On the Road to DPS

We headed off on our annual migration to Dogpound South last Wednesday. The last couple of years we have stayed at the Horse and Hound a place just out of the Coutts, Alberta border crossing the night before we cross. We have to stop in Sweetgrass, Montana for a vet inspection of our equine friends and first thing in the morning is the best time to do that as they have a lot of liner loads of cattle there as the day goes by.

Thursday after the vet check we headed for McLeod, Montana and our friends, Mike and Janna’s place. They live up the beautiful boulder valley, an absolutely stunning location, populated by the rich and famous and many thousand deer, as well as some elk and a few antelope, and by a few I mean that only in relation to the number of deer as we must have seen a few hundred antelope during our visit.

Once again we enjoyed our visit with these fine folks and especially Janna’s fine country cooking.

Friday they took us for a drive over the West Boulder road to Livingston where we stopped at the Rib and Chop house for some more great food, after a stop at a local wine store where we picked up some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Below is a picture of our hosts at one of our picturesque stops along the way.

Saturday morning as the dawn broke in the valley we slipped down their driveway and headed off on the balance of our journey. That journey took us through beautiful southern Montana and across the foggy flatlands of southern Idaho and then into the central basin of Utah and past the Great Salt Lake, and it’s neighbouring city of Salt Lake then after 11 hours on the road we stopped for the night in Fillmore, Utah. After the long day behind the wheel, once we got the horses fed and watered as well as bedded down in some stalls at the racetrack there, we hit the rack ourselves. Once again morning came early and we were off on our final leg of the journey. This led us through the high desert country of southern Utah and across the extreme northwest corner of Arizona then down the Virgin River gorge and into the desert north of Las Vegas. We passed this colourful establishment in Boulder City, Nevada

The temps were rising from our morning temperature of 26F to a high of 91F by the time we were well into Arizona and getting into the Valley of the Sun.

By four o’clock we were opening the gate at Dogpound South and then it was just a matter of getting our horses fed, watered and settled before we headed over to the Raceway for a bite to eat and a visit with some of our neighbours. Thanks for coming over to welcome us home, Bobbie and Skye.

A panoramic view of Dogpound South, Ray and his crew have done a great job of keeping it weed free.