The old saying is that "In Idaho, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes; it'll change." That was never more true than the last two weeks. It has been crazy! For two days it was sunny and 70, followed by snow, wind, rain, thunder and hail - in one day!
So last week, my friend Theresa and I decided to head to Fort Collins, Colorado to pickup her boyfriend's one year old filly, Ruby. This little girl is freaking gorgeous! A daughter of the reining stallion, The Mighty Gambler; she will be a strong contender in the show pen in the coming years.
In the meantime though... this trip was a continuation of the bad weather that had been plaguing Idaho. We spent Tuesday night in Kellogg with Mauri's mom, Shelley; which we left bright and early intending to hit Fort Collins on Wednesday night. Well, all was good until at 75 miles per hour somewhere between there and Missoula I hit an ice patch and spent 30 seconds getting the truck and trailer straight again. I am quite confident I was no longer breathing, nor was my heart beating. Theresa woke out of her slumber long enough to say "what?" then went right back to snoozing; not so for me. If I had been sleepy at all I was now WIDE awake!
Next came the 6 inches of fresh snow on the top of the pass going into Bozeman, MT. Plus the fact that my windshield wipers had decided to take a hiatus and were no longer cleaning the drivers side of the windshield - Theresa could see just fine though, go figure.
So after Bozeman, the worst weather encountered was rain, and a gorgeous rainbow over the plateau's outside of Cheyenne. We made it into Fort Collins (actually Wellington) at about 8:30 and decided Subway sounded good for dinner. NOTE TO SELF AND OTHERS: do not stop at the Subway at the Wellington exit after 8:30 at night. They close at 9:00 pm, however we had to listen to 30 mintues of the sandwich "artist" complaining about how she was almost done cleaning the store and now she had customers and how hard it was to go to high school, raise two babies and work. We just wanted dinner after having been on the road for over 14 hours.
So, again bright and early we left Chase and Chelsi's (friends of Theresa) and headed to Windsor to get Miss Ruby. The drive home through Wyoming was almost as bad as the drive down through Montana. When we fueled up in Cheyenne it was so cold our fingers just about got frost bite putting the tarp over the hay in the back of the pickup. About Chugwater I noticed that our freezing fingers and hurried job had not been successful. I spent the next several miles looking for an exit with an underpass and access back the freeway. In the meantime I also noticed the 1+ inches of ice building up on the mirror's, antenna and windshield wipers. Finally finding an exit designed the way I wanted we stopped, unloaded the hay, retarped and were on our way again. Into some quite awesome Wyoming wind.
Bozeman found us spending the night in the dorms at the Montana State University - ahh to be in college again! Ruby spent the night at the barn of Theresa's friend, Laura. What a barn full of nice horses, good breeding, nice build and great attitudes. I must say if you are ever in the Bozeman area, you MUST eat at Stacey's in Gallatin Gateway -AMAZING!
Friday found us on our way home and finally enjoying some beautiful weather. Meanwhile Luke and Harley were at home taking care of Lady and the kitties. I was very glad to be home in my own, uncomfortable lumpy bed with my hubby near.
Saturday was our Latah County 4-H Horse Judging contest. I was asked to bring an English horse and rider so once again, Theresa and I were on the road. This time only to Potlatch though and with Lady. Theresa has been dying to ride Lady and while my little crab apple has gotten to be sooo much better this year than ever before, she is still a little crab apple. Poor Theresa! After not riding for over a week she had to spend half an hour utilizing every muscle in her legs to focus my girl on forward movement and positive attitude. Not sure Theresa will ever ride her again!
Luke as it always seems is working, but he has found some time in the past couple of weeks to get new tires and a leveling kit on his pickup. He also has been playing with his welding skills in rebuilding the back door of our horse trailer. I must say he has done an awesome job, the person who originally put the rear tack in, used three pieces of metal to construct the main beam and four or more pieces to build the rear door. Luke has pulled all of that out and put in solid pieces of metal that are now more secure, not too mention better looking!
Luke's higher ride and new tires
So last week, my friend Theresa and I decided to head to Fort Collins, Colorado to pickup her boyfriend's one year old filly, Ruby. This little girl is freaking gorgeous! A daughter of the reining stallion, The Mighty Gambler; she will be a strong contender in the show pen in the coming years.
In the meantime though... this trip was a continuation of the bad weather that had been plaguing Idaho. We spent Tuesday night in Kellogg with Mauri's mom, Shelley; which we left bright and early intending to hit Fort Collins on Wednesday night. Well, all was good until at 75 miles per hour somewhere between there and Missoula I hit an ice patch and spent 30 seconds getting the truck and trailer straight again. I am quite confident I was no longer breathing, nor was my heart beating. Theresa woke out of her slumber long enough to say "what?" then went right back to snoozing; not so for me. If I had been sleepy at all I was now WIDE awake!
Next came the 6 inches of fresh snow on the top of the pass going into Bozeman, MT. Plus the fact that my windshield wipers had decided to take a hiatus and were no longer cleaning the drivers side of the windshield - Theresa could see just fine though, go figure.
So after Bozeman, the worst weather encountered was rain, and a gorgeous rainbow over the plateau's outside of Cheyenne. We made it into Fort Collins (actually Wellington) at about 8:30 and decided Subway sounded good for dinner. NOTE TO SELF AND OTHERS: do not stop at the Subway at the Wellington exit after 8:30 at night. They close at 9:00 pm, however we had to listen to 30 mintues of the sandwich "artist" complaining about how she was almost done cleaning the store and now she had customers and how hard it was to go to high school, raise two babies and work. We just wanted dinner after having been on the road for over 14 hours.
So, again bright and early we left Chase and Chelsi's (friends of Theresa) and headed to Windsor to get Miss Ruby. The drive home through Wyoming was almost as bad as the drive down through Montana. When we fueled up in Cheyenne it was so cold our fingers just about got frost bite putting the tarp over the hay in the back of the pickup. About Chugwater I noticed that our freezing fingers and hurried job had not been successful. I spent the next several miles looking for an exit with an underpass and access back the freeway. In the meantime I also noticed the 1+ inches of ice building up on the mirror's, antenna and windshield wipers. Finally finding an exit designed the way I wanted we stopped, unloaded the hay, retarped and were on our way again. Into some quite awesome Wyoming wind.
Bozeman found us spending the night in the dorms at the Montana State University - ahh to be in college again! Ruby spent the night at the barn of Theresa's friend, Laura. What a barn full of nice horses, good breeding, nice build and great attitudes. I must say if you are ever in the Bozeman area, you MUST eat at Stacey's in Gallatin Gateway -AMAZING!
Friday found us on our way home and finally enjoying some beautiful weather. Meanwhile Luke and Harley were at home taking care of Lady and the kitties. I was very glad to be home in my own, uncomfortable lumpy bed with my hubby near.
Saturday was our Latah County 4-H Horse Judging contest. I was asked to bring an English horse and rider so once again, Theresa and I were on the road. This time only to Potlatch though and with Lady. Theresa has been dying to ride Lady and while my little crab apple has gotten to be sooo much better this year than ever before, she is still a little crab apple. Poor Theresa! After not riding for over a week she had to spend half an hour utilizing every muscle in her legs to focus my girl on forward movement and positive attitude. Not sure Theresa will ever ride her again!
Luke as it always seems is working, but he has found some time in the past couple of weeks to get new tires and a leveling kit on his pickup. He also has been playing with his welding skills in rebuilding the back door of our horse trailer. I must say he has done an awesome job, the person who originally put the rear tack in, used three pieces of metal to construct the main beam and four or more pieces to build the rear door. Luke has pulled all of that out and put in solid pieces of metal that are now more secure, not too mention better looking!
Luke's higher ride and new tires
Tonight we spent an hour increasing the size of Lady's mini pasture and burning piles of brush from last fall. The grass is really growing and I had such plans of staying ahead on weed plucking, spraying and yard work. Don't see much hope for that at this point in the month, but next month is just around the corner so maybe I will be able to find more time then!
Just some of the nature's miracles Theresa and I encountered in our 23oo mile jaunt...
ICE
Just some of the nature's miracles Theresa and I encountered in our 23oo mile jaunt...
ICE
SNOW
RAIN
RAINBOWS
FINALLY SUNNY!
OH, YEAH and FIRE!
Definately, describes us on this trip!
Sounds like one crazy trip with all kinds of weather! Look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks! Give us a ring and let us know what's up :)Andrea
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