Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014 – 50TH STATE RIDE DAY!!!

Well, we did it! We rode in our 50th state!!! And our incredibly well-traveled horses rode in their 48th!!! Wow!! We saddled up later, but we got out around 1:30, heading towards the primitive horse camp and an area known as Hercules (not sure why), on a lovely, sandy trail that followed the river (which is dry because of all the drought they've had in this region), and weaved around tall cottonwood trees. After driving through so much desert to get here, riding amongst trees was truly a pleasure. After going about 3 miles or so, we decided not to do the entire length of the trail, but to curve around up to the "overlook," a spot with a picnic table and a gate that let us out of the park onto the dirt road that separated the State Park from BLM land. The road actually paralleled the original Pony Express Route, and for a while we thought we were actually on it, but it turns out we were next to it (not that the terrain changed much). In all, we did about 6.3 miles, the second half in beautiful sunshine, so I got to work on my tan as well as get in a ride! And our 50th state to boot!! It seems almost impossible to believe that we've been on the road practically full time for nearly 5 years!! It's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun! When we got back, I did some reading up on the Pony Express, and Buckland Station, which is just a mile from us, was a Pony Express stop, and there's a group area on the other side of Ft. Churchill State Park know as the Pony Bob Haslam Group Area, Pony Bob being one of the more famous riders on the Pony Express. Fascinating history, and what strikes me most interesting is that the Pony Express only lasted 19 months, yet it made such an indelible mark on our country's history. The route was eventually sold to Wells Fargo, and I noticed that on Google Earth, you can still see a lot of those original stage roads! Fascinating! A great day of accomplishment as well as learning!

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!

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!