Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 – Water and Work Day

Woke up to find a ranger writing up pay envelopes for both vehicles, had a long discussion with him about it, before he agreed to take my issue (of paying for a full second vehicle) to his boss, who was the one that told me “tow” vehicles didn’t have to pay a fee. Anyway, he did tell me that there was water at Buckland station, which is just over the bridge on the main road, barely a mile away, rather than going all the way into the park to the dump station, so after breakfast, Hubby took the horse trailer and the two portable rain barrels to fill those up, while I spent the day working on the computer and doing paperwork. I have 4 bars of 4G on my phone, but it’s still dropping calls on me for some reason. Internet’s working fine, though, so I got some work done. Had another pleasant evening, looking forward to our ride tomorrow, and finally achieving our goal of having ridden in all 50 states!!

Monday, Oct. 6, 2014 – Travel to Ft. Churchill SP Nevada

After a couple more relaxing days (though hunting season began, so we heard some gunfire, and several more folks came in over the weekend), we headed out to what will be our 50th state (the horses' 48th), as we close in on our final goal. After speaking with several of the locals, we abandoned our original route because we heard the road was extremely rough on trailers, with lots of bouncing dips which would slow us down considerably, so we headed back toward Alturas (a much easier drive than going the easterly Cedarville way, according to Hubby) where we picked up fuel and breakfast and headed south on 395. Arrived in Fernley,where I had found some alfalfa/grass mix for sale, we bought 11 bales, then headed to Walmart to do our shopping, then ran out of time to get propane (figured we could get it later when we pick up parts from the RV store in Carson City later in the week), and headed straight for Ft. Churchill State Park. We went to the dump first, picking up water in the RV and the horse trailer, enough to hold us over until tomorrow, then proceeded to the Scout Camp. Turns out to be a lovely spot, a stretch of cottonwood trees along where the river is supposed to be (it dried up a few months ago, apparently), a welcome site after so many miles of barren desert. We arrived just before dusk, and managed to get the horses settled in to two very nice corrals side by side, and, fortunately, Hubby was even able to get a satellite signal before full darkness fell. Had ourselves a cocktail before settling down to a movie and a quiet evening, though we're only about a mile from the main road, so it's not quite as quiet as the last place, but not bad. Just glad to be here after a long day!

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014 – Ride Day at Pepperdine

After several days of just resting, hanging out, trying to stay warm (nights were down in the upper 30's, days upper 50, low 60's), doing mundane chores and generally finally getting caught up on our sleep, it finally warmed up enough, almost 70, to take our first ride here. Unfortunately, there is really only one trail, so a linear ride is all we can do, and neither one of us wanted to go too long and wear ourselves out again, so after a very leisurely morning, we finally saddled up and got out about 2:00, without boots today because it looks like the trail is mostly just dirt. We headed out on the perimeter trail around camp, then missed a turn up the trail, instead going down to the trailhead road that was gravel, and led to another area with corrals which we didn't know about, but it looks more like a day use parking area rather than a camping area. Got back on the right trail when it crosses the gravel road about 100 feet up the road. Naturally, being named Summit Trail, the whole first part of the trip was climbing, first through old growth evergreen forest, then suddenly as we reached near the first plateau, the terrain changed completely! Only short stubby bush-like trees, the trail got very rocky until we reached the top of the plateau, and it suddenly felt like Texas, or some other fairly barren rocky place. Then, as we turned the corner toward the west, we got a sudden, impactful view of Mt. Shasta way off in the distance. Still covered with snow, it was certainly beautiful to see in the distance. Fortunately, once we reached the plateau the trail became mostly dirt again, with just a few stones, nothing to hurt the horses' feet. We carried on for a bit, but when the trail started to go down again, we both agreed that we didn't want to go down just to have to come up again, so we stopped there, tied up the horses and enjoyed the view for a bit. Before long we were heading back to camp, and in the end, we only did about 3.5 miles, probably our shortest ride ever, but it was enough for us, since we both had the goal of not wearing ourselves out. Probably good not to strain the horses too much too early as well, since it was a pretty good grade going up and down. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable ride, just what we wanted.

Monday, Sept. 29, 2014 – Laundry Day

After the constant rain over the weekend, the spigot nearest to us was working well today, so I put a long hose on it and managed to get almost ¾ of a tank of fresh water, which I promptly used to do four loads of laundry under a very breezy, sunny, quick drying day. Eventually the hose didn’t have enough pressure to fill up the tank, but at least I managed to get the job done! Hubby, meanwhile, ran down into town for gas and groceries to keep us going for the rest of the week, and to reconnoiter our exit route for whenever we leave. It’s forecast to be quite chilly until Thursday, then warming up nicely for the weekend, so we’re considering staying until next Monday, since we have all that we need here, and it’s free, and the only downside has been the very cold nights, with even a freeze warning for the next few nights. Just need to bundle up and keep warm!

Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014 – Football and Blog Catchup Day

It rained all night, we had buckets of water, and even the rain barrel had a lot of water in it, though not as much as I thought it would, probably because it has a leak in it somewhere, another job for Hubby to look at when he has some time and energy. We’re both feeling a lot more rested, finally, and we haven’t seen a soul up here since the first day! Very quiet here, just what we need for recharge out batteries. Had to do a water run, but before I did, I checked the spigot that was closest to us, and YEAH, it worked! Instead of having to run the trailer around, filling the rain barrel, then sump pumping it into the RV, all I had to do was string out enough hose (which, fortunately, we had) to reach from the spigot to the RV. Yeah! That means I can get some laundry done, as the forecast is sunny for the rest of the week. Hubby will have to run down to Cedarville tomorrow for more gas for the generator, but we’ve now solved all our problems, and I’m starting to really like this place. Won’t be much dust after all the rain, so now I’m looking forward to riding here, too, maybe later in the week when it warms up. That’s the only drawback here at this time of the year, it’s a bit chilly, in the low 40’s, even upper 30’s during the night, while it’s 10 degrees warmer in the valley. No worries, though, we’re keeping warm, and the forecast is for upper 60’s later in the week. Not sure how long we’ll be staying, depend on the progress of the weather. Don’t want to miss our window going south, as we do need to spend some time in the Reno area, getting mail and getting the van fixed, if possible.

Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014 – More Rest, Rain, Movie Day!

Indeed, it rained last night, and most of the day today, so we had several full buckets, though my rain barrel got turned over in the wind. We decided to make it a rainy movie day, since we recorded a whole lot of stuff and just haven’t been able to run them down very much, particularly with all the new series stuff we’re watching. Great, relaxing day, and my back is feeling much better, thank you.

Friday, Sept. 26, 2014 – Recovery Day from Wrenched Back, with Some Overnight Rain

Woke up with tremendous back pain, proving I was right that I wrenched my back yesterday. Took some ibuprofen and relaxed in my recliner most of the day to rest it. Hubby, thankfully, was feeling well enough to do my chores, with all his recent injuries in abatement, yeah! Expecting some rain tonight, so we put out all the buckets and rain barrels under the gutters on the RV, with a bit of luck, it will save us from having to do the water run for an extra day or two.

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014 – Rest Day and Computer Day

Another day of rest and computer work. When we fed the horses in the evening, I tried to carry an extra heavy hay bag, and I have the feeling it’s going to become a problem, but you know how that goes… I think it might hurt tomorrow, but we’ll see.

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014 – Rest Day

Did some work on my computer, but otherwise did little else but try to get caught up on some computer work that I’ve let go because of all our running around, thankful I have a good enough signal to get onto the internet. Not super speedy, but at least it’s there!

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 – Travel to Pepperdine Horse Camp

After having left our $5 camping fee in the iron ranger at the other campground, we headed out for California, winding our way back through Oregon, then down into California, where the moment we crossed the border it became an agricultural dream. We passed thousands of acres of green fields dozens of semis filled with hay and alfalfa, and lots of other grasses and similar crops. We arrived in Alturas, where we got gas, groceries and liquor, stopping for a couple of bales of hay (at a whopping $22 for a grass/alfalfa mix and $20 for grass hay, albeit it 3-string, 110 pound bales) because Clio just won't eat the stuff I bought up in Bellingham, and has started to lose weight because of it, also a stop at the ranger station where they didn't have anything even remotely like a trail map, but did let me know that there is only really one linear trail that runs from one end of the forest to the other, and anything off that trail would be treacherous. We finally headed out to the country road that would get us there, and it turned into dirt with seven miles to go before the horse camp. The road wasn't too bad, having been graded fairly recently, but it was pretty twisty, and had tow one-lane bridges, at which, naturally, I ran into a horse trailer coming from the other direction at the same moment, so I had to back up to give him room to come across. We finally reached the turnoff to Pepperdine Horse Camp, turning by a couple of large pieces of equipment that were evidently doing some kind of road or forest work. We managed to find the campground with no problem as there was good signage, and circled around to find a good spot. There was a spigot by the day parking area, another by the group camping area, and a third up near the individual camping area. Unfortunately, the top one, which was nearest to our camping site, didn't have any water coming out of it, so I stopped to fill up at the lower spigot while Hubby reconnoitered which site would give him the best chance at a satellite signal. I was disappointed in the water situation, but discovered to my delight that I was actually able to get a good enough cell phone signal for both calls and internet!! I had lost the signal miles back, but I guess we climbed close enough to the top of the mountain to clear the obstacles. Eventually, Hubby managed to get a satellite signal, while I ran back down to fill up a rain barrel in the back of the horse trailer for the horses. We were so tired from the drive, I couldn't wait to settle down. It's tough to move every single day, and we hoped that we could settle down here for a spell, though being at almost 7000 feet, the temps were definitely a consideration. We knew nights would be cool, just not sure how cool, we'll have to wait and see. The water situation wasn't promising, because I had hoped to get some laundry done, and the prospect of having to fill a water barrel then sump pump it into the RV for that wasn't particularly attractive. We put both horses in one of the large corrals, though after trying to feed them separately without success, we ended up moving to separate corrals, giving them lots of space, but no shared warmth. We put on their warm blankets just to be on the safe side. Eventually, we finally settled down for the evening, already getting dark by the time we finished all our chores, having seen only one car with a couple and a dog come into the parking area. Otherwise, looks like it will be quiet here, and the best part, it's free!