On March 1st, 2010, my friend Walter and I set off on an adventure with my Arabian horse, Sojourner. I rode Soj across America and Walter drove our little truck (with no trailer). The trip began in Los Angeles, California and successfully ended in Bath, New Hampshire 8 months and 14 days later. It was a 3,700 mile ride.

We rode in celebration of family and as an outreach to those dealing with divorce-related depression.

This ride tells a tale of love in many forms - through the people we meet along the way, our connection with the horse, with the land, and with each other.

As this blog goes on it gets more and more in depth with tons of photos and experiences. Snuggle in with a cup of tea and read this like a book. I have switched the blog around so it reads start to finish so you don't have to read backward (except the first entry).

Here is our story...

on phone

4/13/10

Camping tonight. No computer. Will be in Payson tomorrow and we are staying 2 nights so I can write. Saw a snake the width of my forearm and wild boars. The snake was deep Orange ish red with black diamonds and black spots. It gave me a little adrenaline rush. I think it was sending "get away" vibes. Walter is setting up camp. Soj is eating. Jordan is back with the broken ambulance. Gotta figure out a trailer situation. Lots to take care of in Payson.

3 comments:

  1. I tried to identify your snake friend. It's hard because the ones in the representative photos often vary a lot in color from the ones we see in the field. Plus, there are a lot of different types of snakes in Arizona!

    But I'm going to go with Gophersnake. http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subpages/h-p-catenifer.html It's found all over the state, is active day and night, and one of the representative specimens is orange with black shapes like diamonds and black spots. The largest ones get to be over 7 ft. long. That's a big snake!

    I'm sure he just didn't want to get stepped on by those sharp hooves. You can't blame him for asking you to keep your distance. :)

    Lots of beautiful snakes in Arizona. Many that I'd admittedly prefer not to encounter, but they're all beautiful.

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  2. Just learned something interesting about the "wild boars". Unless they were feral pigs, which is possible, they were javelinas.

    I suspected that they were javelinas, but what surprised me is that I just learned that javelinas aren't pigs, although they are related to pigs going way back and sure look like pigs. They are in the peccary family from South America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccary

    Awesome wildlife sightings, Linny!

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  3. Hey! Cool! I was hoping you would figure out what kind of snake that was!!
    I wonder if they were just plain old pigs. :) ha. They were wild though, I'm sure of it! They were all skittish and the mama pig was growling and grunting at me. I will post a video of them tomorrow and you will have to tell me if they look like javelinas!

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