Travel Time!

Finally have a couple of minutes to update the blog!  So the date of departure arrived shortly after the holidays, had a nice Christmas up in Nelson with my brother and his wife's family and then dashed home on the 27th to get the last minute details in order before hitting the road early on the morning of the 28th.  We got on the road about 8, Nico, Roz and Tango all loaded up steadily into the trailer and we were all packed and ready to go (Larisa came along to help with the horse handling and my mom to act as navigator and GPS operator and of course Oswald!).  We headed out to the US boarder through Osoyoos and arrived there around 10am, things went fairly smoothly at the border and we were soon on our way into the US, the first day we drove through Washington and Oregon, with our first overnight stop being Pendleton, Oregon, I tried to space the travel days with a shorter day then a longer day alternating to give the horses some recovery time, the first day went very well and we arrived in to Pendleton around 6pm, we even had enough time to unhook and go in to town for dinner, we stayed at a bed and bale called Neighbors which was quite nice.  We hit the road bright and early the next morning off to Joseph, Utah, this was a longer day of travel, the roads were a tiny bit icy as we passed through the blue mountains but really nothing bad, we got in to Joseph in relatively good time but as we pulled in the driveway of our overnight stop we noticed one of the tires was hissing air, unlucky to have a damaged tire but lucky that it happened literally right at the end of the drive!  In the morning the owner of the farm was kind enough to put the spare tire on for us and we drove in to the tire shop to get the other one repaired (I wasn't about to take the chance of driving the rest of the way without a functioning spare tire, just in case), the repair was quick and painless and we were on our way shortly, next stop Albuquerque, New Mexico, the drive on this day was truly spectacular, the mountain ranges between Salt Lake City and Moab are phenomenal, I will try to upload some pictures in the next little while, we crossed over into Colorado then down in to New Mexico, more beautiful scenery, the overnight stop was fantastic, The Broken M Ranch, located right in town and with fabulous large, well bedded stalls, plenty of water and a wonderful guest for us to stay in as well, complete with all sorts of extras, the most comfortable king size bed plus a fully stocked kitchen and bathroom, wonderful!  Next morning we were up and off, this was our shortest day on the trip and also New Years Eve!  We traveled to Whichita Falls, Texas and we celebrated the new year by sleeping right through it!  Our overnight was Legacy Park, another fabulous bed and bale, literally two minutes off the highway and with paddock sized stalls and an apartment directly across from the stalls and wonderful hosts, definitely would recommend it!  Our next day of travel took us all the way from Texas straight through Louisiana and Mississippi  to Mobile, Alabama, Alabama has some beautiful scenery, it's very green and quaint to drive through, I quite liked the feel of it, we managed to make great time and went in to town for a traditional New Year's Day dinner at Cracker Barrel haha!  Final day of travel, we were so eager to arrive in Florida that we were up at 4am and on the road, we arrived into Jupiter around 4pm and after 6 full days of driving we were all happy to see our winter home!  The horses did great on the trip, all ate, drank and hauled wonderfully which is always a relief.  Little Rozzie was a real trooper on her first big girl road trip, she got in the trailer willingly each morning and was quite interested in the adventure, only on the last night did she show how tired she was by immediately having a nap in her fresh shavings.  Nico and Tango hauled well too though they did seem to have some "male bonding" occurring, there was a lot of talking between the two of them, Tango was always the last horse to load on the trailer and I've never seen him jump on a trailer so willingly, he literally was dragging me to the ramp by day 3, I think he was worried he was going to be left behind!  The horses have settled in at the Lady Jean Ranch in Jupiter very well, they're loving their winter home, they had a couple days to rest after the trip and had their first turnout in the big fields since we left home, they loved that and all had a good trot and canter around to stretch their legs, this morning I worked them all for the first time, just a light stretching work, tomorrow will be more of the same and then we will start to pick up and get into the real work, we are still getting ourselves settled into the RV park in Jupiter so things have been a bit chaotic but are starting to get organized now so should have more time to blog!  To everyone back home, hope you're all doing well and happy riding and once again I have to say the biggest thank you to everyone who has supported me and this journey, I'm amazed at the incredibly supportive people I have surrounding me at this time and will forever be thankful to you all!