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| Rest Stop |
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We were up early - even with the time change, we had the mares loaded & were on the road by 6 a.m. Traffic was light & the miles few by. We would stop about every four-hours to let the mares out. They did some lawn mowing at a beautiful OR rest area. The staff there - who were getting their mowers out - told us to be sure & edge along the walkways :-) We made great time, pulling into Medford - where we found a really nice, small, neat, clean stable with room for us to camp, a stall with turnout for Farah & grassy round-pen for Freebie.
Farah had a surprise! She was three paddocks down from a Lama! Lama! Oh NO! Then - there were goats! Goats! A pig! She didn't know which way to turn :-) Kerry told us that after staying with her for a while - most horses gave up spooking at what to them are "strange" animals!
We were up & on the road early - perfect driving weather & to the boarder crossing into California! We were asked to pull to the side & given a small form to fill out with license plate numbers, names, how many horses - where we were headed & the number of our brand inspection certificates! As we walked over to the office, we were met outside - asked for our form & sent on our way! Sweet, they didn't even ask to see our paperwork!
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| Lake Shasta |
Mt. Shasta owns the skyline! Amazing - but the lake was a shock! When you hear about California's water woes - that's one thing - but to see it for yourself is scary. To think of the millions of gallons of water that this lake once held & to see it now - almost empty? There was a new ramp built down to the boat dock & it was steep!
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| Dust in the San Joaquin Valley |
Soon, we were heading up yet another pass, with the elevation about 4,000 ft. Lunch was on our minds, we pulled off at Tehachapi & found a beautiful park where we let the mares out to graze & ate a salad. It was the kind of town that reminded me somewhat of Boulder in the
old days when I was a kid - with that fresh, clear, high elevation air & bright blue sky.
Once back on the road, we were both getting excited to be nearing our destination! We were on Hwy 247, the landscape became more desolate, I think we saw every kind of
home that these hardened desert dwellers could construct!
Then - there was our close-call... The road was narrow & windy, with short rolling hills, just high enough that the line-of-sight was short. A car had passed us & was passing the car in front of us. A semi-truck was coming from the other direction & a small car decided to pass him... I'd looked down - then in the next instant, looked up to see the semi-truck going off the narrow road, dust flying HIGH in the air! That driver had driven off the road - no shoulder - to allow those two cars to pass without hitting each other head on! If he hadn't & they had - we would have been in a world of hurt to get stopped in time... I told Patty I felt like going back & giving him a huge hug for saving us from what could have been a very hard stop!
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| Almost to Pioneertown! |
Just a short way further & we'd arrived! Sweet relief to know that Patty knew right where we were going & we had reached our goal safe & sound thanks to her great driving skill!
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| Mares settled in~ |
The mares were oh so happy to unload, move into nice sized paddocks, eat some wet mash & enjoy their hay. We were same - to move into a nice, cute, room at the little motel, where we had reservations for two-days.
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| Our room - light on~ |
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To say we were ready to be off the road, would be an understatement! Also - more than ready to rest-up & hit the trails that surrounded us!
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