Sunday night at the bonfire the subject of the 11 mile dirt/gravel road into the ranch comes up. One of the riders is in the guard or reserves and says "the everyday roads in Afghanistan are like this road." I expect that from now on part of the lore of the ride is going to be that "the road into camp is just like Afghanistan" Someone congratulates me on riding 3 days and I reply and it was three days of Angie McGhee "Its not over till I'm over" rides.
It Aint over till I'm over
It was 1 am by the time I gave the horses a last snack while running by pickup to get the furnace working and heat up my little living area. --I am not setting any alarm so I want them to be good until whenever. It was nice and toasty to change into PJ's and I even turned the temperature setting down so it would quit running. Slept well but am awake at about 6:30 from the bright light. So I stumble out, pull Shades wool cooler the rest of the way off of her --the velcro in front had come loose and the back of it was just about at her fetlocks. God I love my 'crazy Ayrab'. I took Grey's sheet off since he has more fat cover and did not work hard over the weekend. Give the horses the last of the alfalfa hay cubes and crawl back into bed, arranging my covers to block most of the light from my eyes. Doze on and off and get up again around 9.
I was very leisurely in packing things up, made myself more coffee, took the horses for a long walk/grazing session, even washed all my dishes and wiped down the counter and stove top. NO I do not clean like that every time, I often just pile rinsed out cups and the coffee pot in the sink last thing before driving home but I wanted to let the road get nice and dry. I have 4WD and it did well getting in but I just have zero desire to see how well I can handle slick roads, I only have about a 4 hour drive and don't have to be back at work till tuesday noonish.
Eventually I pull the horses away from the grass after letting them have one last leg stretch. They would have been happy to just be left to live there --at least until winter set in. I stopped in Cheyenne and dumped my portable tank at the rest area. It was not very full but I didn't want to find out at Buffalo creek if 5 weeks of summer heat overwhelmed the treatment packet ya know. Then I decided to top off the tank at the Loves station, thinking I would save a little time with the pay at the pump option. HA-- I guess I just needed to remind myself how much of a pain it is to fill a rig with a trailer at that station, but eventually we were on the road again.
Driving along I-25 hitting the colorado heavy traffic from everyones weekends and suddenly realize traffic is nearly stopped ahead of me. Have to brake hard and apparently the trailer brakes are not 100% balances as the trailer gave a good whip, but at least just one. SORRY horses, they were pizzed, the trailer was shaking so much a couple of times when the traffic was practically stopped I was wondering if Shade was down and having difficulty getting up, Grey stuck his nose out so I knew he was OK. I am debating pulling onto the shoulder and thinking I had better not in case emergency vehicles had to run on shoulder to get to a wreck. Several minutes of this and we pass a vehicle pulled over by highway patrol. No scrunched fenders, one set of severe skid marks who knows how old. ARRGHH all that stop and crawl just for someone pulled over, no lane blockage, or even damaged vehicle to wonder about? I was annoyed then. Took the next exit in a couple of miles and pulled over on the ramp to check on Shade. She was fine, looked at me like why are we having such a slow and 'bumpy' ride home but was fine. Rest of the drive proceeded with no problems and we got home just a little before 7. The other horses were still in the pasture. Razz came up to say hi, but went back out. Shade rolled and got a drink and was up by the feeders so I gave her and Grey Moun a couple flakes of hay. Grey wanted to browse in the pasture but he wanted to stick with Shade even more.
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