Decision Made

I left you while I was lounging about in the sunshine waiting on Brenda's next X-Ray results down near Quartzsite, Arizona. I had pulled back into our spot near where the legendary Wandering Willy was hanging his hat so Bill and I had a few fires, told some lies, and debated politics for at least a few minutes every day. For the most part our political leanings are pretty similar but that would be boring, so I had to take a contrarian view on a few occasions just to spice it up a little, but we never did let it decay into watching FOX & Friends or becoming Justin Trudeau fanboys. Somehow all those things are less important when you are enjoying desert sunrises, campfires, good friends and some hummers buzzing the sunsets.

We took a spin into Quartzsite for a look around, the day after the big show, so the crowds were pretty manageable. I really just wanted to see what was up and if K&B had any new stuff, but lo and behold the last time I was actually in the "Q" for the big show was about 10 years back and it looked like time had stood still, everything was right where I left it, the only thing different was a couple of tents selling Trump T-shirts and Hats but the rest of it was just like I left it. Other than the run into Quartzsite, I think I made one quick trip to Parker for a propane hose that needed replacing on the BBQ but for the most part I just chilled in the desert.

View from the top step of the Solitude

A 3 frame Pano with a Hummer crashing the party

Brenda's appointment was on Friday the 1st of February and although the breaks have not displaced there was no way her Doc was letting her fly for the next 6 weeks or so, which had me packing for a little journey back into the land north of summer. I pulled out early in the morning on Saturday and headed north, making about 834 miles and five states that first day, pulling into Idaho Falls just as the sunset. I had slipped by in front of a storm in Southern Utah and the roads were decent so I just kept rolling. Thanks to Brent Ross for his great weather and route watching the entire journey.

There was a major storm expected in Montana so I held up for a day in Idaho Falls, and then when the weather wasn't looking like there was much improvement in the forecast for the next week I headed north. From Idaho Falls to the Montana line it was slick, snow, and fog and right at the freezing point so the climb up the Monida Pass was interesting to say the least.

Once I headed down the other side the temperature started dropping, but cold weather makes the snow covered roads a little nicer to drive so that was an improvement. I left I-15 at Dillon and skipped all the hills and high country north of Butte and rejoined the Interstate at Boulder. There is a long hill down from Boulder to Helena that was an interesting slide, and the piece between Helena and Cascade is always interesting when it is snowy, it is a little windy and the big transports who travel at higher speeds than I do in those conditions leave you driving in a sack of flour with the flying snow everytime they pass. But basically from Cascade on it was good going and not many were passing the big Ford.

From Great Falls to Sweetgrass one lane was bare and dry and we made good time. Once I got to the border I tried to roll down the window but it was frozen shut. I had to jump out to talk to the Canadian Border folks and they asked me two questions, did I have any firearms, and any booze, and then told me to get back in the truck before I froze to death and go home.

The roads from the border to Dogpound North (DPN) were great, bare and dry so with the Ford running like a hound we made good time and were home by 8 after another 750 odd miles.

I spent a couple of days unloading all the freezables out of the rig and now she is waiting for spring. I will use other transportation to head in for supplies while I am here helping Brenda follow her non-weight bearing regimen.

No Pictures

No new visitors nor any exciting new vista's in our recent past so this is just a short catch up with what is happening in my life.

Like a lot of my blogging friends I am finding that the dearth of new adventures can put a definite slow down on my creative juices when it come to the blog. Back when I first began this journey we were traveling a lot more and seeing new things and meeting new folks on an almost daily basis so it was easy to sit down and write a few paragraphs each day and slip in a few timely photographs to break up the text.

And then once we settled into our winter home here at Dogpound South I had to cut back on the daily photos of our environs. I mean how many different shots can I find of 3.3 acres of dirt. But we still managed to find some new country on our almost weekly trailriding trips so things were still pretty interesting, at least to me.

What with Brenda's not so successful knee replacement last spring our trail riding has slowed down considerably and that source of new stories has taken a hit, although we are hopeful that we will be back on the trails in the future, so things might get a little busier here then. Till then I am sure you don't want to hear about the almost a 1000 lengths I swim each week in the great new facility the town of Maricopa built just down the road from Dogpound South or the endless beautiful days I spend enjoying the weather here.

The one bright spot on the blogging horizon was precipitated by a reportable disease that has affected Arizona livestock. Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) is a disease that affects horses and to a lesser extent cattle and other ruminants and at the moment Arizona has a couple of cases of this disease lurking around their southern borders. What that means to us is that after 60 days in Arizona our horses are deemed Arizona residents and the Canadian government restricts the movement of Arizona horses into the country. No doubt a good idea as though this disease is not usually fatal it can be expensive to treat and we sure don't want to drag it back into Canada to affect our VS free status there. The last reported case of VS in Canada was in 1949.

So that brings us back to the bright spot. To enable us to take our loyal mounts back to their Canadian home so they don't have to spend the summer in the heat of Arizona we need to move them to another state and get them resident status there. It takes 21 days to acquire that status so we and a bunch of our Canadian/Arizona winter horse folks are planning a slow migration north this spring. Long time readers will remember that usually we load up and head north in a hurry making the trip from Dogpound South to Dogpound North in just 3 days and 2 nights. This year the plan is for a more relaxed journey, once we cross the Arizona/Utah line we plan to slow our journey (Utah being a VS free state). Don't worry Utah we'll have things checked out and brand new Health Certificates in hand so that we don't bring any unwelcome visitors to your state either.  Lucky for us Utah has some beautiful riding spots amongst their red rock canyons and the temps in early April should be perfect. Like all plans in our world these are written in jello so things might change but till the next installment this is what the future looks like.

Till then I will be lurking on the sidelines of blogland, but never fear always watchful, and interested, in what those of you that are still writing are sharing.