Day 29, 2001 XP

[Karen <karen@storallnv.com>]

It was sort of amusing to be riding thru Faust, Utah on Friday the 
13th.  It was another great day on the pony trail!  It's hot out here, (99 
degrees)  feels like we're baking in an oven but there has been a breeze 
and some clouds so it doesn't seem too bad.  Our day off yesterday went by 
all too fast, and a lot of us were pretty tired starting out this 
morning.  About the time we finish it seems we are perking up, and as each 
day goes on in the week we feel better and better.  Each week gets easier 
too.

We left Springville, Utah this morning and hauled to the start, it took us 
62 minutes.  Then I tacked up the horse and vetted then we started at 6:00 
a.m.  Today was especially neat because we started at the site of an actual 
pony express station and spent the entire day going from station to 
station.  I took photos of all of the markers and buildings that 
remain.  We're now camped at Simpson Springs.

The trail is rugged and beautiful, mountains and trees....we spent most of 
the time riding along on a singletrack trail that parallels the dirt 
road.  Lots of crickets out here, on the road, in the bushes. Covering 
everything.

Oooops, John and Steph just came into camp the wrong way :+P and now have 
to go back out and around the right way.   Awwwwwwww shuks!  Their kids 
painted up their crew vehicle and I got pics of that today.

I sent my crew stuff with John and Dolly today, and that way Dave got a day 
off from crewing.  Only his second day since starting the ride.  The other 
day was when he had to go get the truck fixed in Wyoming.  It worked out 
well since Dave got to the new camp early he got a nice big corral for my 
two horses and an even bigger one for the Lakso's horses.  They were also 
crewing for Troy who rode with Dave Rabe and Sands and since they were 
going even slower they weren't back to camp yet (their rig) by the time 
Kayla and I finished.  We took about 9 1/2 hours today.  I don't see how we 
could go much faster in this heat.  I rode Rocky today, I can't even 
recollect right now how many days he's done.  So much for my math skills.  ha

Dave took my camera to go take some photos of the pony express 
station.  I'll get them downloaded and put together later, if I'm 
awake.  I'll try to upload them at Schellbourne.  I did at least take a 
shower just now and am sitting in the shade watching the horses in their 
corral.  Oh goody, I can sleep tonight without them rubbing and itching and 
rolling while tied to the trailer.

Kayla rode Buddy today, her acrobatic horse (the one who did the flip).  He 
did really good, seems to be recovered from his tumble.  We're a little 
mismatched though, since before we were riding Buddy and Weaver together 
they go together better than when we mix our horses up the other 
way.  Maybe next week we can get them back together again.

The desert terrain is a welcome change, though in a couple more days we'll 
probably be tired of the dry heat.  I think that it was great for Rocky 
today, it's what he is used to and did excellent taking care of 
himself.  He drank out of puddles that most horses won't look at and just 
inhaled all the grasses.  He hasn't stopped eating since we finished an 
hour ago.  I need to weigh him and see where he is, last night when I 
weighed him he was at 876.  His normal weight is about 900 so he isn't 
doing too bad for having been traveling for 7 weeks now and gone a whole 
lot of miles in various conditions.  Weaver is holding his weight even 
better and could maybe stand to lose a few more pounds <g>.

I should take a nap now..................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
at Simpson Springs, Utah
....only 11 days to go!