Sojourner

Touching Base...

2099-12-31T18:38:00.001-07:00

Some time has gone by since we completed our ride and the other day I went through a bunch of old clips to put together this little video. Man oh man...what a time that was. Life really can knock you over with it's swiftness. Something I dreamed about for so long is already now something I look back upon.

Check out the latest article in Arabian Horse World with pictures by Melissa Wright!

CLICK HERE

My wedding was sort of the same way. We prepared for it all summer. People I love so much came and went in the blink of an eye. Some of them I only got to see for mere minutes. I was warned that weddings are this way, but the warning still didn't prepare me for the wave-like moment it was...all crashing in fast and then swooping away back out to sea just as fast as it came. But waves keep coming, don't they? Thank goodness the waves keep coming.

This video was my gift to Walter. I wouldn't normally post a bunch of baby/adolescent (especially when they are oh so flattering) pictures on the web, but Walter and I fell in love while I told our story on this blog and so many of you were right there reading when it happened. The baby pic section is short anyway...most of it is the ride.

I am leaving this blog to keep it at as only the story of the ride, but please join us at our new website and blog at:
www.linnykenney.com

See you there! ~Linny

2099-12-30T12:32:00.002-07:00

9/1/08

2099-12-29T09:31:00.001-07:00

Two months ago I went for a run in the canyon and I turned to hear loud singing from above. Soon two horses appeared with riders-one singing his heart out and the other laughing at him. I smiled at them and continued running and then when I had gone a little ways ahead I thought, "why am I being shy? I am about to ride a horse across the country and here are two guys who obviously live near by on horses!" So, I stopped and kinda pretended to stretch for a while until they caught up. Eventually they came along and I said hello. They asked me if I wanted to pet the horses. I did, of course, and told them that I work at Ricochet Ridge Ranch up in Mendocino. So, we exchanged numbers and went our separate ways. We text messaged back and forth a little bit, but I was leaving Hayward for Mendocino and so we gradually lost touch.
A couple of days ago I went to look at some horses and met a wonderfully kind woman with beautifully cared for, loving horses. It was such a pleasure to be with them and it made me really feel like I was going to be getting my horse soon. I would love to get one from her because she is a beautiful person with beautiful horses, but either way-I can still feel that the horse is coming soon. So, I called "Henry" again.
Now, I put Henry's name in quotations because neither of the boys that I met were actually Henry. The one boy said to call that number because he had his cell phone at the time, but by the time I called back two months later it was back to the original owner (I think he was their dad or uncle or something). Anyway, I called Henry and he said "come on over, I'm in the corral". I thought I was talking to one of the boys I met on the trail, but when I pulled in I could see it was someone else. He was trotting his horse beautifully around the corral and as soon as I got out of the car he said "Hello! Jump on a horse"! I said "oh, wait...really?" and he said "Yeah! Jump up!"
So, I did. My sister, Caiti, was with me and she is still a little nervous about riding but Henry insisted that the horse was gentle and before long a family member was out to help her up too.
So, off we went-Henry, his best friend from childhood, me, and Cait into the night on our horses. We went right down the road-walking on the sidewalks when they were there and just down the road when there weren't any. Then we went on a trail through the woods and it was so dark I couldn't see at all! Eventually my eyes adjusted, but it was so fun to put my complete trust in the horse. The moon was nearly full, the stars were out, and the lights of the city on such a clear night were incredible.
Henry and his best friend moved to Hayward from Mexico and they live with their families all together on the ranch. When Cait first got up on the horse and was nervous, their kids came out to assure her that it was okay and that they too were nervous when they first started. They were instantly welcoming-as if we were family.
We even stopped at a general store and let the horses stand outside the shop while we got four waters. This was funny because Henry and his friend asked Cait and I so many times if we wanted water and we said "oh, we're fine, thank you" over and over again. It was as if they couldn't bear the thought of getting a drink and not giving us some so he yelled in the door of the shop to his best friend "quatro agua!" and minutes later we had big bottles of water for the rest of the ride.
When we got back to the ranch they showed us how they've trained their horses. It was incredible! The horses were turning in extremely tight circles without a bridle. The rider only used his legs and voice. These are horses that were nervous and totally untrained when they came to them. He could even make the horse put his left leg forward and then his right-the same way you would ask a dog for it's paw. Henry told me that the horse is the mans best friend and no matter what stresses he may face during the day he is able to groom his horse or jump on it's back and all his stresses go away. When he said this he lifted his arms into the air and smiled. I could feel love and care in everything he said. He truly loves his animals. We laughed and joked about the pigs they aquired because they saved one from being used for tests. Apparently one of the pigs had already had $7,000 put into it for tests and the people who do the tests want the pig back. Henry and his family said "No way! You can't have this pig back! I wouldn't want you testing my eyes!"
They couldn't guarantee that the pig would be able to see again after the tests so the family said the pig stays.
I even milked a goat. They just wanted to share everything they had with us. They are less than a mile from me and I asked them if I would be able to board my horse with them until I leave for my ride in May. He said "of course". There was not even a second of hesitation. He only wanted to be sure that the horse would be level headed and safe for me to take on such a ride. He recommends that we keep the horse for a couple of weeks and try it out to be sure that we will be able to take care of each other out there. I asked him how much it would cost to board the horse and he said "Oh, nothing. This house is your house. Mi Casa es tu Casa". I couldn't believe it. Such instant care and comfort. They have skills that I am anxious to learn in these next five months (including Spanish!). They have a way with horses that I have never seen in real life. They are the real rodio guys who ride bucking bronco's and bulls and go out for long weekends to herd cows! All of this they are willing and excited to teach.
As Caiti and I were leaving they said "this home is yours".
There is such generosity and kindness out there. These people were less than a mile from me all this time and I never saw them-just right around the corner. One day I don't know them, the next day they say their house is ours. It's amazing and so perfect.
There is an organization called the Long Rider's Guild and they are also a big group of incredible people who have gone out of their way to offer their guidance for the ride. I am constantly overwhelmed by the energy and care people are willing to offer others. I don't even know how I will sleep tonight I am so happy!
I guess the lesson here is go meet your neighbors! I was so bummed about living in the suburbs, but look at what is here! Henry said he works very hard-6 days a week-but he doesn't care, in fact he loves it and smiles because he comes home to his horses and his family and to Henry, that's life and he's happy.
What an experience.

"...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world"...hardships, yes-so many hardships, but with people like that-it will all be okay.

10/29/08

2099-12-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

There is a child who looks to a mother for an answer. There is a mother who only knows what she knows; who asks herself the same questions but has to make something up to ease the fears of the little girl staring back at her. Who knows really? Who knows why anything is the way it is? I worry about my heart-it's safety-the pain it could feel knowing the pain it's felt-not wanting that again. You have a child without water. You have yourself to hydrate and you long for the day people will wake up and see that the world is not only theirs. That you are the same as them, could so easily be them, but you're not. You got the unlucky roll of the die. And die you will at the mercy of a massive water company or the ever weakening ability nature has to replenish. Finally we are hurting it so badly that it too can not bear the heart ache. The greed that we weigh on families is the same greed that we weigh on nature. Take as much as we can until the well runs dry and by then we will be dead and others will deal, but we lived while we lived, didn't we? We drove that car and turned the heads of those too naive to know better and we drank from a plastic bottle after our 30 minutes on the treadmill that stole water from a family in Bolivia. But we didn't know did we? Maybe the water came from some plentiful river in the Rocky Mountains. Or if we did know, we forgot-right after we turned our heads from the television screen. It's not you and so it's not real. It's not you and so you can't feel.
So I worry about my heart and you worry about your child's diarrhea that is taking away the precious last bits of water in her little system. So how do we look outside of ourselves and realize that the safety of our hearts is not at the mercy of some single other person? There is more than the father who left or the love that might one day break me. There is even more than your child that will die because she has nothing to drink. But then again, there is nothing more. There is nothing more than your child. YOUR family-your feelings-her life, her feelings, my little girl or my little boy. And so the tragedy turns us inward. We will always fight for ourselves and for those closest to us and we will fight wars and cause depression to others just like us because they are not us and they are not our children and so...and so....
Every day the equivalent of 30 jumbo jets full of children die strictly from the lack of water needed for the children to survive.
Imagine if 30 jumbo jets crashed every day.
The world would be in an uproar.
If these children were forced onto a plane by terrorists and then flown into the air (and not in good health either-sick and weak and oh so thirsty) and sent (knowing in their little minds what is to come) crashing to the ground.
And so it happens-only in a different way. They are not in a jet, but they die just the same. Water is a natural source that does not discriminate. Yet we humans with our twisted misinterpretation of our meaning on this planet and our personal value take what we can take and turn a blind eye. That child is so far away. She is a picture on a screen and that's all. I see her but I can't feel her. I sigh but I don't cry. I shake my head and look with pity to the person beside me but only until my world distracts me again and I give more thought to the bill I have to pay or what I should bring to the pot luck dinner.
My mother told me when I was a little girl that I would die of grief if I felt all the pains of the world when I asked her "why am I not crying? Why can't I feel this more?" I suppose she's right. One heart can hardly handle it's own hardships. One pain is the same as the other no matter what the source. You can't grieve for all but you can feel enough to want to help.
My mom had a box of wishes next to her bed and her wish was to bring her husband back to her. My sister wrote that she too would forever wish for selfish things from now on. She will always wish for her Daddy back even though a wish for world peace would be far more beneficial. Since I was a little girl I wished "let me make it as a singer. Let me always be able to sing". How removed I've been in this red white and blue country of disgrace. Not just this country though-this world. The rich and the poor and the middle all fighting to get on top like rabbits in a hole reaching for air. At this point it's each for their own. And what of the one on top? She or he will never be there alone. Like a rapper without his posse; it wouldn't work. So we strive for the top with our buddies with us. People with teeth that could jewel Paris Hilton and business suites scrambling by to the top floor of a building to overlook the city they own. And for what? To live your 100 years a little ritzier than the other? Confusing politics-jumbled words and promises-wars for power-disease for sex-music to feel what we've lost-culture to cater pretension-money for things of no value-a person who is embarrassed because she doesn't know how to spell a word that some small group of people created at some moment in time and now her intelligence is questioned. Why? Says who? ...

...get me up. get me up. get me a little higher so i can look down on them, but lord, bring a friend with me because i can't be here alone. i can't be up here alone. the girl is pretty but only if he thinks so-the antique is priceless but only if it came from royalty. only if that ass that shits like mine sat in it before i did. then i will want that chair to decorate my parlor so when he walks by he will see me not for what i am but for that chair that i have. but don't sit, don't sit. it's old and tired and the tree it came from is long gone and well, just look if you wouldn't mind and then let me numb you with a glass of brandy and we can talk about the rich and never know the poor...those poor poor souls. tisk tisk.

and another plane down.
and so we live like this.

Why Ride?

2099-12-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

2/3/09

I have been thinking a lot about how to express what it is I want to achieve out of this ride. I feel like everything I have, everything I am, I owe to my family. There is nothing that I have done or can do now or in the future without them. They are my strength, my confidence, my power, my love, my happiness.

My grandfather died over Christmas. My mom woke me up at 4 am to buy her a ticket because Poppy was going to be put on a respirator (he had driven himself to the hospital two days earlier for a checkup). She wanted me to buy her, myself, and Caiti a plane ticket to fly down there and be with him. Poppy refused the respirator and was going home on hospice, but his oxygen intake became less and less and it wasn't long before he was gone.

My mom and Cait and I didn't make it there in time to see him alive. He didn't look the same in the coffin. I have his pictures all over my room-his ties and cigars and I wear his shirt to bed at night. I wear his boots and his necklace. If I could have dove inside of him and made sure he got to where he was going happily I would have. I have never missed a person so much. It's an ache that comes and hits me in the stomach time after time throughout every day since he left. I looked at a picture yesterday and examined every bit of his face to pick out what still looked the same in the coffin. His forehead was the same. The thing that upset me so much is that I laid the entire upper half of my body on him in his coffin and hugged him and he couldn't reach back. Poppy would have wanted to hug me back and it would have upset him to be there cold and still.
But...then I had a dream. Poppy was in line at a fast food place and he asked me what I wanted to eat. I just walked up to him in the line and hugged him and asked him how I was supposed to deal with this. What do I do? How does one lose someone so sacred to them and still go on? How do I not cry day after day and ache like this? I could feel his chest hair and the medal I now have on my neck on his chest against my face. He didn't say anything but he held me so tight. He hugged and hugged. Maybe that was the hug he wanted to give me. Maybe it was just my brain, I don't know. It is funny how things happen though.

But this is my point. He is everything. My dad, my mom, my uncles and aunts and my cousins and brother and sister, my Grandma, and every amazing person that has come into our lives that I consider family now. Poppy knew what was real and what was important and he loved us to his core.

When I first decided I would ride across the country it was to talk to different people about divorce. This is still a focus, but I've decided I want any stories about family-no matter what the story is. I think we all relate and connect to family stories and it doesn't just have to be a hundred different stories of divorce, just stories about whatever.
This ride is about endurance and stamina. It's about overcoming difficult situations and connecting with strangers that become family. It's about being out in the land and with an animal whose life I will depend on as much as he depends on mine. It's about showing people through my little camcorder that there are others out there who feel the same pains, laugh the same laugh, cry the same tears, and have the same desire we all have to be seen, heard, loved, and live.
I don't pretend to have any answers about anything. All I know is that I love the land, this horse, music, people, and art, and I am going to connect them all the best way I know how.

Poem by Maurice Manning

2099-12-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

2/06/09

do you get happy Boss do you
get tickled by a funny bird
or doubled over by a tree
a lonesome tree less lonely Boss
because it has a horse beside it
it doesn't matter if the horse
is rubbing anything or not
as long as it's beside the tree
so simple Boss a horse beside
a tree it makes me happy just
to think about two things beside
each other the stick beside the fire
the rock beside the sleepy field
O Boss the moss beside my mouth
when I bend down to say it's me
you mossy bank you happy piece
of green it's me beside you like
a bird I thought I'd let you know
in case you don't have eyes I thought
I'd tell you Boss what always leaves
me happy if you didn't know
already Boss in case you spend
a lot of time beside yourself

2/15/09

2099-12-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

Linny Kenney Leather

4/9/09

2099-12-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

2 months to go....

2099-12-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

12/26/09

So we have two months left until we head out and I am ready to go! One of my closest friend's, Walter, is going to follow Soj and I in the PT Cruise ship (you know, that car with the mile wide turning radius). This helps a lot. This way I don't have to load Soj up too heavily and we will always have food and water.
I bought this amazing saddle that is as light as a feather but I probably could have found something a little more practical. Thankfully I work with leather so I can doctor it up a bit, but it doesn't even have D rings. I already bought some to put on it though.

Soj and I are going to start practicing a lot. There are some hills I can ride up in to and stay with him for a night or two....

Cait and I are in the recording studio in early January as well so we will have some new tunes out soon!

12/30/09

2099-12-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

1/9/10

2099-12-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Tiny Telephone Studio-new album out soon!! (pictures courtest of Andrew Rogers-www.andrew-rogers.com)

2099-12-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

1/17/10

Performance pics (pictures courtesy of Andrew Rogers-www.andrew-rogers.com

2099-12-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

1/17/10

I am making Sojourner's tack for the long ride. Feel free to place orders for you and your pony and I will start on it when I get to NH!!

2099-12-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

2/3/10

first big practice ride

2099-12-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

2/5/10

Yesterday we rode for 12 hours. I'm not sure how far we went, but we hit a lot of obstacles which was awesome for Sojourner. He was scared of nothing...even got on the trailer at the end of the night without a problem. We ran into a pretty deep river which he crossed without a problem, ran into a log filled with honey bees that we messed around with more than we should have and had bees chasing us....still no problem. We also crossed a crazy bridge that really scared Henry (he has been talking about it all day today), and picked our way through rocky areas and train tracks and held up a train. Today we went to the park so Soj could graze for a while. He seems fine today-a little tired, but not too bad. Last night we ended the ride in pouring, cold rain so it was nice to be in the sunny park this morning. Here are some pictures from yesterday's ride....

Pirate Cat Radio tonight

2099-12-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

2/7/10

Caiti and I are playing some of our songs off of our soon to be released EP and interviewing on Pirate Cat Radio (87.9FM) from 5-6pm. Listen in!!

2/11/10

2099-12-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Caiti and I are releasing an album really soon and I just posted one of the new songs off the album called "Dear Alice" on myspace. (www.myspace.com/linnykenney) This song is about our grandparents, Lou and Alice Trotta. Our grandfather died last December and left a lot of broken hearts.

This song starts off through my eyes watching her watch him, but then it moves to the two of them talking to each other once the drums kick in-Cait takes on my grandma's voice.

My grandfather had gone into the hospital for a pretty routine check up. He drove himself there and died 3 days later. We got a call that he might go on a respirator (which he refused) and we all knew we had to fly there right away. This was going to be the first time in a long time that all of his 5 kids were together so we all hoped Pop could hold on and we could at least all have Christmas together. This is when Cait is singing "I hate to see you leave with the kids still out of town. There are two days left to go. Could you try to stick around?"
It then moves back to my grandfather's voice telling his kids and grandma that it's okay and that he can feel himself breaking away from this life and opening up into the earth and the sky and finally he's able to dance again....and oh God, how he loved us all. That was the thing with Pop. He LOVED you. He really, really loved.

goats and computers don't mix...

2099-12-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

2/17/10

Morning! I wanted to post my route soon, but I was at the ranch showing Henry and the guys there a video I made of ranch footage and one of the goats came to check out the wires and brought it crashing down. My computer won't turn on now. It's kinda funny because when I was video taping that same goat was in a playful mood and came at me to headbutt me about a million times. Toni, the mama of the ranch, laughed and said he doesn't like to be filmed. I got him on film anyway, but in the end that little rascal won.
Not fun.

sister, sister, where art thou???

2099-12-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

2/18/10

I had to say bye to Cait for a while today. We have not spent a day apart for over 2 years and this is NOT FUN!! I miss her. She left a few hours ago with Sim. They are headed East. Cait is going to start an internship on a farm in April. My mom and I are talking about the land we need to buy so we can all live in our little houses on the same big chunk of land...with all of our animals running around everywhere. I can't be without that little, sweet girl. I miss her. Now I have to say bye to my mom and Stephen in a week. :(
Stephen has the CHP checking up on me and Soj in the desert so that's cool. I am about to buy a harmonica holder thing so I can play as I ride....
I need to go give Sojourner some grain now....

Sojourner in the city

2099-12-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

2/19/10

I took Soj down into town yesterday at rush hour and crossed all of the big intersections, went under flapping Subway signs and passed convenient stores, hair dressers, supermarkets, etc. Like me, most people are excited to see a horse so Soj got a lot of practice stopping and letting people pet him with a lot of other things going on as well. He was a bit on edge and if anyone happens to come across us, you should stand next to me to pet him because he does have a tendency to swing around with no warning and knock into you. I learned this yesterday with three little kids that were jumping and laughing and having the best time with him. He was enjoying them and their grass as well, but the other noises would catch his attention and nearly took one of them out. Lesson learned. He didn't even hit the kid though-it was just close. The boy continued bouncing and laughing and playing. I think I need to take him down into town every day until we leave though. He was good, but his head was high and he was definitely interested in everything. He doesn't love waiting for the light to turn to cross the street either. He kind of paces and I have to keep bringing him back to the cross walk to try and wait.
A convenient store owner came out to say thank you because he loved seeing the horse where horses never are. I thought that was really cool. That's the thing with horses-they are so amazing that someone will actually say thank you for bringing one around. I like that a lot. That's what I was hoping for with this whole ride. I think just being with a horse for a minute can make you feel better.

Oh! And I basically turned Soj into a unicorn as well. I just finished making his bridle and the headstall part of it has a pre historic shark tooth on it that my mom got for me. It's on his forehead and it looks like a budding horn. He's magic!

2/20/10

2099-12-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

I am feeling a little tired tonight-there is a lot to think about. I want to mainly concentrate on the ride, but there is also this new album that Cait and I have worked so long on and the bass player on the album, Jon, has spent days and days and days mixing and mastering it. So...I want to get it out there!! I am hoping once I am out on the ride and the anticipation of what it's going to be like and any trepidations I might have are put to rest a little then with the help from my family at home we can get the album out.
Anyway-I was just at the ranch and they were raffling off this fantastic little 18 month old buttermilk buckskin horse with amazing blood lines and great papers. He was awesome. He went for $35. Henry could take him and if I were staying I would take that little horse. I really liked him a lot....his color is incredible-he has a black mane his body is....well, buttermilk colored. He was sweet too-he's going to be a really good horse. I was just sitting in the living room talking with my mom about the ride and I found a tick on my face so I am going to go jump in the shower. I HATE ticks.

California Route

2099-12-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

2/23/10

So-here is the Ca route. I have the first night covered and I'm still looking for a place in Pasadena. I have a place to stay in Banning and White Water before I hit the desert and I'm going to take an extra day to go into Joshua Tree a bit and maybe stay at Ryan's campground. They allow horses. I am a little concerned about the very beginning of the ride. We are going right through the city on route 66, but I've been told it's not so bad. It's just hard to find a place for the night.

Yesterday I put all of Soj's tack on to see how it all fits. I made his bridle and halter, saddle bags, booties, and breast plate. All of those things fit nicely now (after a lot of going back and forth between him and my leather shop), but his easy boots are another issue....and his saddle. I bought a dressage saddle because it is treeless and is so incredibly light, but it slips! I have a sheepskin, super soft pad under the saddle. Maybe that is the problem. I don't ride with a very tight girth and I hate to tighten it so much just to get on him. He turns his sweet little head all the way around and looks at what I'm doing as I tighten it as if to ask why I would do such a thing to him. To tell you the truth, it doesn't even matter-the saddle slips towards me no matter how tight I make the cinch. Once I am up it's okay because my body keeps it balanced, but it's not good enough. I don't really know what to do. I kind of wish I was just taking a Mexican saddle. I'll just trouble shoot and put a different blanket underneath. I think that will probably fix it.
As for the boots, I measured his hooves and ordered what I thought would be the right East boots, but one fell off yesterday. There is a way to make them just a little bit tighter so I'll go try that and see if it helps, but they're still not as hard to get on and off as the pamphlet says they should be. AND! I bought a harmonica holder because I am going to learn harmonica as I ride and it doesn't fit the darn harmonica!! Geez Louise. So now I have to go buy a smaller harmonica, I guess...

The Unicorn!!

2099-12-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

2/25/10

I have to stay up most of the night tonight. I have so much leather stuff to finish up. I would like to go get my travel guitar tomorrow because I need to figure out how to attach it to the saddle, but Channel 4 news out of San Francisco is coming around lunch time because they heard I have a unicorn.

Sojourner stepped on my foot so solidly today. I mean he stood, leaned, and then twisted and then got confused at me yelling "nooooo!!!!! ahhhhh!!!" and he was SO hard to push off of me!!! In the end it didn't hurt all that much though. It just made me kind of mad. I was wearing little converse shoes. He is wearing rubber boots though and that actually helped a lot in keeping it from hurting me too much.

Anyway-I need to get to work on this guitar strap.
OH! One last thing-my fantastic step father, Stephen, has managed to find stops for Sojourner, Walter, and I every night of the way across CA! I'm psyched about that. Stephen's amazing. He taught me how to work with leather as well so he's been a huge part of making all of this possible for me.
We don't have stops in the desert though-we will just camp. That's going to be a long haul-a week of nothing-but the CHP is going to drive by to check on us every once in a while so that's cool.
Alright then! Off to paint!

leaving tomorrow...oh man !! !! !!

2099-12-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

2/28/10

I have to work out some saddle stuff today that is weighing heavily on me. Basically I can't get on it, so.....that's a biggie. ;) I mean, I can because I can whip myself up, but it's not ideal. If I put any weight into it slips towards me. I have a super soft sheep wool pad under a treeless saddle and I guess the two don't mix. Maybe it's that and maybe it's my girth. I am going to go get another girth now. I don't think it will change anything though because I never mount or ride with a tight girth....this thing is like I smeared butter all over his back for kicks or something.

Anyway-I've got to work that out today. Walter is on his way here. I just talked to him. He's boarding the bus in Yosemite right now. He should be in Oakland around 5pm. We leave tomorrow morning super early...maybe around 5am and we'll stay with some of Henry's friends in L.A.

Sojourner has been a bit spunky lately. Hopefully he is cool through L.A. If Henry can, he's going to ride with me the first day through the city. That will help a ton because Soj would be cool if Cantaro was there too. Plus, I would love to have Henry with me. I have to say bye to everyone at the ranch today and it's going to kill me. I made them all some leather gifts-halters and spur holders and things. I'll give them out tonight. Hopefully I can hold myself together. I feel like when you leave somewhere it's never quite the same when you go back...and you never really go back. This part of my life is closing and it's pretty sad. I mean, I know the people are still with me, but they have been such a huge part of my life every single day for the last year and a half. Henry and I talk about buying a massive chunk of land so we can all build houses on it and all stay together. He said he could build all the houses. Someday. :)

I should go get that girth. Geez.
It's sunny today which is nice-it's been so rainy. I'll give Soj a nice bath and tack him up with everything. I went to Tall Toad Music and got my little Martin guitar to travel with so that's all set.

Yesterday I was running errands and I was at a stop light and there was this guy just going crazy mad wild with whatever song he was singing. I think he was a little crazy. I think he was rapping actually. Everyone really steered clear of him that walked by and always kept an eye on him-in case he sprung on them or something. Then there was this one kid and I could see he was kind of smirking and when he came up to the cross walk beside the wildly rapping man he started dancing with him and the rapping guy stopped and smile HUGE and then they danced and sang together all the way across the cross walk. It was so sweet-made me smile huge. I love that the kid wasn't scared of him and didn't judge him and when the rapping guy saw him dance he totally stopped. He was so thrown off guard! Then when he continued he was in super throw down mode and they had a party across the cross walk. It was cool. Then the kid just walked on forward and the rapping guy continued his song and dance on his own. Such a sweet little moment.

Alright, alright, alright....here I go. Last day. Oh man. What have I gotten myself into!!!!?????

2/28/10

2099-12-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

"In each of us burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. As long as it exists within us we can never be destroyed."

That's a line from one of my favorite books "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay.

first night

2099-12-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

3/1/10

Writing from phone. In l.a. very tired. 20 mile ride tomorrow to pasadena.

27 miles ridden to Pasadena today

2099-12-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

3/2/10

My body is so incredibly achey. I learned a lot today. One thing being that this saddle I have just isn't going to work. Henry called today to see where I was and I told him about that saddle and he said "Linny!! Linny! Why didn't you take your saddle!" My mom is going to get the Mexican saddle from Henry and bring it down to me in Joshua Tree on Jan. 13th. Until then I will ride in this saddle or without one altogether and no saddle bags. This saddle will be okay without saddle bags, but it's not going to do the trick the whole way across. The saddle Henry got me will be much better.

Sojourner was a challenge this morning. He was very, very nervous about everything and very high strung. He was scared of the red paint on the side walk and finally one particular red sidewalk really scared him and he jumped right into traffic. Thankfully the car coming could tell Soj was a little freaky and had slowed down. Otherwise we would have been hit from behind. I got off of him instantly and walked. If I am beside him he is much less scared of things. Half way through the day he started to calm and by the end he was a dream. Totally amazing. He was calm and gentle and relaxed. When I let him into the arena tonight he ran around and even gave a little buck....before that he was instantly down for a roll.

Tonight we are staying with the Rose Bowl Riders in Pasadena and they could not be any more hospitable and kind. It's such a pleasure to stay there-beautiful horses to look at too.

Oh man, my body. Holy molasses, I need a massage.

Today was a good first day. We went through cities and through a river that was running pretty fast. Soj was awesome. I saw some other riders after we crossed it. They were on the other side of the river and had noticed us earlier on the other side so when I met up with them to ask where on earth I was they said "you crossed that river!!???" Soj was really cool about it actually. It was full of rocks under it as well and the river was so muddy that you couldn't see through it. I had to cross though. Before that were on a busy road called Foothill Blvd and so I got off on some trails that a guy recommended. This got us so lost. People have said "Listen to your horse" and it's a good thing I did because Soj was able to back track every turn. He even turned us around when I asked him to make a wrong turn. I was impressed when I went with him and we were back where we started. From there I tried another way and we just kept hitting fences. Then I ran into a man who told us how to get out.

I was thinking about the ride today and how I would gather stories from people and what to do and what not. If nothing else, that horse probably made 1,000 people smile today. It's just amazing how many people I talk to because of Sojourner. People instantly connect when in other circumstances they would just walk by. People pull over and get out of their cars and ask questions and laugh and smile and there is this whole awesome interaction that never would have happened without that fantastic horse of mine. I love it. It makes this all worth it. I can't wait to settle in to the groove of this a little more and have time to try and get the story out a little so people know we're coming and maybe there can be a time that I can meet and record a little. I'm not really sure how to do all of this yet.

I am wearing my Poppy's boots and they are fantastic for riding, but they just about destroyed my feet walking. Of course, they are the only shoes I packed. I even took them off for a while. So there I was in chaps and a cowboy hat and socks with my sleepy horse in one hand and my boots in the other walking down the sidewalk in the city at night.

Tomorrow we are riding another 25 miles to La Verne. I need to go sleep. I didn't pack enough clothes. Not at all. Walter is going to hit the thrift stores so maybe he will find some cool stuff. Oh! I lost my knife today!! I am so bummed about that. I loved that knife and I don't have another. I had it clicked on my chaps but I guess it fell off. I used it to cut my avocado this morning and that was my last moment with it...and a good moment it was.

This entry is maybe a little boring-so much happened today, but I am so very tired and I can't believe I have the same distance to go tomorrow....and in these boots and with this same body. As they say at the ranch "oh hellzzzz no". Nah, not really...I'm anxious to get to Joshua Tree so I'm ready to forge onward.

La Canada Flintridge to La Verne - 25 miles

2099-12-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

3/4/10

Yesterday we took quite a while to get here to La Verne. I stopped a lot. Sojourner and I had to go on a crazy road where I had to have him on the curb and I walked on the road facing traffic. A woman drove by and asked us to come over to her house so we ran across the street when there was a break in traffic and she filled up a kiddy pool so Soj could have some water and gave me hot tea and chocolate truffles. That was awesome.

We met a lot of kids yesterday and Sojourner is so amazing with them. He puts his head very low-almost to the ground and leaves it down there so the kids can pet him and hug him. They laugh and dance and play all around him and he never budges. I put a shark tooth in Sojourner's bridle and I joke that he is a young unicorn (because it looks like a budding horn), but I never say this to the kids and they always notice and say "he's a unicorn!" I love it. :) No adults have noticed his "horn" yet, but the kids always, always do. At one point there were 6 kids all around him from his tail to his head and we stayed with them for probably 15 minutes. He was so calm and gentle with them.

Last night was rough though. I stopped so much to talk with people that we took about 12 hours to complete yesterday's ride. We did the second half in 3 hours compared to 9 hours in the first half. We trotted a lot. Soj felt fine and ready to go so I just let him. He is a little sore though. This saddle is not working out at all. I am not going to ride him today. I'll just walk beside him. My mom is over nighting the Mexican saddle to us so we will have that soon. I hate to see him sore. It's not bad though. In fact, this morning he is much better. He will be okay once we get this other saddle. I can ride bare back tomorrow.

We got into the ranch really tired and it was kind of drizzly and cold and this really drunk or high or something woman came out and she was just miserable. We had called ahead, but at first a man answered the door and said he had never heard our names and started to shut the door on Walter. Then Walter said "wait, is there someone else I can talk to??" He guessed so and then led him to a couple of woman. One was an 87 yr. old woman who owns the ranch and the other was the drunken lady. By this time I was coming around the corner with Sojourner. Walter walked by me and whispered "this is interesting" and then the woman came out mumbling and stumbling after him. I said my name and put my hand out and she waved her hand in my face to dismiss me and threw herself around Soj's neck. Soj didn't like it and shied away so she grabbed the lead rope above where I was holding it and yanked hard to punish him and pull his head towards her. I was so mad inside and actually wanted to push her down, but I just told her to let go of the rope. She wouldn't so I took it from her and told her to stay away from the horse. I didn't yell or anything, but she made me so mad. Soj worked so hard all day and here is this woman yanking on his face. She never once looked at me-she just kept staring at Soj but then I backed him away from her and she stumbled to the porch steps and sat. I never saw her again. I have to go back there now and get Soj. Walter and I came to this Mc Donald's to use the internet so Soj can finish eating.
I couldn't sleep last night because Walter and I put our tent in the horse stall and we weren't supposed to do that so I kept thinking they were going to come out all drunk and angry and harass us. I got up at 4 and started getting Soj ready. It's 7:30 now and I really should head back and get out of there.
Today we are meeting very nice people though. I have already talked to them and one rider is coming out to meet me to show me some trails. It's a good thing too because one town isn't horse friendly and I could get a ticket. I didn't know there were any towns that aren't horse friendly. I mean-I rode down the busiest streets through tons of different cities in the last couple days and didn't have a problem, but I guess I was just lucky. That reminds me...we went over a crazy bridge and then the side walk we were on just ended. Sojourner must have known how serious the situation was because he did things that would usually scare him. We were on a highway with no shoulder and the sidewalk picked up on the other side across 5 lanes. There was no way I could cross 5 lanes to get there. There was never a break in traffic. It was SO busy. Sojourner and I were on the right side of the road walking with traffic. I had to make him balance on the curb and I stayed in the road with my body weight against him and walked slowly. Then we came to some sort of loud drainage thing and he didn't want to walk by it. Walter showed up at the perfect time and put his flashers on behind us though. We really held up traffic for a minute. SO many cars. I would not normally put us in this situation, but the sidewalk just ended!! It was awful. When we finally got out of there a man in a truck yelled out of his window "are you okay!?" and said that he NEVER could have made it through there with his horse. He said his horse would have flipped. It's funny, Soj is an Arabian and does spook at things sometimes, but when it really comes down to it he is totally solid and it's as if he knows when he really needs to stay calm-like with kids or with millions of cars whizzing by and me in the road. I am trying to be careful though and like I said, that was kind of out of my control.

So we are on day 3 and this is a lot of work, but it's really amazing. I used to dream about this as a little, little girl and now here it is. Yesterday I was looking at the sky and I could feel Soj breathing on my back. He keeps his head so close to me and I just smiled thinking "wow, it happened. Here we are walking to a place I don't know and the only familiar thing is this horse and the same goes for him with me and there are all of these smiling people..." and THEN a woman rolled by and said "you should have to clean up your horse shit just like the people with dogs do!" She was ancient and I told her life was too short to be such a grouch. She was oozing anger. She said "I almost rolled through your shit!" and then she rolled away grimacing and spewing frustration out of her wrinkles. I would have kicked his poop to the side, but I actually didn't know he pooped. It dries up into grass anyway! She is the only negative one so far though. Everyone else has been so excited and so happy to see him. It's like bringing an angel to people. They just stop and stare at him and take pictures and smile and say thank you and it makes me so happy because that's exactly how I feel about this horse and it's so cool to share him even for just a second.

I am going to post a video very soon. Thanks for following along and for all of your comments on facebook and email. I love getting them.

your posts

2099-11-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

3/4/10

By the way. Thank you so much for your posts, Nico and Seany and Jackie and Megan and Soula and mamasita...and everyone. I read them and love them and they make me smile, but I am a little slow to respond now because I only have bits of time with the computer and I want to use it to keep telling you what's going on! I will have more time once things settle in though and we will be taking 2 days off a week so I can do internet stuff on my off day.
Tons of love and thank you so much for the support....

87 miles in to it....

2099-11-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

3/5/10

We met these kids yesterday. They all came screaming when they saw Soj and RAN to the fence. They called Soj a unicorn and me Forrest Gump.

We met these kids today. They were adorable and so happy to be with Sojourner.

Yesterday I was supposed to meet up with a man who was to take me to the woman who had a place for Soj, Walter, and I for the night (last night). I walked about 10 miles or so and then saw a man in a long trench coat and a cool old hat mounted on a big mule standing at the corner in the distance. We waved to each other and when I finally got to him he dismounted and greeted me with a huge smile, water, and beef jerky. Now...I have been a vegetarian for about 10 years now, but little did I now I was about to eat beef jerky, ground beef, and sausage. I think my body could use the protein anyway and I am very grateful of any food offered to me, but I do think I may have thrown my insides for a bit of a loop! Anyway....as I chewed on the jerky we made our way up to this man, Bob's, house. I listened to his stories about how he married his amazing wife after dating eachother for 27 years and how she won him that mule for 15 dollars. We got to his house and he set Soj up with food and water right away. Walter was already there and hopped in his shower (after 5 showerless days). Bob showed me the shoes and clothes his wife, Monica, had laid out for me to rifle through and pick out some things to take with me. I now have some cozy ugg sort of boots and some better walking shoes and a red shirt with bull heads on it. :) But best of all...she gave me a blanket she made. It has horses running all over it and it is incredibly soft. I think it is now my favorite blanket. Yes, it definitely is.
I have been concerned about Sojourner's back and on top of that he is not retaining his water. He has started to pee a lot and is looking a little sunken in. Bob gave me an expensive saddle pad that has memory foam in it and should keep him from having any future back aches. I am so grateful for this. He also gave me electrolytes which I hope will help with Soj's water issues.

When it was time to head to the next stop that day, I grabbed Soj out of the pen and then Bob put me on his mule because I could hardly walk and he led Soj to where we met up with two other lovely women to take us over to Mary's house where we would be sleeping. Sojourner stayed just a few houses down at Linda's house. She kindly gave him shavings to sleep in and hay in an immaculate stall.
That night Mary had everyone over for a big lasagna dinner. It was like I was at one of my own family reunions. Everyone laughed and talked and sat around the table eating. I saw pictures of Mary's daughters in horse shows and was told a story about how Mary recently found the Valentine her husband had given her when they were 5 years old!! I couldn't believe that.
I was given gifts like hand and feet warmers and mole skin to put inside Sojourners shoes. I was even also given a blanket for Sojourner and some weight gain. Between all of them they pretty much set me up from every angle.

Back to when we were at Bob and Monica's house...Walter and Bob played a few games of pool while I took probably the best shower I have ever had (although tonight's was pretty awesome too). One thing about putting yourself in a lot of pain is that it feels SOOOO good to soothe it. It almost makes it worth it.

It's now the next day and Walter and I are back at Mary and Jeff's house now. I walked 21 miles today and once I dropped Soj off Walter and I headed back here to stay another night since we only had sleeping accommodations for Soj tonight . Mary had dinner waiting for us again.

The people I met in this town are amazing. If you are ever a girl on horseback and you want to know where to go, Rancho Cucamonga, CA is the place.

Today I played my harmonica for quite a while for the first time. I love it already. I started writing something, but I've probably forgotten it by now.
Tomorrow I am going to walk again even thought Soj's back seems totally back to normal. The day after tomorrow we aren't riding so he will have a good rest day then so I figured I might as well keep a saddle off tomorrow to give him a solid 4 days in a row without it. Henry's saddle is here now though. My mom sent it over night to Mary and Jeff's house along with some more clothes for me. :)

Today Soj had 2 German Shepherds nearly jump on his back. They were the most vicious dogs I have ever come across. They were drooling and growling and barking and the one just appeared at the top of this stucco fence that was taller than my head! It had jumped and was scrambling to get over just dying to get to Sojourner. It really scared Soj. He heard it before I did so I didn't know why he spooked and then all of a sudden this wild massive animal was right over my head. After that Soj was a little cautious of fences, but only for a minute and then he didn't care and he still isn't scared of barking dogs, thankfully.

I met a photographer who crossed the street to take our picture who is also traveling across the country to get as many different shots as he can.

Well, I have to say...if there is ever a day that I wonder why I am doing this, I just have to think back to the people in Rancho Cucomunga and I will have my answer. They are people I never would have met if I wasn't riding my horse all over the place. Now I have stayed in their house, shared dinner with them, seen their pictures, ridden horses with them, played pool...the list goes on. None of that would have happened otherwise. It's amazing that this happened and it's exactly what I had hoped for-these awesome moments with people. I will spend my life trying to give that to people in return. And yes, Bob, I agree...life is good.

Bob's brother's truck-Walter took this picture

The first night before riding (town of Sylmar) This is me and Becky and Henry and Chewy and a nice old man on a horse

talking with a reporter in Rancho Cucamongo

Bob

I set the camera up in the tree to take this. This was a nice little stop for us today. Snow capped mountains were all around us and the grass was nice and high for Soj

going over another bridge

Rough start, good ending.

2099-11-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

3/6/10

This morning was tough. I changed Soj's feed and added a weight gain supplement and I don't know if that got him all fired up or what, but he was a nut ball this morning. 87 miles with no problems and then we get to this 4-way intersection and for no reason that I could see he reared a little and backed away from me and I couldn't get a good hold of him and he broke away. He ran into the center of the intersection (in front of a tractor trailer truck) and then froze and then his little freak button was pushed again and he was off again. He stopped in a field, saw the ranch we had just come from, and ran back to where he slept the night before. I worked him out in the round pen for a while and he just ran and ran and ran. It made him sweat a lot which made me cringe because he has been peeing so much and losing water fast making him kind of drawn up looking. Anyway, he never really dropped his tail or calmed down but he had been worked for a while and I needed to get back on the road. Horses tend to repeat things so I knew at that same spot we would have a problem again so I crossed the street to give it a go on the other side. He still was really jumpy, but we were able to get away from whatever it was that he didn't like there. That was probably the scariest thing that has happened yet. It was awful. The thing is, we have gone through so much and he has been so amazing so I wasn't on guard as much as I should have been. Maybe the horses in the stalls on either side of him last night got him worked up. Maybe Soj was telling them our story and what we've gone though and the other horses said "MAN! That's nuts! You have got to be more scared!! You're a HORSE! Be scared like a horse should be in that situation!!" I don't know. Anyway, for the rest of the day I was totally on guard though. So after we were off from there we came to the next road to turn on and there were no shoulders and no sidewalk. We were able to walk fairly safely still on the edge, but it was a government area and we came to a whole bunch of soldiers with guns. They didn't have bullets in the guns, just powder or something, but they were about to practice and Soj already had one eye on them before they were even shooting. He was still on edge from earlier and I hoped and hoped that these guys wouldn't start doing anything. Then, of course, as soon as I was squarely beside them I saw the two sides starting to get behind things. Then there was a yell and they all opened fire. Oh man. Soj was pretty good though. What could have been was scarier than what actually was. He just kind of trotted beside me, but I had a tight hold on him and we got by alright. It made me feel kind of sick in my stomach though watching the guys shoot at each other. I can't believe we actually do that for real. I can't believe my grandfather was in a war. It seemed so unnatural and crazy and wrong.

The rest of the day was full of roads without sidewalks and speeding trucks with supped up engines, but we got here safely. Here is a town called Redlands. Oh wait, before I tell you about Redlands, there was also this nutty old lady who stopped me today. I was waiting for the cross walk to turn and it did and so I walked but there were two cars waiting to make a right. Soj and I have the right of way so I walked and the car behind the first car starting honking like mad! I put my hand out because I thought she was honking at the car in front of her (and they did too) and she started waving her hands frantically at me saying "stop!" I couldn't hear her-her windows were up-but I could read her mouth. I thought she didn't want me to walk so I pointed at the little white lit up man in the box that tells you to walk and just walked on. Then I get to the next block and hear "honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk honk!!!!" a thousand times more. I turned and here she comes all in a frenzy. I waited for her to turn her car off and she gets out as mad as can be and yells "can't you just WAIT!?! I want to take your PICTURE!" I said "okay okay". She said she didn't mean to scare me with the honking and I told her it didn't scare me it's just that I don't want Soj to get scared. She was still all upset and told me if that scares him he shouldn't be out on the road. I said it doesn't scare him really, he didn't have any reaction to it, it's just usually people just give one little friendly honk and you....well....that was a lot of honking". Anyway-she grumbled and made me pose for her and then that was done. She was so mad yet really wanted that picture.
Anyway-Redlands is a great little town. Right now I am in a cafe and there is a salsa class going on in front of me. We are staying at the most fantastic ranch called Sundance Ranch. The woman who owns it is just wonderful. We had dinner with her and a hot shower. Soj is looking a lot better. His back is 100 percent better and he is looking much fuller today. He still peed more than he should, but not as much as yesterday. I think the electrolytes are helping. It was suggested to me by the woman at Lazy O Ranch, where we stayed last night, the I add some apple juice to his water to get him to drink more. I think this is a fantastic idea. I really think Sojourner is going to shape up on this ride and that I will be able to get everything regulated. He has had this peeing problem before. I had the vet out and we did all of his blood work. He is totally healthy for what we could tell, but it might be good to have a little check up in the next couple days. I have to get a health certificate anyway to cross the border.
Walter mailed off some things for me today and organized the whole truck and let me know how the roads were up ahead. It helps so much having him out there.

rainy day, sunny conversation....

2099-11-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

3/7/10

(photo by Walter)

This is the old saloon we stayed in. Fred built this place out of old wood he found from various fences and what not. He and Janet have created an incredible place together. There is a cool old stained glass door from the famous Shakey's Pizza Parlor. They have 120 horses on their ranch.

(photo by Walter)

Sundance Ranch, Redlands, CA

It poured today. I was going to give Soj a bath and it started raining so hard so I just brushed him in the rain and sort of fulfilled my desire to clean him off a little. His back is totally better, but I will probably walk him half the day tomorrow. He is still looking lean. I did put apple juice in his water and he drank it all so that's awesome. Well, I think he drank it all. There's a chance the bucket collapsed, but it looked more like he drank it. I only think it could have collapsed because I got excited when I saw it empty and went to fill it up again and it collapsed all over me...so it does have collapsing abilities, that's for sure. I hope I can get his weight up and this peeing problem under control. Nobody worry though. I have my eye closely on him and this horse has my heart in his...hooves, so I won't push it if it looks like he's just not adapting to the stress of the ride. We will take it easy for a while or we will stop if we have to. I don't foresee that happening though. His energy is good and he eats a ton. I think this will just take some getting used to. He is so good through the traffic and the bridges and all the people constantly petting him, but I am sure it's a lot on him and stress can do a lot to a body. His body is like mine, I think. I really show it if I'm stressed. We are out of L.A. now though and slowly getting into the country so it's going to be a nicer ride for him this week and we are not putting on that many miles because we are timing it so we can meet my mama and Stephen in Joshua Tree for my mom's birthday on March 13th. We have to go 25 miles tomorrow, but after that we are doing 15 mile days and we are even taking Tuesday off next week. Easy peasy.

Walter and I started working on videos and pictures today. It takes a lot of time, but I might just put a raw video up here tonight so you can get a taste of what we're doing. I'll just put a little clip of us crossing a bridge. The sunset was really pretty.

We are still at the Sundance Ranch and the people here have been just incredible to us. Walter played poker with Janet's husband, Fred, while I took care of Soj and I was showed an old model T Ford and a bunch of old John Deere Tractors by this lovely gentlemen called Wayne. Wayne loves old cars and tractors. He laughed and said "everything is just nuts and bolts". The tractors were so beautiful and perfect. You could eat off of them. They all run too. The Model T was incredible. My dad put this love of old cars into me when I was a little girl. I kept thinking "Oh! If only he could see this!" He would have loved Wayne and all of his toys. I told Wayne that my dad has an old John Deere in our yard in NH and he lit up. Our old tractor just sits there. If I could blink it to CA by magic I would in a second for Wayne. Maybe I can drive it there. :) The next adventure. In fact, Wayne said he would like to start up his big tractor and go right along with me across the country. He said he could pull a trailer with the tractor so if Soj went lame we could put him in the trailer and just keep on going! I was able to spend the evening with Wayne and his wonderful wife, Kay, who has a laugh that fills you with happiness. They told me how they met when they were just little babies. Wayne remembers Kay from when they were little, but Kay laughed and said "I don't remember!"
Wayne was a rodeo rider. He rode bulls and bronco's. When he asked Kay to marry him she said no. She said she didn't want to worry that the person she marries might not come home to her one night. So Wayne quit the rodeo and told his boys they were going to have to this military thing at some point so..."you wanna just do it now??"
"Alright! Let's do it!" they said and off Wayne and his friends went to the Navy. He told Kay that he wasn't riding in the rodeo anymore so they married 2 years after he left for the Navy. When Wayne came back he started racing Cobra's for Carroll Shelby. Can you believe that?? Man, I would love to do that! Oh MAN! I would love to race a Cobra! Matthew, are you reading this??? Can you believe it?
My friend, Matt, has a 1964 and a half Mustang fastback. Black. Amazing. I was wishing he was there to talk to Wayne. I used to love driving his Mustang around. What a car.

Wayne raced for a while-the whole circuit....he rode in Daytona and everywhere else the big races are until they wanted to relocate him and Wayne didn't want to move so he stopped racing. For a while he drove trucks and started building and flying airplanes. Later on he and his wife started delivering mobile homes together and they said that was just a blast. They have been in all 50 states together. They laughed together telling me the stories of their travels. They said like me they didn't know where they were going, had never been there before and lived out of their suitcases. Always together.

Kay and Wayne have been married 52 years, 53 in August and Wayne says "and she's still my best buddy". Kay is in her chair near him on the couch and she just smiles. Kay says she is the more level one in the relationship and Wayne is always ready to get up and go and try and do and learn anything. He says once he knows how to do something he doesn't have any interest in doing it again because he's got it. He has a "so now what's next!??" attitude. They are both 71...almost 72.

There is so much more to tell, but I will let the videos tell the story once I get them all edited and ready. I think what I'll do is post little bits here and there on this blog and at the end of the ride I'll really take some time and try to put something really nice together. Maybe a documentary of sorts.

I got a voice mail from my sister today. She is at the house in NH right now. This is where the ride is planned to end. She walked all through the fields and by the beaver pond with sweet Sim and my dad. She said my dad showed her where he plans to build the corral for Sojourner. When I picture my dad I picture him out in that field or on a tractor. My dad has always been on a tractor in a field. Man, he and Wayne would love each other! They will have to meet one day.

When I was running away from Kay and Wayne's house in the pouring rain I was smiling the whole back to my place, hopping over all the puddles in my ugg boots that were given to me from Monica in the last town. Sometimes the beauty in people fills me up so much I feel like I could explode. There I was in a person's house who yesterday I didn't know at all and now I know so many stories from their lives. I know their voices and I know how they laugh and I know their loves and I've seen their pictures and know what their house smells like and I can tell when Kay is shy and I know that she hates the rain.
All of a sudden someone I didn't know yesterday tells me they will miss me tomorrow. That, to me, is life. That, to me, is what we're here for and I am forever grateful to them for giving me a bit of time in their precious lives to tell me their stories. This world can be scary and I am always warned by everyone to be careful and I know it's rough and there's bad, but the good is so good and it's worth going out to find. People have such heart. Heart like nothing else in this world. The things we could do....

tired

2099-11-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

3/8/10

Writing from phone. Can't stay awake. Will write tomorrow morning. At another great ranch with wonderful people in Banning, CA.

Banning, CA

2099-11-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

3/9/10

Top of the morning to you!!
Walter and I are sitting in a nice cafe in Banning, CA. Again we are with the most giving, wonderful people. We are staying at The Camelot Training Center. The second we got in last night the owner of the ranch and her friend worked like a couple of ants getting Soj a warmer blanket, wrapped his legs, gave him hay and grain and a tub of warm water and barley. He seems relaxed this morning. I got up later this morning and didn't get out to him until a little before 8am and he already had a mountain of food in front of him.
Athaea (the owner of the ranch) is extremely knowledgeable and says Soj looks good and healthy, but she agreed that we need to figure out this peeing problem. She recommended some different feeds that I will try. These feeds have the same amount of calories, but less protein.
On a good note, Soj's back is perfect again and he felt really strong yesterday. We were able to canter more yesterday which cut our time in half. There were long stretches of dirt on the sides of the road at times and when we could we would cut into the orange groves and canter down the rows. We even cantered along the train tracks with the train riding next to us. The train stops a lot so we kept passing each other throughout the day. The conductor started to get to know us and when he went by the last time he gave us a special honk.
Yesterday was our best ride yet. It's the first day that we haven't been in just pure city. I was able to work on my harmonica skills a little. :) I am looking forward to the days where I can kick back and we can just plod along on quiet roads playing the guitar. I'm sure Sojourner will welcome that change as well. He's quite a horse, that horse. The day we walk down the driveway in NH, past the 3 birch trees that represent me, my sister, and my brother, and the beautiful big maples into that big green field will be a great day. I daydream about letting Soj go and roll and run and eat. He will be so happy.
Walter and I were just talking about how amazing it is to have people treat you so kindly. It makes you so positive about the world and so much stronger. Their kindness pours into you like vitamins....like Popeye's spinach....and you're ready to take on anything. That's what support does for you. Support and smiles, a little food (and oh man, a bath), a story or two and a hug and we're on our way just a little bit better than we were before.
The power of people is truly incredible. It's so simple but it fills you like nothing else. To mix that in with the land so slowly moving by me and the constant breath of this incredible, loyal animal always beside me is amazing. When I walk it is never the sound of just my feet, but always a "1 and 2 and 3 and 4" behind me and warm breath on the back of my arm. Every once in a while Soj will nudge my back and I don't know what it means but it is the sweetest thing. It's really gentle and he usually does it after we've been walking a long time without looking at each other or anything. It's like a sort of "hi" and then that's it, just one little nudge.

Walter has been a Godsend. Last night he ran a bath for me after we settled in (I fell asleep in the tub), and yesterday during the day he was always just a little bit ahead of us running errands-getting all these grains and things we've been recommended-and mapping out the road. I called him at one point because even my skin tight riding pants are getting a little baggy so I asked him if he could bring me a frappe. 10 minutes later he was there with a chocolate frappe and I began walking again. I yelled, "Walter! Look at my bottom as I walk away! Do I still have my bottom!!???" (I've got to keep this little bottom!)
He said "not really" which shocked me a little so I whipped around to look over my shoulder at my bottom and Sojourner (who loves to rub his head) decided to itch himself on me and knocked my frappe all over the ground!!! I SCREAMED! My natural reaction was a completely, not put on, scream. I even surprised myself at how I reacted and Walter put his head in his hands and laughed. Just total horror. There was my bottom...melting down the sidewalk and into the gutter. My Italian side, my curves...gone in a chocolate swirl and only an empty MCDonald's cup left in my hand to remind me of what could have been...the curves that could have been saved.

This ranch we are at is said to be haunted so Walter and I are going to beg Athaea for some of her ghost stories tonight and I will share them with you after!

snuggle into bed and grab a cup of tea, I have a ghost story for you.....

2099-11-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

3/10/10

We made it to White Water, CA today. It was a great ride but SO windy!!! Soj was a little excited about it in the morning, but got used to it very quickly. It wasn't just a sort of windy day, it was knock you over wind at times. I even had to get off at one point because I made us too tall and Soj was kind of side stepping. He was amazing today. He was so strong and looks great. I don't know if it was Athaea's magic or the ghosts that hunt her house looking over him, but he is looking fantastic. We cantered a lot today down the railroad tracks and on dirt roads and he barely broke a sweat. He had a lot in him today and I was so happy when I took off the saddle and he looked full and strong. He peed less today too.
Athaea at Camelot Ranch donated a thicker blanket and leg warmers for Soj, and a 50 pd bag of feed that has less protein but high calories and should be easier for him to digest. It really was like she was magic. The fact that Soj was peeing so much was worrying me. He just gets so lean looking and I know that all the nutrients I put into him come right out. I was assured it was probably the stress of L.A. and everything that was getting to him and would take him some time to adjust to, but it's disconcerting for sure.
Soj was so at ease there. He laid down and he drank and ate everything that was given to him. He was really taking care of himself. I snuggled in with him early this morning for a little while and for a bit yesterday while he was sleeping. He was so peaceful and calm. Athaea said the horses are always calm there. The house sits where there was once an old town hundreds of years ago and they have said they've seen and heard spirits. Once there was a horse there that was sick and the owner of the horse saw a man in the stall with a hat on and she heard him say "he's going to be okay", and the horse totally recovered.
I told Athaea that I hope they can help Soj to hold his water a little better and I tell you he is a hundred times better today!!! I mean, whoooo knows, but there is no question that he was the calmest he's been yet while he was there and he was the strongest he's been yet today and has plenty of miles left in him if we wanted to go further. He just looks great.
Athaea and her husband, Dallas, have names for all of the ghosts. To name a couple are the whistler and the roof walker. They pretty much do what their name describes. Then there are the kids. It looks as though there are four of them. It's been told that there were sacrifices back in the 1800's and these children (around 7-10 yrs. old) were buried in the land right behind the house. The land used to have orange trees all over it so the bodies would be disposed of in the orange groves.
One day Dallas was digging a massive hole to build their barn and Athaea pulled a bone out of the dirt. She took the bone to an anthropologist and it was confirmed that it was a piece of the pelvic bone of a boy around the age of 8. Athaea brought the bone into the house and left it on the table in one of the rooms. That night all of the cabinet doors were opened and most of the things in them were emptied onto the floor. Athaea didn't connect the bone right away and was nervous that someone was getting into the house and messing with them. It happened again and again and so Athaea even sprinkled flour all over the kitchen floor to get footprints. It happened again. No footprints.
She then remembered the bone and buried it in the backyard. The kitchen haunting stopped. Athaea has seen two little girls. One is older than the other and seems to be looking after the younger one. They are always holding hands. These girls, possibly the little boy and it looks like another child took an interest in a stuffed bear that Dallas had. It was a Christmas bear that played different Christmas tunes. This bear would play over and over again maiking Athaea, who is a writer and needs quiet, crazy. She took the batteries out of the bear and the bear just kept on playing. It would play constantly through the day and night. Athaea decided to set up a camera on a tripod in the hallway by the bear and set it so it took pictures every 15 seconds or so. She looked through all of the pictures. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing....and then:

WHOA!!!!!! Looks like there are 4 there. Athaea had to finally take out the music box to get it to stop. We talked about how it's sad that they are still lingering here if they really are here...why? Sometimes outside you can hear what sounds like a choir of angels singing as you go back to the ranch. It gets quieter if you walk away and louder if you walk closer but there is nothing there. Athaea said it's the most beautiful sound. Others have heard it as well.

I think Athaea is one of the greatest horse women I've ever met with a heart of gold and I think she did a world of good for Soj, but maybe some of her friends from....I don't know...what is it called where spirits live??? from another energy field...gave him a little touch of their powers too. Pretty wild stuff.

Tonight we are camping out next to Soj. I was spoiled enough at Athea and Dallas' with a bath so I'm good to go until I see my mama and Stephen in a couple days. ;) We are in the most beautiful spot tonight. I will put pictures up. It's an incredible canyon-sort of similar looking to Sedona, Arizona. The land is starting to change. We went through intense wind with tumbleweeds blowing by and there is not a lot of grass, just a lot of sand and bushy stuff and trees with thorns on them. It has been incredible to so slowly see the land change from L.A. streets and tons of people to mountains in the way distance to mountains right beside me to mountains passing by and now I can see that the desert is right around the corner.

photo by Walter

\

This is the awesome saloon we stayed in at Sundance Ranch in Redlands, CA.

Inside the saloon...we pitched a tent in front of the t.v. I thought that was funny. We never actually got a chance to watch it though.

photo by Walter

Thank you Hadley's for your donation!!

photo by Walter

in joshua tree

2099-11-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

3/12/10

On my phone. Lots to tell. Will have computer to write in the morning.

the day my mama was born....

2099-11-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

3/13/10

...was a day to be remembered and we celebrated it today in the Joshua Tree National Park. We are looking at our pictures now. It was such a fantastic day.
Joshua Tree is where Stephen used to live in the 60's and so he was able to show us all of the most amazing parts of the desert. We paid the ranger and then all of a sudden "Magical Mystery Tour" started blasting through the speakers of the van. Walter and I rolled down the windows and started dancing in our seats as Stephen pointed out different rock formations outside the window.
Stephen used to visit with Bill Keys who was the first pioneer settler in Joshua Tree. He owned 800 acres of the desert. We walked down a path to find his old mine, but we didn't actually make it that far and ended up taking pictures and jumping off rocks instead.
Later on this evening we re-organized the truck and took out a lot of stuff that we haven't been using for my mom and Stephen to take back to the Bay with them. A while ago I noticed the van locking and unlocking itself and tonight it locked itself with the keys in the ignition so we had to wait for AAA to come open the door for us.
My mom and Stephen will leave tomorrow and it will be so hard to see them go.

Sojourner was really cared for while we were out enjoying the desert today. Kelly and James had a farrier out to round off Soj's hooves and later on a woman came out who stretched Soj's back and checked his kidney's. Soj had been pretty tired for the first half of the day and after he was worked on he was running and bucking and playing around like a young colt. I ran into the corral to give him a hug and jumped up on his back. He seemed really happy and ready to go. I am really, really looking forward to learning what this friend of Kelly and James has to teach me tomorrow. It really seemed to help Soj out.

The desert sun has drained me of any energy. I am going to relax with my mom for a bit now and go to sleep. Jordan should be getting in around 2am so I'll get up then to go meet him in town and bring him back to James and Kelly's. Tomorrow morning we are all having breakfast together and then we need to look at maps and get ready for the long trek ahead through the desert.

I am going to post a bunch of pictures and stuff tomorrow...

AS EASY AS THAT

2099-11-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

3/15/10

“People, people who need people
are the luckiest people in the world.
We’re children needing other children
And yet letting our grown up pride hide all the need inside
Acting more like children than children”.

“People” was one of my Grandfather’s favorite songs. I loved to hear him sing. Poppy understood this song. It has a beautiful melody, but those words...
Poppy was a man who would sit and tell you a story and he would also sit and listen to yours for as long as you wanted to talk. That was his gift. He was an example for the rest of the family to learn from. He didn’t have to DO anything, but he taught with every breath he exhaled.
He never once stopped joking. My grandfather was a child through and through with the posture and integrity of a man that led everyone he passed to think he owned the place. He owned the air that surrounded him and he knew it. He felt it and he believed it. It is not a selfish thing or an ego thing, just a calm knowing that you are here for a reason and you are the only you in this world. There has never been one before and will never be one after, not exactly anyway, and inside that is your flame of independence, your power.
Poppy loved fiercely, so fiercely that all of us grew up around him believing we could do anything. There is an Indigo Girls song that says, “the best thing you ever did for me is to help me to take my life less seriously. It’s only life after all”. I love this line. Life is what we have. This is it. Life. But on the other hand our lives are small little drops in a never-ending bucket and there is absolutely nothing we can’t do while we’re here and there is no age we hit that should make us stop trying. Pop knew this. He is a strong Italian man and Lord knows I didn’t agree with him politically and he was no hippie, but he had it, you know? He just had it.
This is our gift as human beings. We have the ability to understand a love that can override even our instinct to survive. There is a trust and loyalty that comes from other animals. They work for us and give us so much-things we couldn’t get from other humans-but when it really comes down to it, it is the human that works to discover the bond and the connection. We don’t produce oxygen for the earth like plants and we don’t have the strength and speed of other animals, but we love and search for love like nothing else.

I am in Joshua Tree, CA now staying with Kelly and James and when I first walked up to Kelly I put my hand out to introduce myself and she gave me a hug and while laughing said “we’re huggers around here!”
That she is. That woman has her arms wrapped around this entire world and I think she’ll hold on and rock it until the day she goes to whatever is next…and I’m sure she’ll walk towards whatever is next with her arms wide open too.
“…and yet letting our grown up pride hide all the need inside acting more like children than children..”
Kelly, like Pop, is a beautiful example of a person who never lost the child in her yet has the grace and knowledge of a woman. Her laugh is uninhibited and her spirit bounces off of every wall in the house and flies out the open doors of her and James’ home. James is the same. These are two people that were meant to be together. As individuals they are a gift to be around and together they could change the world.
There is not a soul out there who could do everything on his or her own, but if there was someone who was able to do everything alone, I think the journey would suffer.
Yesterday Kelly and James handed over one of their horse trailers for Sojourner. Kelly just handed me the pink slip in a manila folder and said with a smile “easy as that!” This trailer came to them from an 87 yr. old woman, who as Kelly said, “finally hung up her spurs”. The trailer retailed for over $9,000 when it was knew and is in fantastic shape. For Kelly and James it is “as easy as that” because they don’t think in terms of money and things. Like Pop, they are teachers. What seems so easy to them is so powerful to the life in this world.
James said he first saw Kelly when he was working up on a hot roof in Florida. She was a friend of a friend and he had heard of her before but he had never seen her. He said he saw this gorgeous woman walk out of the door with 2 beers in one hand and a jug of lemonade in the other wearing a bikini top and Daisy Duke cut-offs and he instantly thought, “I’m in love!”
They have created a warm, inviting place here on their piece of Joshua Tree and Sojourner has been basking in the sun with breaks to eat and drink for the last couple of days. I am actually sitting on the ground in the corral right now as I write this and he is spread out flat right beside me (obviously dreaming about something) with his nostrils breathing heavy by my feet.
Family is everywhere, on every corner, peering out through every eye. A reporter here in Joshua Tree asked me what the best part of this trip has been so far. The bond that we can create with horses is incredible and a whole other story in itself because it would be too much to express in this already long entry, but the people…these people I have met who I need have made this journey more than I ever could have hoped for. When my hand touches these hands outreached to me and we are connected we become the luckiest people in the world, just like the song says.
After Kelly and James donated the horse trailer a woman named Paula came to see Soj. She was here the day before (my mom’s birthday) to massage Soj a bit and check his kidneys. She came back the next day (yesterday) to teach me how to check for soreness and how to help him heal and stretch. She also brought me literature and information on supplements and thoroughly explained them to me. As James put it, she is a wealth of knowledge and she is also generous with her time and shares what she knows.
After telling me about the kind of hay to get and ways to help him gain weight, she told me she was donating a years worth of her hay to Sojourner to help with the ride. She is a farmer and has the finest 4-way organic hay money can buy. It is everything Sojourner needs. After just watching James on his back to rig the back of the ambulance so the trailer can hitch to it and now this massive donation to feed Soj all the way across the country and more, I started to cry. I was overwhelmed. I still am as I write this.
Paula told me Sojourner was a special horse. She agreed that he has an exceptional kindness about him. He’s like the little luck pony. He has always been hard to keep weight on and used to be so scared of things, but his heart and will is enormous and it is so amazing to have something from every single person along this trip to help make this trek a success and keep him healthy and comfortable. This is exactly what I wanted this ride to be about: togetherness, family, connection, challenges, solutions, and in 14 days Sojourner, Walter, me, and now Jordan in his big orange ambulance have seen the way people will come together to help a dream come alive.
Sojourner, the boys, and I are staying here with Kelly and James for a week. Paula called a chiropractor so we are going to have a little work done on Soj on Wednesday to straighten him out a bit. This will also give him time to adjust to the new feed and time to wait for the supplements to come and get those working through his system. We will hit the desert next Monday.

Some pictures...more to come very sooooonnn....

2099-11-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

3/16/10

Joshua shadows.

WATCH OUT!!!!!!!

playing in Joshua Tree

Ahhhhh, big open beautiful sky

this is what you get for trying to model with porcupine plants.

James and Kelly

photo by Walter: water in Joshua Tree National Park

Jordan driving the ambulance. Our new partner.

Our new trailer given to us from James and Kelly

Kelly and James-they teach natural horsemanship in Joshua Tree, CA.

in the ambulance at the leather work table

Looking out of the ambulance to Joshua Tree from Kelly and James' place

more pics....from the beginning til now...

2099-11-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

3/17/10

Ma!!! This is my desert hat!!???? Oh MAN!

This farrier rounded off Soj's hooves at no cost...just out of the goodness of his heart. :)

Mornin', James. Mornin' Lin.

Sue and Sally's beautiful ranch in Morongo Valley. www.coyoteridgestables.com
Amazing riding through the hills with some of the best women you'll ever meet and if you're lucky, the best chicken you'll ever eat!

Bob and Walter playing pool. and then more pool. and then more pool. and i'm getting hungry. and then more pool. and i'm getting hungry, and then more pool... just kidding...I loved watching them play. :)

Meeting Bob and his mule for the first time.

First night. Henry brought us down in the trailer. We stayed with his family in Sylmar and rode off the next morning.

saying goodbye to all of the animals at the ranch

San Francisco news thang

what a day.

My step-father, Stephen, in his magical cape. He used to live in Joshua Tree and so he gave us the full tour of all the coolest places to see. At the last stop he was dressed in his old cape that he used to wear around to add to the day and give us some laughs. :)

Me and my mama.

At Athea and Dallas' ranch in the evening

The Orange Ambulance

Leather shop OPEN!

2099-11-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

3/17/2010

So, this guy named Jordan rolled up in a massive orange ambulance with a fully equipped leather shop so I am BACK IN BUSINESS! Orders will take me a little longer to complete, but I need to keep working while I'm riding so here are some pictures of what I've done in the past. If you are on facebook, that's where I have most of my pictures. Now...my packaging isn't going to be as fancy as it is when I'm working from my shop at home, but the leather work will be the same! It's just comin' to ya nice 'n' simple...cowgirl style-from the saddle. :) Every thing is custom ordered and made from the finest latigo leather. Email me so we can talk about design ideas...

Falcon cuff

leather cuff

Birch Tree Guitar Strap

African Print guitar straps

Bird with cool old stone guitar strap

Phoenix rising Guitar strap

My personal guitar strap-this is me as a baby and my grandfather in magnolias

Bicycle belt

Cuff with vintage bird piece

"Luna" guitar strap

Birch tree guitar strap

Sun ray belt

Sun ray belt

Golden Gate Bridge Strap

Hawk in the roots of a tree guitar strap

Custom Mendocino Purse

Custom Owl purse

purse (front)

Chickadee guitar strap

Guitar strap with burnt in symbol on shoulder

Octopus messenger bag

Octopus messenger bag

Octopus messenger bag

3/18/2010

2099-11-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

Joshua Trees. Photo by Walter.

Yesterday Sojourner was aligned by a chiropractor. Now he’s all popped back into place and stands much more solidly under himself. The chiropractor drove an hour and a half just for Soj.

Today James and I are going to work Sojourner a bit on the ground and work on getting him in the trailer. Sojourner is pretty scared of trailers and I never really had time or the place to work on this before the ride. Sometimes he goes in and sometimes he doesn’t. It’s pretty lucky that I am spending this week with a man and woman who train horses for a living so we should be able to work it all out. James is going to help me train Soj and I am going to show James some guitar chords.

Today I need to look at maps with the boys and figure out our route for after the desert. I originally had it mapped so we head pretty much straight East once we hit Parker, AZ, but it’s looking like it is going to be too cold and snowy going that way. Now we are thinking about heading South down to Blythe after Parker and then travel closer to Phoenix, AZ. Then we will gradually head North as we travel later into the Spring. I wanted to be up a little further North because it’s so beautiful, but I think this route is going to be less trying. I can’t wait to see my aunt and uncle who live in Phoenix.
(There is a boy bopping away on his headphones next to me here in the café. Oh, drum solo. Here we go!) ☺
I might take Sojourner out for a little ride today. After a week of being alone with the horse day after day for such long hours it’s kind of hard to just stop. Even after just 8 or 9 days of riding! I took him out for a little ride the day before yesterday to get him moving a bit. He was full of energy! I was on him bareback so we took it easy because I could feel some bucks in him, but if I asked him we could have galloped to the moon. He was ready to go. Yesterday we didn’t ride because he needed to rest after getting adjusted by the chiropractor. Today maybe I will just stick to the groundwork after all and just hang out with him for a while in the corral while I look at maps.
A woman named Pat who is originally from England came by yesterday with a gift of high quality grain for Sojourner. On the bag it said “from Wayne xoxoxo”. Wayne is the name of her horse. Her horse is 28 years old and she says he will be her last. He is the sweetest horse. Sojourner was living next to him for a couple of days-two very gentle souls side by side.
Last night we had a bon fire outside at James and Kelly’s place. It was my first fire at night in the desert with incredible stars overhead. Kelly loves fire and was making us laugh as she put long branches that James deemed too long into the fire. The fire was inside a barrel James had placed into a hole he dug into the ground.
Pat, who is vegan, had a vegan burger with cheese on it (ha!) and I had the same. Oh Grandma!!!! That reminds me! Pat said she could hardly move her hands from her arthritis and she went vegan and her hands are totally, completely better. I think you should at least try it! Just stay away from anything dairy. She said it only took three months for her arthritis to go away. The idea of it seems hard at first, but it’s super easy to be vegetarian and it really wouldn’t be all that hard to go vegan, especially just for a little while to try it out and see if it helps. Pat was blown away by how much it helped her hands. Do it, Grandma!

Well, it’s a beautiful day so I think I should head over to Soj and see what the boys are feeling like doing today. This is a great café, by the way for anyone who is in the Joshua Tree area. It’s called the Park Rock Café. I highly recommend it.

The boys...

2099-11-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

3/18/10

...annoyed me today. They left this morning with the ambulance that had my bridle and maps in it. Just kidding, they didn't really annoy me, but I was a tad little bit frustrated and then when I got home from the post office, these two creatures came towards me. I tried my best not to smirk so I could express my annoyance clearly to them, but they got me. I smirked. Rascals.

when there's time to kill....

2099-11-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

3/19/10

...of course there is plenty to do. James is going to work with me and Soj today to get him to trailer a bit easier and yesterday James helped me lunge Soj and the boys and I got a lot of mapping done, but extra time has allowed for other activities such as bouncing bouncy balls in parking lots while waiting for our pizza to cook.

See that sky, guys? THAT is where this ball is going.

On a more real note, yesterday I was out lunging Sojourner and Soj broke away from me like he always does when I try to pick up his speed. He will trot both ways easily, but he doesn't like to canter unless he is in a round pen and cantering freely and not connected to my lead rope. James and Kelly were over feeding the horses and I heard James yell "give me just a second and I'll be over there to help you!" A couple minutes later James was there and started from the top. He would wiggle the rope to have Soj back up, allowing a hula hoop of space around him. The horse needs to be aware of you and your space. James has studied wild horses and their behaviors (James and Kelly both break and train Mustangs) and he has learned through them how to communicate in more natural way that they understand. Sojourner caught on fast and kept his distance squarely facing James in full attention. I am going to make a little video of this today and post it so you can get a taste of how James works. There are no chains or tools on Sojourner and it is the absolute smoothest Soj has ever worked for a human being. It was amazing to see. Sojourner just absolutely will NOT lunge at a canter. I can sometimes get him to go in one direction, but never in the other. After James got him to do it instantly I was blown away, but I didn't think I would be able to do it myself because Soj has learned that he can break away from me. Horses are creatures of habit and have great memories so Soj has learned that I am little and he's big and with a tug and a bolt he's free from me.
I did it though with James coaching from the side, no problem. Sojourner has always been ready to do it, I just wasn't asking him correctly. I am also very loving with Soj. I treat him like a puppy which I think has helped with the fact that I probably could sleep under the horse at night, but in reality Soj could hurt me accidentally because I have never established my space with him. It's hard for me to do because I want to be wrapped around his neck in a hug all the time, but James pointed out that it will actually make for a better relationship and an even more communicative relationship if I make some of these points understood between me and Soj.
Sojourner and I are going to make it to New Hampshire. We are. Live Free Or DIE! But if this ride ended tomorrow it would have been a success as far as the people I've met, the bond I've made with Soj, and the things I've learned.
The boys and I are excited to get back on the road. I don't know about Soj. I think Soj would be happy to lounge around for a while longer, but once Soj gets out he's ready to go too-always with his ears pointed straight forward at what's ahead...

Boys will be boys.

2099-11-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

3/20/10

I am working on a video, but I have a different imovie than I used to work with so it's taking me a minute to figure it out. I want to put together a quick little clip so you can see Sojourner's progress. James has such a way with horses and Soj is progressing beautifully. He looks so good and I don't think he's going to have a problem with this trailer once he understands that there's nothing in there to get him-just food and rest.

Today James and I are riding the horses to what he calls "James' playground". I think it's a place in the desert where we can really let the horses loose and gallop wide open. I'm sure Soj will offer me a couple bucks too after not running that hard in a little while. He was worked for a long while by the trailer yesterday though so he might be okay. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I ain't skeered!!! Running full out through the desert sounds just fine to me! Soj will love it too. That's one of the many things I love about Arabians. That boy will go when asked for pretty much as long as I want him to go. He's willing and ready and then he'll curl up in his little ball and sleep right next to you when he's ready to rest. What a horse.

There are a lot of young people here in Joshua Tree. They are all here to rock climb in the park. Cute boys. No, Linny, focus. But yes, cute boys. Just kidding. Sojourner has pretty much consumed my mind along with this journey and the people we ride towards every day.
Awh, Walter just walked in yawning. I love that boy. This trip has put us through our challenges as friends because we have been under some pretty stressful situations. There was that time in the city when I was stuck on a ridiculous 5 lane road with no shoulder, balancing Soj on the curb, holding him up there with my body. Cars were everywhere and I was causing a little bit of a block on this massive, congested road because people tried to veer away from me and the horse but there was nowhere for them to go. Finally, out of nowhere Walter came with his flashers and just stopped the car in the middle of the lane allowing some safety behind us so we could move forward. It was a big mess. It was so lucky Walter showed up when he did. I couldn't call him to come because I didn't have a free hand while trying to hold Soj up on the curb. I actually never even asked him how he happened to show up at the right time, but he must have driven up ahead and realized the mess we were riding towards so he hung out until we got there. Anyway, things like that weigh on me a little bit, even though I was never really scared, it was still stressful and still settled somewhere in me probably making me a little more on edge than I would otherwise be with Walter. Walter has had the little Tacoma truck which was packed full to the top with horse things and our food. Every morning and night Walter and I had to fully unload the car to get to everything and load it back up again. Usually our food was seasoned with little white horse hairs and things were easily lost.
Sometimes while riding I would get off track and Walter wouldn't know where I was. This would make him a little frustrated with me. One day I headed about 2 miles South when I was supposed to go North. I was headed towards the wrong hills. Walter would get frustrated at me for not knowing my way better and I would get frustrated at him for getting frustrated at me when I had just walked 150 miles and I was sore and Soj was sore and I was up at 4am and didn't sleep anyway because it was freezing in the tent and I could hear that Soj wasn't sleeping because of the coyotes and now I have added on 4 miles and and AND!!!!
My point with all of this and what is so cool is that both Walter and I come out of it hugging each other and both of us realize our wrongs. I think it is a test of true friendship to be able to argue with one another and come out of it knowing that there is not another person in this world I would rather have driving that truck. He has been an angel and I just love him.
Now we have Jordan too which makes things a lot easier and who is also one of the sweetest guys you will ever meet. We have transferred some stuff over to that big orange ambulance and now the truck is a lot lighter. My truck doesn't have the towing package yet so it can't pull a trailer, but the ambulance can. Having the trailer is a HUGE relief. It is going to be full of Paula and Jeff's hay so Soj will be on a constant diet for the entire ride. This is going to make all the difference in maintaining Soj's weight and overall health. The trailer also holds all of my tack and supplements so no more white hair seasoning on our food.
Walter and Jordan have a series coming out called the "Animan series". There is a picture in an earlier entry of them in their alter ego Animan outfits. Yesterday they came back with an ice cream shake for me and told me they had ordered the shake as animans. They also went out and directed traffic as animen. "Boys will be boys" is their response to pretty much everything. Now when James and Kelly come home and Walter and Jordan are competing to see who can throw a log the farthest, get the axe to stick in the log the best, or playing "who can throw the knife from the farthest distance and get it to stick in the box" game, he mutters with a smirk and a shake of his head "boys will be boys".
This morning James came in and asked if I had my camera because both of the boys were passed out on the ground outside by the burn barrel. It was 8:15 in the morning and the sun was out and bright and both of them were still magically sleeping there on the ground. If only I could do that. Things would be so much easier for me if I could sleep through things the way those boys do.
Yesterday they made a pull up bar on the outside of the ambulance so we can all keep our big muscles.

Making the pull up bar

big muscles coming up.

Oh no no no no no.

I miss music. I was able to sing the other night at an open mic here in town which was great, but I miss singing with Cait and I miss my piano. Maybe when we are in different towns I can find churches with piano's I can play. I have this idea from the book "Until I Find You" by John Irving. The guy in that book traveled all over Europe and was able to keep playing in every town on the piano's in the churches.

More trailer training tomorrow. Yesterday Soj got his front legs calmly in the trailer and then was asked to back out. Slowly but surely....he'll get it.

Soj took a nap in a wet spot if you're wondering what that spot is.

Soj and James, Paula and Jeff (who donated all of Sojourner's food for the entire ride), and beautiful Kelly...that's a strong circle there. Paula told Kelly yesterday "I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for a soul like yours". I said "me too!!!" That's a power circle right there, I tell ya! Just a big ball of goodness. :)

last day in joshua Tree...

2099-11-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

3/21/10

Headed to James' playground.

Jordan and Walter spray painted my website address onto the back of the trailer.

We are about to watch the space station fly overhead.

Today is our last day with Kelly and James in Joshua Tree. The ride begins again tomorrow and we are all set and ready to go. Walter, Jordan, I know Soj, and I are sad to leave Kelly and James and Pat and all the wonderful people we have met here, but the ride must go on!
Sojourner honestly looks the best he has looked since I bought him 2 years ago. I was leaned over the fence this morning watching him fall asleep (standing) and his legs were solidly under him. His front legs used to sort of slant inward to take some pressure off of his hind. Now he looks totally comfortable and solid. It's amazing. Dr. Larry Allen is the name of the chiropractor who came out to adjust Soj and he can be found through the website www.avcadoctors.com
I have never used a chiropractor on myself or any of my animals before and it has just seemed to do wonders for Soj.
This weeks long rest was a very good decision. We now have a trailer that I can fill full of hay which will keep Sojourner on a steady diet throughout the entire ride. I am also going to have him on a kidney supplement that was recommended to me by Paula (it's a silver lining product), and a supplement called Platinum Plus.
Yesterday James took Soj and I up to what he calls "James' playground". It was a fantastic ride. It was like riding through the old wild west and I just can't believe this kind of riding is in James and Kelly's backyard. James said it never gets old and I can't imagine it would. Sojourner lost 3 of his 4 Easy boots because we were cantering up some rocky-ish terrain and Jordan actually had to sew one of the boots back together when we got home because it broke. It was great fun though, easy boot problems or not.
I went through all of the stretches and pressure points that Paula taught me to go through this morning and will continue to do so every day for the rest of Soj's life. First I check Sojourner's polarity and then go through his energy quadrants. Polarity effects digestion and assimilation of nutrients. You can check your own polarity by putting your left arm straight out from your side and asking someone to press down on it while you resist the pressure. You should be able to keep your arm in basically the same place with your strength. Then you ask them to do it again, but using their right hand they then place their middle finger on your forehead between your eyes. This time your arm should drop letting you know your polarity is correct. If you are still able to resist the pressure even while their middle finger is pressing on your forehead then you need to clear your polarity. To do this you take three fingers and simply brush them across your forehead from left to right 6 times. That's it! You're fixed! The horses polarity can be cleared the same way. To check the horses polarity you simply hold on to the horse and have someone check you. His energy flows through you and you will be able to read him through your body. This is why you should check your polarity first so you can see if there is any difference once you grab hold of the horse. It's cool.
The bladder sweep helps to clear his energy quadrants to keep everything flowing. Horses will block off energy quadrants to assist in dealing with pain. To perform the bladder sweep just run your hands from his head, across his body, over his rump, down his back legs, and then pump just above the back of the hoof 6 times and repeat. Do this on both sides.
Paula said the Chinese call the kidneys the "master association point of all association points". She taught me where Sojourner's K-27's are and how to massage them to keep them from getting blocked. Our K-27's are just below our clavicle. If you were to rub them, it would probably be sensitive.
The goal is to have Sojourner physically, emotionally, and chemically sound. He seems to really enjoy his stretches, tucks, and lifts. He closes his eyes and wiggles his lips while I am working on him. The only thing that gets his attention is the bum tuck. This engages the muscles in his rear and you can really see him contract when I push on a certain point. He swishes his tail to let me know this isn't his favorite thing in the world, but somewhere inside I think he knows it helps and he's fairly tolerant.

I just heard the boys talking about home depot so I should probably go jump on that train. There are some last minute things I need. We are going to try and put this hay that was donated to us absolutely anywhere we can. The trailer will be full to the brim with it, some will go on top of my truck, and the rest will go on top of the ambulance. I need to buy some tarps though because the hay can't get wet and there are little windows in the trailer which need to be covered in plastic and obviously the hay on top of the vehicles needs to be covered. We should probably get some eggs, ice, butter...things like that for camping too.

Bob (who we stayed with in Rancho Cucamonga) put together a care package for us which we are going to go pick up in town as well. His wife, Monica, made us some of her delicious cookies and Bob added some more sage and protein drinks to the box. They're amazing. I can't wait to get the package. :) I love packages!!

Last night the boys put the hammock on top of the ambulance and we watched the space station fly overhead at 8:15 pm.

Oh! One last thing. James corrected me that horses are not creatures of habit, humans are. Horses are actually highly adaptive. Once they understand what it is we want, they will adapt to it and do what we have asked. Sojourner does seem to remember what it was he got away with last time and try it again, but it is not because he is being a jerk and now is in the habit of trying to get away, it's just that I didn't communicate what it was I wanted him to do clearly.
James was able to get him to do things instantly because he understood and now I can do the same with him. There's so much to learn...for both me and Soj. I love it!

Boys will be boys.

33 miles today...

2099-11-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

3/22/10

Very tired. Don't think I will have much service here in desert. Writing from phone now. Might not be able to write much over the next 7 days or so. Ride was nice today. Soj is doingn. well.

lots to tell...

2099-11-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

3/23/10

But I am on a dying phone in the desert. Will catch up in a couple days. In the middle of desert tonight camping. Absolutely beautiful. Soj is calm next to us. We have a fire and stars. Went another 30 miles or so.70 ish left til Arizona. Tons to tell when we get to Parker in a few days. Until then...goodnight.

over the last few days

2099-11-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

3/24/10

Let's see here...where to begin....

We are at James and Kelly's house and it's the evening before we are supposed to leave. Walter walks out of the house and says, "family dinner at Sizzler".
We ate far too much thinking it would stay in our systems awhile since we were trekking into the desert the next day. That doesn't work though. It just sits like lead in your stomach and hurts for a while and the next morning you're hungry again. Walter and James showed off their "food babies" to us. I'm sure those food babies were just lovely when they hatched.
I was taking lots of pictures...

This is Kelly saying "if you take another picture I sware I'll...!!!!!!"

Walter and Kelly. They said, "please take a picture of us" so I took this picture. Don't be deceived by their expressions. Alright, fine. Maybe they didn't ask for this photo.

Love.

The next morning we said goodbye to James and Kelly and Pat at the Left Boot Corral in Joshua Tree. It stunk to say goodbye, but they are people who will always be in my life now so it's okay. I'll see them again. James and a lovely friend of James and Kelly's took me out on some trails and pointed me in the direction to go through the desert. James had warned me about massive ant hills and it's a good thing he did because I knew what it was when Sojourner and I fell into one. The thing is, the ones I saw with him were black and the one Soj and I hit later on was the same color as the sand. We went in just above Sojourners knees. It was about 4 feet by 4 feet so once he sunk we still had to get out of it, but Soj was calm (all things considered) and worked his way to harder ground without too much of a problem. Now I'm more careful when I get off the road and take short cuts through the desert though. We are on Hwy 62 now, 48 miles to Parker, AZ!

James guiding me to the desert before we parted ways...

At one point after just leaving James, Soj and I came across our worst enemy...the fence. James had told me there was a man who was part of a group called the Black Cowboys who rode his Thoroughbred through the desert. Those Thoroughbred tracks followed the fence with me so I just followed them figuring he had to have come and gone from somewhere so hopefully....hopefully....1 mile in, 2 miles in (oh man, I'm thinking, I don't want to have to turn back now) and then....phew.

Break in the fence

Found this couch in the desert after leaving James on the way to Wonder Valley

That day the temperature of the air was perfect. During the day it reminded me of Florida and it made me crave my Grandma's egg salad sandwiches. Later on in the evening it felt just like a summer evening in New Hampshire. I was daydreaming about getting there with Sojourner, walking down our long driveway. I think I will get off and lay in the grass the second we step on our land. Soj will eat his heart out. I remember when we moved to New Hampshire from Texas and I was amazed at how fine the grass was. I LOVE New Hampshire grass. In Texas the grass was so meaty and dry and the roots were partly above the ground. New Hampshire grass is fine and green and fluffy and magnificent. It's like lying on a cloud. Sojourner will be so happy. I started thinking about the waterfall by our house and riding through the covered bridge for the first time with Soj. Oh! It's going to be amazing!! Brianna and my sister will be there and we can swim and eat...

The desert is bare feet and barbeques and people who aren't afraid to tell you they love you. It's amazing to be here, and on my horse at that.
Sojourner is settling into things nicely. I was going to get some Platinum Plus (even though it's a million and a half dollars), but I wasn't able to get it before I left so I'm going to try and get some in Parker. There is a feed store there. It's supposed to be an awesome supplement. Paula and James spoke highly of it.

We rode 33 miles from the Left Boot Corral to Wonder Valley through the desert. During the day the boys went and filled the trailer with hay. They were able to fit 23 bales. The trailer is packed full and a couple bales are strapped to the sides of it. One is in the truck and one is on the hood of the ambulance.

Hay hay and more hay. Thank you so much to Paula and Jeff!!!!!

That night we stayed with a woman named Cheyenne who was very kind to us. The boys slept out in a cabin and I slept in the ambulance near Soj. I didn't really sleep at all because it was so windy so I figured Soj wasn't sleeping which stressed me out. Cheyenne told me Soj was calm out there though. He is getting to be pretty bomb proof. The next morning I was really tired and I had to walk to where the boys were with the truck that had hay in it. The trailer which is attached to the ambulance is full of hay, but it's all wrapped and the open bale was in the truck. I walked the 1/4 mile down to them and somehow (maybe because I was so tired) drove in the opposite direction that I had just walked and got lost. I can't believe I did that. I drove out to the main road and then drove all around trying to find a road to the house. I could see the house, but no road to it. Ah, it's too hard to explain-you had to be there to realize what I did. This just makes me sound like a fool. Which....well....I suppose....I was tired!!!!

So we rode off that day and stopped in the desert to camp 29 miles later. Walter and Jordan and I have decided it's a good idea to stop around 1pm when it's really hot to take Soj's saddle off and give him lunch. We just put the two trucks up against each other and then rope off a little place for Soj.
Lunch break

I was so incredibly tired yesterday. I almost fell asleep on the horse. Soj was tired too. We both fell asleep after we ate for about an hour. The break mid-day has worked out really well. Soj actually knows the truck now. It's amazing because so many cars pass us on the road but when the white truck comes Sojourner whinnies! It's so funny...he knows break time is near.

Sleeping in the truck. Jordan told me Sojourner stayed right there and slept with his head in the window the whole time I was napping.

When I woke up, Jordan asked if I was hungry and I was but I said I was fine and he made me an egg sandwich anyway. Soj would not stop trying to eat it!

Soj begging for food the next morning. I really should just feed him my food. He would be happier with that.

Anyway, we took our lunch break and then I was to ride another 10 miles or so to where the boys were going to set up camp. Well, the sun started to set (which was spectacularly beautiful) and then the moon started to come out...and then it's very dark, but it was actually so amazingly beautiful. The stars are so bright out here and the moon was half full. The mountains looked black against the moonlight. It was awesome. The boys were supposed to put a flag out so I would know where to turn off the road and into the desert to find them, but there was no way I was going to see a flag now. I called them both. No answer.
Earlier a woman and her husband pulled over on the road and said they had seen us in the paper and that my support crew was stuck up ahead in the sand. Now it's around 9pm and it's dark and I figured they were okay but probably still stuck. There was no way I would be able to find where they were so I was starting to think I would just go somewhere into the desert myself and just sit there with Soj all night. I didn't want to walk all night because that would be too much for him and we both needed water big time.
After thinking like this for a bit my phone rang and Walter said he was coming out to us and that some stuff had happened. The ambulance and trailer had gotten stuck in the soft sand and they had spent the last three hours trying to get it out. Thankfully a tractor trailer truck eventually stopped and pulled them out.

We ended up finding a great spot to camp and woke up to beautiful surroundings this morning. I stalled a little and made coffee and enjoyed the morning.
campsite in the desert

Soj and I were off to a nice start. He was walking at a great pace and I was playing guitar and wrote a whole song. About 45 minutes later the boys show up in the truck and said, "you might want to stop". I had taken a right instead of a left out of the camping spot and was riding the wrong way. So I lost 4 miles today when you count the distance I rode and the distance I had to ride back. When I passed the camping spot later on I looked at my watch and shook my head.

Ready to go...just before setting off in the wrong direction.

Shoot! After that truck story it sounds like I'll never find my way to NH! No wonder Soj was walking at such a good clip. He thought he was headed back to the Left Boot Corral!
Including the mess up, Soj and I went 23 miles, but we actually only went forward 19 miles. Today was such a treat though. Well, I forgot to mention that we woke up this morning to a completely flat tire on the ambulance. The boys had to drive all the way back to town to get another tire, but it ended up being a good thing. First of all there was no charge because Jordan had told the people in Texas about the ride so he just called them and the Ford dealer there is covering the cost. The other great part is that the boys came back with bagels, bread, coffee, CREAMER!!, half and half, ice, eggs, english muffins, Subway sandwiches, and a Naked mango orange smoothie drink (my favorite). I was psyched.
Nancy, if you're reading this...I have been dreaming about a hot cup of coffee with cream ever since I read your lovely comment the other day. I imagined you with your coffee in your hand and I wanted one too so badly!! So, the boys fulfilled that craving for me.

The ambulance had a rough night.

Back in Business

We had a wonderful fire again tonight and I made us an Alfredo dinner with sun dried tomatoes and spinach. All things my wonderful mama and Stephen packed for us a while ago. We had coffee with hazelnut creamer too. Oh! And I took a shower! Jordan warmed the shower bag today and set it up for me once Soj and I rode into camp this evening. It was amazing. My hair was really greasy and I was thickly covered in desert sand, Soj dust, hay, and everything else. It felt SO good to have that little tiny stream of water...and then the nice coffee after that. Mmmm perfect.

Jordan getting wood for the fire

writing in my journal so I wouldn't forget things since we didn't have internet service

It's already midnight on Wednesday night and I have a pretty long day tomorrow. I am probably going to ride 25 miles give or take tomorrow and do the same the next day to get out of California. I can't believe we're almost through our first state! That's cool...

-------
It's 5:25 the next morning. I just fed Soj and I am going to try and go back to sleep here in a minute. I hardly slept a second last night. I thought Soj was upset because every once in a while the ambulance would bang and move so I thought he was knocking into it. The second it would happen I would whip up and look out of the window to see him just standing there. Now I realize Walter is sleeping in his sleeping bag up on top of the ambulance. It would move every time he would shift from one side to the other. He had mentioned sleeping up there but he has mentioned that before and he usually ends up staying down by the fire. I figured he probably changed his mind and slept by the fire again. When the ambulance would move it did cross my mind that Walter might be up there, but most of me figured it was Soj. I'm glad to know it wasn't and that this corral set up is still working out well.

Walter asleep on top of the ambulance.

Oh man, I'm tired. Definitely having a big cup of coffee and I'm definitely going to go sleep now for a while. So much for my early start.

Oh! I remembered something last night as I was trying to fall asleep. I remember this sporadically throughout different days but I always forget to write it. Anyway, Sue and Sally, if you're reading....there is a road that leads to your place (the first dirt road I rode up before turning right) and on the right hand side of that road there was a house that had tons of very old John Deere tractors in the yard. I wanted to take a picture to send to my friend, Wayne, in Redlands, but my camera was dead. I would love to get their address to see if any of the tractors are for sale because Wayne just loves old John Deere's. He said I would probably see a lot of old tractors as I travel across and to let him know about tractors for sale. Of course I didn't have my camera and took a different road out from your ranch so I wasn't able to get the address! Would you mind emailing it to me so I can pass it along to Wayne? Wayne might be interested enough to call in over there and inquire about those tractors. There were so many of them and they were so old and rusted, I bet they would sell some of them!
.......
Alright, now it's a little past 8am. I'm starting late today. Looking out the back of the ambulance here I think I can cut off a lot of the road by going straight through the desert to cut through to the hills and meet up with 62 again. Yes, that's what I'll do. That reminds me, I saw a big snake the other day! It was awesome. I don't know what kind it was. It wasn't a rattle snake though. It was light colored like the sand with some design coming up from it's belly. It just laid there warming itself and sticking it's little snake tongue out.
-----

Thursday, the 25th. 8:48 pm

We rode another 25 miles today and are now about 22 miles outside of Arizona! We have to be at the radio station by 4pm tomorrow. I think I might be playing live. I'm not sure though....I might just be playing songs from the new album, but either way I will try to pop on here and let you know if you can listen on-line. I'm just going to ride Soj right up to the station and tie him outside.
Today was a wonderful, wonderful ride. Soj and I cut through the desert away from everything-it was incredible. There were no human sounds whatsoever. I was far enough away from 62 that I couldn't even see the cars. It was just land all around as far as the eye could see. Sojourner and I came to this spot that must have had water running through it at some point because there was a strip of trees. We went down into the wash and it was so beautiful. The earth had washed away so the roots of the trees were above the dirt. I took my flip flops off and tied Soj up to a tree and just enjoyed it for a minute. It really was incredible. I wished the boys could have seen it.

Amazing tree in the beautiful spot in the desert

After I untied Soj I was leading him on a long line and he decided to roll. He did that once on the side of the highway too. Did I mention that before? It was crazy. We were on the side of the highway and down he went because there was some deep soft sand on the shoulder. This time it wasn't so bad but all of our water opened up so I had nothing for either of us to drink. Half between this incident and the boys I gave Soj the only liquid I had left which was my bottle of Gatorade that had survived the roll inside my saddle bag. He just loved that. He was lapping the last bits up like a dog.

We had lunch at an old run down gas station in the middle of nowhere. I had to fix Soj's easy boots which have been a massive pain in the neck, but after Walter and I messed around with them and put in a different screw, they seem to be working better. For now anyway. They are wearing down surprisingly fast though.

I am now riding Soj in just his halter and I can really feel a difference with him. You know how dogs seem to know when you're sad? Animals are able to sense each other really well and I can actually feel that Sojourner is so happy to not have that bit in his mouth. He is so responsive now. I really don't need it. James showed me some tricks while lunging him which helps to get him in the right mind set in the morning.

He is pretty in tune with what I do with my body now. It's funny because he notices little subtle things I didn't even realize I was doing. The way I shift my weight just before I'm about to take my feet out of the stirrups makes him stop every time. Sometimes I just want to take my feet out to ride with them dangling but once he feels the muscles in my legs flex whatever way they flex against him, he stops. It amazes me how in tune he is. He's always, always listening. I pretty much don't say a word through most of the day but if I clear my throat or sigh or just do anything that little ear comes back at me. So, being so in tune, he doesn't need the bit anymore. He is just as responsive with just the halter as he is with the bit. I'll put it on in cities to be safe in case he spooks, but out in the country like this it's great and I can really feel how much he enjoys the freedom. Honestly I think he would be fine in the city in just the halter as well, but for you, mama, I will put in the bit so I have more control.
We are camping again tonight. We had a nice dinner again. Walter grilled asparagus that Jordan had picked up back in Joshua Tree at the little Farmer's Market. It was the best grilled asparagus I have ever had. I made an egg scramble with onions and sun-dried tomatoes and cheddar cheese. The cheese was moldy but I just cut off the mold and it was fine. We grilled bagels and had coffee too. Yeah, I suppose it was breakfast, but breakfast is the best meal anyway. Breakfast makes a good dinner.

I am going to put up some older pictures that I like and never posted down here....

The animen taunting me by the fire.

This is in the L.A. area but I never put this picture up and just came across it. Dogs. Dogs and more dogs.

Walter cleaning out a tub so I can take a bath

One state down, lots to go-Bring it ON! :)

2099-11-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

3/27/10

Coffee with Soj

Yesterday we crossed the Colorado River and placed all 8 legs in Arizona (mine were wrapped around Soj so they weren't technically on the ground so mine are included in Soj's 4). The boys were waiting on the other side of the bridge.

Soj and I had one little scary encounter with a tractor trailer truck while we were crossing. Gibbs (the husband to Brenda who we are now staying with) blocked off Soj's side of the road, but the other side was open and the truck came whizzing by. There was no sidewalk on the bridge (this is why Gibbs had my side blocked with his truck) and the other side was supposed to be blocked by the police, but Soj and I took too long to get there and the police man got bored and left. I learned that he left just minutes before we got there. Ha. Anyway, Sojourner spooked at a medal thing on the bridge just as that truck came by so we were uncomfortably close. I mean, if I reached my arm out I could have touched it going by. It's crazy to me that this massive dinosaur truck can come speeding by and Soj will shy from a tiny little piece of motionless medal towards a truck. The fact that this seems like the safer option to him blows my mind.

Brenda and Gibbs have joined the group of incredible people who have helped to make this journey possible. Brenda has a feed store in town and she has offered to donate as much rice bran as we can fit and some grain. She also has chickens at her store and is going to send us off with fresh eggs!!!! I LOVE fresh eggs.

Jordan making a guitar strap for my little Martin with Gibbs

Right now Sojourner is running around all over the place enjoying himself in the sun. You should hear the birds here! I swear every bird in America has congregated here to sing. There is a little miniature pony who Sojourner sleeps next too and he has the highest pitched little whinny you will ever hear. It's like this long little bird scream! I will try to get it recorded somehow. It makes me laugh every time.

There are lots of other horses here (including a brand new baby), but Sojourner has taken a special liking to Brenda's black horse called Dale. Soj runs around and eats grass here and there, but he always finds his way back to Dale. He goes to take little naps over by Dale as well. I hate to take him away from him on Monday!

Soj and Dale

Sojourner happily exploring the area

We were only going to take today off and head off tomorrow to a town called Bouse, but it is so wonderful here and there is so much green grass for Sojourner that we have decided to stay tomorrow as well. Plus, this is the only time we have to be by the Colorado river which is blue and inviting us to come swim. Today I am editing photos and videos, but tomorrow we are going to hike and swim in the river.

Riding yesterday was a little difficult so I am so happy to be in the sun now with the birds singing and Soj running around as happy as can be and my clothes drying on the clothes line...it's all so relaxing and perfect. Yesterday was hot and I was in a lot of pain from the little devil that visits once a month. I mean, serious pain. This always happens, but to be in the heat on the horse made it all the worse. Walter rescued me once we could get to each other (I was up on the train tracks), but I had to push through it for about and hour and a half. There was a point where I was a little panicky inside...well, not panicky, but just a bit overwhelmed by the pain. I wanted to get off Soj because it was uncomfortable but I couldn't walk and I just wanted to get to where I could meet Walter. All I need is 4 IBUprofin's and 20 minutes and I'm good to go, but without that or hot water to get into, I am suffering big time. I was very thirsty as well and felt as weak as a feather. Anyway, Soj and I got to Walter and I curled up in a ball until it all passed. Then we had to pick up speed to get to the radio station in time.

Soj waiting while we're in the station

It all worked out and meeting Melissa and John at the station and then Gibbs and Brenda could not have made for a better ending to a rough day.

Melissa, who is the wife of John (the DJ at the radio station we were on yesterday called 1380am Country KLPZ) is a professional photographer and is coming to take some shots in an hour. Her photography is absolutely beautiful so I am really excited that she wants to shoot us. Her website is http://www.melissawrightphotography.com. Definitely check it out. She's very, very talented.
We are joining them for dinner tonight and then probably going to head to a bar and grill that has live music and is up a rocky road that you need a truck to travel on. There is live music there and it is inside an old mine...sounds really cool.

There is a beautiful, beautiful 5 yr. old Stallion here who is available to a good home. I am going to put up more information about him tomorrow, but I have to tell you a funny story about he and Soj. Sojourner went over to visit him and the Stallion being a Stallion was very excited to see him and kicked at the fence right where he was to try and get out to him. The very second the Stallion kicked Soj whipped around so his bottom was facing the Stallion and pooped!!! I couldn't believe it! Brenda and I were dying laughing! This is Sojourner's defense mechanism it seems. Soj is not a kicker or a biter and if a horse so much as looks at him the wrong way he will just walk off. I always tell him to step it up a notch and defend himself a little. Maybe it is against his beliefs to use physical force against another animal so he has thought of this as a gentle yet effective way to tell something to back off. Talk about putting the saying "poop on you" to use!!

The Stallion about to kick at the fence

Sojourner's response to the kick

The Stallion bowing his head in shame

On our way to Parker I was pulled over by the border patrol. They sent two cars out to see what I was doing. It was a couple of really nice young guys. One of them was from Michigan and also has an Arab. He said someone called and thought it was "kinda weird to see a girl out in the desert alone riding her horse". I don't know what I could have been smuggling into Arizona...but, better safe than sorry I guess. I mean, you never know. You never do know what a girl on a horse could have on her....

We camped out by this radio tower that is used to let airplanes know where they're going. Some really nice road workers came by to see what was going on. They approached Walter and said "I've seen a lot of things on this road, but I have never seen a girl on a horse here". Walter told them what was going on and they came back the next morning to bring us ice for our cooler. We had a nice little chat with them and then we were off. Soj and I made great time in the morning. He pretty much trotted the first 10 miles, but then the pain from down under erupted and our speed significantly slowed.

Oh! Have to cut this short!! More stuff tomorrow!!

Meatloaf, love, and UFO's

2099-11-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

3/28/10

Photo by Walter

photo by Walter

Walter and Melissa

photo by Walter

photo by Walter

photo by Jordan

created by and photo taken by Jordan

I’ll start today with this Stallion here that is available for free to a good home. Here is his info:
2004 Red Dun (overo) AQHA/APHA stallion, 15H AMR BADGER POCO DEE By SUGAR BADGER CHEX-APHA 4th in World working Cow Horse and Freestyle Reining plus ROM’s in Heading, Reining, and Steer Stopping, NRHA Open Multiple World Show Qualifier and NRHA ROM By PEPPY SAN BADGER-NCHA and AQHA Hall of Fame, etc, by W/C Sire LEO SAN by AQHA Hall of fame LEO; Sire’s Dame is an own daughter of REMINIC-NRHA Million Dollar Sire. Out of a granddaughter of SONNY DEE BAR-AQHA Hall of Fame and W/C Sire. Dam’s sire line is predominately King, maternal grand-dam is the daughter of Holey Sox- NCHA money earner and sire of Rsv W/C AQHA & NCHA horses (xLeo). This is a FANCY red dun with blaze, 4 whites, and belly spots.
I just copied that word for word from the paper Brenda gave to me, but I am sitting right next to this horse now as I write and he is an absolute sweetheart. He has a long, gorgeous mane and tale and a super shiny coat and trots around beautifully in his pen. He doesn’t have papers, but you could get them. He could be used for Western Pleasure or as a show horse, but he can’t be worked hard on hills or sharp turns. He was ridden too young and has a weak knee.
He is a horse that needs one person who will love him and care for him. He is a lovely, beautiful, strong horse and I would take him if I could, but I obviously can’t right now. Maybe someone reading this will be able to give this awesome horse a home. Here he is:

Last night Jordan and Walter and I had a wonderful dinner with Melissa and John from the radio station and a group of their fantastic friends. Melissa and I had a photo shoot yesterday afternoon and I am so psyched to see the pictures. She has said I am welcome to use them on the site so I will put them up once they come.
We were told great stories about surprising John on his 30th birthday and how they all crashed a UFO convention. I was impressed with my brain when it remembered the name we were all trying to figure out for that ball that has electric little bolts in it and if you touch the ball they all move to your hand. It’s called a geodome and I know this because my brother always used to have a geodome when we were growing up. John told us that some of the UFO people had staffs with geodomes on the ends of them. They used these staffs to run up and down people’s backs to get rid of their zephyr’s. John laughed and said, “do you know what a zephyr is!?” as he animatedly told the story. We were all quiet and he yells out “ha! I don’t know what it is either!”
We laughed and ate and sat outside around a fire until 1:30 in the morning. John is from Ireland and he brought out some of his Turkish delight to share with us and before that they brought out an amazing Irish dessert called Banafee that Melissa had made. We are going to go see them again today at the Desert Bar because they are both working there today. We’ll go after we take a dip in the river.
As we sat around the fire we moved into the topic of the ride and I was asked what’s different as I travel across? What is different about the people? As I think about this now, I think my answer is simply nothing. When I answered on the spot my brain immediately went to political views and mind sets related to specific topics, but when you strip all of that away and you look at a raw person, what really makes them tick deep down, is there really anything different? Not that I can tell.
I was asked what I’m searching for.
John said he was a person who is always interested in the “why’s”. “How does this work? What does this feel like? Why do you think this way? What brought you to this belief?” These are my questions too. I’m interested in people and how we work, how we relate to each other and why we choose to do and believe some of the things we do and believe.
Love, relationships, marriage, and divorce are massive parts of our lives, and from my experience, seem to be (other than the necessities of eating, drinking, and sleeping) pretty much our main concern. Of course, we are animals, and other than eating, drinking, and sleeping, animals want to reproduce. The thing is, as I mentioned earlier, we have a different understanding of love and expression than other animals and this is something that sets us apart.
I don’t underestimate the depth of the love that an animal can give to a human and vice versa, but a human to human relationship is without debate different than any other. We search for love. We don’t search for reproduction. We search for companionship and romance so much so that for most of us it is our number one focus.
So, naturally I am curious about our number one focus and what makes it work and what keeps it from working. I am not so much searching as I am going to what I knew was out here. There are people everywhere to connect to and I don’t walk away from these people thinking “Hm, well they were awfully nice people”; I walk away with a sincere, deep feeling for them and absolute honor that I was able to share a piece of their life, ideas, and stories. I believe life is about learning and connecting and I believe that the more views and ideas and opinions you get, the more you learn and the more able you become to form a bigger idea of what this whole thing is about. What thing you ask? Oh I don’t know…life, love, the whole shebang.
Back to people being the same if you can scratch away the layers of politics, religion, tastes, pleasures, etc….
Something that is amazing to me, and that is the same with every single person on this planet is the smile. It happens too early on in our lives to be something we just pick up and it is too impossible to hold back a smile for it to be something that just developed. It’s like the question of the world and the Big Bang Theory. People ask, “What was the spark that started the bang?”
What is the spark that starts the smile? It’s this sort of expression that we are born with; this ability to emote so clearly that is unique to the human being that interests me. It’s that spark in us that makes our eyes squint and our lips curl up and during it this flood of emotion that pours from us towards the thing that’s making us laugh. It’s inexplicable as to where it comes from or why…and it’s pretty cool.
There is no survival reason to smile. Our bodies don’t need to have this reaction to stay alive, but we don’t just have this reaction, we live breathe and die for the smile. This spark that comes from somewhere we can’t touch and can’t understand that makes us do something that we all love and wait for.
My dad always used to try and make the cashier people in the grocery store smile and he has yet to be unsuccessful. Sometimes we would walk up to the grouchiest looking people and that would just set a fire in my father to make them smile. It was his challenge. Oh, my Daddy. Daughters and their Daddy’s. I told Walter and Jordan as we were driving home last night that daughters and Dad’s have very sensitive, very special relationships. Lindy, a friend of Melissa and John’s (and I am happy to say of mine now as well) told me how it wasn’t until she went through her own divorce that she understood her father and what he might have felt when he divorced her mother. Now they are closer than they ever because she has felt what he felt and for this reason she was able to relate and forgive.
After all, people are just people. But what does that mean? This is a question asked a lot in the musical “Into the Woods”. I refer to this musical all the time because I think it so perfectly describes life and love. Sondheim is…I don’t even have a good enough word for that man. What does it mean though? Is this an excuse? But whatever it means, it makes sense somehow. People are just people…and as Regina Spektor says “People are just people. They shouldn’t make you nervous…Maybe you should just kiss someone nice or lick a rock, or both.”
Not everyone sees a person and wants to make them smile. Sometimes we see people and think they are just jerks and can go jump off a cliff as far as we care, but not my dad. That is one of his gifts.
My mom used to sing this brownie (girl scouts) song that went like this “I have something in my pocket that belongs across my face….” And I can’t remember the rest of it, but basically it’s a smile.
“Smile though your heart is breaking.
Smile even though it’s aching
When there are clouds in the sky you’ll get by
If you just smile”.
Truer words were never spoken. I have actually looked in the mirror and made myself smile before when I was sad and it really does help. It releases something.
My mom taught me to always have an easy smile. She told me this so many times when I was a little girl. She would watch my face because she said I always showed what I felt in my face.
“Be careful, Lin, you could hurt someone’s feelings”.
My mother is kindness. She would never look at someone and twist her face up in annoyance or conceit.
“Smile, Linny. Always have an easy smile”.
My dad always worked to get people to smile and my mom always encouraged it from us. My parents are the smartest people in the world. What is the number one thing to teach a child who is entering into a world that will show beauty, but also death, heartache, and deceit? To smile. Because you really will get by if you just smile and not only that, so will the people around you.

We went into the subject of marriage and the ideas and limits we put on one another. There is something so beautiful and romantic about the idea of finding your one mate and dying old in their arms, but it’s the freedom to love openly that holds us together, not the restrictions. I feel like marriage is often viewed as a sort of law or cage. How many times do spouses joke “well, before I had my handcuff’s on”. Of course, this is just a joke and usually said lightly with a laugh, but at the same it does seem to start out as a celebration and move into a restriction.
"Was that me? Yes it was. Was that him? No it wasn't..
Just a trick of the woods!
Just a moment,
One peculiar passing moment.
Must it all be either less or more,
Either plain or grand?
Is it always 'or'?
Is it never 'and'?
That's what woods are for:
For those moments in the woods...
Oh, if life were made of moments,
Even now and then a bad one--!
But if life were only moments,
Then you'd never know you had one.
First a witch, then a child, then a Prince, then a moment--
Who can live in the woods?
And to get what you wish, only just for a moment--
These are dangerous woods..
Let the moment go..
Don't forget it for a moment, though.
Just remembering you had an 'and,' when you're back to 'or,'
Makes the 'or' mean more than it did before.
Now I understand--
And it's time to leave the woods."
Stephen Sondheim-into the woods
Celibacy is not always just about the absence of sex, but about the time someone is taking to find what makes them smile without sex or a relationship. We are very, very obsessed with sex and when we hear the word monogamy many people will ask “why”? “WHAT!!!!?” “why in the world would you…..what???? No WHAT!!??”
Lindy joked last night that no sex was like…like…”like saying I will never eat meat loaf again!”
We were all kinda silent for a moment. Meatloaf? Melissa piped in, “how about water? It’s more like not being able to have water.” Lindy said she doesn’t really like water all that much though. Alright, coffee! It was agreed upon that it’s like not having coffee. Meatloaf, water, or coffee.
A man I talked to last night has just gone through a divorce and is now going to be celibate for a couple of years and it makes perfect sense to me. This man walked in to an office one day and asked a woman, “are you happy”?
At first she thought he was talking about work, but then he said, “no, outside of work, are you happy?” She answered “yes”. He said ,“I am too, now, and I want to know why.”
He has just gone through his divorce and is now alone and wants to see what it is that he has when he is alone so he can keep it when he is with someone again in the future. I think this is awesome. I think a part of what causes some marriages to fail is the loss of yourself and the fear of being alone.
My uncle once said “we come in to this world alone and we die alone” and on one hand it sounds harsh, but then again, it is true. I mean, we don’t really come in alone, we begin inside out mother’s body so it’s fair to say we come in with her, but we are far more able to entertain ourselves, think, sing songs, and play by ourselves as kids than we are as we age. We search for this soul mate and then we live for them and forget ourselves. I think it is a beautiful thing to find someone you live for in a sense, but it’s like being in a crashing airplane when they ask you to please put your gas mask on before helping the person beside you. It’s not because you are the most important, but because you need to have air to help someone else. I think sometimes we get into relationships and our own mask starts to slip until we’re breathing fumes and not thinking straight and finally it all crashes and burns.
Being alone on the horse gives me a lot of time to think about this kind of stuff. My mom asked me yesterday morning what I think about and I joked that sometimes I just get the same sentence stuck in my head over and over and over again and I’m just kind of repeating it to the rhythm of Sojourner’s hooves, but thankfully I am able to break out of that and think beyond that at times as well. Yo
I am totally at peace when I am out there with the horse. I hardly talk and I have yet to be even the slightest bit bored.
Now, I have to make it clear that when I write these entries, I am discussing conversations I’ve had and opinions I might for in the moment, things I’m bouncing off walls and onto this computer and back to myself again. They might change and I am no way preaching any specific ideas, just thoughts and opinions of the people across the country mixed in with my own soft opinions.
I do believe in marriage and I believe in wishes and dreams. I also believe in responsibility and hard work and I think if you can balance the fairy tale of marriage with the maturity and responsibility it takes to make it work then you might just make it through. The cool thing about challenges is it makes you appreciate the roses. Relationships have to have hard times to keep the good times so vibrant. It’s like a hot shower for me now! Oh, how I appreciate it.
Melissa made the point that sometimes she has to get away because it makes her miss so terribly what she left behind. It is not that she had to get away to remember, she knew she would miss what she left, but if you take that time to yourself it makes you appreciate the time that is not just to yourself so much more. It is a beautiful thing to have a partner, to have a home, to have continuality.
I believe in marriage because I think it’s romantic and beautiful, but I don’t by any means think it’s necessary. I also don’t think college is necessary, but I went and I believe in it to an extent. I appreciate my education and the people I learned from and met there, but should there be so much pressure to go? No, of course not. We learn from people; people who have written books and people who show us their crafts. We are a little obsessed with paper and the things we print on them to credit ourselves: marriage license, college diploma, George Washington. The more the better. The higher the better. For some reason as we’ve moved through the years we have come up with ways to prove ourselves through paper. “Where is it written?” “Show me the money”, “Are you married, divorced, or single? Check here.”
But there we are, flesh and blood, living and breathing and learning and who the hell cares about these limitations and what society has deemed right and wrong? We all know what it is to be good and kind. We are all given emotions that tell us. Our body tells us “this is beautiful, smile at it”. We have no control. It’s as amazing as the spark that starts the very first beat in a babies heart. Where does it come from? What starts the thing that starts the tings that starts the spark that starts the beat? Silence, silence, silence, and then in one miraculous second, life. The beat that we’ll walk to for the next hundred years trying to figure out what to do with the feelings the beat brings.

Pictures by Stephen from Joshua Tree:

somewhere in the desert in Arizona....

2099-11-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

3/30/10

...oh okay, actually we are 8 miles West of Vicksburg. Walter just told me.

I can't post any pictures tonight because the internet is extremely slow out here.

Going back to yesterday...After leaving Brenda's place in Parker, Sojourner and I rode 11 hours to Bouse. We were making really great time. I got up at 4am to feed and was in the saddle by 6:30, but after riding about 5 miles I realized somewhere along the line I had lost my SPOT. SPOT is a GPS system that keeps my mama from worrying. Walter and my mom and Stephen know where I am every ten minutes with this thing. This is not the first time I have dropped the SPOT. Last time I dropped it I lost it because it wasn't where it said it was. It turned off. I guess someone took that one. Luckily we had insurance on it so we were got another and the SPOT company even donated an upgrade after Stephen told them about the ride. So anyway, here we go again, new and improved SPOT missing.
I called Stephen to get on-line to see where it was and he turned on his computer and said it was all the way back where I started, but I hadn't turned the tracker on, so it wasn't giving a constant update. So, back I rode about 2.5 miles and found it on the road. I was so happy to find it, but I added 5 miles to an already 28 mile ride which really, really aggravated me.
You see, I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before. I smashed my toe so hard climbing up a bank on the side of the Colorado River that I thought I was going to lose my toe nail because it was so bruised underneath. After a day of swimming in the river and going to see our new friends Melissa and John at the Desert Bar, I packed and folded everything and eventually got into the ambulance to go to sleep. It was early, maybe 10pm and I thought I would get a good 6 hours of sleep. My toe killed though! I kept saying, "it's just a toe. Sleep" in my head, but I couldn't. I tried for a good 2 and a half hours though because I so badly didn't want to get up into the cold, but finally I did. I went to where the boys were to get the truck key from Walter. Now it's 12:30am and they were watching a movie on the computer. I went to the truck and took some Aspirin and then I wasn't very tired and it took a while for the Aspirin to kick in. So anyway, long story that I didn't make very short, I fell asleep around 2 and got up at 4 to feed Soj. It was SO hot the next day. I had left early to beat the heat, but then lost the SPOT and, you know.
So I'm hot and tired and I called Stephen so frustrated to tell him the SPOT was gone.
"Stephen. I am so annoyed with this stupid SPOT. It doesn't stay on the saddle no matter how I clip it. I can't handle this".
"Okay! Okay! I'm turning on my computer!! Let me see! Hold on!" Stephen says in an exasperated but cheery voice because he knows I am right at my wits end.

(Ah! A big spider just crawled up my computer screen!!)

Anyway, my point of this rambly story is that I was a big grouch to Stephen and I wanted to find the SPOT just so I could set it in the road under a tractor trailer truck so it could be squashed for so annoyingly slipping off my saddle again, but it got me to thinking about how people are snippy only to the people they know they can be snippy too. That's one thing family is great for. You know you can leash out if you have to and they are still going to be there when the smoke clears. So thanks, Stephen.

So...now I'm walking along the train tracks and I am so incredibly hot and tired so I dismount because I've decided I'm going to ride in my underwear. You see, when I get THAT hot, I HAVE to get cooler. I was a little ways away from the road so people wouldn't really see me in my undies, I mean, sometimes they did but I really don't care. I couldn't get to the boys to bring me shorts because I was on the tracks behind a barbed wire fence and they were a ways off anyway.
I drooped my jeans over the saddle, put my shoes and socks in my collapsible water bucket and rode on. Now I've ridden an hour or so and I think about my knife. I just realized that it was in my jeans which...yes, just as I thought, are hanging upside down with now empty pockets.

Now you see, I had this knife once before. Yup, just like the SPOT, but I was never able to find it again after losing it off the saddle that time so my mom bought me a new one. I told myself I would NOT lose the knife this time.
So, "okay Soj, back the way we came".
We rode about 20 minutes back and I found it lying in the dirt thankfully. This time I wasn't mad though. I knew it had to be back just a ways and I already went through the whole "you shouldn't get so mad about things and be so grouchy" speech to myself after the whole SPOT incident.
Now we're riding on and I realize I am going to have to get off the train tracks and get onto a road, but wait a second...What is it you ask??? No PANTS!!!
I hadn't tied my pants on and they had slipped off the gosh darn stupid God forsaken saddle.

So, grrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!, I go on a pants hunt and a while later I found my jeans and put them on and couldn't get out of the fence.
I hope I don't get in trouble for writing this and I feel bad about it and won't do it again, but after all those turn a rounds and the horrible heat I just couldn't bare to ride on past my turn until God knows when to find another way out when I realized I was locked in behind that barbed wire fence...so I cut myself out. Rather Walter cut me out, but only because I told him I had to get out of there and didn't give him much of a choice. I tried to not have to cut it. I used my knife and pried all of the 4 wires off of the poles but they were just too loose on the ground and it would have been too risky to try and get Soj over it. Oh goodness, one of these days I'll repair a downed fence to make up for it.

(Ah! This spider just crawled up my leg....)

I got on the road and a little while later a wonderful woman named Susan shows up in the distance in a white jeep that holds a cooler in the back full of beer, soda, and Gatorade. She got out and immediately cracked and handed me a beer and we sat and cooled off for a bit. Soj took a nap while we were talking. Both Soj and I were SO tired. I told Susan I had my eyes closed for half of the ride and to tell you the truth that is probably an understatement. I would open one eye just the tiniest bit to make sure we were still going the right way and then I would close it again and trust that Soj would get me there.
Susan let me know I only had about 6 miles left to go and so Soj and I were off again.
When we finally got to the BS ranch, we were greeted by tons of fantastic people and a big turkey dinner with all the fixin's and homemade pies! Susan directed me to the shower and Susan even had a fantastic tub that I regretfully didn't have time to relax in, but the shower was awesome. She also did our laundry this morning (which was ready to crawl away) and made us a big pasta lunch.
The flowing wave of generosity that has been rolling around Soj and I did not stop at the BS ranch. A woman named Stephanie with an incredibly kind heart went to her trailer and just handed me thing after thing. She wouldn't take no for an answer!
"I've got three of everything!" she would say and "I only have one horse and look at all of this stuff!"
The stuff she was handing over was beautiful and stuff she easily could sell, but she insisted it belong to Sojourner. Soj now has a beautiful wool and sheep's wool pad, a wool blanket, leg wraps, another lead rope and halter, more liniment, more electrolytes, a new head stall and snaffle bit, 2 new reins...oh, it goes on and on...
We were also given some easy boots!! Thank goodness! A woman named Barb (who also baked the pies) gave us easy boots and also pads to go inside them. Maybe that's why Soj had more pep in his walk today, because his boots fit better.

((Paula!! If you are reading, there is a woman at the BS ranch and I think the two of you need to meet. You would just love each other! I can get you her contact info. James and Kelly...I'll give it to you.))

So anyway...
They were all incredibly generous and wonderful, so much so that instead of leaving around 7 or 8am like I usually do, I left at 12:45pm today...BUT I didn't leave until after, guess what!!??

Guess!!!

After going on a SPOT hunt!!!!!! YAY!!!! Favorite thing!!! Time to do the favorite thing!!!

I tacked up Soj around noon and went to turn on the SPOT for the day and the stupid thing wasn't there. This time at least it was in "tracking mode" and when Walter went on-line he could see where it was. We drove a few miles down the road and there it was on the shoulder.

There was an old cowboy at the ranch called "Ugly Dog" and he told me stories about the war and stories about his 2 deceased wives. His real names is James, but when he was about 5 years old his mother came out to him crying as he stood in front of his brother.

"You see", James goes into the story, "my brother and I used to fight every day when we was kids. Mama hollered out the kitchen winda one day and she said 'you boys quit that!'
She came out the screen door and Daddy was in there havin' coffee and she came out, leaned against the porch post and she says 'now, what in the world are you boys fightin' fo'? I wanna know this right now!'
Well, my brother put his hands behind his back and stuck his head in the air" (he hums a little tune and imitates the way his brother would put his hand behind his back) "hmmm hmm hmmm like he always did and mother stepped off the front porch, walked down, put her arm around me and she gave me a tug and she said 'Jimmy darlin', what are you and Bubba fightin' about?'
And I said (he raises his voice into a childlike, high pitched tune), Mama he called me ugly dog! And she didn't say a word; she didn't even laugh. And my brother, he kinda grinned, my sister she come out on the porch and she just grinned and I'm sure Daddy was grinnin' in the kitchen and mama just took her arm down and never said nothin', didn't even turn around and look at us. She walked back up on the porch, she reached for the screen door and opened it up and she say 'well, Jimmy darlin'. I hate to say it. When you came into this world you were the ugliest thing I ever did see in my whole life!'
And Daddy cracked up in the kitchen, my brother cracked up, my sister likely busted a gut on the porch and that's how I got my name, Ugly Dog".

I said, "and you kept the name!? Even though it made you cry?"
He said, "well, that's what my whole family called me after that".

Ugly Dog said when he went in to the army they used to call the soldiers "mud dogs" to get them all riled up and he didn't mind one bit! The officers would kick them down in the mud so they wouldn't get muddy. He said, "the trainin' sergeant didn't wanna get muddy".
He continues, "and so the reason for that was so when we went to the trainin' and they shot that machine gun over top you didnt' stick yo' butt up. One guy did and he got hurt pretty bad".
"Now they don't do that now, they use blanks, but not back in my day".

**I have a lot of stories from the BS ranch, but I think I will save them for later. I am so tired tonight. In fact, I decided today that I will probably write a book after this. There is just so much stuff to tell and I try not to censor too much for this blog, but I have to to an extent and I can be more open in my book. I have so much video footage already as well. It's awesome. I will try to start putting up little clips soon, but it's hard to find the time to do everything after I ride all day...this blog is just a tiny taste of the days. I've got to give you more when I have time to get it all out!!**

Ugly Dog gave me a belt buckle that he won in 1952 for riding a bronco bare back. I am so happy to have it. It's awesome! I also have a band for my cowgirl hat now that he made as well. He gave me the compass he used in the war and a sweater I'm wearing now. I was saying that my leather shop is going to be just full of people and memories when I get home and decorate it.

(Oh no!!! Susan! I didn't give you all sage!! I had sage for you from Bob! Oh man! Darn it. I was in such a rush at the end because it was getting so late in the day. Okay, well, I will get Bob's sage to you someday. Oh! Walter just came and read over my shoulder and said "I gave Susan sage". Good good.)

Today was a nice ride. We didn't trot or canter at all, but Soj walked out the entire day at a great clip. We only rode 18 miles today, but it was a nice relaxed day (nothing lost off the saddle) Oh! That reminds me, Jordan made this awesome little case for the SPOT out of leather so I won't lose it anymore. I'll post a picture soon. It's cool.
So we rode 18 miles and saw an incredible sunset behind plateaued mountains and the sporadic tall cactus and spindly tree. It was gorgeous. Sojourner saw the ambulance and trailer before I did (as always) and perked up heading straight for it. Walter was sitting at the end of the road by the cattle grade to let me through the break in the fence. Now I am in a beautiful camping spot that the boys found. I am sitting outside on Soj's saddle pad and Soj is right here next to me chomping away at his hay.

Oh, Soj and I saw a dead young mountain lion today on the side of the road. It looked like something out of national geographic. I thought maybe it was a bob cat, but it was kinda big for a bob cat and really looked like a lion. I felt sad for it. Stupid cars.

Anyway, I should get some sleep. It's 11:30pm. Hopefully I can upload some pictures tomorrow.
Good night....

bad intyerernet

2099-11-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

3/31/10

On phone. I am awful at typing on this thing. In Saline, AZ.107 miles outside Phoenix. Windy but all is well.

Aguila, AZ (well, almost)

2099-11-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

4/1/10

First off, I wasn't in Saline, I was in Salome, but that silly phone of mine that I can't work changed the word on me like it always, always does.

I didn't ride all that far today because Walter and I stayed up the whole night last night. I was riding with my eyes closed again. Soj and I made great time in the morning, but I started to crash as the day went on. We are now in a beautiful camping spot just West of Aguila. We rode about 18 miles today and tomorrow I have to get up early and ride 36 to get to our next stop.

Last night we stayed at a rodeo spot in Salome. The evening was made by these two wonderful women named Janet and Clare. I only met Janet for a minute but she reminded me so much of my Mendocino mama, Nancy, so I instantly loved her. She had such a great energy about her. It's too bad it was such a quick visit.

Clare and Janet drove into the spot we were camping out at in a white Crown Victoria. The boys stayed at the rodeo spot with Soj, but I followed Clare and Janet in the truck to take Clare up on her offer to shower at her house.

So here they are in this little car and we turn into this field! They drive down the sort of dirt road on the side but at one point the dirt was too soft and the Crown Victoria fish tailed. They just kept on driving. It was great!! I got such a kick out of them driving around in the fields in that car! I was by myself in the truck but I was laughing and laughing!!

Clare dropped Janet off and I went to Clare's to shower and then spent a relaxing hour or two with Clare and her husband. By the way, Clare, what is that wine again?? I want to get some! Good, cheap, and red. That's just about the way I like everything. :)

I am going to try to get some pictures up tonight, but this internet is so very slow and I don't want to wait too long for the pictures to upload because I have to get up so early tomorrow.

We should be in Phoenix on Monday night though so I am going to work on some leather orders I have and catch up with this blog pictures AND thoughts wise...

I love reading the comments. I will respond more as my internet service gets better, but now everything just takes so much time!!

Yeah, actually the internet is just too slow and there are so many pictures to post. I will play catch up big time once we are in Phoenix!!

Sweet Bee Blog-pictures of me and Soj in Parker, AZ

2099-11-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

4/3/10

http://sweetbeeblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/linny-soj-take-2.html

Check out these shots!!! Talk about a talented woman!!!

Wickenburg, AZ 400 miles traveled so far...

2099-11-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

4/3/10

(photo by Walter)

(photo by Jordan)

(photo by Walter)

(photo by Linny)

Sorry my blogs have been a little sporadic and sometimes kinda blah the last few days. We have been in the desert a lot and haven't been getting great internet service. I have also been so incredibly tired. I mean, just exhausted. Yesterday I was falling asleep in the saddle. I was in fuzz land in my head and I kept almost falling out of the saddle. I had to get down and walk because we were beside a road and I couldn't really do the close eye thing very safely.
...
I give myself shivers so many times throughout the day when I think about my horse and the people who are now added to my life. I was talking with Walter about our dreams and it's kind of like that spark I was talking about earlier that makes you smile. All of us have these drives and dreams that are unique to us. We are born with them and who knows where they come from. Nobody said to us "Dream about this. This is cool". It just came with us when we came into the world and I tell you with the utmost enthusiasm that this is what you should pursue. There is nothing that compares to fulfilling your dream. There is no amount of money or thing or situation that will ever, ever compare.

Most people get it when they see the horse and hear about the ride and they are enthusiastic and smile and laugh with me and ask questions, but every once in a while someone doesn't get it. This is fine though. There is always going to be someone who doesn't get your dream. I don't care if your dream is to produce fatter rolls of toilet paper, it's yours and it's what will truly make you happy.

I think this spirals into relationships too. We are quick to give up the dream we're born with. It fizzles away as we age or we throw all of our energy into another person. The thing is, when we are initially attracted to someone we are attracted to their drives and their loves and their ways. If you let your drives and your loves fizzle away, then I think it can hurt your relationships. You should put your all into the people you love. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that comes before my family, but the dreams have their place and they just can't be let go of. Everything works together.

Ugly Dog after he just took his teeth out and made us all laugh (photo by Jordan)

Dancing couple at the Desert Bar in Parker, AZ (photos by Jordan)

That's a whole other topic anyway, but my main point right now is to go for whatever that little thing is in you that makes you excited. It feels so right. Every single day while I'm riding out there alone with my horse I get overwhelmed with feeling and I smile to myself and sometimes shake my head in just total joy. I'm doing what I said I would do as a baby. Here, let me show you a little video of when the dream began. I'm a little girl and I am surrounded by my family. My Uncle Chrissy and my brother and mom and dad, my amazing Grandma, and my inspiration, my Grandfather, are all there in that room. Look Poppy...I'm doing this now for real.

No one ever said to me "you can't do that". Well, that's not true, people I have met throughout my life have said I can't do things, but no one in my family ever said I can't do something and if they say I can do it (which I have always been told I can), then I believe I can do it and nothing anyone says will deter me. My mom is the strongest, kindest woman you will ever meet and has been a constant teacher, my father drove me all over the place as a child and young adult because he believed I could sing and would do whatever he could do to make it happen. My Grandfather, with his hand curled in a fist and a punch to the air and "pow" coming from his lips, would say "you go get 'em baby".

"You go get 'em baby". That's all I needed and I've hung on to it and I hear it when things are hard. Get 'em...get the stars, get the moon, get people, get love, get music, get laughs, get tears...get it all because it's all here for you. Every person on this planet has their "'em's" to get. Keep your eyes off your feet and straight ahead and reach for every sparkly thing you pass. Smile at every person you see. This is it.

My step-father, Stephen, is always on the phone so we have a place to stay. He gives so much energy and makes this all possible for me. My uncles and aunts who's messages I save on my phone so I can go back and listen to their voices when I need a pick me up...and my beautiful cousins. That has been my support. That has been my drive. People.

I need people like I need air and they fill me up like nothing else. My beautiful friend, Lari Shea in Mendocino at Ricochet Ridge Ranch, gave me the chance to be with horses again which led me to Sojourner, which led me to Henry and Shorty at the ranch in the East Bay who have become my family, which led me to every person I've met on this ride who have also become my family, and these two boys I'm with who are such a fantastic support and so talented as photographers and artists adding so much magic to this ride.

(photos by Linny)

I think about these things as I ride and the strength that I bundle up like a growing snowball as I ride from town to town because of these people. I told John at the radio station in Parker that it's like the little diamond pieces you run Mario in to when playing Super Mario Brothers. These people are my little diamonds and with each cookie I eat that was made for us, or the jingle of the crystal that is now on my horn from Kelly a few towns back. These sounds and tastes and feelings that I take with me from them are what makes me work. I could ride for the rest of my life no matter how tired it makes me if I am riding to them. I love their stories, I love their ideas and their lives, I love their questions and answers and why's and why nots. I love their laughs and different mannerisms and the constant similarities from person to person to person. All of us here together doing what we do, feeling what we feel.

(photo by Linny)

(photo by Walter)

(photo by Walter)

Ugly Dog's homee (photo by Linny)

And this horse. Oh man, this horse. He makes it all possible. He is the connection and the spirit that ties it all together.
(photo by Linny)

I am good at wandering off from subject to subject because there is just so much to think and talk about, but my original intention when I started writing was just to tell you if there is anything that you have ever dreamed of doing, you just have to do it. Never turn your back on a feeling that came from somewhere we can't see or touch or understand. Those are things that are only ours and those are things to focus in on. Nothing will make you happier.

So...to start where I left off on our journey, I had a wonderful evening with Clare and her husband and rode on the next day to a camping spot just West of Aguila. Walter and I stayed up the entire night before so I was too tired to ride very far that day. I found a nice field and was going to just take a nap in it for a while with Soj tied to the truck, but we decided at 2:30pm and after 18 miles of riding that we would just set up camp for the rest of the evening. Walter and I ended staying up all night again and so the next day (yesterday) was pure agony.

Soj and I rode 36 miles to Wickenburg where we are now and it's kind of unfortunate I was so tired because it was a beautiful ride, but my eyes were blurry and my head was often to the ground. The desert is getting greener as we ride East and there are beautiful flowers everywhere.

Clare wrote to me telling me to take my time on the ride and stay up all night as much as I want and enjoy it! I loved that email. I thought about it for a second and realized "Yeah! There is no schedule...I just want to do what I feel at any moment".

So 36 miles later we get into Wickenburg where we are staying with one of Clare's friends, Sharon. I haven't really talked with Sharon much yet because I was tired last night and just went to sleep after dinner. Remember how I wrote about Clare and Janet fish tailing through the field? Here is a little video. I didn't get my phone out in time to get them in the field, but this gives you a taste. It was the best. :)

Now I am in a cafe called "The Pony Espresso". It would be cool to ride Soj down here and tie him up outside while I grab a coffee for tomorrow's ride. I'll do it if it's on the way, but I think there actually is a way to cut through the field tomorrow which would cut out the cafe stop.

Here are some photos from Parker to Aguila, AZ:

Driving to the Colorado River to take a dip

Walter jumping into the river

At Melissa and John's having some fantastic late night conversation around the fire on their porch. This is what it's all about. A couple weeks ago I didn't know them and now I know they will be friends from here on out. Just an evening-that's all it takes! :) Perfect. I love it.

Melissa the photographer. www.sweetbeeblog.blogspot.com

This is back at James and Kelly's. Soj was dreaming along with his buddy the brown horse. They were both running through fields together in dream land, I think, because they were twitchy

Arizona Sunsets

There is a cafe in Aguila, AZ called The Unforgettable Women Cafe. I got a text from Walter saying "I am at a great internet cafe. We have to come back later". I didn't get to go back, but as I was riding and hungry the truck pulled up and Jordan had lunch for me that these awesome women had made for me. They made the boys a nice lunch and filled us up with coffee too. The cafe is run by a mother/daughter team. Thanks so much to them for the food!!!! Their site is www.unforgettablewomen.com

At the BS ranch. They made a big Turkey dinner and homemade pies. It was amazing

Soj trying to steal a little coffee

Ugly Dog sharing his photos

Ugly Dog with no teeth!!!

At the Desert Bar:

(photo by Jordan)

from phone

2099-10-31T22:34:00.000-06:00

4/4/10

In desert and tired. It' s really buggy out here. Going to go get in the tent and sleep. Took it easy today.18 miles. Happy Easter!!!

Phoenix, AZ

2099-10-30T12:26:00.000-06:00

4/7/10

I'm so sorry I have been unable to post for a couple of days!! Internet has been really spotty. I am so terrible at using the keyboard on my phone so I don't even bother when it is the only thing getting service. To type "I am here and safe" takes me 8 years on that phone.

Jordan, Walter, and I are at my aunt Betty and Uncle Gary's house in Phoenix now. My mom flew in yesterday and will spend today and tomorrow with us too. It's so wonderful to be with all of them. Sojourner is a mile from the house at a wonderful ranch. You know, I don't even know the info. about the ranch yet. I rode in kind of anxious to get to my mom and aunt and uncle and I don't even think I realized where I was! I will get the name of the ranch and be sure to post a link to their site though. They were all there and waiting with everything for Soj. It's a wonderful facility. They are feeding Soj as well so I can relax a little more which I am extremely appreciative of.

You know though, this is the first night I've actually been away from him so that I can't just walk around the corner to him or have him right outside my tent and I MISS him! I'll go see him after this. He has a little Arabian horse in the turn out next to him so I am sure he is hanging over by him sleeping happy as a clam.

Sojourner, by the way, is looking fantastic. He is so fit and strong now. He doesn't pee more than he should anymore, he's actually putting on weight and his coat is getting so glossy. He just looks amazing. I think this trip is making all four of us super healthy.

Let me go back a bit....

Clare, who was in Salome, set us up with a woman named Sharon in Wickenburg, AZ. I was too tired to make it all the way to Wickenburg after Salome so we camped out on BLM land about 18 miles away from Salome. It was a great spot to camp and gave us all a chance to enjoy the land a little.
We went walking around exploring a bit and I carried this stick just in case that big bull decided to come at me.

Sunset a few nights ago

We tied Soj off in a little pen like we always do when we camp, but I had a funny feeling that night that it wasn't going to work. I let the thought go though and eventually went to sleep. Jordan tells me Soj laid down and slept for a while, but then he really wanted to get out to the hay I had set outside of his pen for the next morning. Jordan went ahead and threw him the hay to get him to chill out and then went back to bed. It seems, though, once Soj finished his hay he was still interested to see what was on the other side of that rope. I got up at 5am the next morning and Soj was gone.

What is on the other side of that rope is miles and miles and miles of open land. I wasn't worried though. In fact, I had absolutely no reaction inside or change of expression in my face when I didn't see him there. I kind of expected it for some reason and didn't feel anything inside to tell me he was hurt. I started walking down the dirt road that led to the hills and off a bit into the field, but realized there was no way I would be able to see him this way. There are trees that grow to just above my head and they didn't allow me to scope out the area very easily.

I turned around and climbed onto the hood of the ambulance. Out there in the distance was this little white shape that was Soj and I could see his little ears poke forward and his neck perk up the second I got on top of that ambulance. He instantly came trotting to me. I think he just got disoriented. He trotted all the way back until he got to a ditch and then got confused and started walking the other way again. Now, he had gone over that ditch to get to where he was, but James in Joshua Tree taught me that horses have a left brain and a right brain and both brains need to figure things out. :) So, I think Soj hopped over the ditch with his left brain and then came back with the right one looking at it saying "no way man!!!!!! NO THANKS at the idea of crossing that!!" (It was just a tiny little wash). So anyway, I crossed that and then he came right to me and put his head in the halter himself. We went back to the ditch and the silly horse jumped it and back we went to tack up.

We pitched our tent right there next to Soj the next night and he stretched out right there next to us just like a dog would. He was dreaming away and it made me think about animals and their understanding of existence. Obviously he is able to go back and think about things in his head if he dreams like this. He was clearly running around in a field. That little guys legs were moving all over the place! It was great. I stayed up until past 2am watching him and laughing. (Notice Soj is on high line now...no more rope fence)

Soj had gotten in to all of his rice bran and grain when he got out so I didn't give him any grain. We tacked up and rode and had another one of those days where I was asleep in the saddle. This day, in fact, was the toughest yet. I was running on low fuel from so many late, late night and early mornings. We rode 37 miles that day to Wickenburg. As I was getting into town a beautiful woman pulled up in a pick up truck and said "Linny!?"

It was Sharon Simpson from the Simpson Ranch where we were staying that night. I was so happy to see her. She is a person who instantly shows warmth and she also was the sign of the end of a long day.

I later learned that Sharon used to work with women who had eating disorders using horses. She worked with them for 16 years before retiring and as Clare said, "who wouldn't benefit from being around horses. Who wouldn't benefit from being around Sharon!?!"
Sharon took us out to dinner that evening after spending the afternoon having a Margarita and chatting a bit with Sharon and her husband, Larrie, Clare, and her daughter, Amy. I still didn't feel like I got enough time with her.
I felt bad the next morning (Easter morning) because I was trotting Sojourner away and from behind me I hear "Linny! Linny!"
Sharon had come running down her driveway to give me a kiss and hug goodbye, take a picture, and hand me $60 that she just insisted on giving and a little gold tag that said "God answers prayers". I hoped inside that she didn't think I was leaving without saying goodbye. I was told by the men who were feeding horses that everyone was going to be at the park for a big town Easter picnic so that's where I was headed thinking I would see them all there.

At least I got to see her on the way out. I did end up going to the park and stayed until a little after lunch time, but we weren't able to meet up again unfortunately. Clare was so excited about us staying with Sharon at the ranch. Sharon has something so special that other people are excited to share them with you. I know that feeling, that's for sure.

"You have to meet my uncle Chrissy, I can't wait for you to meet Gary and Betty, oh, if you could meet my Aunt Val!! What a woman...and my mom's best friend, Gracie...my uncle John..." on and on and on and on and on!!!! I say these things all the time about so many people in my life. You're almost dying for this person to meet that person because this person is just so overwhelmingly wonderful and....oh! It's the best. It takes one to know one, they say, and I say this to Clare.

The morning after arriving in Wickenburg, the boys and I played around a bit by Soj. We were messing around on the fence and I flipped over it and ripped my jeans and hurt my bad ankle and cut my knee a little, but I tell ya, I'd flip again!! :)

Soon after that the three of us walked down to the Hassayampa River to see if there was a good place Soj and I could cross the next morning to cut out a few miles and the traffic of town. As it turned out the ground was so soft. Walter was out there in his shoes and jeans and sunk in to his knees. This prompted me to take off my shoes and jeans and the three of us ended up playing around in the river for the afternoon. It was such a perfect, beautiful afternoon.

I walked by Jordan and he was chipping at a piece of wood with his knife. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to make a pipe. It was a really cool piece of wood that many would just walk by, but not Jordan. He is someone who sees things in things, you know what I mean? Like this "linnykenney.com" thing he made in the dirt. I was born in 1981, and if you look closely you can see that it even has 1981 in it!! He saw a bunch of little things by the train tracks and turned it into this. I love it:

It's great having someone who is so good with his hands and also happens to have a fully equipped leather shop ambulance with him. Soj's girth was causing a little bit of a swell on one side so I asked Jordan if he had any sheep's wool we could put to the underside of the girth. He did and now it's not only soft against him, but it looks cool.
Fixing the girth

Jordan and Walter found a dead snake on the side of the road and so Jordan skinned it and stretched it on a stick to smoke over the fire. He's going to use it in his leather creations. The stinker didn't want to touch the scissors again though after cutting into that snake to cut the wool for the girth!! ha! He was holding the wool and said we had to wait until we could get some other scissors. I said "What!!!? Give me those scissors!" and cut the hide. Now my hands are gangrene, but that's okay.

This is a biggie. My SPOT now stays with me because of this leather pouch he made that is open enough that the SPOT can still give off it's signal. I've told Jordan he has really got to make an ETSY account because his stuff is not only beautiful, but really, really useful and well made so it's strong. I am a big fan of his work and definitely put it through some serious wear without any problems. Here's a picture of the SPOT case.

As far as my own leather work goes, I thought of an idea as I was walking along the road the other day. I want to make things from the trail...kind of a little series of things from this ride and call it "treasures from the trail". I was inspired by the beautiful flowers in the desert. I thought I would dry some and seal them into the leather. I have lots of other little cool things I've found and have lots of ideas as far as incorporating them into messenger bags, cuffs, and belts.

You know how NPR has a day where they will play a Bernadette Peters concert or something and you can get the DVD with a donation? I was thinking maybe I could do something like this with the "treasures from the trail" series. It's something that will come with a donation. This will help me with funds for the ride and also allow me to create something that I think is really special. Each piece will come with a little story of where it came from. I think it would be kind of a cool gift to give someone for Christmas or something. What do you all think about this idea?

I am going to Tandy Leather today to get some stuff and working tonight and tomorrow. It will be nice to paint out in the sun. The weather is just perfect here.

Oh man!!! I miss Soj! I've got to go head over to that boy soon.

So...back to the river...
as we were playing in the river and Jordan was chiseling at his soon to be pipe while Walter threw rocks at him, my phone rang on the bank and it was Stephen telling me Clare was going to be coming through town with her daughter and to meet up with her when she got into town.

(reverting to cave man days. Walter catching his mate.)

(Jordan got him back though. Not interested)

We met them and went up to Sharon's house where we had Margarita's and talked on a patio that overlooked some of the 650 acres of the Simpson ranch.

The Simpson ranch has been in the family for 5 generations and they all live on the property. I told Sharon that this was exactly how I wanted things to be with my family and how perfect the ranch was. Sharon agreed. She is a Grandmother (although you would never in a million years guess that looking at her) and she says her Grandchildren are always up at the house.
...
My mom and I talked last night about all of the emotions and thoughts this ride brings up and all the different opinions that are coming in as I ride from town to town and ask people about their love life and their thoughts on those buzzing bees and singing birds. She has started to write down all of her thoughts and feelings as she goes through this with me. I hope my dad will too...

The one thing I am so sure of, I know, I don't just think this, is that we are all so connected to this incredible land out here and it is absolutely a necessity to be out with it...on it...bare foot (even in the desert). Just kidding, don't do that. Look what happens when you do...

I got off the horse to try and get some artsy pictures of him in the flowers and this cactus got me and it was awful taking all of those prickers out. They don't look like they're in deep, but they were hanging on for dear life. Each one was so painful to pull out and I had to pull them out one by one (about 20 of them!). They would stretch my skin out like warm gum every time. It was awful. For the next few miles one would make it's way further through my flip flop and get me again. Not fun.

Anyway, lots of things to think about...

Yesterday I was in the saddle by 6:30am to try and make it to my Aunt and Uncle's by 10am because that was when my mom flew in. Jordan dropped Walter off so he could walk with me and Soj for about 6 miles.

on our short cut through the desert...

I lost my cowboy hat somewhere in this field. :(

Hey Bri! This is when I was trying to pose for that sign picture. :) This was taken right before meeting Nancy on the road...

Before cutting into the desert, we came across a woman named Nancy walking down the road. We got to talking with her and told her what we were doing and she said "Oh! You just have to meet Betty next door here!"

Me and Betty Henderson. The second I walked in the door she opened her arms to welcome me in for a hug and said "Oh! I'm so proud of you!"

Me, Betty, and Nancy

Betty is an 87 year old woman who's husband, Emery just died in November. She met him when she was 16 years old at a dance in town. She said she went home that night and said to her mother "I met the man I'm going to marry".
Betty and Emery trained Morgans and you can even see a couple of their Morgan's in a movie made in the 60's. I have to get back to you on the name of the movie though. Or, Nancy, if you're reading this, what was the name of that movie again?
Emery trained Green Berets in the army. He taught the berets how to work with horses and how to pack them. She said none of them knew anything about horses when they started and "they couldn't keep up with Papa."

One time a group of berets Emery had trained were out in the field and the army sent some recon planes out to find them. The recon planes returned to base and said they couldn't find the soldiers. As it turned out, the soldiers had heard the planes coming and got under their horses. Emery was the first person to show soldiers how to train their horses to let them hide under them so that when aircraft flew overhead it just looked like livestock in a field.

Emery was honored by having his memorial celebration at the foot of the cross in the front yard of Emery and Betty's house on November 13, 2009. He was 88 years old.

Emery rode a hundred miles in one day during the 1978 Tevis Cup race. I have a photo of him on Cougar Rock right here in front of me that is very similar to an oil painting I'm working on for Lari Shea at Ricochet Ridge Ranch in Mendocino. Lari has a kindred spirit here in Phoenix, that's for sure, by the name of Betty Henderson. I do believe Lari and Emery Henderson would have gotten quite a kick out of each other too. This goes back to the whole "oh! If you could only meet....!" thing.

Emery and Betty were married 65 years, I asked her what she thought made it work and why she thinks divorce has become so common now a days. This is what she said...

Well, the day is moving on and people I love very much are back at the house that I want to go see.
Jordan has a hide waiting at Tandy leather for him too so we all need to head over there. I am going to pick up a few things too.

I have to give a huge thank you to Sharon for her $60 donation, to Tom for his $30 donation, and I just received another donation for $200 from a lovely man I met on the road named Colin.
It really blows me away when this happens and I will be sure to put the money to good use and make a really great documentary at the end of all of this.
There is no way in a million years I could do what I'm doing without the help and support of everyone and to say I appreciate it is an understatement. I am overwhelmed and I thank you and will thank you forever.

This is that rattle snake we ran in to:

I would walk anywhere with you.

2099-10-29T17:05:00.000-06:00

4/8/10

I was massaging...

2099-10-28T12:26:00.000-06:00

4/9/10

...Soj's muscles while he was lying down and he decided to just lie his head down on my lap and go to sleep. He nestled in and started to dream. His legs were running and he would whinny or kind of mutter every once in a while. Every now and then he would burrow his head more into my lap to get more comfortable. Jordan was off walking somewhere, but Walter was there watching. He was sitting in front of the horse and I was behind as you can see with the horse resting on me. I told Walter to come over by me for a second so he slowly walked behind Soj and laid his head on his stomach, resting his body against Soj's back.
It was cool for me to sit back and see these two important souls that I love so much that are the key to the success of this ride connected like that. It made my eyes watery. Neither of us said anything. Walter just laid with his head on Soj, rubbing him, and Soj breathed heavily. It was perfect. Beautiful. The weight of the connection that is possible if you give it the time it needs to become is awing.

somewhere between here and there...

2099-10-27T22:02:00.000-06:00

4/10/10

I just had a nice rest in Phoenix with my aunt and uncle, but I am really tired still tonight for some reason. We had an easy day too-we only went 18 miles. I'm not exactly sure where we are though.

Phoenix was great. Last night we went out with my cousin and played a bunch of games of pool. Then we danced. The night before I met up with my good friends, Rushad and Graham, who happened to be passing through Phoenix because they are on tour right now (their band is Tornado Rider-electric cello, bass, and drums-amazing musicians). Rushad is the cellist you hear on our tracks "Wind-Up Boy" and "My Sleeping Prince". It was great to see them. We talked about love and life and relationships as we often do and played pool.

We were talking about how people today have broken the mold of old traditions and have turned towards sexual freedom and exploration. I was telling them how it seems to be a recurring theme that older people believe that marriages were more successful in the past because the wife stayed home and there was more time for family. I can see the beauty of tradition and I can even see the beauty of having mom at home all the time, but of course, I am a woman who wants to live my life the way I want to live it and would not fit into the traditional mold of older times. Still, I agree that time spent together is crucial and maybe there is some sort of balance that is yet to be created in most households...a new mold.

All of us agreed that we make a ridiculously big deal over sex and sex appeal. So many of us are always trying to look sexy. Ads are sexy and t.v. is sexy and everything is sexy. It's too much. I mean, a woman or man should dress so they feel confident and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy a sassy outfit now and then, but like I said, it's just too much...and I don't know how or what it hurts exactly, but I think it does hurts us. It's just all gone overboard.

I'm not preaching here though...I'm just writing as I think and to be honest I think I'm too tired to analyze this kind of stuff right now. These are just some of the things I talked about over the last couple of days.

Right now I am in a tent with a candle burning...probably not the smartest thing in the world to do, but I want the candle for light and it's too buggy to be outside.

Nancy, I have wanted to write to you and tell you that I love your comments-I love that you tell stories and philosophize along with me. To all of you who read and especially those of you who comment, I read the comments and I think about them while I'm riding. They help me formulate new thoughts. I only have so much battery usually though on this computer and I am usually pretty tired so it's sometimes hard to comment back...but I definitely think about them.

I do want this blog to be a place where we bounce ideas off of each other though and I really, really enjoy the feedback.

Walter made 25 CD's today. It's our new album. I am going to sign them from me and Soj and they are available for $10 plus $5 for shipping. They don't have a fancy case yet, but the recordings are the same and although they might not be as fancy as the future album might be, they are unique in that they're from the trail and will be signed from me and Soj. The album does look nice too-Walter put the image of my eye with Soj's eye on it. He did a great job. It looks cool.

Tomorrow we have a short ride again. I have to finish some leather orders in the morning and then I'll start riding around noon or so. We are only going about 15 miles. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going tomorrow. East...always East.

I can hear Soj eating outside my tent and Jordan is out there smoking his snake skin. Walter is looking at the map and listening to Manchester Orchestra. My skin feels itchy which is annoying me. I think getting scratched by things I ride by during the day and sweat and Soj's sweat and hair and these darn bugs all makes for itchy skin.

We had a good dinner tonight though. I'm not vegetarian anymore. Not for this ride anyway. We had an onion so I caramelized it and added cashews and chicken and a tomato. Walter made Parmesan couscous. It was delicious. We ate by the fire and a little baby snake that Jordan caught accompanied us in an empty water bottle. He's free now though. He just joined us for dinner and then Jordan let him go again.

Oh too bad, a moth died in my candle.

We are very close to the Rio Verde River, but we can't camp next to it because it's running through the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation so we are by the road. It's a bummer because it looks so beautiful down by the river. Maybe we should have chanced it and gone down, but those federal regulation signs are deterring. We are in a decent little spot anyway-it's just that we hear cars instead of running water.

This is camp tonight. That's my candle lighting up the tent. Jordan just took the picture and said "Hey! You want a picture for the blog tonight??"

I am talking to my brother, Danny, on the phone in this shot. Soj and I were waiting for Walter to see where we were supposed to turn next and Jordan was down in the trees taking this picture and gathering walnuts which we later happily ate.

Alright then...I'm going to beg Walter for a back/leg/arm/head rub now. :)

got in to...

2099-10-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

4/1//10

...Camp after dark. Tired. On phone. Should have wireless tomorrow. We went about 23 miles today, but started late because I had to finish some leather stuff. Psyched to sleep.

Mile Marker 209, Route 87 AZ...

2099-10-25T18:48:00.000-06:00

4/12/10

My uncle Gary in Phoenix. We had to prove to him with a photo that I have bigger muscles.

Soj is thrilled right now. He is at a ranch eating a lot of grass. There are no other horses there. It's a ranch, but really only a couple of care takers live there and they are working on other projects...like RACE CARS!!!!

I told one of the care takers (Dave) my three dreams as a little girl...
"I always said I would be either a singer, a jockey, or a race car driver".
He said 'Reeeaaallly?? Well come around this way then".

We went to the other side of the barn/garage like structure and there is this super looking car designed to look like an old 60's race car. He unscrewed the top and told me if this was a dream that I should get in. I got in and "whoosh!" all the feeling of doing something I have wanted flooded through me! I could imagine what that car would feel like accelerating. Dave said he'll make the dream come true one day for me. This car accelerates from 0-200 in....shoot, I can't remember...but he said it's like being inside of a bullet. Oh, Walter just told me it's 6 seconds. 0-200 in 6 seconds!! I'm conditioning Soj to get that kind of power...he's getting there. :)

We got to run a lot through the Indian Reservation yesterday.

Soj and I rode bareback and with no bridle or anything the last 2 days because it's so hot and we both loved it. Yesterday we rode through an Indian Reservation. It was beautiful riding through about 11 or 12 miles of fields and orchards that ran along the Rio Verde River. Soj and I cantered and galloped a lot of it. He was feeling it so I let him because I'm always feeling it! I'm ready if he's ready.

The night before that neither Soj nor I got any sleep though. We were camping out and I could hear Soj kind of shuffling around the whole night and it kept me up. I guess that's true love! One can't sleep if the other isn't sleeping, although Soj could still sleep if I wasn't sleeping. Ah well...

We rode about 23 miles and I was pretty tired and hot and sticky and starving when we got into camp. Walter had gone grocery shopping though so we whipped together an Alfredo pasta dinner and even had a little white wine. It was nice. But...I didn't sleep last night much either. Soj was as quiet as a mouse the whole night, but I was so sticky and so hot in the tent that I just couldn't get comfortable. I got up this morning ready to go though so I must have fallen asleep at some point. I made some coffee and eggs and toast for me and the boys and was up on Soj by 9am. Kinda late, I know, but we only had 10 miles to go today.

I had the cops called on me again yesterday. We rode on the side of the highway half of the day yesterday until after dark and people couldn't believe it. Most people are super positive and cheer and wave, but I know when I'm out like that that the cops will probably come. They were so nice though. They were a little surprised and said they had to do a double take, but they were supportive. Pedro and Jeremiah were their names.

It's funny because Pedro stopped us earlier on the highway to see if we were on the highway and then a few hours later 2 cop cars came and I recognized the voice (now it's dark though so I couldn't see) so I said "Pedro??" He said "Yeah! Hey! We got a call that there was a girl and a bunch of kids and a skittish horse on the highway" with a little laugh.

I don't know why someone would say there were kids with us and Soj could have an anvil fall from the sky and land in front of him at this point and I don't think he would spook. The cops said they would be flooded with calls tomorrow as we continued down the highway but that they would be ready for it.

The ride today was gorgeous. I am on the highway all the way to Payson which stinks, but the land surrounding the highway is phenomenally gorgeous. Right now Walter and I are at a Sport's Bar in a town called Fountain Hills. Soj is in a fenced in area at the Whitney Circle Bar ranch with tons of grass to eat. He is delighted, I'm sure.

We are 40 miles from Payson so we'll ride 20 tomorrow and 20 the next. I was going to push it and get to Payson tomorrow, but I think it will be nicer to do it in two days. Especially since we both are running on small amounts of sleep. We will play catch up tonight though.

Walter and I met this cool guy from Brooklyn in the post office and I should have asked him to dinner, but I didn't. He is about to open a bagel shop in this area and before we even got up to the counter I leaned in to Walter and said "he's from New York so he knows bagels". I had overheard him talking to the guy in front of us about his soon to come shop and heard his accent.
As it turned out he was from New York. I asked him if the secret to the dough was in the NY water since nobody can ever really replicate it anywhere else. He said he could make that dough out of toilet water.
As we drove away I told Walter I would have liked to talk with him more and that I almost asked him to come meet up with us later but I didn't. I have had times where I almost didn't spend time with someone new or go out because I felt too tired and I am always glad I went when I do go.
There was a night I had a glass of wine and chatted a while with a couple in Salome, AZ. We were offered a shower by this kind woman, Clare, who I mentioned in earlier blogs, and I almost didn't go because I was painfully tired and sometimes I feel bad using people's showers. She was very warm and sincere with her offer though so I decided to go. Walter and Jordan stayed behind and the whole time I was thinking "Oh I wish they were here!" Clare and Jim were such a wonderful couple and I kept thinking "wow, I almost didn't come here and I never would have had this time with them". I ended up meeting Clare's amazing daughter the next day and having another great afternoon with a group of wonderful women.
So, it's just like that. I told Walter we have to remember even when we are so tired and don't really think we want to talk or whatever the case may be, that this is what we're out here for and saying "no thank you" and walking away could be the biggest mistake of the entire trip. People are like little treasures everywhere. I am blown away by how similar we all are. It's a beautiful thing. I think people are more scared of people than anything else and yet there's really nothing scary. Nothing scary at all.

This is me yesterday trying to see the computer screen in the sun at camp on the side of the road. It was SO hot that day. Walter is in the truck with a shirt over the window to block the sun and Jordan is in his ambulance. I look like a naked little gremlin, but I'm not naked and I'm not a gremlin.

Aunt Betty and Uncle Gary took us out to dinner at this place that has bull riding in Phoenix. It was awesome and I so badly wanted to get on, but my mom said I have to wait until the ride is over. I went over to ask the guy if I could get on and he said I could! I just have to sign a waiver and pay a fee. I had flip flops on though. The guy I asked looked at me like he didn't take me seriously, but I'm getting on that bull one of these days!!!! I'll show 'em yet!

on phone

2099-10-24T20:58:00.000-06:00

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.

Payson, AZ

2099-10-23T21:46:00.000-06:00

4/14/10

We had such a beautiful ride today. Highway 87 is just gorgeous. I am very, very tired tonight though and I have had a glass and a half of red wine and an Irish coffee along with a big dinner so my system is rapidly shutting down. I will post a good entry tomorrow though because we are staying here tomorrow night as well so I will have some time.

Right now we are in a gorgeous home with a wonderful couple in Payson. We are going to be on the radio tomorrow as well, by the way. It's called 1420 AM KMOG. I think it's live. I just have to show up some time between 2 and 5pm.

I am in a bed right now with very soft sheets and my stomach is full and my mind is going over wonderful conversation. Perfect.
Robbie (our host) has already asked what I like for breakfast and told me what we are having for lunch. How did she know all I think about is food??? :)

Lots to tell tomorrow, but for tonight, Good night. :)

It's not 50/50, it's 90/10

2099-10-22T12:12:00.000-06:00

4/15/10

Payson, AZ is such a beautiful part of the country. Arizona in the Spring is like nowhere else. The flowers with the desert backdrop is breathtakingly beautiful and the air is warm with a gentle cool breeze. Perfect.

I am sitting in the backyard of a beautiful home in the sun right now. The couple who we are staying with, Robbie and John, fed us a nice dinner last night of chicken, asparagus, mushrooms, potatoes, and fresh pineapple. John gave us some great red wine I know well called 2 Buck Chuck. We had a Trader Joe's around the corner in the East Bay and we often had a bottle of 2 Buck Chuck at the house. Apparently it won a taste contest against really expensive wines. I love red and white wine, but to tell you the truth I can't really tell the difference between the fancy ones and the cheaper ones. All I know is if you put wine, good cheese, some roasted garlic, chutney, and a baguette together, I'm in heaven. Whether it be 2 Buck Chuck or million dollar fancy red.

Walter working on sponsorship stuff on Robbie and John's porch

John also made us some Irish coffees before bed which instantly whisked Walter and I back to our time in Ireland. It's funny because just this morning Walter heard from our good friend, Mark, who's farm we lived on in Ireland. I can't wait to see Mark and his family again. Ireland is in my near future for sure.

The ambulance is in the shop getting a new transmission. Robbie and John were kind enough to go fetch the trailer off of the side of the road for us and bring it to their house so the ambulance could be towed to the shop. Right now Walter and I are working on getting some sponsorship to help with some of the expenses of this trip and Robbie and John have taken Jordan out on a sight seeing drive.

The night before last Walter had found what he thought was an abandoned corral, but really it was a group of corrals for the cows that roam free on that land. The land is owned by a family called the McGill's. Soj and I traveled 23 miles and we were to stop at mile marker 233. We walked down the drive at mile marker 233 to see Walter enjoying a Coors Light with two brothers (the McGill brothers) named Travis and Pete. A woman was with them as well called Media.

I introduced myself but then wasn't sure if I should keep on heading up the road since obviously this land belonged to someone. I quietly said to Walter, "Should I head on up the road a bit and look for a place then?"
Travis and Pete overheard and said, "No! There's a corral right there for him and I've already got some alfalfa in there! Good alfalfa too."

Walter said he had stopped to take a picture of the windmill that was next to the corrals and because he stopped to take the photo it stalled him long enough to run into Pete, Travis, and Media as they pulled into the drive. If he hadn't stalled they would have pulled on their property to see a truck full of stuff and would definitely have been confused and probably not thrilled.

The windmill

They were the nicest guys and Media was helpful in giving us tips on how to get those easy boots off (a little soap). Walter and I both wished we could have spent more time with them, but we left them a note in the morning with a bundle of Bob's sage.

The night before that we were at the Whitney Circle Bar Ranch. John was the name of the owner of that ranch and Dave and Marcos were the care takers. This is the place I talked about earlier that had the cool race car. As I was getting ready to leave John came over with two of his friends (I believe they were there for some sort of business transaction) and one of his friends called Diamantis (Diamond in English) invited us over for some red wine and dinner. What a name, huh? I think if I ever have a son I just might have to call him Diamantis. My Diamond!!!
I hated to have to leave because he is one of those people who shoots his spirit out at you the instant you look at each other. He is from Greece and said he puts a suit on when he needs to, but that he is a gypsy at heart and that he knows he will see us again. Definitely. He definitely will.

I didn't get to say goodbye to Marcos or Dave, but Walter got to see Marcos before he took off. He is another person that instantly welcomes you in right away. When I had first gotten to the Whitney Circle Bar Ranch, Marcos asked if Walter and I would like anything to drink. I told him I was fine because we were going to go find a cafe soon anyway. About 2 minutes later he was there with two fruit drinks for us and then after that he and Dave were getting a bucket and filling it with water for Soj. They offered us their shower and Marcos said "anything, anything you need you take it". He brought me into his rooms and showed me where the lotions were and moved his arms around the room as to say "this is yours".

When Walter said goodbye to Marcos the next morning, Marcos handed him a bunch of drinks for the road. What a guy.

Marcos

As Soj and I were trekking up the hill yesterday I came across an older couple on the side of the road. They had a big RV with a Jeep Grand Cherokee hooked to the back of it. They were both outside of the RV back by the jeep and the woman looked up with a smile when we rode up next to them.

They said they had seen me a ways back and asked where I was headed. I said Payson and then New Hampshire and they smiled and laughed and said they loved it. I told them I was collecting stories from people across the country and the man said "Well here, I've got a quick story for you then".

He told me his grandson had been in a bad car crash when he was in the eighth grade and was unable to talk for 2 and a half months. Because of this, he would escort his grandson to school, carry his books, and stay with him in class. Now, he had only gone as far as the eighth grade himself and so he was actually now going into 9th grade for the first time as well. When his grandson finished the 9th grade, the Principle wrote out a certificate that said the Grandfather no longer had only an eighth grade education, but a 9th grade education. He said with a laugh that he still has the certificate.

I asked how long they had been married and they answered 55 years. He was now 80 and she was 70 (although you would never guess those ages to look at them). I then asked what makes a marriage work for 55 years and she answered this, "Well, we still love each other and we do a lot of things together. We dance. We used to do square dancing, but now we're in to old cars since dancing is a little difficult for us".
He said, "Yeah, and I'm still training her too. I just showed her how to jack up this car and she did it!"
She showed me her greasy hands and said, "Yeah! I did it! That was the fist time I ever jacked up a car in my life".

They said they had just put 4 brand new tires on that jeep, but they must have hit something on the road because a man drove by beeping his horn and pointing to their jeep behind them. They checked it out and saw the flat and he told her he would show her how to jack up the car.

After thinking a minute the woman interjected, "You know the other thing...it's not 50/50. It's 90/10 one day for him and another day it might be 90/10 for me. Some days are just going to be his days and I just have to say 'okay, this day is for him' and know that I'll get my days too".

I went to shake their hands goodbye and she hesitated for a minute and said, "oh I'm so dirty!" and I assured her that my hands were about as dirty as they could get already. We shook hands and I left them filled with energy from our meeting which was good because Soj and I were about to conquer 12 miles that went up 2,000 feet.

Speaking of getting energy from people, every time one of you tells me to give Soj a kiss for you I really do kiss him for you and it puts a little extra pep in his step. I tell him who the kiss is from and give him a big kiss on the cheek if I'm walking beside him or I lean over and kiss him on the neck for you if I'm riding. He loves them and I love to give them so keep the kisses coming!

Another thing I want to mention are the cops in Arizona. They are the nicest, most helpful, wonderful cops I have ever known. They come to check on me often and one of them, Jimmy, even offered to get the trailer when he got off duty and tow it up to Payson if we needed it towed. Robbie and John ended up getting it for us, but Jimmy even stopped by later to make sure we were okay and that the trailer was back with us. You often hear people say "it takes a certain kind of person to be a cop". Well, in Arizona that statement stands true and the kind of person it takes is kind, helpful, and full of smiles.

Broken ambulance. Huge bummer. Poor Jordan has been trying to fix this thing, but it's looking like it might be the end for our big orange friend.

S.O.S.!!!!!!!

2099-10-21T20:15:00.000-06:00

4/15/10

So...the ambulance is in the shop with a new transmission and it's forecast is still looking grim. Jordan might have to take a bus back to Austin and it stinks because he doesn't know if he should try to ship his leather back that's in it or sell it or what. The thing is, we are in the middle of Arizona and kind of have to always keep moving. So...there is limited time to figure it out.

I have my trailer that is full of all of Soj's food. It's stressful for me because this hay along with the bags of rice bran that the trailer carries have helped Soj so much. I mean, he looks so fit and strong now-the best he's ever looked and I hate to go back to having different hay wherever we go. Jordan and Walter and I have been saying this is just part of the story and it's okay, we'll get through it, but at this moment in time it's a little tough.

I could put a tow package on my Tacoma, but it's a 4cyl and to get it so that it could tow the trailer (we would still have to sell half of the hay to lighten the load) it would be $2,000 which is too much for me. So....I could leave the trailer here (because Robbie and John have offered that) but this means when I get to NH I would still have to put a tow package on and drive back to AZ to get this trailer. And still we wouldn't have the hay which is really my biggest concern. It's just made all the difference for Soj.

So then we were thinking we could put a hitch on the back of the truck and buy one of those little flat bed trailers. Then maybe we could pull 6 bales or so. That would be about 650 pounds though and still tough for the truck because on top of that we have water and grain and rice bran and then all of our stuff....but if I out the tow package on the flat bed would be okay, I guess...

Any suggestions? Either way, I have to head out tomorrow and I think we might be camping which means I can't leave because I have to stay with Soj.

I just want him to have his food. I just don't know what to do....

working things out....

2099-10-20T22:56:00.000-06:00

4/16/10

I am going to get to sleep now because I have a pretty long ride tomorrow. We decided to take today off as well and get things sorted out. Tomorrow night we are camping so I might not be able to write because we won't have Jordan and his iphone. The next night we will be in a town with service though and I'll write more then.

Jordan's ambulance is pretty much done, we think. It's transmission was replaced, but the engine is bad too. Jordan is going to stay behind with Robbie and John and see what his options are. If he fixes it he could join back up with us (without the trailer-too much strain) or he might sell it and head back to Texas. He is unsure about what he wants to do from here so I don't really know yet either. There should be more info. from him tomorrow.

Walter and I worked all day emptying out any stuff I had in the ambulance and repacking the truck. Jordan and Walter figured out a way to pack the magic hay so we can take 5 bales with us. We also have a few bags of grain and rice bran as well. The truck is packed to the brim, but I am feeling better since we were able to get 5 bales. That will take us a ways. A lot of the time ranches that we stay at donate a night and morning feeding as well. I have just been using our hay because it's done wonders for Soj, but now I think I will start mixing any hay that is offered to us at ranches with this hay to stretch it out a little longer and ween him off of our magic hay.

He is so much more fit now that I think he will be okay. Jordan feels okay about everything too. We'll just have to see what happens.

The three of us have had just a wonderful time with Robbie and John. They have cooked for us and shared their stories and home so openly. I think I will play a bit of catch up in a couple of days and write more then though because I am so sleepy. Robbie made the point that being mentally tired makes you physically tired and I think that's what happened. I was a bit stressed about the hay and the ambulance and of course, Jordan, and not wanting to inconvenience Robbie and John (who are so gracious and didn't even blink an eye when we couldn't get everything packed up and ready in time).

It has all left me exhausted now and I need to get up early to get out and ready. Robbie is making us crepes in the morning. I can't wait for that. Hey Ma, she said she only likes them with cinnamon and sugar, sound familiar?

Much more soon....