We're in Wyoming!

[Karen <karen@storallnv.com>]

Hi everyone!  I really don't know where I am exactly, but it's somewhere in 
Wyoming, and I got here by riding my horse from St. Joseph, Missouri! 
:+))   The time seems to be flying by, here we are into our fourth week 
already, can you believe it?

It was a pretty nice day today, pretty warm but later in the day we had a 
nice breeze which made it bearable.  I rode Weaver today, he's just getting 
better and better every day that I ride him.

Camp is in a grassy field. Careful there are cactus.  We are camped next to 
the Duck, Debby Lyon and Jeff Herton and Dave Rabe, and the 
Jacksons.  There is lightning over to the left, and the wind is kicking up. 
The weather report said there was a chance for severe thundershowers 
later.  Better batten everything down!  The horses are beyond the point of 
being amused by bad weather.

The trailer trip to the start this morning wasn't as long as we thought it 
was, tho we still had to leave for the start a little after 4 a.m.  A 
couple of people pulled along the trail today.  Dave met us once with water 
which was nice, and there was plenty in irrigation canals and in places 
where the fields had been flooded.  We are careful to ask and make sure 
that there are no chemicals in the water before letting the horse drink.

After lunch, Dave Rabe decided to pull and asked if Dave (my crew) would be 
along, since he usually is, only today he wasn't because he had to go back 
to the fairgrounds to pick Rocky up and bring him to the next camp.  None 
of us in our group had a cell phone, but riding just behind us Tinker did 
so she called Dave and told him the waypoint and he just happened to only 
be one mile away and came over and picked up Dave's horse, gave him a 
beer....then came down the trail and watered about a dozen horses.  So it 
worked out really well.  Isn't technology great?

I see Chester sitting on top of his trailer on the cell phone.  This 
morning he and Steve Shaw started out to do a RAT but came back because 
they thought something wasn't right with the horse.  Cell phone signals can 
sure be iffy sometimes.  One second we have a full signal and the next we 
have nothing at all.

We made it into lunch in about 4:45, not exactly lightning fast but since 
it was already in the 70's at 4 a.m. when we hauled to the start we figured 
what was the hurry.  I started out riding with a bunch of different people, 
Pat Verhuel, Debi and Bernice from Texas, all the kids and April, and 
Dorothy Sue and Cindy from Wyoming.  Tinker and Karen Nelson were also with 
us some of the way.  We all go back and forth riding at whatever pace we 
are comfortable with.

Went right into the vet check and vetted thru, everything great there. Then 
up to the trailer where I was standing holding my horse when we heard a 
commotion and coming down the canal at a full gallop was a horse with his 
saddle underneath his stomach!  A scary enough thing to see but worse 
because the horse was headed straight for me!  It was coming at me dead on, 
and wow, what to do.....I saw that the horse saw me, so knew if I moved or 
if my horse had moved, one of us would have probably been mowed down, so we 
just froze and stood still and the horse at the last second veered over to 
the side.  It was a pretty close call.  The rider was okay, somebody went 
and picked her up.  The horse had a cut but last we heard was 
allright.  Spooked at a dog.  That's my second close call since getting to 
this ride, the first one was with this idiot stallion that tried to attack 
my two horses, and it was equally as close.

Trilby's driver quit.  Carol Hunt, there's a lot to that story, I'll let 
Trilby tell it if she wants it told.  Clay was okay today I guess, he's 
been stapled and repaired from his accident with the barbed wire fence and 
is mending really well.  Wayne and Elaine Delbeke left to go home to Canada 
and gave Carol their entries, so Carol says that as soon as she can get 
home she's going to get her own horses and come back and ride.

Somebody, I think it was Laney, found a beatle in some of the hay that was 
sold in camp so everybody was really worried about blister beatles.  Dozens 
of horses ate that hay, and nobody else could find anything in it so let's 
all hope that it was just a long beatle and nothing happens.

Lots of people are asking about riders.  Carol from Oregon has ridden 12 
days now on her mustang, and he looks great!  Jamie Mitchell (junior) has 
ridden Lance 12 days too, and Kathy Thompson has ridden Zane Grey that much 
or close to it as well.  Most everybody else has been alternating horses, 
Kayla, MJ and Phyllis have still ridden every day so far.  A few other 
people riding when they feel like it or only half days like Wendy 
Milner.  Tom and Sala have been sightseeing and riding sections of 
trail.  The kids that are here are all having a great time, lots of fun out 
on the trail and in camp for them.  Most of the adults are also really 
enjoying themselves.

The sky is starting to get really dark, I better go make sure everything is 
secure.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
in Wyoming!!!!