FW: Almost to St. Joe! (from Karen)

["John Teeter" <johnt@goldhill.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: imgoneriding@worldnet.att.net
> [mailto:imgoneriding@worldnet.att.net]
> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2001 11:42 AM
> To: ridecamp
> Subject: Almost to St. Joe!
>
>
> By the time anybody reads this, we will probably already be there.  Right
> now we area cruising along on I-80 in Nebraska.  We're near
> Kearney.  Kearney, NE is the geographical center of the United States.
>
> The scary part is in realizing that we've been traveling for days
> and still
> have 300 miles left to go -- and then will turn around and ride
> our horses
> back 2000 miles and take two months to do it!   We have lots to
> do to keep
> entertained though -- I have a book on gravesites so we can look those up
> as we ride by, along with all the Pony Express stations.  There are a lot
> of historical landmarks along the way and other things to look at and see
> too.  We're going to be so busy just taking care of things, it's going to
> be a blast!  We are all so lucky to be on this great adventure!!
>
> Getting to the ride itself has been quite an experience.  For us, just
> getting out of the driveway was the real challenge.  Since then
> we've had a
> whole variety of experiences, but have been having a great time.
> We've all
> been testing out our cell phones and everybody is staying
> connected to each
> other that way.  There is a group of several of us and we are all
> going at
> our own pace, splitting up but then meeting up again at night or else at
> our final destination in St. Joe.  We're all going to make a
> great team and
> get thru this together.  :+))
>
> The weather has been gorgeous.  We've had a few sprinkles last
> night where
> we stayed at the rodeo grounds in Sidney, Nebraska.  We've been stopping
> every 3 to 3 1/2 hours to let the horses out.  They are hauling extremely
> well, better than I thought.  There is an abundance of fresh green grass
> for them to graze on during our rest stop breaks.  We stayed over
> in Kamas,
> Utah for three days to also give them a break.  The horses really
> benefited
> from getting turned out into a lush green pasture for a few hours each
> day.  They thought they had died and gone to heaven.  There I got to meet
> and ride my other XP horse, Cheyanne.
>
> Cheyanne was supposed to go to the start actually, but as it
> turned out he
> ran around in his corral and slipped and fell on his side and
> came up with
> a sore hind leg.  That was on Monday.  By Wednesday he was sound
> again, so
> I rode him around the pasture and he felt great but I didn't want to haul
> him two more long days and risk hurting him.  So he gets to stay in this
> beautiful pasture until I need him.  It was a tough decision, but
> as I say
> (what is becoming our XP motto)...."nothing you can do about it now".  So
> we just go with the flow and let things happen.    Guess there are worse
> things then trying to choose which two out of three sound horses to take.
>
> We've got enough hay with us to last two weeks, and enough other
> feed to go
> two or three weeks.  We have only one 5 gallon container of water with
> us.  We'll fill up when we get to St. Joe.  No use hauling all
> that weight
> since we are pushing the upper limits already.  140 gallons is a lot of
> weight.
>
> I've been electrolyting the horses regularly, this morning I did it while
> they were laying down on the grass.  It certainly isn't hurting
> since they
> are both peeing rivers every time we stop.  They are trying to show each
> other up with who can eat/drink/pee the most.  We have to force
> them out of
> the trailer because that requires that they stop eating!  lol
> My biggest
> surprise is that they are actually eating beet pulp!
>
> Trying to type on the laptop while bouncing down I-80 isn't much
> fun.  And
> I thought it was bumpy going over I-80 to California!  The dog can't
> understand while she is shunned to the back seat when I have the computer
> out.  She'll get two months to ride in the front seat, by the time we're
> done with this ride I'll be the one in the back seat <G>.
>
> I've got lots to do today even though we're just driving 495
> miles.....Louise gave me a book on the 1979 Pony Express Race, with news
> clippings to read. I've also gotta re-read my instructions on my
> Suunto to
> make sure I remember how to work it right.  The first days start is going
> to be plenty interesting without trying to figure out which buttons to
> push!  I'm already figuring out which buttons *not* to push in regards to
> my crew <bg>.
>
> I've gotten a few photos ready to put up, and will get more in
> St. Joe and
> hope to upload them before the ride starts next Tuesday.  After that, I
> should be able to get photos up from the ride each weekend.  The
> first five
> weeks of the ride we will have Sundays and Mondays off.  The cell phone
> works great for email but it's not fast enough for photos.  I'll
> upload the
> photos here:  www.endurohorse.com
>
> Everybody we've met along the way has been really nice.  Almost too nice,
> you can't get away from them!!!  Dave says they are all from the
> conversation generation.  Not like us techno nerds, eh?  ha ha
>
> Hooking the GPS up to the laptop thru the map software is really
> nice.  It's been really helpful for us in figuring out where we want to
> stop and get diesel, and let the horses out.  Plus, we know exactly where
> we are going and how long it's going to take -- which lets us figure out
> when to stop for the horses.  It's been really helpful, and it's
> all new so
> may lose it's appeal after awhile.
>
> Okay, enough for now.  See you in St. Joe!
>
> Happy XP Trails,
>
> Karen
> & crew.....
> Dave, Whinny, Dax,
> Weav, Rocky & Cheyanne  :*)
>
>
> P.S.  Please don't anybody write back to me unless it's really
> important.  Thanx!
>