new riders. The rest of us just sorta plod along and take our time. We have 12 hours, so what is the hurry? We took 9 hours today, which was one of our faster days, we even top tenned! But it's a dry heat (did I mention that it was HOT?), so we're more comfortable with it. There was more water on the trail, and crews watered us in spots.

We were wondering who the new crew was driving around with Idaho plates. Duh! It's Steph and John's kids out there. They are learning and should get the hang of it pretty soon.

At the finish they were giving out watermellon. It was a long day but the trail was nice, we went by more wagon ruts and some historical markers. I rode a lot of today with a few people off and on besides Kayla -- Dorothy Sue (who's doing great with Abu), Terry Nance, Louise Mahoney, Tinker and Karen Nelson and Robbi Pruitt. Robbi did a special little mud dance for everybody this morning, but I missed getting any photos until later.

I weighed the horses again tonight. Weaver is at 1020 and Rocky is sticking right around 900. So we're doing okay I guess, everybody thinks that Weaver just got here (Grin), and Rocky has been eating like I've never seen him eat before. He is doing better now on the trail (he was a major twit last week), still a lot of energy but he's much less bored now that we are doing some hills and trails. I try and keep me and Kayla going at 9 mph or less and everytime we go faster I'll hear from Kayla "you're speeding". :+D

Trilby found a new driver. She went down to the unemployment office and got somebody there. The guy hadn't shown up with her rig by the time she made it at lunch today and she was worried that perhaps he'd gone off and pawned her whole rig (vbg). He did show up, we'll see how this works out.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, so we are all going to wear red white and blue, and have little flags to put in our helmets. We're going to have a lot of fun!

I better get the photos done, till later....

Karen...sweating in the shade in Wyoming

It was another hot day, even the Texans thought so. We have some cloud cover now so it feels a bit cooler. Today we rode from Murphy Ranch to Ice Slough, Wyoming. It's the 4th of July, and everybody dressed up in red white and blue. We also put little flags on our helmets or our horses bridles.

Another 5 a.m. start, which is a good thing since it is so hot. I sponsored Kayla again today and we finished at 4:25 p.m. My GPS odometer says we went 52.3 miles today. In the morning we rode past Independence Rock, and then thru Devil's Gate and past all the handcarts, pioneer graves and other historical markers. Then we spent a good deal of the day riding on Pony Express, Mormon, California and Oregon trail. It was a really great day!

MJ pulled today, so the only two riders left who have ridden every day are Kayla (junior), and Terry Wooley. The most exciting part is that Kayla has ridden on only two horses and they are still going and in really great shape. :+)) She has more horses available now, but hopes to keep riding Gem and Buddy, they are both doing really well for her. We have fun riding together, she is my co-navigator.....I follow where the GPS arrow shows to go, and she reads the written directions and map to make sure we're passing all the right landmarks. It must work because we haven't gotten lost yet, at least not more than a few feet past any one turn.

Today a couple of people got lost -- Dave Rabe and Sands first missed a gate and kept going down a road, then later John and Steph Teeter followed the footprints the wrong way and also got misplaced. Steph said she lost her GPS, it fell out of her pack. We were kinda wondering why they ended up finishing behind us when they were ahead of us after lunch.

In the morning we passed two rattlesnakes. The first one was on the pavement, so easy to avoid. Then later, Dolly was trotting thru the grass and quickly decided to move over after seeing a big fat rattler over there. So we were really keeping a watch out for them. There are a lot of large badger holes around that we have to look out for too. Most of the footing today was excellent.

For a section or two, we had some awful bugs. We'd been warned, so the horses had been fly sprayed and wiped but it didn't do any good. We got thru those sections though, and it wasn't so bad after that. In one area we had a whole herd of horses gallop up and then ride alongside us. I got several good photos of them. We were picking which ones to take with us, in case we needed another horse to ride.

Before lunch we had a long section of about 14 miles without any water, and boy was it ever hot....much to our delight over the hill came Jim Mitchell in 4WD to the rescue, bringing water for everybody, and then going back for more after he ran out. The horses really drank a lot then, it was a real lifesaver. Jim was also busy crewing for April, Jamie and Alicia who all rode today too.

Ruthie rode the new horse she bought at the Rushcreek Ranch today to Independence Rock. He is a bay and looks really nice. Dave said it took him an hour to get water at the RV station, and he was one of the first ones there.....water is getting to be a precious commodity right now, in some places we have to pay ten cents a gallon, and lots of it isn't potable.

Well, I better get more done around here before the ride meeting, it's been a long, hot day.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Ice Slough, Wyoming
22 days down, 18 to go
& Weaver, 500 XP miles
& Rocky, 500 XP miles

Have I mentioned anything about the wind yet? Well......oh boy is it windy! If it isn't battened down by now, no point in worrying about it anymore! It's blowing pretty hard, most of the horses are chasing their hay bags around, and the humans are chasing everything else! Looks like some thundershowers are heading our way, we've had a few sprinkles already.

Today was a really great day, I rode Rocky again and he finished his 11th day or 550 miles of the Pony Express trail. The weather was gorgeous today, it felt cooler probably only in the 80's and we had a breeze (which is currently a wind!). The trail is a lot of fun. There are historical markers marking the entire way showing where the Pony Express, Oregon, California and Mormon trails went. In spots you can see wagon ruts.

Still starting at 5 a.m. It's dark right up until we start, and still then not much light. So we get to see beautiful sunrises every morning, and since we're headed west we don't have the sun in our eyes.

Bob and Pat Verhuel both rode today. They had some truck problems and I guess some other people in camp helped get everything fixed, so Pat had her rig back in time for supper. She's riding tomorrow she says. I'll have to ask her if she misses the corn yet (just kidding). :+D

Steve Shaw is fixing another flat tire on his trailer. Their 3rd one. Barney and Linda have had two flats and are getting them fixed now. It seems like everywhere we go, somebody has a rig jacked up fixing a tire.

Louise took the day off but is riding tomorrow, and Steve Shaw is riding one of her horses. They had to put the top down on their camper since it's so windy. A little breeze is nice while we are riding, but tonight it's shaking our trailers.

We're camped up on this nice bluff overlooking this beautiful little valley below that is lush green with trees and an old wooden barn. Last night we had a lot of mosquitos eating the horses. Doesn't look like we'll have that problem tonight. ha

We see a lot of antelope and birds. Keeping an eye out for snakes. Lots of cows..........still in cattle country. There is some grass for the horses to graze but it's getting drier. Hey guess what, Rocky I think has finally realized what is going on (Grin), and has been eating even better than before...he never stopped while I tacked him up this morning, and he wants to eat constantly going down the trail too. Weaver is well......Weaver.

We stopped at the Sweetwater to sponge the horses off, and after a few dips, up came my string sans sponge! So Jim Mitchell gallantly rode to the sponges rescue downstream where it was deeper and retrieved it for me.

I sponsored Kayla again today, and also rode a little with Robbi, Dorothy Sue, and Jim and Jamie Mitchell. We all pretty much finished together. The kids went first, tied for 8th place then the rest of us. I told Robbi I'd give her a GPS lesson later, I think she needs it! (don't tell her I said that)

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
near South Pass, Wyoming 23 days down, 17 left!

Hello from Farson, Wyoming! We just finished up the 24th day of the 2001 XP. It's raining and storming on us now, but most of the day was absolutely gorgeous. Today was another long day, over 52 miles. Weaver seems to be the one who gets all of the longer days, the last time I rode him he went 53 miles. The days are long, usually ranging from 9 to 11 1/2 hours with 5:00 a.m. starts.

The rain is really coming down right now. The horses have their rain gear on, and are happily eating away. Everything is covered so I just have to wait until the ride meeting in half an hour then go to bed. Tomorrow is the last day of the week and then we get one day off before starting the next ride week which will only be four days long. The schedule is going to change on us from here on out.

We walked over to the local cafe tonight and ate dinner there, it was great! Then we went and got an ice cream at the mercantile store, which was extremely good -- huge scoops, and I don't think there is anybody here that didn't get one (or two!!)

The trail today was on more of the official Pony Express trail, completely marked with historical trail markers--it's really something to be riding thru this country, most of it totally unchanged since the original Pony Express riders and Pioneers went thru.

We went over South Pass today, it was a gradual enough of a climb that it didn't seem like much. The wind kept us cooled down which was of great benefit for the horses. Crews were out watering us which was really appreciated. Along the way there is an occasional creek or pond to water the horses, and grass for them to eat. The Duck was out along the way with a water trough in the morning too, so that was nice.

On the way into lunch, not very far out from the vet check we were riding along, Kayla and I. She asks me every day "are you sick of me yet can I ride with you tomorrow", and of course I say yes because she smiles and is always happy. Some of those grown-ups get pretty grouchy you know! (big grin) So anyway.....her horse Buddy takes a stumble and then falls down and then next thing you know, with Kayla on his back he flips completely over. I was behind her and saw the whole thing and was so scared that he was going to land on her. Luckily, she fell off to one side and after he flipped over he sort of rolled onto her leg. She was able to get out from under him and get up and then she grabbed his reins and waited for him to get up. He was having trouble, and finally got up onto two legs. His back leg was bent backwards really oddly and the front leg was being held out as well so he could hardly stand up at all. I made sure that Kayla was allright, she said her leg hurt but she was okay and to go get help. So I ran the rest of the way into the vet check....Bonnie Way was ahead and went back to make sure everything was okay and John and Steph were behind (but didn't see any of this happen)......Dave Rabe was in camp and he knew something was wrong when I came running in on pavement because he told my husband that he knew I'd never run my horse over pavement if something wasn't wrong. The Duck and John (Kayla's grandpa) and Jim Mitchell all drove out to where Kayla was right away and they all took care of her, and of Buddy too. Kayla did say that nobody seemed to care about her horse (just her), which of course was all that she was worried about. After a few moments Buddy did get much better and was able to walk the rest of the way in camp, where he was taken care of.

Kayla is a real trooper though, and in true Pony Express fashion.......saddled up another horse and rode the second half of the ride. She doesn't want to miss any of it! I was so glad that she did that, and that she was out there again with a smile on her face. She wasn't going to do that until everybody promised to take care of Buddy for her until she got back.

On the way back there was a huge horned sheep of some sort, and Weaver chased him away for us. Rocky would have ran the other way---it's always funny how when things like that happen I seem to be on the horse that deals with it the best.

John and Libby Bass stopped by to visit us on their way to the Bighorn ride. We might see them on the way back going thru Schellbourne.

After lunch I rode a lot of the way with Steph, Patty, Karen B., and some with Jeff and Debby, and Carol.....finished with a whole hour and 20 minutes to spare, got into camp about 4 p.m. (5 a.m. start), these days are long and hot and tiring but nowhere else I'd rather be.

Tinker left today to go get more horses, and Louise is leaving tomorrow for the weekend. Most everybody else has been staying, though not everybody is riding every day. Steve Shaw rode one of Louise's horses today, and Pat V. rode a grey horse.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Farson, Wyoming
24 days down, 16 left!

We finished the last day of our fifth week of the 2001 XP today. We're currently on our way to Fort Bridger, Wyoming where we are going to spend our one day off before starting back again on Monday.

The trail has been really great, lots of good footing, some hills to climb, rivers to ford and plenty of historical markers to read. It was also nice today because we got rained on and had good cloud cover and that kept us and the horses cooled down. It was another long day, my GPS read 51.3 miles....either we got lost, or I spent a lot of time walking to warm the horse up this morning. I'll see once I download my tracks onto the computer.

Each day, the start at 5:00 a.m. is darker and darker.......most of the riders sorta mosey out of camp at their own pace, one or two at a time or in small groups at a walk. I sponsored two juniors today, Kayla and Jamie. Kayla was in pretty good shape after yesterdays accident. Going into lunch we got to cross the Green River, which was really neat........the horses went right off a steep bank on once side, there was no stopping them they were thirsty. Then we went across, Rocky was almost wanting to trot across since he knew camp was on the other side. Everybody got a lot of good pictures.

After lunch we had only gone a few miles when Jamie's horse didn't seem right. So I found a cell phone from a passing crew rig and called Dave (my crew) and told him which waypoint we were at and he came and picked the horse up and took it to the vet. Everything turned out okay. Jamie has ridden and completed 17 days on Lance now, and this would have been #18.

I did ask around and found out who has ridden the most days on the least horses. This isn't official by any means, so don't take my word for it! Just our best guessing at this point. The horse that has done the most days is Sunny, ridden by Carol. He is a mustang and is from Oregon and has done 19 days. Next is Kathy Thompson and Zane Grey and we aren't sure how many days he's completed, but it's pretty close to 19, then Lance--Jamie's horse at 17. After that you've got three or four riders who have done the most days on two horses and that would be Kayla, myself, Jamie and Pat Verhuel. There currently is nobody who has ridden every day of the (AERC) ride. Terry had been doing really great, but pulled before lunch. She was a real trooper though and went out and crewed and brought water and lemonade out to riders on the trail after lunch with her crewperson, Karen. So the only rider who has now ridden every single mile of trail (even though one day doesn't count for AERC purposes), is Kayla. Zane Grey has the most BC's, probably a dozen or more. I'll have to ask but it sure seems like a lot. Joyce Sousa got BC yesterday. Clark Palfreyman was first.

Trilby did not ride again today. Her new driver quit and was last seen (seriously) hitchiking back home. Somebody gave him a ride back to Rock Springs, so he's well on his way.

I was going to go this coming day off and get my third horse to replace one of my other two with but Barney and Linda talked me out of it. My guys have done 23 1/2 of the 25 days so far. We're going to keep going!

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
near Fort Bridger, Wyoming