We made it 7 miles East of Pauls Valley yesterday and are staying at the 4 E's ranch. Today Walter and I sat on a swinging bench sipping sweet tea while Soj ate the tall grass in the field next to us. A cool breeze was blowing and the dogs were laying all around us. Perfect.
Clayton said you have to think big thoughts when you sit on that bench and I told him that's just what we were doing. We talked about all of our dreams and aspirations (including a puppy).
This is just a quick little update. We are going to have lunch now with the family here and some of their friends in town. I'll post again soon with photos and more tales of the last couple of days.
I just gave Soj a thorough bath. He had turned an almost red color and is now white again. His cuts are pretty much healed and his leg looks great so I think I will be back on him again tomorrow. If he is at all sensitive after tomorrow's ride then we will take to walking again for a few days, but I think he should be okay. We'll just keep monitoring him closely.
We're ready for a change up again though. Walter used to run to me at the end of the day and during the day while we were riding towards him he would get out and do push-ups and pull ups on whatever he could find and lift rocks like a cave man for exercise.
Now because we have both been walking so much he is too tired to do that stuff and I am too tired to do anything at all. It was a nice 170 mile walk that we did though. I'm glad we were able to keep the ride going even if we had to walk it instead of waiting until everything healed in a corral. But now we're ready to saddle up again and Walter is ready to start his daily cave man workout.
We have pretty much the whole ride that we've already done still left to go...we're nearly half way. Walter is telling me within the next week we will be halfway there. There have been some obstacles, changes, experiences, scares, and everything else, but we're getting there and nearing the half way point feels pretty good.
Walter and Soj have had a chance to bond in these past 170 miles even more so than they had before which has been really cool. I'm glad Walter has had a chance to walk with him and learn about all of his little quirks that before were only stories from me for him to listen to. Even though it wasn't ideal to walk in this heat, and in flip flops for most of it, it was an alright change in the end and adds to the story. We were able to keep going when for a minute there I didn't even know if Soj was going to continue on at all.
I guess sometimes you have to be willing to make some changes even if it's not exactly what you had in mind to get to where you dream of going. And like I said, it wasn't so bad. The walk added some challenges and made us have to amp our willpower a bit for a while. And now riding will be like showers have become...a welcome, comfortable relief that I maybe didn't appreciate as much before!
Gotta tell you about a little experience from my day today. I volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters at a local school. One of the "littles" was talking about his Chihuahua, who he loves very much.
ReplyDeleteThe boy said that the dog is really tiny. Her head's tiny, her legs are tiny, etc. He finished by saying that everything about his dog is tiny, except her dreams. I asked him to explain and he said that his dog has big dreams - "She dreams of being a Super-Dog."
Isn't that too precious?! I asked him about his dreams as well. He also has big dreams, but wasn't too specific about them. He's a very sensitive little boy and I hope I can keep track of him for years.
It sounds to me like his little dogs dreams of being a super-dog have come true.
ReplyDeleteIt is really wonderful that you have chosen to share your day with the kids at the local school.
Thanks for your kind words, Wendy. I'm really enjoying it and I think I'll expand into the "community-based" program next year where I will take the child to do fun things together.
ReplyDelete