WE'RE HERE!!

Me, Mo, Indy and B all made it officially to Florida this afternoon, but I am getting ahead of myself. Firstly, the journey.

We went on Wednesday to pick up B in Syracuse at the airport - no pssport means no international flying so this was the next best option. That went well, despite some minor snowyness. Thursday was a flurry of activity trying ot get al lthe lsat minute things done and ready to go. Getting the truck and trailer loaded up and backed up to the barn, along with other crucial things like visiting Grammie and Grampie one last time before departing had to be taken care of.

We got everything loaded and ready to go, Indy and Mo had a breif refresher course with the trailer and B huddled for warmth in the tack room trying to be warm. Luckily our spell of -40 disapeared and it was semi-mild for her! Or at least it seemed that way to me....

At the crack of dawn [before actually] on Friday we hauled our butts out of bed [ I literally had to drag B out LOL] and got everything last minute ready and got into Goliath [Goliath being my "new" ride - an '89 Dodge Ram 250] and set off down the road with Richard as our guide. WHOOHOOO!!!

Two hours later we pull up at the Canadian border and get delayed for an hour while the poor border vet lady struggles to get her computer program opened because they just reset all the pass words. As much as I wanted to be in and out ASAP, I felt kind of bad because she was really sad and frustrated. It all worked out though and we eventually got on our way. We drove and drove and drove and drove allllllllllll the way down through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, hit some traffic there and through Virginia and then finally into North Carolina. We pulled into our overnight in North Carolina around 12:30 and unloaded my darling [and oh so tolerant] ponies into their stalls for the night. They seemed happy and muched on their hay. We went to sleep for a few hours and then got back up and on the road by 7:30.

Today was a harder start for me. Yesterday was all full of adrenaline and not a little bit of fear of the great unknown - previously I was untested in long road trips, and this is a helluva way to find out I can do it - sink or swim for sure! Today was a little more dragging. This morning anyways. After we stopped at a gas station I was a bit revived and the second time came soda, which cures all with caffeine. We cruised through South Carolina and into Georgia with no problems at all. Goliath was amazing and an awesome drive. We had no problems on any of the hills even with my chunky trailer and fat ponies in the back! YEY!

We FINALLY crossed into my darling Florida and stopped at the Ag stop and then we were on the HOME STRETCH!!!

Richard kept telling us we had three hours left but we proved him wrong and went with the km's left vs the hours left and made it in two hours. WE FINALLY MADE IT TO J'S HOUSE!!!!!!!

I cant really express how exciting this is when you have been going stir crazy on the road - two LBE's in a small box..... good times! Of course we both escape Goliath ASAP and run in to say hi to R who I am THRILLED to see again :-) J was away at a clinic with her pony so she wasnt home. We unloaded the ponies and let them out into their paddock to stretch and play and Mo did her walking with giant action thing she did before with is so cute and Indy just kind of followed her around like a lost puppy. SO CUTE!

Indy and Mo went about walking and trotting - with Indy showing off her fancyness by passaging around and being floaty and gorgeous. Mo tried to mirror her, but it was just a cute try, it is not so natural to her. Watching Mo and Indy go around for a while it was REALLY obvious that Indy was mirroring Mo!! It was SOOOOO NEAT! Indy was pretty much completely RBI the whole trailer ride and so she was looking for a leader big time, and even though she really doesnt like Mo, Mo was [is] confident in new places and so she followed her around.

Mo would stop, Indy would stop, Mo would go, Indy would go, Mo would walk with her head down, Indy would walk with her head down. It was just to adorable.

When they were happy enough, we gave them some hay and then unloaded my [copious amounts of] stuff. Then came the best part - SHOWERING! I forget how much fun showering is after road tripping. Getting all that grime off is NICE. Since we wanted to make the best possible time we could, we kinda skipped meals and lived off of emergency crackers and whatever we could get at gas stations yesterday and today so we went out for supper for a real meal at Sonic and then picked up a few extra organixational requirements for our shared arangements at Wally World. Dangerous place that Wally Wolrd.... credit card balances run high all on their own between those walls.....

So thats my story. Tomorrow we move Indy to her boarding pasture, and Mo over to where B keeps her horse for nine days until we go to the Parelli Centre so that we can play hardcore to get back into practice. Everyone made it safe and sound on the long haul :-)

:-)
S