Pack Horse Shopping Plan A and B

God has moved us out of the known and into shopping for my pack horse. A well loved horse that my daughter out grew was for sale again and we were going to invest the $s as we knew what he was made of and it was all good stuff. I think our appointment to look at him spurred those who had already been looking at him to go ahead and buy him. Plan B. north about an hour there is a wonderful man of the "Buck" type that is often given special needs ponies and he helps them through their problems and  those who can, find jobs. Tomorrow we will go see if the right one might be at Roberts, I can't think of anyone else I would rather support.

Things appear to be creeping right along. Christmas brought me a Thermo-Rest-Mat and a wonderful set of Ironcloth Saddle Panniers with an H pack. I had used a Decker before, but liked the idea of being more independent and am looking forward to using saddle panniers on this trip.

Rocky the one other person left going with me has had gallbladder surgery and is home recuperating. Everything I have heard has been good,  I have to assume if it were to interfere with his plans for this trip he would tell me.

Gym, Books and Numbers

Another lively week; our group of riders has dwindled from 5 to 3 to 2, but I hope we will pick up at the least one more rider  and  find a support driver to move the trailer up the trail as we travel.

I just finished a month of physical therapy and for the first time since June 2010 I am pain free. Today I started a new low weight / high rep gym routine. There is marked weakness in my left side but using barbells and the high reps I feel those issues will be over soon.

I have ordered some maps, and books, but will wait till January to join the ATA, and copy off their maps. I can see the advantage of buying a Delorme GPS with STOP but and I have a nice Garmin I cant get to pick up signal in the trees. If we ride in the fall I might could make this happen. .

I have had two invitations to ride this beautiful weekend before Christmas but this year we will celebrate early and it looks like riding is not in my plans.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)   

The Jumping Off Point

A dear friend said “I have something I would love to do; I want to ride The Continental Divide!” I was so excited we needed to have someone to go with us and one thing led to the other and in the end we found a friend of a friend who had ridden it and was willing to go again, we had five riders and a plan……

In a matter of a month, we lost one if not both of the original three and changed locations from The Continental Divide, to The Arizona Trail. My brother is helping with some of the camping gear, one daughter is helping with pack gear, one with some horse training and it is looking like all I really need now is a pack horse and a couple of new pair of jeans.  

That AND:

·          Physical conditioning for all three of us

·          Some serious despooking

·          Time spent ponying the pack horse

·          To study maps and plans and figure out what I might should be doing to help

I assume there will be a good hundred miles between here and my first step onto The Arizona Trail; here is the jumping off point to my story.