Hey Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, yay, but got off to a slow start this morning handling a bunch of computer work, mostly trying to plan for the next couple of months of travel, trying to figure out where to go and when. Got some preliminary decisions made, found a stable for when I have to fly out to Vegas (finally got the dates settled for that!), so I'm well on my way on my planning. I finally got Apollo saddled and we headed out with Lola, going in the opposite direction on the trail today. Once, on a hill, I even managed to get Apollo into a canter! I can't remember how long it's been since I've been able to get him to do that, the fat slug! Of course, as soon as we got to the top, I realized he'd lost one of his boots (typical, right?), and I spent 20 minutes trying to find it. Oddly, though he lost his right boot, so naturally I was looking all along the right side of the road, and finally found it, on the LEFT side of the road! Weird, but I remember that time when he lost a boot once when you were riding him in Pennsylvania, and it did the same thing, ended up on the opposite side of the trail, which is why I decided to look there, and viola! Found it! I had a group of three women pass me while I was looking, but they didn't see it either. Then I passed a woman, leading a mule, evidently her farrier had trimmed her mule's hoofs to short and the gravel was bothering him, he was limping a bit. She still had a long way to go back to the day parking area, but fortunately I had an extra bottle of water that I gave her, but there's wasn't much else I could do, so I carried on. Then I passed the three ladies again when they stopped at a picnic area, stopping for a brief chat, then Apollo lost his boot again, but his time I saw it before it even quit rolling. We finally got back to camp around 4:30, and I was debating whether I wanted to go for a kayak ride so late, but then the three ladies arrived in camp, and they came over to socialize for awhile, and one of them even bought a copy of my book! After they left, I started thinking about my schedule again, and also about whether I wanted to try to take a vacation this winter, when it suddenly occurred to me. One thing on our bucket list that we never did was to take the mule train down the Grand Canyon to the bottom. Yes, we rode our own horses down the Bright Angel trail a ways, but never to the bottom, so I decided, since I was going to be in Vegas in early October, I'd check to see if they had any openings. Well, it seemed according to the website, that they were booked solid until summer next year, but then I called and spoke to Adrian, who informed me that yes, indeed, I might be able to accomplish it! So we went back and forth on the phone for quite some time before figuring out how to do it. It means I will miss the Skymont ride this year, because that was the only thing that worked in the schedule, but I'll be riding down just one week before the 10th anniversary of when we rode down on our own two horses! We had gorgeous weather then, I hope for the same this year! So I'm still working out the logistics, and I'm trying to figure out a way to also do a whitewater rafting trip while I'm there, too, but that's complicating things as well, but you know me, I'll find a way! I knew there was a reason I kept putting off the last camping reservation I needed to make in Indiana, because now all those plans for that week will change! Anyway, when I finally got off the phone it was after 8:00, so I took my shower, made dinner, settled in for a mere hour of television, and now I'm off to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Speak Your Mind