Day 1

There has been a lot involved in getting ready to leave.  I sold my horse trailer.   I went to get a tent which I should have bought earlier. It was a Trango II at  Mountain Sports on 3rd St in Chico California across the street from the infamous Crazy Horse Saloon.  I went in there to buy my tent and they were all out the Sales man was great and ordered me a tent and had it shipped over night.  It was actually cheaper because they had to order it and it is shipped in pieces from different parts of the United States so I got 20% off.  It was really nice they were very polite and good to me I also bought a stove that burns all types of gases.  It burns kerosene, gasoline white gas and diesel and it also simmers.  Which is what I was looking for.  A guy I met at the REI  talked me into getting that stove.  I got some grain for the horses C2's for the horses in case they get cut or I and I have to sew them up.  I bought some groceries for my trip it was tough figuring out what foods to bring that will last and would be light being that my two buddies Red and Jahob have to carry all this stuff.  I am trying to keep the weight down, don't want to work my horses too hard.  I went to Butte Meadow today that will probably be my first stop on my trip.  The Bambi Inn is there and they have excellent hamburgers.  I met a guy named Patrick at the Fire Station there he was really nice.  He told me of a spot to drop off some hay that I hid away from the other critters out there.  Being that there will be snow on the ground I will need to have some hay hidden for my horses.  I don't want them to have too much of a shock in the first part of the ride.  They have to adapt and I have to adapt to this new life we will be living for the next couple of years.  I drove 5 more miles to another spot and the gate was closed.  we wanted to get to the top of the mountain so we could put some more hay for the second night.  So we 4x4ed around and continued up to  Humboldt Summit and the snow started getting deeper so we stopped and put the brand new chains on the brand new truck so you would think this would be simple.  It was really dark so we couldn't see real well.  Well, we got the chains on and went  a few feet and the chain flipped off and broke the brake line.  So we stuck  an allen wrench on the brake line and used some bailing wire.  So we left some hay there because we knew we weren't gonna make it much farther and headed back to Chico.

It is 12:24 a.m.  I am going to bed and leaving in the morning for my ride around the world "The Expedition."  I have been working all day trying to get everything ready and I know there are things I am forgetting I have checked my list but I guess I can only do what  I can.  I know I have enough stuff to get me to Pyramid Lake where I can stock up on more supplies if needed.  My thoughts of today are I am tired and I am a little nervous.  This is a pretty big thing I am trying to attempt.  I am concerned about my pack horse Jahob.  I went down to get him today to put on his pack and make some adjustments and he was gimping.  He was little lame in his right foot.  I cleaned it out real good and put  light pressure on the sole towards his foot and he didn't act like it bothered him.  He can sometimes be a wimp about pain.  So I had to ask my father what he thought.  He knows that horse better then I do, it was his horse before he was mine.  He seemed to think it was when we shawed him or maybe he stepped on something that poked him.  He should be fine though.   I am sure he will be all right there are no signs of any type of injury.  I'm sure tomorrow morning will be a hectic morning getting everything done.  Lovely Anna is gonna be here tomorrow and see me off and she will be narrating for me on my web site.   I will also get some video clips posted on my site. Well, it is time for me to get some shut eye before my big day.  Good night.   My step Mom woke me this morning and my grandparents were here to see me off.  I got to the bottom of the stairs and said, "Well that's the last night I get to sleep in a good bed unless someone takes me in for a night."  My dad said  I will probably have a couple more good nights in a bed because Jahob's lame.  First thing that went thru my mind is that I will have to do it all on Red.  The trip wouldn't be the same without Jahob though.  I rushed down to the stables and got Jahob out and sure enough he is lame.  I thought yesterday he wasn't doing that good.  I pulled his shoe off and it looked like a rock had gotten on the toe of his heel where the bruise was.  It took me awhile to figure it out what exactly it was but he must have bruised it in the pasture somehow.  Imagine that,  you think you would get hurt traveling across the country and step on the rock but no it was in the pasture where theres hardly any rocks.  A little bit muddy this time of the year but not a lot of rocks.  But he found one and hurt is foot so we are going to doctor him up and hopefully he can catch up with me and Red in Pyramid Lake.  I got on the phone and called  my younger brother Jonathan and his girlfriend Samantha happened to have a horse and she is a really sweet horse.  I wasn't real sure about it at first she is a mustang and doesn't have a whole lot of meat on her but we are gonna take it slow and easy.  She will probably get more food with me then she would where she was, so she will probably be happy.  I went down and picked her up and got her home and put the pack saddle on her.  It took me awhile,  it didn't seem to bother her at all but I wanted to make sure not to spook her because she has never had a pack saddle on before.  I have been told a few people have ridden her but I wasn't really sure.  She has a good disposition and is extremely calm.  Her name is Vegas and she is going to substitute for Jahob while Jahob heals.  I will get some more packing done tonight.  This one day off my trip is turning out to be a better deal then I thought.  I was pretty upset this morning but I will have plenty of days so leaving one day later won't hurt.  I would like to get over the Sierras before more snow comes, we have another storm coming in  pretty   soon.  Plan is now to leave in the morning we are gonna leave as soon as the suns up and try to get  at least half way to Butte Meadows tomorrow so I can be above Butte Meadows the next day and climb up over the Summit the following day.  That's my plan anyways.

I am off and I am about a mile from the house.  It felt so good to leave today.  Just to get on my horse and ride off.  Ol Vegas here  isn't sure about all  this but she is doing all right.  It is gonna be a long ways to get where were going until we get Jahob I can tell that right now.  I am pretty excited I did a lot of work to get to this point.  I am finally leaving.   We rode until 6 and set up camp.  Red isn't doing too hot I think he pulled a muscle.  I am just having a really hard time starting on this trip. First Jahob, who isn't doing to good for the first time in his life and he is 26. I don't know how Red pulled a muscle he is in pretty good shape right now.  I guess he could have stepped wrong and I guess I should count my blessings that we are pretty close to home.  I am so disappointed right now.  I need to keep myself positive I knew when I decided to go on this trip there was going to be things or events that would come up and if I kept a good frame of mind I can make it through anything. I told myself when I went on this trip that Red was going with me as far as possible.  Red is my best friend in the whole wide world.  If he isn't better in the morning I am going to delay my trip for a week.  I am only about 15 miles from home.  So I am gonna say a long prayer tonight and hopefully when I wake up Red will be OK.  I am gonna leave it in God's hands.  If not we will have to return home until he heals.  Maybe God wants me to wait a week.  It is a disappointment but sometimes disappointments can be blessings in disguise.  One way or another we will get back on the trail and we will make it with two sound horses.  My number one thing to do on this trip is to make sure that my horses are taken care of.  I want everybody that is following my website to know that my horses are my number one priority.  There is nothing more important then taking care of my horses.  I have to take into consideration that I have to take care of myself in order to be able to take care of my horses.  The ride today was beautiful we came across a father and daughter riding there horses and talked to them and then some motorcycles passed by us.  These mountains seem to get more and more beautiful each time you ride them. Well, I will write more in the morning and let you know how Red is doing.  Sweet dreams.

Red wasn't doing very good this morning looks like he pulled a hamstring.  I don't know how he did it he must have done it at home before we left.  I guess we are just having  a really bad start at this thing.  Its just better to go home and get both horse well and I can take both horses.  Right now I am riding Diamond back one of my Dad's horses and I am pulling Vegas and Kevin is with me riding Aboo, his horse.  I rode Diamond home and got my truck which I hadn't sold yet and my Dad's trailer and went up and got Red. I soaked both horses feet today and massaged Reds leg.

I washed Red real good and it seems like he is feeling better.  I am little stressed about money at this point because  I had to spend money I wasn't supposed to spend but that's life.  Being out there on the trail I realized there are some things I don't need so I can make some changes now and get the weight down. If I do need those things I suppose I can get someone to send me them later.  It is storming right now so maybe God didn't want me in those mountains yet.  I will keep every one posted and if you can keep Red, Jahob and I in your prayers it would be appreciated.  Until next time.

It's been a week I am a little disappointed I should be looking at Pyramid Lake right about now. I just left the Feed store got some grain and hay.  I am a little stressed about money. I am spending money I shouldn't but I am sure I will be fine.  I will get some work or something before I go.  Maybe I will get a good sponsor so if your out there I really could use you.  To everyone that has sponsored I really appreciate it.  I don't know how to thank you enough every little bit helps.  I am going to try to get out on the trail as soon as possible and get you guys some stories and adventures of all the good stuff that is going to come out of this trip.  I will get some videos of some cool animals and critters running around out there.  I just got some pads for Jahob he seems to be doing better.  I will take him out for a ride today and see how he does.  I am headed up the hill to see my lil buddies right now and ride them.  It seems like Red was doing better, running and kicking in the pasture.  I don't think his back leg is hurting him anymore.  I think God just didn't want me up there because there is quite a bit of snow up there right now.  More than 2-3 feet  is hard to travel through on horse.  Although I am making this Journey thru the good and the bad.  Maybe they both got hurt because of some Omen or something.   I am not sure.   We are going to make it and have a great time.  I hope you enjoy it also.  I got up to my Dad's and rode Red and he cramped up again so it looks like I am going to take him to a Vet and get this cleared up.  I will keep you posted, so stay tuned.

It is pouring down rain and trying to snow here.  I am on my way to the Vet with Red.  I am pretty picky about what Vet to take him to so I had a  hard time finding the right one for him.  I really wish I was on the trail right now although I would be freezing right now. Heehee.  The Vet was really nice and he is a good friend of my Dad's.  Red has an abscess in his foot.  We are going to soak it and pad his feet just like Jahob.  He said I need to bring him back in 3-4 days and I should be able to get out of here in 2 weeks.  He put Red on some antibiotics also.  It seems so odd that two of my horses end up with the same problem from a rock getting lodged in there shoe when they  haven't really been in a rocky pasture.  Well, so be it.  I just can't wait to get out there on that trail. I will keep you posted so stay tuned into my website.

I am going back to the Vet tomorrow.  It seems like Red is doing much better.  We will find out tomorrow the verdict on him.  Jahob is doing much better I lunged him yesterday and he was fine he wants to be out on that trail just as bad as I do.  I let Red run in the arena holding the lead rope.  He wants to buck every time I take him out there he is a little cooped up in that stall right now and he wants to be out and running.  So that's a good thing.  The way things look right now hopefully the snow will go away. I am in Paradise right now and it is snowing.  Paradise is about two ridges over from where we will be leaving from.  It looks like we are going to be riding through the snow weather we waited to leave or not.  Attentively we are gonna try to leave in about a week I will know more after I talk with the Vet.  That's where I am headed right now.  I will be back later.

I haven't updated in a couple of weeks now.  I plan on leaving on March 26 or 27.    The horses are doing much better.  I had to take Red back to the Vet and he dug out the rest of the abscess.  Then I had to take him back again a couple of days later his leg swelled up a little bit.  We had to put him back on some antibiotics.  I took Red over to my Grandparents so he could get some sunshine and green grass.  The horses are raring to go  at least that's what they told me this morning.  I rode Jahob last week in 2 foot of snow we rode 15 miles.  I took my Dad's dog with me I looked back to find her and she was packed with snow and looked like a big snow ball.  I decided to put her on Jahob and carried her home.  She liked that.   Since she has such long hair the snow just stuck to her making her look like one big snow ball.  I got to meet my Great Uncle Scott and his wife Ruth.  They seemed to be very excited about my trip.  We decide last night I am going to go towards Ohio instead of Arkansas.  I am sure my direction may change a few times along the way.  Who knows where I will end up?  It will be fun regardless which direction we go.  I will check back in here later as soon as I have more news for you.

Today I went to Paradise Sporting Goods and picked up my 1022 Rifle.  I am pretty excited about it I have been waiting for it for a while.  A guy named Chuck and a lady named Candy who work there helped me and were very nice.  Chuck donated a box of bullets and Candy donated a ten round clip for my 22.  I very much appreciate that from them.  They said they will be following my site.  I just want to thank them again if they are reading this, Thank You!  Like I said every little bit helps.  The horses looked good this morning they got a little sunshine this morning although now it is starting to drizzle.  I moved them over to my Grandparents green pasture and they seem to be real happy there.  I am gonna visit tonight with my Uncle Scott and Aunt Ruth and I will be at there house sometime in September.  I am leaving now on April 2.  My Dad said he would ride a couple days in with me.  He doesn't know it but I really want him to go I enjoy his company and I learn something new from him each time I am with him.  I might learn something that might save my life on this trip if he rides with me for a couple of days.  I will check back in later when something new happens.

I got a few more things to do before my April 2 departure.  I bought an IPOD for my trip so I can here some tunes while I am on the road.  I am gonna have lunch today with Anna so I can give her this tape.   So she can download it on the website.  So the next time you get information I will be on the trail already.   I actually will probably be already on the trail when you are reading this hopefully in the Sierra Mountains where there is about 10 feet of snow there right now I have heard.  I plan on going on the 31st  to put some hay out.  There might be hay out from last month but I need to put fresh hay.  I am excited to leave but every time I get excited something happens that I can't leave but it is gonna happen this time I can feel it.  We are ready!  I talked to some rodeo buddies today, Sean he is pretty excited about it.  He is going to be  Rodeoing with Jason Smith this year which is exciting.  Jason is one of the best there is, I don't think there is anybody better then Jason Smith when it comes to Rodeo.  He is tough sucker and I am sure they will have a lot of fun.  I miss the rodeo it is something that gets in your blood and you just don't ever want to give it up.  I am sure the trip will be fun and worth while.  Keep us in your prayers that we have a safe trip and I will be back later.

It's like one o clock in the morning.  I'm calling the first run the try out run.  I figured out that there was a few things I wanted to change a few things to leave behind and a few things to add.  I added a shovel to my list some butte for the horses and some snaps for the lead ropes. I didn't like the other ones.  I also got a Davis Boot for the horses and sharpened my ax.  I had a few more weeks to think about things.  I am planning to leave on the 3rd and this weather is not right.  It is spring and they are calling for snow.  I have gear to protect me from getting wet so I should be fine.  I just want to get on the trail.  I gave Anna the other tape so hopefully by the time you get this info I will be on the trail.  I just wanted to update you and I will check back soon.

I am all packed up and I am leaving at sunlight.  The weather is calling for rain and another storm coming on Friday.  I hope to be climbing over the summit on Friday.   Not exactly sure where I will be at yet.  I took my truck to Pyramid Lake yesterday to put some hay out.  My Dad decided he didn't want to go.  He doesn't want to ride back over that mountain when it snows because it is supposed to snow pretty good.  I was really looking forward to him riding in a couple days with me but I guess that is how it goes. The weather here in California has just been crazy.  I have never seen this much water in my life.  I heard older people tell me they haven't seen this much water.  It's almost 2 weeks into spring now and we still have winter weather.    I am gonna go to bed now and I will be back.

I am about 2 miles down the road.  Red has been bucking and raring and trying to play in the water.  He is being a butt head today.  Hopefully Red will calm  down here pretty soon.  It is now evening and we made it to our designated spot and the horses are doing great.  Red calmed down once we got to Chico Creek.  Red is back to normal its been a couple of months since he has been normal.  I got the campsite set up and the horse tied up to these big metal gates.  It's almost like a hichin rail.  I saw this big ol helicopter it was going right over us and they were carrying logs it was pretty neat.  They were logging with the helicopter I am glad they are using a helicopter to log they make a lot less of a mess.  I have about 9 miles more to Butte meadows tomorrow.  I will be back with you tomorrow.

It's 6:00 p.m. and I am back in my tent.  We rode up Hwy. 32 9 miles and I fed the horses what we had left at that sight.  Red wasn't quite as anxious today he was great for me.  We rode up to the Forest Service Station where I had stashed more hay.  I met some really nice people they were from Chico and Daemon the Forest Service guy was there.  I fed the horses there and they had more then enough hay.   I talked to Daemon for an hour and a half while the horses ate.  He let me charge my IPOD there and gave me a map of the area.  We left there about 2:00 rode up  through Jones Town met a few people at the Bambi Inn and talked to them for a bit.  I packed up the left over hay and took it with me.  I had a little bit of trouble tying it on but I got it.  Then we rode up to the snow mobile park where the gate was closed and the rode was closed.  I got up here and started talking to some people.  Some people told me there was 3 feet of snow some said there was 7 then some said there was 15-20 feet of snow.  So I didn't really know how deep it was.  Kind of like the fish story the fish they caught gets bigger and bigger as the story is told.  The snow mobiles have been riding on this packed snow and I wasn't sure how deep it was so I thought we would be able to ride on it.  Well, we made it probably 20-30 feet and all of a sudden red sunk down.  He went all the way down I was on his back and I was in the snow.  I mean he sunk down and then freaked out and started jumping and bucking and that made him sink even further.  It is clear over his back  and Jahob started freaking out.  I got Red calmed down and told him to relax and stay still  I didn't want him getting injured.  Then I got Jahob to calm down and grabbed my Marine Core knife out and I cut the break away straps on my riggen for Jahob, my pack horse.  I had to let go completely of Red so I could release the breast strap off of Jahob.   When I did that Red  Jumped and freaked out and when he did he was able to get himself out of the snow and get back to the asphalt.  I was able to get Jahob out when I got the pack off of him.  When I got them out of the snow there was a snow mobile trailer and tied them up for a second.  I went to go grab my pack and heard some snow mobiles coming.  I didn't want anyone to get mad at me for tying them to their trailer so I seen my ax and grabbed it and slammed it into the ground and tied the horses to it.  They didn't run off or anything I just didn't want to chance it.  I drug the pack gear back over to Jahob.  I decide maybe I should set up camp.  I used my pack saddle pads for bedding since I was on concrete.  I got a kangaroo fur for a pillow.  My good friend Megan went over as an exchange student and when she went to Australia she asked me what I wanted her to bring me back, I told her a kangaroo.  She brought me a kangaroo fur.  Its light weight and stuffs right in my bag.  It is pretty comfy.  It's been a pretty exciting day met a lot of nice people.  I can't remember all there names and I don't want to get anyone's name wrong.  If you any of you are watching my sight I remember you I just don't remember everyone's name.  You all were pretty awesome.  Some guys I met from Durham gave me a bottle of whiskey and they took a picture of me and I took a picture of them.  They were good people.  Thanks for everybody's hospitality.  It makes me smile to know there are so many good people out there.  I do have a problem with riding on the road a lot of people go by way to fast.  I think that people don't know there is a law that you aren't supposed to pass a horseback rider more then 5 miles faster then what the horse is going.  If I am riding 10 miles an hour you can't drive past me more then 15 miles an hour.  Now I agree that is a little bit ridiculous but if people can just slow down to 25 miles an hour that would be great.  We are all here to have a good time in life no one wants to get hurt.  I 'm not anyone to tell anybody what to do but I don't want anyone to get hurt.  So please just slow down a little bit.  I try to stay out of everybody's way.  So drive safe and nobody will get hurt, I guarantee you'll get there before I do.  Sorry got a little side tracked.  I had some oatmeal for breakfast and beef jerky for lunch for dinner I had some Spam wrapped in a tortilla with some top ramon and a little bit of hot chocolate.  I am going to have someone come pick me up and take me 8 miles from where I am at so I can get around the snow.  I don't want to go back to home base and wait til the snow melts.  I am sure Anna and Kevin will come get me.  They have helped me out a lot on this and I really appreciate it.  Anna and my brother have been working on keeping this website going and updated.  I really appreciate all they have done for me.  It isn't just me Red and Jahob to make this website happen it is Anna my brother Josh and my step Mom Debbie.  I will be checkin back sometime tomorrow to let you know whats happening next on Ez Expedition Wild Wild West going East.

I am waiting here at the Bambi Inn for Kevin to come pick me and my horses up and take us into Chester.  I visiting with the owner of the Bambi Inn.  Kevin picked me up and took to Chester and dropped us off on the other side of Hwy 89.  He took us approximately 8 miles.    Instead of going back home and waiting til June when the snow melts.  I will be talking to you soon when I get to Pyramid Lake.

Last night I made it into Chester.  I rode into Chester and there was quite a few people waving and what not.  That was really nice it keeps your spirit up.  I rode into the True Value where I had put some hay up about a week ago.  True  Value stores usually have good people working there.  I ran into a lady  named Glen Winston.  She was really nice and called her husband Ed.    They let me put my hay in their barn.  They stored equipment in there and it wasn't really a place for hay but they let me put it in there anyway.  When I got to there house he gave me the royal treatment.  He let me stick my horses in the barn and took me to dinner and let me take a shower at his house.  We chatted and told stories and had a great time.  He is a member of the Rotary Cub and the Elks Club.  He gave me a pocket watch and four candles.  I'm burning a candle right now here in my tent and its getting it nice and cozy in here.  A lot better then it was the other day when I was up there in the cold of Butte Meadows.  I can't say this enough  please if you see a person on horse or walking or even on a bike please slow down.  It only takes a few seconds to take your foot off the gas and slow down when passing someone on horse, foot or bike.  I am riding a few feet off of the road and some people try to get as close as they can with out hitting me.  One guy today turned his engine off and started it back up so it would back fire to try to scare the horses.  If you want to go to the rodeo, go to the rodeo, but don't try to create a rodeo on the side of the road where someone could get hurt.  It amazes me how some people can be so inconsiderate of others.  The liter on the roads is horrible too.  Its beautiful country I'm traveling across and people just throw their garbage out and the ditches on the sides of the road are covered.  I have seen baby shoes, beer cans, flashlights, you name it I've seen it on the sides of the road.  It's disgusting. On a more positive note, I came across some beautiful country today, the snow on the mountains and some geese flying out over Lake Almanore and some crane.  It was just breath taking.   The wind chill was quite chilly.  Red was raring to go today.  He broke the reins today when I was letting him eat some grass.  I wasn't thinking and I was messing with Jahob and Red stepped on the reins and yanked his head back and broke it.   I sewed them back together with wax string and a needle.  It'll work for the time being. Chester is a really nice town.  This one lady I met handed me a $20 bill and said, "Good luck."  Which was really sweet of her.  Every little bit is going to help on this ride.   Chester is a beautiful town and if you ever get a chance to visit it, it's worth going to.  For everybody that's in Chester that's reading this Thank you for your hospitality. I'm about 4 miles out of the Weston town at this Little Ranch 101 on Hwy 36.  I think that was the name on it don't quote me on it.  I'll check my map and get back to you on that.  I'm camped out next to Ranch 101 and he is  a retired bull rider, rode CCA, nice guy.  We got to talking and he's a nice cowboy.   Tomorrow I should be riding into Susanville.  If anyone reading this site enjoys it, make sure you tell somebody else.  I sure would like it if there was a lot of people enjoying this as much as I am.  I will be back tomorrow.  Thank you everybody. Good night.

I am riding over the Sierra Mountains today.  It was pretty cold last night woke up with some snow  this morning.  I woke to hear something messing with my tarps last night.  I wasn't sure what it was it sounded like a pretty big animal.  I grabbed my pistol and my flashlight and opened up the tent real slowly.  I didn't want to startle it or shoot the wrong thing although I wouldn't have shot it any ways, I just would have shot up in the air to scare it away.  Any how I shined my flashlight out there and it was Red.  He stretched out the rope and had his body stretched as far as he could. He was trying to pull the tarp off and get the grain out.  He cracks me up.  I heard lots of little creatures last night coyotes and owls.  I was a few miles from Westwood.  I am riding up HWY 36 and a lot of these cars aren't horse friendly.  I rode through Susanville and got a lot of smiles and waves from the towns people. I stopped at a feed store and there was a nice lady who took some pictures of us. She is going to put it in to the newspaper.  There was this other nice lady I met pulling out of the feed store who gave me a map to her house and told me I could stay there for the night.  It is quite away's out of our way, so we are probably going to have to pass on that nice offer.  I'm going to  find a spot up her to camp out.  I just saw one of the most beautiful things you could ever see.  I saw twenty little doves and fawns and I have seen a lot of little critters out here. Just out side of Susanville there is just about everything you can imagine out here. I got the snow laid mountains next to me.  It is just gorgeous I don't know how to describe it. It is just breathtaking.  A little bit ago this guy pulled up next to me in a pick up and asked what I was doing.  I told him I'm going around the world.  He said around the world? He asked if I had a place to stay tonight.  He told me I was welcome at his house.  He was a real nice guy.  He lives there in Windell about a mile up the road and we should be there in a little bit.  Talk to you tomorrow.  Good night.

"Taday, April 9, 2006, while working in my front yard I happened to look up and see a young man on horseback with a pack horse in tow going down main street in Susanville, CA. I wondered to myself, "what could this person be doing riding a horse down Main Street".  I stopped my work and casually waved to him and when he acknowledged my wave  I went back to cutting back the snapdragon flowers that had begun to grow from the long winter. Within a few minutes he rode over to me and introduced himself and told me what he had planned. It was an exciting event to see this young man and his two magnificent horses standing in front of my home.  We shook hands and I wished him luck on his journey. He slowly rode away  while I was thinking to myself, "here is a young man that knows what he wants and  is not afraid to act on what he dreams of". Well, I wish Ezra the best of luck and hope that he enjoys what makes him happy. Best of luck to you Ezra",   Bill

I'm riding out of Lynchfield now I stayed the night at Butch's house last night.  He had his buddy Larry over there and a couple of folks that seen me riding down the road that came over to visit me. Everybody in this town seemed to be real nice.  I really like this area.  Butch took real good care of me he fixed me up with some dinner.  He cooked me up some pork chops and potatoes and corn and it was delicious.  Great hospitality up here and I don't expect it but when I get it, it sure is nice.  There is a lot of good people in America.  I ran into this guy who I ran into a week ago when I was dropping off some hay.  He is a photographer and took some pictures and is going to put them into the newspaper.  He gave me an extra Bible for my trip and told me if I come across anybody who needs one to give it to them.  He wanted me to stop by and see him.  We are headed right now towards the wild horse corrals.  So far I am having a great time .  It is beautiful country.  There is this Power Company called H L  Power Company and they  put these trucks on this big machine and it picks the truck up and dumps out the sawdust.  Red is watching it and he couldn't believe it.  He's just checking it all out.  My horse is pretty smart he has to check everything out.  I have seen a lot of little critters and a lot of carcasses.  A lot of dead animals out here.  I stopped by Grants house and he wasn't there but I talked to his neighbor Ruth.  I gave her some money to run some hay up to the border for me.  I'm in my tent now and I was admiring the beautiful sunset.  I got to thinking on how many times I could have died or when I did die in the hospital  when I broke my femur and they gave me too much morphine.  I'm so lucky that God  spared me to see this beautiful sunset.  Where I am laying right now is just gorgeous.  It is a wonderful feeling and words can't describe it.  I didn't make it as far as I wanted to today.  Red was getting pretty hungry.  He ate at Grant's house.  Approximately 10 miles ago.  I am gonna get off and walk him for awhile and let him graze a little bit.  I want to walk everyday a few miles.  In the morning I will stop up at a little ranch ahead and water the horses up.  I think we are about 25 miles from Pyramid Lake.  it's hard to say the people around here call them country miles and a country mile is a whole lot longer then a regular mile.  I'm learning this.  We hopefully will stay at the other end of the Lake tomorrow night.  The following day we will ride into Nixon and see my Indian buddy Ed Neely.  He is the shank man for the Team Brunk Ride.  N 40 degrees 17.371 West 120 degrees 07.631 Location is 14 ft.  Good night everyone.

Good morning, we are back on the trail again.  We found a little pond this morning and watered up the horses.  Red was real awnry this morning. Red kicked Jahob this morning but Jahob walked it off.  I think he will be fine.  It rained on me last night pretty good for a little while.  It is kind of weird here it will rain and then it won't rain and then it will rain and then it won't rain. I ran into another stream down the road and watered the horses again.  It's sunny right now and raining on the right  of me.  We made it to the Nevada Border.  We are now 3 1/2 hours in to Nevada I walked a few of those miles.  We came across some cattle and found a water hole up there.  We are probably going to stay up here tonight.  I will be back tomorrow.

Last night we ran into a place where the cows water so I watered the horses.  The cows were a little skeptical of the horses so we decided to right up a ways before we set up camp.  I set up camp and a guy in a flat bed truck pulled up.  I told him what I was doing and let him know he could follow me on my web site.  I think he missed understood me because he said, "Oh no I get enough riding out here with these cows."  So I explained myself a little bit better and he said he doesn't even own a computer.  I asked him if I can give him some money to buy a couple flakes of hay from him.  The next morning he came out about five a.m. and brought me a couple flakes of hay and didn't even charge me.  We should make Pyramid Lake here soon.  Well I guess I am closer to Pyramid Lake then I thought I was.  The Lake has big rocks sticking out of it that looks like Pyramids. The horses were a little stiff this morning but they seem to be full of energy and raring to go now.  We road by the Ranger he waved at us.  So far everyone has been really nice.  I cannot believe how beautiful it is out here.  If you ever doubt there is a God just ride your horse  for hours out in the country.  I'm not trying to preach or anything but this is just to beautiful to have just appeared someone had to make this.  Red has been all nervous since we got onto the Reservation.  I told him the Indians are of peace, and they are my friends.  He just keeps looking around at everything.  We watched a coyote chase a jack rabbit.  The coyote saw us riding up on him and he ran the other way.  I ran into my buddy's friend Jimmy and said we are about 23 miles from Nixon.  It is starting to rain now.   We found a camp spot so we are going to camp out here.  I watered up the horses at the lake  they were spooking at the waves  but finally they got the hang of it.  Red would just lift his head and wait until the wave came in then go back to drinking.  I will be back soon.  Hope everyone is enjoying the web site.  Good night.

I'm tired and the horses are tired.  We're all tired but the sun is shining on us here in Nevada, Pyramid Lake.  I woke up this morning and fed the horses all the grain I had although tonight we should be at Ed's house.  We should have about 18 miles to get there.  I sure am thirsty, I got some water out of that Lake and put it in my purifier.  It tasted salty, I'm sure the purifier got the germs out but not that salty taste. I can't hardly stand to drink it.  I was riding along this morning and Jahob's lead rope got stuck so I looked back and he is laying down.  I told him to get up and he just looked at me so I told him again to get up and so he gets up and starts walking.  I think he must be tired so we are going to take a break up here.  I wish we would stayed here last night there's a lot more grass.  It is the Pyramid Lake Marina.  The people there were real nice.  I had a hamburger and some Gatorade.  They also said they are going to get me in touch with the media.  Jahob decided to lay down and roll and it screwed up the pack and the people fishing on the lake were watching the whole thing.  Kind of embarrassing!  Then I rode up on a four foot Rattlesnake, I saw it out the corner of my eye.  We just rode on by him, he didn't seem to mind.  This ride around the Lake seems forever.  I am excited to say we made it around the Lake and we are so glad to turn our heads and see that Lake behind us.  I am even more excited to tell you we made it to my buddy's house and I will be sleeping in a nice comfortable bed tonight.  Good night folks and Thank you for all your support. I hope you are enjoying the site.

I went to church today with the Paiute Tribe.  The church we went to was one of the first Church's in Nevada.  It was built in the 1800's.  I had  a lot of fun, we went to the service and then ate some food.  We visited Chief Heely's wife's parents in Carson City Nevada and played some poker.  We were playing for penny's.  I learned a few Indian tricks ate lots of good food.  I learned I can put Prince Albert tobacco in my horses feed and it will keep some of the parasites out of there feed.  I learned about tumble weeds, that they have a lot of nutrition and if you boil it in water it taste a lot like spinach.  I also learned that while I am riding down Hwy 50 I am going to run into a lot of Mormon crickets and they are the size of your thumb.  They said they run in groups , rather large groups.  The horse are doing real well and we have enjoyed our stay here.  I am going into Fallon tomorrow with Chief's wife Sherry.  I need to get some better horse blankets and bathe them before we move on.  I am going to shoe them also.  I plan on leaving on the 20th from here.  I am going to eliminate some of my pack to lighten up things.  I'm looking forward to getting back on the trail even though I have been enjoying my stay.  My buddy told me a story regarding a little bit of history of the Tribe.  Apparently there was two white guys who came on to the Tribe and kidnapped a couple of Indian girls.  They raped them and mistreated them.  So a war party got together and got their  girls back.  This started a war between the Paiute Indians and the Calvary.  The Calvary came to kill the Paiute's.  The Chief at that time of the Paitue Tribe sent the woman and children to head North.  They got their War Parties up in the hills and when the Calvary came they  surrounded them and it became a big war down by the River here.  I will give you more information on this as I get to the spot where the war was.  The Paiute's let them know they couldn't be coming and raping the woman.  They stood their ground.  I hope to hit the museum here and get more history on the actual reservation.  What I have found at this reservation is that the people are wonderful here.  A lot of times we forget the history of what they went through back in the days.  I will be back soon with an update.  Wild, wild West going East. I hope ever body follows my journey across the United States and then the world. Thank you.

I am heading out tomorrow back on the trail.  I will be leaving from Nixon which is about 10 miles out of Pyramid Lake.  The horses are well rested and I shoed them today.  It was a little difficult when you don't have all the tools that you are used to having.  I guess that's all part of roughing it.  I was able to get er done though.  I washed them and cleaned them up.  Today is a nice sunny day but yesterday we got a little bit of snow.  The weather is supposed to be nice for the next couple of days and then we might be getting another storm.  I've been sleeping in a nice bed the past few nights but tomorrow night I will be back in a tent.  Although I am  ready to get back on the trail and see the world.  I had a great stay here and have really enjoyed my stay and all the knowledge I gained.  Ed and his wife have been so nice and they don't let me do anything to help them back.  I really appreciate all they have done.  Ed is going to be riding in the Red Bluff Round-up this next weekend.  I am a little disappointed I won't be in it this year but I am on a journey that will reap, far greater rewards.  For all of you that are following my site and enjoying it, there is a spot on the front page when you log on that says donations.  If you enjoy this site and could spare a dollar or two I would really appreciate it.  If you know anybody who is interested in sponsoring or publicizing please contact us on the web site.  Also if you have any ideas or input please send us an e-mail.  Thank you so much for sharing this experience with me.

I'm heading out of Nixon, Nevada this morning.  I made some changes to my pack which I am sure I will do many times as I ride across the world. I hope to make it to Fernly tonight.  There is some camp grounds there at the rodeo grounds that I can stay at.  I am almost to the spot where the battle that I talked about last time is.  I didn't get too far out this morning when Jahob started itching like he was uncomfortable with the pack on.  I stopped got off Red and took the pack off of Jahob and tried to see what the problem was.  I look up and Red is about 30 feet away eating grass.  I get the pack on Jahob and start to walk over to Red and he starts walking away so I pick up the pace a little and Red looks at me and takes off running.  I run after him and I see him disappear down a gully so I go back and climb on Jahob and ride on the pack saddle to find Red.  Well I found Red all the way back at my friend Ed's house in Nixon.   I was pretty mad at him and I think Red got the message.  I made it to Fernly to the Rodeo grounds.  I haven't found any water here.  We did stop at the Truckee River and got some water. Ed dropped off some hay for me here today so I have the food for the horses.  I had this great idea to put baking soda in my boots because they were starting to stink.  It was dark I thought I sprinkled a little bit in there.  Today my feet were starting to hurt, and I took off my boot and there was quite a bit of baking soda in there and it burned my feet.  So needless to say I will not be putting baking soda in my boots any more.  I'm letting my boots air out as we speak.

Last night my buddy Trace who is a rodeo buddy of mine came to the rodeo grounds to see me.  We went and had a drink at the Pioneer.  I want to give a special thanks to Bill and Kevin at the Pioneer who bought me breakfast this morning and were very nice. I just left a little town past Fernley. I met a guy there named Bob and his family, who showed me a little jail house.  It used to be a pretty big town with over 4000 people.  He threw me in jail in the old fashioned jail house and took a picture.  This town has a lot of history behind it.  Bob gave me a bottled water and my horses a bucket of water and we are off to try and make it to Fallon.  Hopefully we can make it by the Truckee River tonight to set up camp.  I want to thank everybody that is following my site.  I hope you are enjoying it.

I stayed last night at a stock yard.  I met a coupe nice guys who let me put my horses in the pin and there was plenty of food and water.  I pitched my tent and got a good nights sleep.  There is a little store here and I am going to go in and get breakfast.  I am going to head into Fallon and find a tack store so I can get some saddle pads.  They both have some saddle sores on them.  I have several saddle sores on me too.  I have them on my thighs, butt and my ankles.  This is where the horses and I have to Cowboy Up and get tough.  My breakfast was Awesome.  They were the nicest people there.  They made me up some sandwiches to go.  Fallon Livestock Exchange I want to thank you for your hospitality.  Monty gave me a hat that says Fallon Livestock Exchange and he wants me to wear it when I get to New York.  Monty if you are reading this thank you and I will make sure I wear it when I get to New York.  Thank you again.  There was this really neat lady I met there and she gave me a book of all the trails in Nevada and some of the ointment for the horses.  She went to the store and bought it with her own money while I was getting ready to leave.  That was so great.  I appreciate that so much.  Fallon is an awesome little town.  John gave me a fold up bucket like an army bucket for water.  He also ran down to the radio station KHWG 750 Am Classic Country.  He got me an interview.  Fallon is a great place.  I stopped by there and did an interview and people were stopping and waving.  This nice lady Betsy came up and gave me a hundred $ bill and a hug.  That is very much appreciated.  Everybody in town thank you very much.  Lee who owns the Gold Miners Jewelry Repair,  he is very nice and Thank you for the necklace.  Another lady stopped by and she is from England she gave me an envelope that contained a card a few dollars and a rock that says protected by angels and the card said, "my grandson David Cooper age 8, made  me a keep sake box and this stone.  I thought you might want to carry this with you.  Everyone should follow their dreams.  So Bravo, Good luck, God Bless on your long journey.  Best wishes Terry."  Very sweet ,thank you so much and it makes me smile.  I hope anyone who reads this it makes you smile too.  It is nice to know there is so many people out there that are nice.  It is also nice to know I am protected by angels.  Good night and God Bless.

I woke up this morning on James's couch.  Him and his wife made  me dinner last night and gave my horses water and hay.  They are great people.  James is a cowboy and an artist.  He does beautiful work.  The paintings of the horses look so real. They are awesome.  James had to leave this morning to go to a Rodeo in Elko.  They are great people his art work is awesome.  The weirdest thing is James has an aunt in Chico that works at Great Escape Travels with my travel agent Kim.  What a small world it is.  I met so many people in Fallon and I am so bad with names.  If I didn't mention somebody I do appreciate you and everything you've done.  I appreciate any contact on this web site.  I am very open to any suggestions any of you have.  If there is anything you want to hear more about or think that I should be doing on my journey please contact us.  We appreciate any feedback or suggestions.  Once again thank you Fallon.  Everyone there was so nice.  Good night.

I stopped at a ranch house that I saw.  There was a guy named Bill I met.  I asked if there was any work he had on his ranch that I could do for a couple of flakes of hay.  He said had no work for me but he had plenty of hay.  He was real nice then I met his wife when she came home.  I told her what  I was doing and she told me I was crazy.  I agreed.  I told her this is something I dreamt about doing my whole life and you have to follow your dreams.  They suggested I stay the night so I did.  She cooked up a great dinner and we talked about everything.  Nice dinner and nice conversation.  It is raining on me now and it rained real good last night.  Bill told me there wouldn't be grass for miles and he was right.  Jahob is getting tired and I had to re adjust the pack twice today.  I was really worried today about the feed for the horses, not knowing where there will be grass to feed on.  I called Dawn and Will whom I met in Fallon at the radio station.  They brought me out some hay and took me up the road aways to put some more hay out for my horses.  They are great people.  He talked to me about another route I can take.  He is a UPS driver and knows these routes around here.  Thank you so much Dawn and Will for all your help you are good people.  The world needs more people like Dawn and William.  It would be a great world if everyone was as nice as all the people I have come across on this journey.  Good night y'all.

I awoke this morning to Red whinnying.  I hoped out of my tent to see what was going on and Jahob was getting to far from Red so Red was throwing a fit.  Once again Dawn and William thanks again so much I do appreciate all your help.  Thank you everybody for all  your help.  I am going to pack up this morning and head over to the Sand Mountain area.  We have quite a rough ride ahead of us today.  Its about 11 miles from here.  I found out that it is illegal to have a fire arm loaded when I am on the actual road.  If I am off road it is ok.  I was checked out by an officer that seen horse tracks apparently there was a break in somewhere.  I told him all about my  trip and what I was doing and he said he will be following the web site.  I can't remember his darn name.  Like I said I am really bad with names.  I am in my tent now and I got the horses fed and watered tonight.  I want to thank Dawn and William once again for all their help.  Good night folks.

I woke up and got out of my tent this morning.   My tent flew up in the air and over yonder.  It is really windy.  Two big airplanes flew over us.  They were flying pretty low and it scared my horses. They got used to it though because there was about 15 of them and they flew over us all day long.  My shoulder is killing me.  I broke it at a rodeo a few years back.  I am gonna have to cowboy up. Can't be a sissy la la.  Jahob fell over after stepping in a hole.  He couldn't get up because the pack was on him.  I cut the pack loose and he got up .  We started back on our trail when he did it again.  He hurt his leg.  I'm not sure if he hurt it the first time or the second.  I swapped the gear and rode Jahob.  I would much rather ride Red because he is my riding horse.  He did really good while I was riding him.  Red doesn't do to good being ponied.  He doesn't like it.  Red is a lot taller so it is harder to get the pack up on him.  Jahob is a lot smaller so it is a lot easier getting on his back.  It is hard here in Nevada with the ground it looks hard and you walk on it and all of a sudden you sink down.  It is kind of spooky.  I am hoping Jahob is going to make it.  I don't want to have to swap  him out for another pack horse.  It is still really windy and my tent is banging back and forth.  Dawn brought me some water and treats and chicken and soup.  I want to thank her and William once again for everything.  My horses are my number one priority so I will see what happens with Jahob.  Also I met a guy named David today he took some pictures of us. Good luck to David  I wish you the best.      Good night you all.

I just got to the Pony Express Station.  It has a wind mill and a homemade water tank made out of rock and plaster.  I took some pictures  of it.  It was a nice ride over here today.  I was a little depressed today worried about Jahob.  The weather is a lot nicer today.  There are cotton candy clouds all over the place.  I rode Jahob and he was doing good.  It is beautiful here and I have a little creek down below me.  I used my bucket that John in Fallon gave me.  It came in handy today because the ground is real soft down by the creek so I had to walk there and bring the water up to the horses.  Thanks again John for the bucket.  I met some real nice people here and they offered me to stay at the house in Eureka which is 150 miles from here.  They were nice people and Nevada is full of nice people for sure.  Dawn and Will had left some treats here for the horse and I.  They have been so helpful.  I am feeling a lot better today then I was yesterday.  I was hurting yesterday.  I am now sitting by a gigantic rock with a cave in it and a trail goes up into another cave.  It smells of skunk.  I think maybe that lil skunk lives in the cave.  There is green grass and purple flowers and a beautiful sunset.  It is breathtaking.  I set up my tent here.  This old cowboy stopped as I was setting up camp.  He got out of his truck and I shook his hand and told him I was riding around the world on my horse and he said , "Oh I've done that ten times."  He had a few drinks in him and he offered me some whiskey and a bag of stoggies.  In all my years of rodeo one of the things I have learned.  When a cowboy has been drinking and offers you something you take it. I showed him a sore on Jahob that I have been trying to heal up.  He gave me a great idea on how to make a lil donut over it.  Jahob is doing a lot better with me riding him for a few days.  It is really pretty here where I am.  I am going to turn in for the night.  Good night and thanks for following me.

Good morning everyone.  I watered the horses and lay in the grass with Red for a while in the beautiful sunshine.  It is a nice day today.  This guy in  a white Dodge came by last night and heard my Expedition on the radio station out of Fallon.  AM 750 Classic Country.  He came by this morning when I was laying with Red in the grass and he said is your horse sick?  I told him no we are just laying here enjoying the scenery.  He was really nice and I can't even remember his name.  I sure do appreciate his hospitality.  He gave me a few bucks and said this is for down the road.    There was a lot of coyotes around us last night so I fired my gun off  to scare them off.  We are going to head up the road about 15 miles and set up camp. I rode up Hwy 50 and the old Hwy 50 and I met a couple of couples that were from Oregon and Sacramento Ca.  They are going to be following the site.  Thank you for the carrot the horses appreciated it.  I hope you have a safe trip.  We came across a  creek just about the time I was thinking about water.  There is trees around here also.  They are pine trees about 30 feet tall.  I'm camped out here at the creek.  I'm not going to put my tent up since it is pretty warm and clear skies.  We plan on having a short day tomorrow.  We have to climb over Carl Summit all up hill.  It is pretty steep little climb so we will probably only go 7 or 8 miles .  After tomorrow I am going to try and put the pack back on Jahob.  I had corned beef in a can for dinner and it is gross and that is putting it mildly.  The mashed potatoes were good.  I went by this tree today and it was filled with shoes.  They were all used shoes.  It must be some deal where everybody throws their shoes in the tree.  I guess you can say Shoes grow on trees.  I could use a new pair of boots though.  I have another beautiful sunset tonight. I got here earlier and took a nap.  For some reason I have been really tired.  I sleep one eye open and one ear because of critters waking you up all night.  I haven't got to talk to a lot of people so I guess I am rambling on.  There has only been a couple of cars pass me up here.  It is nice to not have to fight the traffic.  Please contact us if there is anything you would like on the site. If you are reading this at night I want you to go outside and look up at the sky and try to count all the stars.  I am looking at all the stars right now and I can't count him.  The world is so big but we are moving so fast these days we have lost the realization of how big our planet really is and how beautiful it is.  I have only rode a few hundred miles and I have seen the beauty in our planet and creatures.  I am so thankful of the earth. I hope you are too.  Well I guess I should get some shut eye.  It is hard to go to sleep out here sometimes.  I worry about my horses and I hear things.  It is time to try.  Good night.

I woke up to Jahob and Red all tangled in their ropes and they couldn't reach the grass.  They wanted me to come save them and let them eat.  I saddled up Jahob and left the girth loose because I had to put saddle pack on Red and what not.  I look over and see that Jahob has the saddle hanging under his belly.  I walked over and fixed him up and got Red all ready.  I decided to get some water in my canteen before I leave and Red starts freaking out.  The saddle pack had slid underneath him.  He must have gotten caught on a branch and it scared him.  So we've had a hell of a morning.  We are all good now and back on the trail.  I ran into a guy named Tom he was a nice guy and if you are following this site Tom thanks for your information it was a big help.  I am down in a canyon by a creek going to set up here for the night.  I got here about 2:30 today.  I'm trying to lighten up my load which is really hard to part with anything.  I might need it down the road but I can't keep extra weight.  I have more candy than food.  I gave some of that away.  Jeremy and his wife and his daughter brought me some hot dogs and buns.  They are very nice people.  Thank you for taking the stuff off of my hands because my horses didn't want to carry it anymore.  I will be back tomorrow.  Good night.

This morning John and Brittany and Garland came up and they showed me the paper.  I am on page 4 of the Fallon paper on April 28.  They invited me to their fifth wheel and cooked me up a real good breakfast.  I appreciate that.  I got to visit with them.  They gave me some information to help me out.  I met Rusty and Sherrie on the road they gave me a lemonade.  It is nice when people pull over and talk to you.  It is nice to talk to someone and for them to take time out of their busy schedule to visit with a stranger.  I saw a mountain lion and some mountain sheep and few other critters like chipmunks and squirrels.  I'm about 34 miles from Austin. I stopped at a ranch ahead and saw a couple of kids paying.  I asked them if their dad or grandpa was around.  A man came up behind me and I asked him if I could buy some hay from him.  He said he  could sell me some hay but he couldn't give me any water.  He told me there was a creek about a quarter of a mile up.  I got up here and the creek is dry.  He brought the hay up here and said there is another creek up another couple of miles.  I rode up a few miles and found some water.  We were sure glad to see that. There is a lot of little twisters up here.  We are going to keep riding for a little ways to see if we can find some feed.  I will be back soon.

Today is Red's Birthday!!!  I found a bump on Jahob's back I don't know if he got bit last night by something or injured a disc or what.  I am really concerned about him.  I don't want to lose Jahob he has been around me and my family most of my life.  I only plan on taking him to New York but I am not sure if he is going to make it.  Pete and his lovely wife stopped by here and saw me.  They went and bought me boots and found me in Austin to give them to me.  They also got water and want to spread it out between here and Eureka.  They brought a map of where the water spots are.  They took some of my load with them too.  They have been so helpful.  Every ounce counts and they took probably 15 lbs or so off my load.  Thank you guys so much I can't wait to get to your house and visit with you.  I only have a few more days until I get to Eureka Nevada.  I met a lot of good people here.  Vance and Dan who are here working on the cell phone towers gave me a number for Satellite Radio so I can call them and see if they want my story.  They had to leave town so they weren't here for Red's Birthday.  I was worried about the bar floor so I didn't take him in the bar.  I wasn't sure the floor would hold 1200 lbs .  If you have ever heard that song whiskey for my men and beer for my horses.  I thought that was really cool when they told me to bring him in for a beer.  He will have a lot more birthdays to celebrate in a bar with a beer.  I want to tell Vance and Dan it was great hanging out with you  and I wish you the best in life.  Good night everyone.

I am headed out of Austin today.  I put some carpet padding under my saddle pack on Jahob.  I am going to get back on Red.  I ate breakfast at the International this morning and my lovely waitress Susan told me my breakfast was on the house.  They cooked me up some french toast.  They have excellent food if you ever stop in  Austin make sure you eat at the International and the nice bar where all the stuff is original from  the 1800's.  There is quite of bit of history there in Austin.  If you need a place to stay, stay at the Mountain Hotel.  They took extremely good care of me.  There the ones that got me the grain for my horses and hay.  They got me the carpet padding.  They took real good care of you.  I appreciate everybody at the Mountain Hotel.  Alicen works there she is a real sweet gal and she will be following the site also.  She is awesome.  Lovely Alicen was a the trading post as I was riding out of town and she gave me a lucky buck and told me to hold on to it, it will be good luck for me.  Across the street from the Trading Post I ran into Chuck he is one of the ones who donated grain for my horses.  He told me to give him a little bit and he would saddle up his horses and he would show me the way to a short cut.  I stopped at the Post Office and sent out a tape to Anna so she could get it on the web site.  I sent out a letter to my nephew who is  3.  I gave him a miniature horse named Sissy La La and he was telling me on the phone he wanted to ride Sissy La La around the world with me.  I told him maybe some other time.  I got him a dream catcher and sent it with the letter.  I told  everyone I saw at the gas station about my trip and took a picture of them.  They said they would be following the web site.  I rode with Chuck and he wasn't able to  go all the way to the highway with me. He rode for awhile with me. I just came across the place that Pete and his lovely wife dropped me off water.  I am going to  stay here tonight.   I seen two wild horses and few burrows.   I tried to take a picture.  I also ran across Mormon crickets.  I've been told horror stories about these crickets. They were just little guys.  I guess they have 6 stages to them the ones I saw were in there 2nd or 3rd stage.  They probably got a lot of protein in them but I got peanut butter and I am going to stick to peanut butter.  I wasn't here for very long and got my tent set up at Vance came by.  He is a real nice guy.  He told me a story about how he rode his horse through the hood in Dallas and somebody stole it.  He kept telling me whatever you do don't ride your horse thru the hood.  I got a kick out of that.  It is a bummer someone would steal his horse.  That is one way to really upset a cowboy.   He took me up the road three miles or so to where they are working on a tower.  I will probably ride up there tomorrow and say good bye to all of them.  I asked him if he would fill up my bucket in Austin and bring me back water in the morning when he came back to the tower.  Thank you everyone.  I am going to get some sleep now.    Good night you all.

Jan and Linda stopped by to interview me this morning.  They said they are very impressed with me.  They said I have a lot of courage and they have a lot of respect for me.  They send me all God speed and safety on my ride.They publish the Reese River Revelry which originated in Austin in 1863.  They republish it as a historical newsletter because it embodies the true spirit  of the west.  They said they were thrilled to meet me.   They said they saw my web site and the interview in the Fallon Paper.  I want to tell Jan and Linda thank you for their hospitality and it was nice meeting them.  Dan and Vance stopped by this morning and brought me a breakfast sandwich.  I'm headed over to their work site right now.  They gate off a lot of the open range around here so I am going to go around and see if I can get over to the Tower.  It's good for keeping the critters in but it sucks for me sometimes when I am trying to get through.  I had to go up and down these steep hills after leaving the Tower where I stopped to say good bye to Dan and Vance.  I noticed I lost my address book so I took the pack off of Jahob and climbed back  up and down those steep hills back to the Tower but could not find it.  The guys said they would look for it.  Red wasn't too happy with me for having to go back.  Then we went back up and down those steep hills and there it was laying in some sage brush.  We also found the water down at the bottom of the hill that Dan and Vance had left for me.  Don Winks just pulled up and handed me a bottled water and $15 and said he wrote an article about me in the paper. I sure do appreciate your help Don.  I got to my campsite and ate some spam and a couple of things of top roman.  I gave away my apple cider on accident.  So I had coffee instead.  I should be at a store in the next couple of days so I can buy me some more apple cider.  I rode by  a group of cows about 50 or 60 of them.  They looked at me like I might be a buckaroo who might round them up or something.  They were on the other side of the fence from me so they started mooing.  They saw Jahobs pack and it has yellow on the top so they followed us for a few miles.  I think they thought that was hay on there.  Red didn't like it much he would much rather chase cows then have them chase him.  There is a lot of grass here where we camped so the horses will have plenty to eat. Well good night.

I camped out  at the rest stop last night and met some people there.  John  and Donna just stopped by they are from Mississippi they are here visiting and I hope they have a good time.  Raymond also stopped by this morning and if any body knows Raymond tell him I said thank you for all his information.  I do appreciate that when you meet people around here they treat you as a friend.  It's awesome.  I have about 32 miles to ride today and then I should be at Pete and Kevan's house where I will be staying.  I seen some antelope on my way today along with a few deer.  The ground here in Nevada will swallow you.  You will be walking along and all of a sudden you will sink down.  Kevan is a real nice lady who will probably be tracking me down since I am running behind.  Here she comes just like I said but I am glad because I wasn't sure where her house was.  Well I made it there and we are going to go out to eat the horses are eating.  I will be back later.  Good night.

I got a shower last night and I got to sleep in a real bed and great food.  Kevan and I are going to run into town today so I can get some groceries and supplies.  She is a real nice lady.  I shoed Kevan's horse for her today.  Thanks again Kevan for your hospitality and tell your husband Pete thank you too.  I enjoyed my stay.  I will be back later.

I decide to stay another day at Kevan's.  I really have enjoyed getting to know her and the horses are enjoying their break.  She has allowed me to shoe her horses and move some rocks for her.  It makes me feel better when people allow me to help out.  I barbequed some steaks up and some corn and Kevan whipped up some Guacamole.  Mmmm good.  We went out and put out some hay  out for my horses and then she let me take her Dodge Durango to go pick up some buckets.  I wanted to stop and put some gas in her vehicle for letting me take it and boom cop lights go on behind me.  I was doing about 35 miles an hour thru town.  He told me he pulled me over for going 40 in a 20 mph zone.  I said I'm sorry Sir.    He asked me for license and registration took it back to his car and came back and said I'm not going to write you up but slow down.  I said thank you Sir.  I always drive too slow and it is kind of funny that I got pulled over going to fast.  But I am very grateful that he didn't give me a ticket.  I'm going to sleep now I will talk more tomorrow.  Good night.

We got 85 miles to make Ely Nevada.  The horses feel good, I feel good and we are ready to go.  I want to thank Kevan and Pete once again for taking me in.  This state here is filled with lots of Love.  Thank you to everyone in Nevada for being such good people. I rode 11 miles today from Kevan's house.  I got the hay that Kevan and I put out and I sure do appreciate her running me out to put hay.  I had a nice ride today.  I ran into Vance and Dan and the other guys.  They were eating lunch in Eureka at a Chinese restaurant.  I met quite of few good people in town.  I went into the market there where I got my groceries the other day and took some pictures of the animals they have up on the walls.  They have all sorts up there.  Lots of critters. There was also a nice lady there who had an aunt who works for the Wild West Magazine.  Nancy from the Lawdawgs sent the picture of Red and me to the Wild West Magazine.  It seems to be getting real windy tonight here in my tent. I had a visit from the Game Warden tonight.  He was concerned with the horses being so close to the rode. I'll be back in the morning.   Good night folks.

I had trouble sleeping last night.  A little worm crawled in my ear and I couldn't get him out.  I don't know what type of worm he was he kind of looked like a caterpillar.  I finally got him to crawl out on his own by tilting my head. It took approximately 2 hours to get him out.  I made it to my next stop and set up my tent.  I crossed another valley today. There is a lot of valleys in Nevada.  I came across a lady today that came and talked to me I don't recall her name off hand but she was really nice.  It helps to have people that support you or cheer you on when you are on a long journey.  it gives you that ump to keep going. Kevan and I had put some hay here and water for when I got here but the water was opened and turned up side down so we only had 5 gallons of water.  Somebody also dumped a mattress here.  I am really against people dumping their trash  when there is so many land fills.  I checked my  tent for worms don't want to go threw that again. We are going to head out early in the morning. So I am going to try to get a good nights rest.  Thank you for following my site.

I woke up this morning and heard this little bird chirping.  I looked down and found  this little bird on the ground.  I asked him what was wrong and he chirped some more.  I think he was saying help.  I named him Peetree and I picked him up. He rode with us for about five miles.  He can't fly so I gave him some flying lessons.  He crashed landed a few times.  The fifth time he flew a little ways then the sixth time he flew away.  I set up camp by an old mine.  There is an old mining shack down the hill and I took some pictures of it. There is some green grass here and a canyon in between us and another grassy area.  I took a rope and went down in the canyon to get some water for the horses.  I met some really nice people today.  I met a guy in a mini van who was coming back from Reno, they went to a Bowling Tournament.  They gave me some candy, homemade crackers, orange and an apple.  I do appreciate their hospitality and donations.  Thank you.  He told me where Garnet Hill is and you can go there and dig up some garnet rocks.    Well I am going to get some shut eye it was a long day.  Good night.

I rode up on a Ranch today it was called the Little Mormon Ranch on the map.  I talked to them for a bit.  They were out fixing some fences.  I showed them my map book.  I talked to them about taking the Old Lincoln Hwy.   He pointed me out to a bare spot on the mountain and told me to head towards that spot. The Hwy  was going South for way too long so I went across the range following my gut instinct.  I came across a pond with water for the horses, thank goodness.  I followed a wild herd of horses.  They were beautiful and the stallion kept checking me out.  He was real protective of his heard which makes him a good stallion.  I took some pictures of them.  My shortcut has turned into a long cut and we went through some steep hills.  We are sitting at the top of this mountain looking down at a whole lot more mountains. I am not exactly sure where I am right now.  These steep mountains are steeper then snot.  Jahob led Red and I the wrong way about 10 miles . I started second guessing Jahob.   I got my GPS out and sure enough we were heading SW when we should of been heading East.  The map is screwed up too.  That is what probably screwed up Jahob, he read the map.  We are all tired it has been a hallacious day. I am going to set up camp here at this good green spot.  I didn't fill up my other two canteens so we only have the one. I got my GPS up and I am 9.5 miles from Ely.  I am going to go to sleep so I will be back in the morning.  Good night.

The horse are tired and sore today from all that mountain climbing yesterday and some how he got a cut on his foot through the night.  I doctored him up this morning.  The miners work all night long.  They have huge dump trucks and they are dumping big gigantic boulders and dirt and all kinds of stuff down this hill.  We have to ride right where they are dumping.  If we timed it just right in between trucks we might make it.  I have to figure this out.  We just want to hurry and get to Ely and take a day or two off.  The horses turned into mountain sheep again for a little while through the mountains.  I have great ponies.  We made it to the top of the mine.  The tires on their equipment is bigger then my two horses put together.  I took some pictures.  This guy Harold who is the safety manager at the Mine he helped me out and escorted me out to the right track to Ely.  They offered me water and coffee.  They were good people I have been very fortunate to come across so many nice people.  Harold thanks again.  The big dump trucks I was telling you about are called Two Ton Cats.  Harold also told em it was about 10 miles to Ely.  When I got to Ely I tied up my horses at the Desert Inn.  I have met quite a few people here and I apologize I have a hard time with remember names.  The management team was awesome they hooked me up with some buckets for water and put me in a room right by my horses so I could hear them throughout the night.  Pete and Kevan came to visit me and they weren't sure where they would run into me so they brought water.  They took me to lunch and we visited.  They are great people I sure do enjoy their company.  I met some other people they had a son who wants to be a cowboy and I let him sit on the horses.  He is a great kid who can melt you.  He would get this big ol smile when he was on the horses.  His dad educated me on the area about where there was some water and springs.  The feed store was closed so I will be there in the morning.  Now I need to get some rest.  Thank you for following the web site.

I have been trying to get a hold of a gentlemen named Pete that is with the Ely times.  I went to the feed store this morning and the I met the owner and his wife.  They are really nice people.  He drove the hay and grain over to my hotel and told me not to worry about it.  He donated it and I really do appreciate it a lot.  If you are ever in Ely stop in at the feed store there.  I stopped in to a casino for lunch and met a guy named Glen he was nice and told me of a barber shop down town.  I met the guy that owns it named Brian and the guy who cut my hair was Russell.  They are all nice guys in there.  I finally got in touch with Pete and he interviewed me.  He invited me to a get together he is having.  I met this guy named Joe from New Jersey at dinner he collects fossils and travels all over the world.  He bought my dinner he said he will be following the web site.  He is staying at the same Hotel and I took a picture of him with Red and Jahob.  I thank everybody for being so generous and nice.  I hope I can bring a smile to some with my journey.  Thanks everyone for following the site.  Good night.

Well folks last night I went with Pete to Mr G's.  It was their Grand Opening so it was busy and I danced and met a lot of great people.  I had a great time.  I even met some new fans for the web site that will be following along with us.  I plan on meeting up with Pete today before I take off and he will be taking some pictures of us. I am going to let Pete ride Red a little bit today.  I stopped in at the local store here on my way out and bought some top Ramon, bread, fruit,  salami, some spam and few candies.  I met a real nice lady that lives in Baker and she took some photos of me.  She might paint the photos and put the sell of them towards the Expedition.  I rode thru the MC Donald's Drive-thru and the lady said she could not serve me due to the fact I was not in a vehicle.  I would call that discrimination.  I think that is totally wrong.  If you are on your house that is your means of transportation so that is your vehicle.  So I rode up the road to Arby's they were really cool.  People in their cars at the drive thru were taking pictures of me.  The people at Arby's were really nice.  I got a roast beef sandwich and then I rode 8 miles until I hit a lake where I had left some hay.  I met Greg and Joe.  Joe lives in Vegas and is moving to this area and he was a really nice friendly easy to talk to guy.  Greg works for the paper and he was up here fishing and he is an excellent fishermen.  I took a picture of his fish he caught.  Greg said he might be able to write up something about me in the Las Vegas paper.  I met up with Melissa and her mom and her mom was fishing.  Melissa is going to come out tomorrow and interview me because she works for the paper at the Mine she works at.  I let her ride Red bareback and I rode Jahob and we rode around the Lake.  She was tickled pink that she got to ride a horse.  I love when people are happy like that.  Melissa's mom caught a fish and offered it to me to cook up and I told her that was ok keep it but I really appreciate it.    I will be back tomorrow.  Good night.

I'm heading down the trail and I just got another interview with Melissa.  She brought her son and her husband Troy out to meet me and I gave her son Indy a ride on the horse.  Indy gave me a cat face as a souvenir.  It is just a little cat face with a cool design on it and he made it himself.  I really like it and thank you Indy.  They asked me a million questions and are going to do a little ad in the paper for the Mine.  I know they will be following the site and it was a pleasure meeting them.  I didn't sleep very good last night.  I left the door open last night and a bunch of bugs were in my tent I finally got them all out and got some sleep.  I rode ten miles or so past Cummings Lake today. Andy and Scott  are two bikers that are father and son have been chasing me since Austin they are real nice folks and I got a picture of them.  They are going to put me on their web site and they are riding all the way to New York.  It is neat to come across someone who is doing something similar.  They gain 100 miles a day and I only get 20 miles .  They are going to stop in Baker tonight and we won't be in Baker for 3 more days.  I hope they have a safe trip and everyone keep them in your prayers. I also learned that Scott, Andy's dad is 59 years old.  I caught up with them again down the road when they stopped for a bite to eat.  This part of the country that I am in is part of the coolest country.  It was sunshine then black clouds and awesome thunder storms and light rain.  I was cleaning up some jelly that got all over my gun when a car pulled up and a lady came walking over to me I didn't recognize her at first but then I saw it was Leslie.  The nice lady I met at the market in Ely.  She was the one who was taking pictures and was going to get a painting of them.  She brought me a sweet potatoes and a half a chicken some bread and a granola and a couple of apples and some maps.  She  visited me for awhile and I gave her a T-shirt I had.  She told me if there was anything I needed to give her a call.  She works for the Forest Service and lives in Baker.  All the folks that I have been talking about and have helped me out a lot they all say they enjoy it.  That makes me feel good that there is so many people out there that enjoy giving and helping others.  I could not have made it through the state of Nevada without all the help of all the loving, giving people I have come across.  I am so grateful.  I sure do appreciate all the hospitality of all the people I have met.  I enjoy meeting all these new people and learning their interests and lives. It has been a pleasure riding through Nevada, the state of loving people.  I put the rain top on my tent thinking it was going to rain and then the sun came out.  It is really neat the way the weather changes so rapidly around here.  I picked up a whole bunch of trash here where I am camped out at.  I do have to say that the ditches in the streets of Nevada are the cleanest in Ely.

I found some tracks this morning out by my tent and around my campsite.  They look like bear tracks although I didn't think there was bears around here. I couldn't make out what it was I saw last night I just know it was big. I can see Utah from where I am at and it looks pretty.  I had a nice lady pulled up and she said Leslie had told her what I was doing and she thought it was great.  She has some hay that I can buy from her.  We are about 8 miles from Utah and we have seen tons of rabbits on this trail.  There was one that looked like her was three legged but he is getting around good.  he is a little bit slower then the rest of the rabbits.  I would like to help him out but I don't know what I can do for him.  I will call him Three legged.  I have now made it to the border and Roberta and Leslie were here waiting for me and a couple of other people.  They let my horses in the corrals at the Border Inn.   I walked inside this little bar cafe and sat down at the counter.  This lady had a pad and paper and was on the phone calling everyone she knows wanting to know where I will be heading how she can get water out to me and it was really cool. It makes me a little nervous cause I like to be in control of things but I really appreciate it.  She called the Sheriff and he is gonna keep an eye on me and the UPS guy is going to bring out water and an awnry old sheep herder bought me dinner and he is going to bring me some hay he is a really nice guy.  There is good people all over this place.  I appreciate everything everyone has done.  I never expected so many people to be in to my expedition and to receive so much help from so many great people.  Thank you!!!!  Denise got me a room here at the Border Inn and she made me a Cherry Pie with ice cream on it.  She is a hell of a cook. (MMM cherry pie is my favorite and my mouth is watering while I write this for Ez)  Well good night folks I start through the state of Utah first thing in the morning.

I had breakfast this morning at the Border Inn and I also saw Steve the wild crazy sheep herder.  He is a great guy.  He took water out for me. The folks around here are great people.  I met a guy named Roger Wilcox he is a truck driver and he took a photo and he is gonna spread the word to all the truck drivers  about my trip.  I got some bacon grease to put on the horses feet it keeps the moisture in them.  It is hotter then a dickens today.  A trucker hauling water stopped to see if we needed any water.  Red just about drank the whole truck.  We can't turn down water when we are riding through the desert.  That could be fatal.  I went through this gorgeous valley where the mountain opened up for the road to go through.  There is huge caves at least 100 of them.  There is golden grass along the hills and some shrubs here and there and even some green grass along the highway here. I made it to the top of the summit to my camp site.  Once again I do appreciate all the people I have met in Nevada.  I had a great time traveling across your state and I thank you.  I am starting to worry about water again.  Now that it is hotter the horses are needing more water.  My biggest concern is water.  It is beautiful and I hope everyone is enjoying my trip on the web site.  I am going to push to get through this state Utah as fast and safely as I can.  Once I hit the Rockies I should have more water available.  As I was reading and a nice trucker came up and gave me a couple of bucks and told me good luck on my trip.  I sure do appreciate it thank you Jeff and he told me there was another water truck coming through tomorrow.  Denise I know that you are organizing this water service and I do appreciate it.  Thank you.  I am not going to put up my tent tonight.  I got some video of an antelope that came up to us.  It makes you feel really good being out here in the wilderness and an antelope comes along.  It puts a smile on your face.  Jahob decides he is going to go to the bathroom right next to my bed.  Thanks Jahob !   Well good night folks.

I woke up this morning around 5 a .m. and was ready to get on the road.  There was a trucker parked close to me and I went over and asked him if he could take my buckets to the Border Inn for me.  He was a hell of a nice guy his name is Gabby.  He hauls livestock and cows and sheep and what not.  He gave me his card. We shot the bull for quite a while.  He told me about a guy I need to get a hold of and tell him about my trip.  I enjoyed visiting with him. Rob and Rob and Robert stopped and gave me some water for the horses.  Robert lives on the other side of Delta. He said I could stay there for a couple of days if I need to.  I talked to the Boss of all the water guys he is a real nice guy and he gave me a cold bottled water.  There is nothing better then an ice cold bottled water on a hot day.  Thank you Sir.   Then the lovely Dianne just drove up and she brought some water and gave the horses a drink and another water she is going to put up the trail for me.  She also brought me a great lunch.  She is so nice and I do appreciate her and everyone else for all the considerate things they do.  Some pretty girls drove by us in a new Chevy pulling a horse trailer with living quarters.  Red perked up at the pretty mares in the trailer, I perked up at the pretty girls in the truck but they kept on driving.  That's OK that isn't the first time Red and I have had our hearts broken.  This motorcycle guy drove up and said he was supposed to deliver a message to me.  He was letting me know the hay wasn't in the original spot.  As we are riding down highway 50 off the side of the road here comes a diesel with his tire flying off all directions.  He pulled over and I offered to help him and he just wanted to know what mile we are at, I told him mile 38 so he is going to call for a tow truck.  I just got to my spot and there was 20 gallons here and the horses drank 10 of it already.  I do not know where my next water is.  I think we are going to try to ride through the night when it is cooler.  Rick and Mary stopped by here and brought me a gallon of water and a power bar.  I wish them luck and safety on there ride.  I flagged down a guy named Tom Robinson if he could take my buckets of water up about 20 miles for me.  I am going to still try and ride tonight.  I am going to take a nap before I head out.  This heat is kicking our butts all three of us.  It will be the first time riding through the night.  We will take a two day rest when we get there.  It is now about 10 p.m. and we are going to head out.  The temperatures today were record temps over 100.  Leslie stopped by and she is going to take some water and hay up the road for me.    We are clip clopping down the road.  I am listening to Alan Jackson on my radio because my IPOD is dead.  We are all tired but it is a hell of a lot cooler a lot less traffic.  I have a head lamp so we can see in front of us and my blinking light behind me so the cars can see us. I took red's bridal off and let him eat some grass.  I am going to lay up at Robert's house for a couple of days when I get there.  One of the things I didn't take in consideration on this ride is that there isn't a feed store in every town at least not in Nevada.  You get used to taking the things we are so used to for granite.  I'm really tired but it is beautiful out here.  I don't know where the moon is I haven't seen it tonight yet but there is stars out.  I got smacked in the head by a street sign.  Red  missed it but I didn't.  When the car lights hit me in the eye I couldn't see so I didn't see it coming.  Being out here in the night makes you start thinking.  I was thinking about when I was a kid I went down to Chico Creek swimming with my dad and mom and brothers I think I must have been about 6 years old.  I was riding a horse named Ahab one of the best horses that ever lived besides Red and Jahob.  My mom was riding a horse named Nugget this Morgan and my little brother was riding his shetland pony, and my older brother was riding a horse named Tia if I recollect this right.  We went swimming and had a good time and lost track of the time.  The next day was my first day of school and I was pretty excited about going to school.  It got dark on us and real dark.  The huge trees block any glimpse of moonlight on the trail.  We weren't prepared to be riding in the dark although the horses can see pretty good in the dark.  My dad was riding Jahob at the time.  We rode around for about three hours and my dad kept asking my mom where does Nugget want to go because my dad knew Nugget would find us out of there.  So my dad got on Nugget and let her lead the way and sure enough Nugget kept trying to take us down this little hole and she found us out of there.  Riding in the dark made me think of that.  Although it is a lot lighter here then it was when I was a kid.  The moon finally showed up tonight.   I got a second wind and I am starting to wake up.   I am just listening to music talking to myself and the horses.  I will be back later.  I could actually ramble on all night but I will give you a break until the morning.  Good night and sweet dreams.  Thanks for following my site.

I stopped and went to sleep and when I woke up a Sheriff came by.  He said he thought I needed some water.  I was so tired when I met him I don't recall all that we talked about he was a really nice guy though.   I asked him about the laws in this state.  He said he would check on me later this afternoon.  It is nice to know I have people looking out for me.  We are all really tired today.  I got about 12 miles  ahead before I hit the river.  We will make it but it is still hot and the hot wears you out.  I ran into Keith and his buddy was with him and he owns a True Value store.  We should be in Delta tomorrow morning.  It is like 85 degrees and all around us we are surrounded by storm clouds it looks like a pretty good storm. Tim came out and visited with me and brought me some fruit and a few groceries. It was nice getting to know him he sure is a good guy and I do appreciate his hospitality.   It is about 10 and we are getting ready to get back on the trail.  I got  18 miles to Delta but I decide not to ride that far because I am really tired.  There is some grass here for the horses to eat.  I am beat I have to get some sleep.  I will be back in the morning.  Good night y'all.

I got a little shut eye last night and I am back on the road.  I ran in to Tim, he came by and checked on me.  He asked if I need anything from town and I said some grain for the horses cause I'm out.   I'm just getting into Delta and stopped by the gas station to get me a can of Copenhagen.  One of my bad habits.  Nothing better then a good chew after a long ride.  I know it isn't good for me I should probably quit.  I know I can if I put my mind to it.  I stopped at a little hamburger shack and got me a hamburger.  There was a real pretty girl at the counter and she was real nice too.  I walked into the hotel and there was no one there so I went back  after I ate lunch and there was a  note on the counter saying if you need a room, grab a key and we will be back later.  So I tired the horses up out back and I am going to go lay down.  These swing shifts are getting to me.  They are making us all tired.  Well I will be back later folks.

I woke up this morning and checked on my horses.  I met the manager and her husband of the motel and the cleaning girls.  I went to the laundry matt and washed the horse pads and my clothes.  I have to sew up my pants that I blew out when I was getting on Red the other day.  I met another guy and he was from Colorado and he was a very interesting man.  He was fun and easy to talk to.  The funny thing is I talked to him all day and I can't remember his name.  I will get it tomorrow.  Vicki made me a great steak for dinner and brought it to my room.  I rested most of the day and called my family back home.  I also talked to Melissa my best friend in the world she is a school teacher.  I am going to go to bed and I will talk to you tomorrow.  Good night folks.

I am going to ride the trail today.  I watered the horses up real good and fed them.  I went to the newspaper off ice here in Delta.  I met a guy named Dean who interviewed me.  The people here in Utah seem real nice too so that is good.   I came a cross a rattlesnake as I was riding out of town.  I pulled out my 22 but I didn't shoot him.  I backed around him and he scurried away.  We ran into our first sand storm today.  Sand in my eyes and ears and every where.  At first the horses didn't mind it.   Miller County Highway Trucking thank you so much they took very good care of me.  They stopped by in the stand storm and they took some pictures of us.  They deterred me around to save me some miles.  It got so windy you could feel it stinging the side of your face.  The horses turned their butts to the wind so I knew it was bugging their eyes.  I took my Lucky shirt and cut it in half and wrapped it around their faces.  They couldn't see much with that shirt on but it helped keep the stuff out of their eyes.  They did great for not being able to see.  I talked to them the whole time letting them know it was ok.  My good buddy Robert showed up.  He works for Miller Highway, he is just a great guy, they don't make better then that guy.  Robert took me up to  his little shack where he takes care of his cows.  It is a cool little place.  It has cowboy pictures and a wood burning stove.  It is the perfect little bunk house.  I appreciate everything that Robert has done for me.  I got the horses situated and went with him to go pick up a bull.  Then we went to his house in town and I met his son Landon.  They cooked up some tators and fried up some hamburger and some corn and onions and tomatoes.  It was nummy.  Robert you are one hell of a guy and a good friend.  Thank you for everything.  Robert educated me on Cattle and I learned a lot from him.  He let me stay at his bunk house and he went back into town to his house.  I am going to get a good nights sleep so I will be back tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

 Well I started my day off brushing my horses and massaging them and they ate 2 bales of hay.  I read the rest of my book, it was a great book and I will be giving it to Ken.  Robert gave me some more books, I started one of them and it seems like it is going to be another good book.  I had a peanut and butter sandwich for breakfast and some beans for lunch and some mushroom soup for dinner.  It's getting late almost midnight now and I am going to try and get up at 5 and hit the trail.  Good night folks.

Good morning it is a lot greener over on this side of Utah.  I didn't get out of Robert's cabin until 7:30 this morning.  Thank you Robert for letting me stay there.  I do appreciate it.  I met a guy named Doug that is in charge of a job they are doing over here.  We talked a little bit he is a nice guy.  He is from down South and his wife rides horses.  He said he will be following the site and I am happy to have him aboard.  I have been taking a front road next to the freeway.  I have had to cross some gates next to cattle guards.  I don't know why but it went through my mind to check for snakes.  So I stopped and looked around.  There was a lot of bushes where I had to take the gate off.  I don't believe it there was a Rattler right there.  I fired a shot and thought I missed him so I fire another shot.  He was about 3 feet long and he got away.  I know I hit him.  My Pa always told me to not take unnecessary risks.  So I decided not to look for him anymore to get the rattles.  A cop drove by and I know he saw me pulling out my 22 and he just kept on driving.  In California he would have flipped his lights on and spun around.  I came across a Lake here.  I am sure it has a name.  I told my Grandma I would name a Lake after her.  It is a real pretty Lake with big huge mountains on the west side of it.  It is just gorgeous country here tall trees grass every where.  So I am going to name this Lake here Grandma Cooley.  Leona is the name of the Lake after my Grandma Cooley.  Grandma you got yourself a Lake named after you!  You are never going to believe who I ran into.  Yep Mr Robert that great guy I was telling everybody about that I stayed at the North part of his ranch.  He came out and told me a little bit more about the area.  He has been a huge help.  He said he will bring me some thread if he remembers tomorrow so I can sew up my pants again.  I got on Red and crack, blew out my pants again.  I am going to camp up around a few miles from Lake Leona.  I camped next to a spring.  It is beautiful here where I am camping.  I am not going to put my tent up tonight.  I am a little nervous about the trail up ahead.  People have told me it is pretty rugged.  I am still on 50 right now and I will be hitting Highway 70 up here.  I try to ride 10- 15 feet off the highway and just because I have the right to be there doesn't necessarily mean I should be there.  I try to do everything I can to not be on a major Highway.  It is stressful to ride the highway.  I took some pictures of the beautiful sunset hopefully they came out.  I definitely need a new camera.      Well I am going to get some sleep here under the stars and moon.  I will be back tomorrow.

My batteries died on my tape recorder here so I am going to remember to the best of my knowledge what happened today.  I ordinarily tape record as I am going.  The horses ate really well here at Grandma's Lake we took off this morning out of there.  I ran into Robert again as I was riding off.  He wished me lots of luck and brought me some thread for my pants.  He told me a couple of other short cuts I could take.  I saw a huge bald eagle today and I took some pictures I hope they come out.  I ran into some real pretty girls that were working for the Forest Service.  They apologized for the dust on the dirt road I was going on.  They were sure nice.  I ran into a guy named Bruce and his son Coty and they told me how far I was from the next town which was Salina.  We rode a long ways through the heat.  I stopped by the bank when I got into town and to a tack store.  There was a real nice lady there that helped me to get some lighter horse blankets and some saddle pads. I had problems with the other pad and I won't mention the name because I do not have a sponsor yet and I wouldn't want to bag on their product if they are nice  enough to sponsor me.  I bought a holster too.  I appreciate all the help from the ladies at the tack store.  Unfortunately it costs me almost $500 to walk out the door but it was all stuff I needed.  I will be staying at the Best Western here, and there is some stalls across the street for my horses.   I met a lot of new people at the restaurant , they are all Harley people and they were interested in my trip and I would be interested in hearing how their trip went. I was taking the gear off the horses and I met this nice couple.  His name was Gary and her name was Marsha and they were traveling the country too.  I took some pictures of them and they took some pictures of me.  It was an honor to meet you guys and I enjoyed visiting with you.  I got my room showered, boy that felt good!  I put on my new pants that I bought at the tack store and went to dinner.  There was a real pretty waitress the waited on me.  There was a lady and her four daughters who came in and they asked me if I was from here, I told them no.  We talked and they said they will be following me on my site.  I met another guy named Joe he was a heck of a nice guy.  I met a lot of people today that will be following the site.  The horses are doing well.  I met another guy who is a rancher and is getting me some hay.  To all the ranchers out there thank you for everything.  It wasn't a real exciting day but I met a whole lot of nice people today.  Clint brought over the hay.  Thanks again Clint.  I am going to go to sleep now I am still beat up from that night riding.  Good night.

Day 91

It has been a slow day today the horses are getting some rest.  I am working on getting back to the newspaper so they can do an interview.  I plan to ride out tomorrow.  I reckon we will be all rested up.  I am pretty excited about getting back on the trail.  Not too much to talk about today.  I will be back tomorrow.  Good night.

Good morning, I am out on the trail.  I met a nice lady this morning she is riding her bike across the country and I met a guy who is driving his car across the country.  He is going to take my horse feed up about 40 miles and leave it for me.  I came across a cattle crossing with no gate.  These fences around here aren't that great.  I had to cut the fence to get through it.  It took me about two hours to cut it and put it back together.  I have seen deer stuck in the fences, that have gotten stuck when they were trying to jump it and they just hang there until the die.  I hate fences for that reason.  It is windier then windy today.  I have a string holding my hat on.  I found a nice spot to let the horses graze and to set up camp.  We only went about 15 miles today but I couldn't pass up this spot not knowing when the next good one will be.  It is better to stay here then push it and not have full bellied horses.  I am going to get some rest,  I will read my book a little before I go to sleep.  Good night folks.

Day 93

I woke up this morning and it was a sunny day.  I let the horses graze this morning and gave them some Complete Horse while I packed up my gear.  I thought it was going to be a nice day.  So I wore my REI pants that are like a summer hiking pant that turns into shorts.  I got on the trail and rode down this dirt rode along the interstate.  All of a sudden the wind started picking up and it was blowing hard.  Then it started snowing.  The end of May almost the beginning of June and it is snowing like a blizzard.  So I thought I should stop and get my duster out.  I thought maybe it was a fling thing and it will quit any minute.  I rode another five minutes and thought screw this I am getting something warmer.  I got my duster out and put it on.  I was wishing I had my coat but I gave my coat away.  I wish I had it today because it was cold.  The snow was blowing so hard hitting me on the side of the face.  In these huge canyons the wind blows that snow every where.  It snowed all day and is still snowing.  It was beautiful but cold.  My grandpa always said enjoy the bad days as much as you enjoy the good days.  It is a hard thing to do but I still tried to enjoy today even though it was cold.    I saw a mountain lion caught in a fence.  I will tell you I have seen more animals caught in those dang hog wire fences.  They oughta not use that stuff.  At least a bob wire fence is easier for the animals to get through.  I hate to see all those animals stuck in fences.  I spent three hours of today going through fences.  In Utah they don't put to many gates by their cattle crossings.  I hope by the time I get to Colorado they have gates by their cattle crossings.   I have been riding along the highway and I hear the truckers breaks squealing.  When I was driving on the highway I used to always think I hope those aren't my breaks.  So out of habit I thought I hope those aren't Red's breaks.  Then I realized Red is a horse he doesn't have breaks!  I guess we just think things out of habit.  I guess you had to be there.  I put the horses blankets on since it is still snowing.  We are going to definitely take a week off when we get to Josh's dad's house in Colorado.  I missed placed a bag of food I had.  So I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today.  I don't have much food left for the next couple of days.  I will survive.  I will be back tomorrow.

I am out  here on the side of Hwy 70, the horses are chewing on  a little bit of grass here.  Tom Mc Deer just stopped by, he is a nice guy I met at the Hotel in Delta.  He is from Denver Colorado.  It is kind of cool when you are out in the middle of no where and someone stops and knows your name.  Tom good luck to you.  We are going to head out and find some water.  Water is scarce around here.  We are around dessert area again.  We should have some food up here a ways that was dropped off for us.  I came to a spot where I had to make a decision.   I have a steep hill on one side or a guard rail along the Hwy that I am going to have to choose.  I took the hill and we made it to the bottom.  They put these dang fences up to keep wild animals from coming on the freeway but they kill more animals with these dang fences.  I found the food that I had driven up here for my horses.  I set up camp next to this creek and there is some grass here for my horses to fill their bellies.  It is really cool looking here with huge cliffs all over the place.  I saw a coyote and some rabbits, the coyote was darker then most coyotes I have seen so I am not sure if that is what it is.  Well good night, I will be back tomorrow.

This morning when I woke up there was a couple of Does and a few Fawns.  We have rode over some rough terrain today.  It isn't extremely hot and it isn't cold either.  This dessert is wearing on me and the horses I will be happy to get through it.  I met a nice guy named Greg and he said he will be following the web site.  He just stopped by to see what I was doing.  The canyons here are amazing the one  we just rode up over is called Devil's Canyon.  It looks like it is right out of western movie.  I met some people at this look out place and they were real nice.  We rode across the craziest bridge I have ever rode across in my life.  It was a real narrow bridge, two lanes over a 300 ft canyon. I waited until I couldn't hear any cars coming and we went fast across that bridge safely.  I met Rhonda and Christie at the rest area. It is late in the evening and we found the creek and it is dry.  We are really thirsty and hungry.  I don't know if we should keep going or stop here and stay with out water.  I saw a little truck and asked the guy where the nearest water is.  He told me four or five miles down the road.  So we are headed down this road.  I gave the horses my canteens of water.  They gulped that down in one drink. I sure wish I had more water with me.  I found it Wahoooo!  Water!  The guy we talked to must have been a city folk because  usually when country folk say 3 miles they mean 6 miles .  We probably only rode about a mile or two.  I am so happy to find water.  Well folks I will be back later.

I slept really good last night.  I had a peanut butter sandwich.  I am pretty much out of food.  I am hungry and I don't know where my next water is.  There is four ducks here on the pond.  I thought I would see more wildlife being that this is the only water around.  I fixed up the horses a little bit this morning.  I got my kangaroo skin and put it under Red's pad.  He has a pretty narley sore on his withers.  I had bought a gel pad and that isn't helping either.  Hopefully this kangaroo skin will help.  That is what the old timers used is hides.  He has some other calloused places too.  Tom was driving by and stopped and he had water.  I drank so much I got a belly ache.  He told me of some side roads around here.  We got the map out and scouted out some routes.  Thank you Tom for stopping and helping me out.  I hope you have a safe journey yourself.  I ran across a wild burrows well there was probably eight or nine of them.  I can see them through my binoculars.  My camera has dead batteries and full memory so I can't take a picture of it .  I ran across another antelope there is quite a bit of wildlife here.  I had to go through another fence.  I tightened up the one fence so it would be a little bit better.  I found some asphalt in Red's foot it was impacted in there but I got it out.  He wasn't acting like it was bothering him or anything.  I was crossing this field and holy toledo there was a huge tornado wind.  Tumble weeds are flying in circles all over the place.  A couple of antelope we came up on and they ran a few feet then turned and looked at us.  I am seeing a lot today now that my camera isn't working and it pisses me off a little bit.  Excuse me I shouldn't say that it is upsetting me a lot.  Oh there they go running off down the hill.  We made it down the hill and back up the other side of the hill.  I came up to a truckers spot where they check the brakes.  I just got done going done this canyon after putting a shoe on Red's back foot.  This canyon has walls about 10 feet high at least.  We were riding on the edge as close as we could get so the truckers could get past us.  We have rode over 60 miles in the last two days.  I am exhausted and I have one bag of top ramon and a piece of candy left.  I haven't eaten much today.  I need a shower and some food.  I am so tired.  I am going to have to take a day off when we get to the next town. It's 3 feet down to the river and it is all mud swamp looking.  I walked down to get some water in my bucket and stepped in that stuff and damn near fell in.  I jumped back real quick.  If that would have been my horse I might have lost him in the river.  I took a rope and threw my bucket out and dragged it back in.  That is how I got the water.  I would rather give them good clean water but that water is better then no water.  I have been giving them a little tobacco in there grain like Chief Ely told me to.  I am going to worm them also when I get to Colorado.  I fixed my water filter tonight so I can drink some water because I was hecka thirsty.  I need some supplies and I need to do some serious scrubbing on myself.  I stink!  I have been using wet wipes but it just isn't working.   I am so beat I need to get some shut eye.  So good night you all.

I'm going down the trail again.  I am a little worried about water.  My purifier is broke and rigged it up so I am able to get a few ounces of water out of it.  I get even more thirsty pumping it trying to get a few ounces out of it.  So what's a guy to do?  I met some people on the side of the road who were broke down and waiting for  their friends to pick them up.  They gave me a few bottles of bottled water.  It is nice to be hydrated again.  It's hot and the horses and I are really tired  and hungry.  I am staying at the Budget Inn Motel here in Green River.  I stopped at the Highway Patrol's Office when I got into town and they told me to go up the street to some AG land.  There was a little girl that came running out and her name was Cheyanne.  She smiled from ear to ear while she was sitting on Red.  Her mother and father took me to where I can leave my horses and then I walked to the Budget Inn.  There is no feed store here and this nice lady at the stalls will be bringing me some feed.  I went and ate at a Mexican restaurant and it was great food.  I had a Fajita. Terry brought me some grain and she owns the Green River riding school boarding and training.  She is a real nice lady and I sure do appreciate her and her husbands help.   I am going to make some phone calls and call my brother my parents and my friend Annamarie.  Then I am going to sleep I am just beat.
Good night folks.

I slept so well last night. I slept like a baby.  I am going to send this tape off to Anna today.  Hopefully I can buy some more tapes today, if not I will have to write it all down and tape it when I get to Grand Junction.  I am going to go get my horses and pack up my gear and go get some groceries.  Then I will be on the road again.  I met a real nice guy he is a cowboy.  The nice lady here took some pictures of me for the paper.  She was a heck of a nice lady.  So I am going to drop these tapes in the mail and I will be back.

Yesterday  I got some groceries before I left town.  I bought a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly, granola bars, apples, few cans of chili and a dried beef stick that was like dry salami.  I asked the lady that was working  if this beef stick would be good for a day or two un refrigerated.  She told me it would be good for at least a day after the seal of the package was broken.  So I bought the beef stick.  I went down the road and met a real nice guy at the gas station and he told me about the area.  I cannot recollect his name but I know he is following the web site and I do appreciate his hospitality.  I tied up my horse and went in to the sub sandwich place and got a sandwich.  I ate my sandwich and headed up the road.  I met another guy who was a magician, and his name is Greg.  He travels the country to in his car and we got to talking for 20 minutes or so.  We were talking at an old gas station and some people from the park came over and started talking to us.  It was already like 2:00 and I had 30 miles until the next town and the next water hole.  So I decided to call Terry who owns a horse hotel and lessons there in Green River.  She told me to come on over she lived a few miles out of town.  On the way out there I ran into some guys with Union Pacific Railroad.  We talked about the train tracks going out of town and where the water holes are.  They told me of a wash out and where the water hole was up by the train tracks.  I road down Long Road and the sheriff came by and talked to me.  He was really nice.  I stopped at this house and a guy came walking out and I said this isn't Terry's house is it and he said no.  We chatted for a while and then I headed down to Terry's house.    I tied my horses up and took off the gear and washed them and put them in stalls.  Her husband came out and he was a real nice guy.  He gave me some hay for them to eat.  I read and looked at some maps until Terry came home and then I planted some trees for her and talked with them and they are awesome people.   There you have to dig the holes for the trees pretty deep so the roots can bust through the clay.  I put horse manure in the hole with the dirt also.   The neighbors came over and they told me a lot of valuable information about the area.  I had a great time visiting with everybody.  Like I have said in the past I am terrible with names.  So if I don't mention your name I apologize but you are still an important part of my Expedition and so appreciate  all that you have done.  So please forgive me if I don't say your name right or at all.  I remember all your faces.  Everyone I talk about has effected my life in some shape or form.  There was another girl I met from Germany that was at Terry's.  She was very nice.  I wondered how she ended up in Green River.  She said she is asked that a lot.  She is a wonderful young lady. I talked with her about her country and I appreciate her conversation.  I went to bed and terry told me I do not need an alarm clock that the roosters will wake me up.  Sure enough they did.  Quite early.  I got the horses out and packed up and it was still dark.   Terry's husband came out and said good morning.  He had to go bail hay.  As I was riding back into Green River he came back by and I told him thank you and I appreciate them letting me stay.  The rancher at the house I stopped at before Terry's was out there feeding and he yelled good luck to me.  I stopped at a Truck Stop and I got some breakfast.  There was this guy in the field taking pictures and he asked if he could take our pictures.  He said he was from New York and I told him that is where I am headed.  I told him of my web site.  He told me when I get to New York I can stay at his house.  He is going to e-mail the pictures he took to the web site.   I rode across this bridge that was quite narrow and there was some people on bikes and some people walking.  We made it across and got on the frontage road.  It was getting real hot so I took my shirt off which was a really bad idea because I got a major sun burn.  I started looking for a water hole I remember the railroad guys telling me that it was by the rail road tracks.  I seen the tracks so I rode up towards them and sure enough there was a water hole right there and there was grass for the horses and shade.  Since it was so hot we took an hour break.  We had another 15 miles to ride to the next town so I figured a break and some water would do us all some good.  I got out one of those beef sticks and ate it and relaxed in the shade.  I didn't really like the taste of that beef stick so I was going to throw it out but then I remembered how much I paid for it so I ate the hole thing.  The horses and I rode out and I started getting a stomach ache.   I rode about 7 miles and my stomach was just tore up.  I stopped up ahead at a rest stop  went to the bathroom for a long time.  I still felt horrible and I was getting week.  I lay down on my tarp under a shade tree and I fell asleep a couple of times.  People were stopping and wanting to pet the horses.  Normally I would like that but when I was real sick it wasn't that good.  So I rode down the hill and I was getting even sicker and I was throwing up on the side of the free way.   I threw up half the beef stick.  I kept telling myself I am tough and I can handle this.  I would rather have a broken bone or a huge cut in my leg then anything like this.  I rode underneath this bridge and started throwing up again.  Red turned and rode out into this field and stopped.  He turned and looked at me and then put his head down and started eating.  I guess he knew.  I rolled out of the saddle.  I could not stop vomiting.  I needed water.  I laid down for a while the pain in my stomach was horrible.  I called my friend Josh and I told him I was real sick and he told me to call his Pop and he'd drive out and get me.  About an hour and a half later I heard a truck coming.  He got out of his truck and he looked like a cowboy but to me he looked like an angel.  I started to vomit again.  I put the horses in the trailer.  They were pretty excited to get in a trailer and to not have to walk anymore.  Bill stopped at a gas station and got me some Pepto Bismol  and a soda.  He said his house was about 40 miles .  So there is a stretch of 40 miles I didn't ride and I will never ride.  When we got to his house I met his lovely wife Pam and she had a guest room ready for me and a nice bed.  I took a shower.  I didn't feel really better but I felt clean.  I am so glad I am in a bed tonight instead of out in the desert being sick.  I am going to get some rest hopefully.  Good night.

I woke up this morning and my stomach still hurt and I didn't feel any better.  They were concerned and wondered if they should take me to the hospital.  I said I would be fine.  They offered me breakfast and I said no thank you.  I could not eat.  They told me to take the day off and sleep.  Half way through the day I started taking in some water.  I was pretty dehydrated after all the vomiting.  I ate a little bit of spaghetti pie for dinner.  It was good but it made me queasy.   I drank some mineral juice too.  I got to visit with Bill and Pam.  I had a great time visiting with them.  I still feel queasy but I feel a lot  better then I did.  I am going to go to bed and hope to feel better in the morning.  Good night everyone.

When I woke up this morning I felt so much better.  Pam and Bill both had went to work already.  Pam she works for a Construction Co and Bill runs a Hardwood Floor business here in Mack Colorado.  I got up and went outside with my horses.  Bill had been taking care of my horses while I was in bed sick.  The horses were pretty darn excited to see me.  It felt good.  I gave them a hug and scratched their ears and talked to them.  Bill said some of his workers were coming by and they showed up and I met them.  I asked Bill if there was anything I could do around his place for him.  Bill let me weed eat some stuff.  Then I visited with Josh and John his workers and they were great.  John is from Nebraska so he told me a little bit about it and how I should go through the state.  They needed to weld a trailer mount so I helped them weld it.  They went back to work.  When Bill got home we went into town and got some grain for my horses.  He wouldn't let me pay for the grain he said no I was his guest.  I thought that was really nice.  He has done a lot for me.  They took me in when I was sick and have really been great.If it wasn't for Bill I would have died in that dessert.  The good Lord was looking out for me.  I thank God and I thank Bill.  From now on I will be a more careful on what I eat.  I will have to stick to Peanut butter.  Pam is a terrific lady.  She plays tennis and she won her game today and she was excited.  We had a delicious dinner and watched some tv.   Now I am going to bed I am tired.  Good night See ya in the morning.

I had an interview with a really nice lady named Sharon.  She is with one of the newspapers in Grand Junction Colorado.  Which is about 25 miles from where I am at right now.  She said she was going to be here around 7:30 a.m. so I got up around 5:30 and showered.   It is so nice to take showers when I can.  I went out and geared up my horses and saddled them up and about that time Sharon showed up.  We talked for quite awhile inside the house and about how the Cancer for kids came about.  I let her know that I wanted to ride for a cause other then my dream.  She did a great job of interviewing me and she took some pictures.  I let her get on Red and I took a picture of her. Bill and I got in his truck after she left to go up to Aspen.  He had a load of wood coming that he had to pick up.  I got to see Grand Junction on the way there and it was nice to see a lot of green.  I was glad to be out of the desert. Aspen is pretty and so are the girls there.  We walked around and looked at the stores.  We stopped at a western store.  The prices are higher in Aspen then they are in California. The hats at the western stop were like my old worn out hat that is about 5 years old that has been through a whole lot of wild horse races and a whole lot of miles.  They were getting about four times the amount I paid for my hat.  I had no clue that my hat was an investment and it was getting better with age.  I wish I wouldn't have thrown away all those old hats.  I had no clue they were an investment.  The western stop was pretty cute they had cold beer on hand although I didn't have one.  The name of it was Kemosabe.  I met a really nice guy there his name was Zippy.  We visited for a little while.  He was pretty excited for me and my expedition.  We continued to walk around town and went to a little burger shack for lunch.  I had the Buffalo Burger and it was good.  We went over to the Aspen Times Newspaper off of Main St and met a guy named John.  They said they would put an article in the paper.  We went to pick up the wood.  I met a guy named Tom and his wife is the commissioner for Aspen.  I really liked Aspen and all the people are so nice so I decided to  ride through here even though it is about 40 miles out of my way.  Tom pulled up some maps and trails for me and gave me his number and told me if there is anything I need to give him a call.  I met this really nice gal from Southern Africa after we unloaded the wood.  It was a pleasure meeting her and I am looking forward to going to Africa.  She educated me on Africa a little.  We went back to Bill's house and visited.  He is a really nice guy.  I have been so lucky that I have met such great people.  I feel so blessed.   Patty cooked up another delicious dinner.  I have been so spoiled here.  I don't know what I am going to do when I go back to my peanut butter sandwiches.  I met Bill and Patty's youngest son.  He was a great guy.  After dinner I decided to do some homework on my routes and catching up on some things.  I will be back tomorrow I am going to get some zzz's.  Good night.

I was woke up by Bill this morning.  Normally I awake on my own when I am on the trail in my tent but being in this soft comfortable bed I have a tendency to want to sleep in.  Bill woke me up around 5:30 a.m. and said stretch out those vocal cords cause you are going to be on the radio today.  Bill has done a great deal of trying to get my Expedition advertised.  I really appreciate it.  We went in to the radio station after running a few errands.  After the interview we stopped at a nice gas station that was kind of like a coffee shop gas station.  We were looking at the newspaper there and I was in it.  I looked like a geek.  The article was good Sharon who wrote it did a nice job.  She did a phenomenal job on the article.  As I was reading the article this guy walked up and I introduced myself and said hey did you see this crazy guy in the paper who is riding his horse across the country.  He looked at it and looked at me.  It was funny.  He told me of a lot of hunting trails and hunting and the wildlife in this area.  I won't be doing any hunting unless I have to.  Then he leaves and another guy walks in.  He was real nice he is a crate builder here.  He showed my quite a few cuts off of the highway.  We headed home after that.  Bill has a mule that he wanted me to trim his feet.  I think it had been awhile since they had been trimmed.  He was giving me a hard time so I thought I would wait until Bill was around.  I am really not a fan of mules.  I oiled my saddle and cleaned my gear and my guns.  I was checking out my  maps a little then made a few phone calls.  I talked to my Pa and Step Mom and my brother and nephew.  Shortly after that Pam came home we visited and her son James helped me to burn my pictures on my camera to a CD.  He was great help.  Bill showed me some of his Rodeo Awards and he was President of theTeam Bronc Riding. Pam is one of the best cooks in the whole wide world that I have experienced.  I will have to get back at you on that one after I have traveled the whole world.  Although Grandma makes the best fries.  Pam had asked me about the donations on my web site and how would people get a receipt or know that it is actually going to the National Children's Cancer Society.  I want to explain to everyone how this works.  Whenever I receive a donation 50% of that donation goes to the Children's National Cancer Society the other 50% goes to keep this website going so I can keep it free.  Whatever doesn't go to my website goes to my Expedition.  Bill and Pam's Company donated and I really appreciate it.  I don't want people thinking I am asking for money.  If you make a donation I want you to because you want to help out the  the Children and my website.  The weather is a little cloudy today and it is cooler and pleasant here.  I am enjoying Colorado.  It is about 10:00 and I am sitting out here with the horses.  I thank Bill and Pam and James for all your hospitality.  They have been so good to me.  I am going to go sleep in my comfortable bed now.  See ya in the morning.  Thank you for following Ez's Expedition.

Day 104

I didn't get to sleep in that big comfortable bed last night. : (  I accidentally got locked out.  They thought I was in bed but I was out side sitting on the hay talking to my tape recorder.  I could have knocked on the door I suppose but I didn't want to wake anybody up.  They have been so great that I did not want to inconvenience them any more then I may have.  I figured it was a nice night so I grabbed my sleeping bag and went to sleep on the hay.  I woke up this morning and Bill almost tripped over me when he went to feed the horses.  He said so you slept under the stars last night huh?  I told him I got locked out.  He said why didn't you break in or knock on the door or something.  I told him I didn't want to wake anybody up.  I will sleep in a big bed tonight.  I have to shoe Jahob today and I will be listening to a news interview with KEKB the Country station  here in Grand Junction.  The best country station there is no better one because they got to interview me of course.  Steve recorded me the day before and I am listening to it today.  It was on the breakfast club this morning.  They did a pretty good job I thought.  I appreciate them interviewing me and I hope there is a lot of people that follow my site and enjoy it.  I am working on this motorcycle of Bill's it is a 1986 Honda.  It only has 1100 miles on it.  I had it running but every time I take it off the cables it dies on me.  I think it has to do with the battery.  I am going to drive it into town and get some horse shoes I have been waiting on a package from my dad and it still isn't here.  So I will just buy some horse shoes so I can shaw them. I shoed Jahob and helped Bill a little bit on ripping some boards out.  It rained a little bit today and we had a pizza for dinner.  I watched some of Bills rodeo videos it was neat to watch some old school  rodeo's.  I have been so blessed with great people on my journey.  Well folks I am going to go to bed now.  Good night and sweet dreams.

I woke up this morning after a great night sleep in this big comfy bed.  I slept in  until 7:30 a.m.  I would like to get up around 6:30 or 7:00  just how I am I reckon.  I had just enough borium to shoe my horses.  I think it is the best shoeing job I have done on Red since I have owned him.  It looks really nice.  Dale the neighbor loaned me some tools to use.  I gave the boys a bath so now they have new  shoes and are all fresh and clean.  We have a dinner date tonight with the neighbors Dale and his wife Joe.  They are taking us to the Outback Steakhouse.  They are one of my favorite places to eat, they have good food.  I cleaned up one of my horse shoes and gave it to Dale let him know there was 1300 miles on that shoe.  Dinner was nice food was good.  I had a Rib eye steak.  We came home and visited for a bit then I worked on getting my gear ready so I can just saddle up and go in the morning.  Tomorrow we are headed out for Wyoming.  We are going to see a lot more critters I am looking forward to it.  I would like to thank everybody once again for following this trip and telling others about it.  Makes me feel good that I have all of you with me on my trip.  Good night to all.

I am on the trail again.  Wahoo!!  It feels good to be on the trail again.  Another 1000 miles we will probably stop for a week and take some time off.  I said good bye to Pam and Bill and I know they will be following the site and thank you for everything.  Bill seen me riding down the road and stopped by to talk to me and as we were talking this nice Grandma lady and her grand daughters came outside to say hello.  They seen  me in the newspaper.  Her grand daughters names were Sierra, Tierra and darn it I can't remember the other girls name.  I do appreciate them coming out and saying hello and giving me a Gatorade.  Grandma gave them $10 to give me and I really do appreciate that.  I hope you guys enjoy my site.  Donna tracked me down and told me she made a donation and I told her thank you I really do appreciate that.  I got a little lost today and there was a real nice lady who straightened me out.  I was stopped by a real nice guy who said he read about me in the paper and donated $20.  I sure do appreciate their hospitality too. People keep honking and waving and yelling good luck out the window.  It has been awesome to so see so many smiling faces today.  I met a guy named Darryl and he is going to show me a place that I will be staying tonight.  I have had a great day today.  Ben and his wife Marty and their grand kids are letting me stay tonight.  I just got back from a Catfish barbeque deal with Darryl and his wife and I met a lot of nice people.  Pat was cooking it was his house and he is a hell of a cook.  Darryl brought me back to Ben's house where I will be staying in their basement where they have an extra bed.  This town of Grand Junction is a great little town and if there is anybody I left out I apologize.  It is sure nice to go through town and know I have a lot of friends out there.  Marty and Ben invited me to go to Church and since I haven't been to Church in a while I am going to take them up on it.  The horses could use another day of rest.  Like I have said many times I am not in a race I am trying to take in all that I can take in.  I have taken in a lot too.  Well good night folks I am gonna get some shut eye now.  talk to you tomorrow.

I went to church today and had a great time.  There was a lot of nice people I met.  I went to Sunday school also and met a lot of people there too.  I don't go to church near as much as I ought to but it is good for you and I wish I did go more.  I appreciate everybody there, they were so kind to me.  After church we had a get together and some of the people from the area told me of trails they knew about for my journey.  I am bad with names and have met so many people today.  Please forgive me for not mentioning every ones name.  If you have met me and want to email my sight I sure do appreciate that.  I would like everyone to be involved with my trip.  It is important to me for everyone that has crossed my path be involved in this trip.  Ben took me into the Ranch supply store and I got a canteen and a horse pad.  Red still has a sore on his withers so this pad I can cut a hole in so sir can get to that sore.  I got myself a pair of boots.  I went to ring out at the register and Ben would not let me pay for it. Ya know I don't know how to thank you.  Thank you so much Sir I really appreciate that.  I decided to stay another night and leave in the morning.  Ben's grand kids got to sit on Red and Jahob  and those kids were having a blast.  They were sitting on him back wards and strand on him.  They were being silly and having fun. We got to visit for awhile and they are just wonderful good people and I am so glad to get to know them.  It was real easy to talk to them.  Ben is going to ride out with me tomorrow.  I am looking forward to having some company for a day.  If you have a little bit you want to say go ahead send me an email.  I hope I am not forgetting any one.  Well good night folks.

I got up early this morning and went out and saddled up my horses and got them all packed up.  Ben saddled up and Marti made us a breakfast biscuit and saw us off.  As we rode through town people were honking and waving.  This one nice lady and her two kids stopped and told me good luck and handed me a couple dollars.  I let the kids pet Red and gave them a piece of red's tail as a souvenir.  People were waving and saying good luck and god Bless.  This other lady and her son.  She didn't look like she was his mom she was young and attractive.  I asked if she was his sister and she said no I am his mom.  Her son smiled from ear to ear when I put him on my horse.  They were on their way to swimming lessons.  They said they were going to follow the site and make a donation.  Thank you and it was an honor to meet you.  We came up on a little town outside of Grand Junction.  We rode up to the Colorado River and it was beautiful there.  I started thinking about baptism while we were there and Ben and I talked about it.  I asked him if he would baptize me in the Colorado River.  It is just a way of telling the Lord that you have accepted him in your heart as your savior and I have a long time ago.  Marti came by she was worried about us riding up the highway.  Ben told her he was going to baptize me in the river.  Ben baptized me and Marti was there and I had an awesome day.  We got back on the horses and rode up the road and it was green and beautiful.  We pulled into a big barn and met a guy forgive me I forgot his name and he got me some water.  Josh and John saw me they are Bill's workers and they were looking for me because my package I was waiting for had came.  The barn we stopped at was very historical.  Marti was going to pick up Ben up the road so we got back on the road. I found this place off the side of the road. There was a State Park but it said no domesticated animals.  I could say my horses are wild and crazy but their not, so I kept riding.  Marti found us visited with us and Ben and I ran into town and stopped at a burger shack and got a burger and a milkshake.  There was this real pretty lady who took our order and she will be following this site and I got to meet the owner.  I'm about 12 miles from where I wanted to stop and stay but I will get there tomorrow.  It will be a real pretty ride tomorrow I love green and I love ranches.  We should be seeing a lot of that tomorrow.  I think  I will move to Colorado after I complete my journey around the world.  I am going to get some sleep as I lay here listening to the river flow.  A guy stopped and said for me to put my horses in that pasture he knows the owner so I did.  There is good mountain grass over there for them.  I lay here and think I am so fortunate to be alive and the hole planet is just awesome.  The trees the grass the mountains........  We take so much for granite in life.  I don't mean to get too mushy  but I thought I would share my heart with you.  Good night every one.  I will see ya tomorrow.  I'm back and I can't get comfortable.  I can't stop talking on this here tape recorder.  I remembered I met this guy from Bakersfield named Jim who was thinking about moving to Colorado.  I think he should it is beautiful here.  Ok well I am going to try to go to sleep again.  Good night!

Day 109

I got all my gear packed up although I woke up a little bit late.  I am hoping to get 20 miles on the trail today.  It was beautiful this morning when I woke up.  I met a guy named Mike from Oklahoma and he has a backhoe business back there.  He was curious what I was doing.  He was a great guy.  I enjoyed visiting with him.  The scenery here is beautiful, a lot of greenery.  Two nice cow girls pulled in here and they wanted me to go chase cows with them.  Debra and Cathy it was sure nice visiting with you.  I stopped in at this convenience store that has all sorts of stuff.  I bought a new pair of pliers.  I lost mine and I lost my canteen too.  I am going to go down Main St down town.  I ran into this real nice lady named Suzie.  She directed me towards the Forest Station so I can get educated on the trails around here.  Thank you Suzie I appreciate it.  When I came into town there was a lot of friendly people. I am here in Colburn. I met this real nice lady her name is Jeanette.  She was at the Butcher shop and she invited me over to her house for a cup of tea.  She said she has seen some bears and some mountain lions walk through her yard.  We talked about my trip she told me of a peak up here and she will show me a way to go.  She said her husband will be home soon and he can tell me more.  Jeanette and I went for a ride through her property.  It is beautiful and the green grass is as tall as my horse.  Jeanette and I did a few things around here and I put a gate up for her.  Her husband is Mark and he is a real nice guy.  He has quite of experience of riding through the Rockies so I stumbled across the right people.  Jeanette called up the local newspaper to see if she can get an interview for me.  The have a beautiful Palomino Stud he is gorgeous.  There is a nice Buckskin and his name is Sisco.  They have a great disposition and I just love the both of them.  I love Red the most est I can't fall in love with no other horses.  I am going to stay here tonight.  I will be back in the morning.  Good night!

I just woke up and put on nice clean clothes that Jeanette washed for me last night.  I got to sleep in a big nice comfy bed.  I sure did appreciate sleeping in that bed.  Thank you Jeanette and Mark for your hospitality.  They gave me some maps and highlighted the trails I want to take.  They are awesome people.  Jeanette made Mark and I some breakfast.  Mark ran off to work and I packed up and saddled up and got on the trail.  Jeanette packed me a lunch for the road.  Jahob fell in love with a couple of fillies there.  They weren't even a year old the little pervert.  Jahob got cut when he was pretty old so he still has those instincts.  He keeps looking back like he doesn't want to leave those little fillies.  It has been a great day here in Colburn.  People are so friendly here and the Butcher said the newspaper guy is out looking for me to interview me.  I appreciate every ones hospitality a great little town this one is.  I met a guy named Ty and he is going to be following the trip.  Please feel free to send me an email.  I love when people write in and tell me how they are doing.  I ran into the  newspaper guy Rick and he took some pictures of us and I got to visit with him and he is going to put my story in the paper so the town can follow my expedition.  Thank you Rick for taking the time out of your day to interview me.  It is beautiful country and my spirits are up and I am grinning from ear to ear.  It is getting real windy here and there is some bucks and a doe staring at me.  The mountains are surrounding me and the grass is tall and green.  Just breath taking.  The ranches around here are just gorgeous.  Everything around here is just like out of a movie.  Picture perfect.  Jahob is still thinking about those fillies and he is being fussy.  I see a storm blowing in.  The wind blowing the tall grass makes it look like a wave in the ocean.  I came over the top of this hill and Glen O'bryan was flagging while they paved the road.  I met some more nice guys that were paving at the bottom.  They are hardworking guys and they wished me the best of luck and I appreciate their hospitality.  It is awesome here.  Huge valley and grass dancing all over the place is so beautiful.  I am going to have  to video tape it.  Darren and Joseph stopped by and talked with me.  They were nice guys and are going to be following the site with us.  Tom and Mike I met and they too are going to be following along.  I met Tim and Dean they too are going to be following along with rest of us.  I might ride a little further  today since we are making good time and the horses are feeling good.  It is a small world I am here in Colorado and I meet somebody from Red Bluff California.  I have rodeo ed there many times.  The wind is blowing really hard if we put a sail up we will be in Aspen in no time.  The clouds are getting darker.  That storm is coming in we need to find a place to stay for the night.  I have found a nice open space for us.  The view here is beautiful big Aspen trees and green grass flowers and just beauty.  I put up my tent I always sleep better in my tent.  I am not sure if it is going to rain so I thought I better put it up.  I am going to try to ride up Hwy 133 in the morning I am not sure how far away from it I am.  Hopefully I will make it.  I got some video of this beautiful place.  Well good night folks.

It is pretty cold this morning so I had to put my under clothes on and my jacket.  Today the wind is blowing right in our faces.  But every where we turn the beauty of the trees and the mountains and grass take your mind of the cold wind.  I met a heck of a nice guy and he gave me some water and  he will be following our site. I am riding down this hill and I see huge mountains with snow on them in front of me.  I keep thinking about bear, I had a dream last night that there was a bear touching my tent.  He was growling and I grabbed my 45 and looked out the tent.  He ran over to Red and started wrestling with Red so I shot my gun into the air and he ran away.  When I woke up this morning I had to stop and think, was that a dream or was that real.  I know it was a dream but it was so real and I keep thinking about it today.  I know that bears usually just want food and to be left alone. I saw a big old moose it was  a ways from us.  He saw me and kind of vanished off into the woods.  There was this campsite I took a picture of this morning that I had passed.  This guy named Rick passed me by yesterday he said when I ran into him  today.  He was in the Navy and he is here camping in the Rockies for the summer.  The reason I took a picture of his campsite is because he had a Direct TV Satellite on the back.  I thought that was a little bit different.  He has a pretty nice little set up.   I ran into a meadow that was beautiful.  I thought about cutting through there but I didn't know if the road went that way and I didn't want to get lost.  So I stayed on my road most the way.  There was this big ranch with this huge meadow and I took some pictures of it.  It was the Flying M Ranch  I stopped at the creek down there and gave the horses some water.  A black Chevy pickup stopped and said you must be Ezra and I said yes sir.  He told me his name was Steve and offered me to stay at his ranch.  He told me his wife Joan would be home to tell me where to put the horses and he had to take care of some business and he would be back.  When I rode up Joan came out with a soda and a cup of ice.  Mark and Jeanette are a mutual friend of there's and told them I was coming through.  She told me to go up to the barn and put my gear up and then to come down to them main house.  We put the horses out to pasture they were just loving it.  Then she got some snacks for us to munch on and Steve came back and we visited.  They invited me to Red Stone for dinner and said they had a house there if I wanted to stay in it I could.  I got to meet Cody and Kevin and Mallory and visited with them for a little while.  They showed me there house in Red Stone it was beautiful and it was built in the 1800's.  They had awesome looking furniture and antlers deer heads carved out of wood with antlers on them.  I am going to put a link from my web site to their antler web site they make antler furniture.  They do a great job doing it.  They have a workshop there at the house where they put it all together.  They are real good people.  We went to dinner at the Crystal Club in town and it was a nice place.  The food was good I had a pizza and a salad.  I met Patrick who is a guy who has been staying with them, and he was a real nice guy.  Some other people showed up and they were doing  and article for the newspaper their names were Cindy and Tim.  They interviewed me for a while and then Peter an attorney showed up. Steve knew him and was giving him a hard time.  Peter handed me a $20 and I said why thank you he said he will be following the web site also.  I am going to get some more maps tomorrow.  This isn't like the desert.  I need to have a pretty good map of my trail.  I think I am going to stay another night.  I am going to have to pick up the pace but right now where I am at there is a lot of green grass and a lot of nice people to meet and so I am taking my time and enjoying all the beauty.  I have a nice comfortable bed too sleep in with a heater and my horses are right out here with their blankets on eating green grass.  So now I am going to get some rest.  Until tomorrow...sweet dreams everyone.

I woke up around 5 a .m. and thought about getting up but said nah I will sleep in.  I told Joan to kick me if I slept passed 7 but she didn't kick me she just said rise and shine cowboy.  I got up and went down stairs and Steve whipped up some gourmet oatmeal.  I am talking gourmet and I have never seen anything like it.  It had fruits in it and yogurt on top.   It was good.  I helped Joan move some furniture and load the truck up to take it to the ranch house up above.    Sandra helped us sew up the breast collar for Red we put some fuzzy stuff in it.  Joan took me into town to a cute little store where they had candy in the jars and it looked like an old time store.  Joan wouldn't let me pay for the maps and stuff I bought.  I argued with her for a little bit and she won.  She said I am going to need all the help I can get I have a long trip ahead of me.  I sure do appreciate it.  I met an man named Larry who ran sheep around here for a lot of years.  I also met a man named Adam and I believe he is going to come visit tonight he works cattle around here.  Steve and Joan will be following this web site and I sure do appreciate everything.  I am glad to have friends like you.  Cody called last night and said one of the rental horses was hurt.  I took a look at and it had a pretty good gash in it.  It really needed to be stitched but being it was already infected we couldn't so we gave it some penicillin cleaned it out and put some wound dust and iodine on it.  The horse didn't like the iodine very much.  I do not know how to express how gorgeous the country is around here.  It is just beautiful.  I talked to Joan into going for a ride with me.  She said she kind of gets nervous when she rides.  We walked through the meadows and took some pictures of the views over the ridge. I met some more people that are friends of Cody and Ken who are two guys that are working here.  I was thinking his name was Kevin but it is Ken.  Oops sorry.  I always say I am bad with names. Just a little bit ago I met some friends of their's named Matthew, Jeff and Terrez.  They were here checking out the ranch.  They said they would be following the web site. Terrez had never heard of bag balm, so I talked her into putting some on her stubbed toe.  Steve came home and brought the medicine for the horse that was hurt.  We all visited on the porch it was nice.  Joan asked me where I wanted to sleep tonight.  She told me I could sleep in the cabin.  They have a lot of little cabins around here.  I am going to link their web site to mine so even if you aren't interested in buying any furniture it is still worth checking out.  There is a lot of cool things they have on it.  You can get an idea what I am talking about.  I am looking forward to getting on the trail tomorrow.  I could get used to staying here where it is beautiful and the people are great.  I need to get some rest now and thank you to everyone that has made this expedition so wonderful.  Good night everyone.

I woke up this morning and went down to get my horses.  I walked out in the pasture and Red came running up to me and then came Jahob.  I gave them a little bit of grain and then Ozzy came walking up with a friend of his named Dylan, then Ozzy's sister came up and her name is Sonya.  Weston and his mom came up and her name is Katie.  She was a real nice lady that lives close to Aspen and told me I can stay there is I wanted.  Ozzy's parents offered to come pick me up when I get to Aspen.  I have lots of offers to stay in Aspen.  Joan made pancakes for breakfast and then everybody wished me luck and said good bye. I am back on the trail.  Thank you so much Joan and Steve.  I sure do appreciate everything.  My horses are rested up and ready to go on this beautiful sunny day.  There is a lot of pretty ranches on this trip.  It is like a maze up here and there is lots of little roads every where.  I am confused on where I am supposed to go.  There is no way to go straight up over the top of those mountains.  They are pretty steep and rocky.  I would have to do some serious rock climbing.  I rode all over the side of the mountain and I couldn't find the trail.  I went back down to Hwy 131.  Hopefully I can find someone who knows where the heck I am.  I am trying to get over to my 820 trail.  I met a nice guy named Glenn and his family they had there boat on this reservoir here.  They set me straight on where I am.  I am going to go up to this ranch called Eagle Nest and see if I can cross through their ranch and get over to the trail I need to be on.  Thank you so much Glenn.  I have seen so many deer out here.  I met some folks at the top of the hill who told me to go a few houses down and ask Joe if I could pass through his property.  I saw no sign of Joe when I got there so I went on through.  There is tons of wildlife up here.  There is deer and elk.  I made it to the Forest Service land and I am on an ATV trail right now and there is a lot of brush up here.  I still can't get rid of that bear fear I have had lately.  I can't see around the brush as I am riding so I don't know if one is going to jump out at me.  I don't know why I can't get bears off of my mind lately.  Maybe it is the dream and people keep telling me bear stories.  I know I am in bear territory and I know it is more his home then mine, I just don't want a bear attacking my horse.  I made it through to my trail 820 and it has opened up.  I see horse manure so there has been other horses around here recently.  Red has been real alert for the past few minutes, so I don't know what he sees or smells.  I am going to stay real alert too just in case there is any danger lurking around the corner.  I had a can of pork and beans and a beef stick for dinner.  The sun is almost out of sight and the stars are coming out.  I I heard some really weird noises.  It sounded like a dog who was hurt real bad.  It could of been a coyote or something.  Then I heard a tree fall near by.  Maybe I am just being too concerned.  I don't know why I am so freaked out tonight.  I just have a weird feeling and I keep hearing weird noises.  It is beautiful here though.  Well folks I am going to go to sleep before I drive myself crazy.  Good night y'all.

Today is Fathers Day.  Dad you know I love you very much.  I won't be able to call you but I will be thinking of you all day today.  I appreciate every thing you have taught me and done for me.  I love you. This morning I am packing up my gear it took me awhile to fall asleep.  I kept hearing noises but eventually got so tired I fell asleep.  I fell asleep with my 45 in my hand.  I awoke this morning to birds chirping the most beautiful songs you ever heard.  There must be hundreds of them and a few ducks on the pond here and the rugged mountains surrounding me.  I let the horses graze for while and get there bellies full.  We got onto the trail and bird flew right underneath Reds neck.  It looked like a turkey.  It made Red snort.  There is huge butterflies all sorts of wildflowers.  It is a gorgeous ride.  I know Dad you are riding with me in spirit.  It is a beautiful day.  I went down Dark Canyon trail.  I had to remove the pack from Jahob and turn the pad around it was bothering him.  I thought it would be more comfortable for him but he didn't like it that way.  I see some more horse droppings on the trail.  There is a river next to me.  It is so beautiful here.  They say this is a medium trail but I would call it something other then medium.  We just climbed up what Red thinks is the steepest mountain in the whole wide world.  He is doing good though he just wants to go, go, go.  Jahob is breaking a sweat so you know it is steep.  We keep climbing these steep mountains and I seen this Elk just laying there a ways off the trail and then I saw a baby.  I think it was born some time last night.  I took some pictures.  The baby was trying to get up on its feet.  Jahob was eating  grass and then pulled the lead line off the back of Red and started walking towards the Elk.  The momma Elk was pretty upset.  Jahob is lucky she didn't ram him.  I'm low on water right now.  I should have filled up at the creek.  I am starting to see spots of snow here and there.  There is a few trails  up here and I think I am getting lost again.  I here some running water so I am going to ride over there and give the horses a drink.  Now I am riding back down the trail.  I got up this mountain and started going down the other side and there was a bunch of snow.  It is impossible to cross on horse back.  If it was you can bet I'd do it.  I thought about going down this section with out a trail but as soon as I thought it Red looked at me put his ears back.  I think he knew what I was thinking.  He was saying these are the Rockies Ez, these aren't no little mountains in Nevada.  So we are going back down and I can't believe I rode up it.  It is pretty dang steep.  I don't know how I am getting to Aspen now.  I have about two days worth of grain left so I am going to need to get some.  I passed by the baby Elk and the momma again.  It is even beautiful coming down the mountain.  You see some things you missed on the way up.  I am definitely back tracking about 15 miles .  Today was wasted.  I just want to get down this mountain and set up camp for the night.  I rode a long, long ways today.  According to the map I rode about 15 -18 miles out of my way.  We kept seeing this sign that says Horse Ranch.  We trotted, we cantered and finally we made it.  There was a few people camped out there.  I met a guy and his wife and kids.  There names were Denny Wilson and Johana, Dana, and Johna.  They visited me and they brought me an awesome delicious dinner.  Chicken and carrots and a hole bunch of good stuff.  I set by their camp fire.  That is the first camp fire I have set at since I have left home.  I put my tent up because it is cozy in here and I sleep good in my tent. Red and Jahob did excellent today.  They worked their little butts off.  I have the worst headache tonight.  My back and legs have been hurting all day.  I sound like a little cry baby.  I am going to take it easy tomorrow.  We aren't going to ride as far.  I sure appreciate everybody following.  Happy Fathers Day again Dad.  I love you.  I know you would have enjoyed being with me on this trip today.  It was some of the most prettiest country in the world.  I know if you were with me we wouldn't have went all the way up this pass. You would have probably turned around a lot sooner.    Well I am going to sleep it was along day.

I had breakfast this morning with Denny and his family we chatted about my trip and what not and I didn't get out of there until noon.  They are awesome people and I am so glad to have met them. Hopefully our paths will cross again.  It is not quite as hot today.  Red is being weird today he doesn't want to walk fast or slow just medium.  I rode into Crested Butte and met this nice lady and her son Kyle.  I got an interview with a girl named Alicia.  She was real nice and will be following the site.  I met a gal named Shirley and she called a guy named Chuck who has some stables and he said I can put my horses up for the night.  I met a guy named Mark at the place I stopped to get a burger and he said he is going to e-mail some pictures.  Crested Butte is a beautiful place and people are real friendly.  Words getting around about me so people are coming out to see me.  It is a beautiful place here.  I rode through the top of this Crested Butte Mountain and I met this real nice guy named Rahlen he said he had a buddy of his who rode his motorcycle from California to Crested Butte.  He couldn't believe that I had rode my horse that far.  I rode up to Fantasy Ranch and put the horses in the corral.  Chuck is the owner and he gave me some grain.  Mark rode up on a bike and we talked and then I met a guy named Ken he works at the Fantasy Ranch.  They were both real nice.  I also got to talk to the Police Chief at the fire station about the pass.  What they thought the East Moon Pass is like and how much snow there is.  I told them what I was doing and he recommended I put my 6 shooter in my saddle bag while I am riding through towns.  My guns are for emergency situations only.  More for safety purposes only. I popped my tent to set up camp.  Mark showed back up in a car this time and he offered me a hot shower and a warm meal.  His fiance and a couple of his friends are here on a medical training program.  There was Kyle and Mona and Liz and Nora.  I got to meet everyone and they told me about what they were doing and I told them about what I was doing.  We had spaghetti and garlic bread.  Then we sat in the hot tub.  Wow that was nice on my joints.  Mona gave me a ride back to my tent.  We decided to go for a midnight ride.  It was pretty cool going with a pretty girl on a ride in the Rockies.  We went may be a mile or two.  She is from Wisconsin and living in Illinois.  She told me I can stay with her in Illinois if I am going there.  She is a really nice gal and she is in to animals.  It is late now, close to the middle of the night.  I had a wonderful night.  Thank you everyone for being so kind to me.  Good night you all.

I woke up this morning around 5 a .m.  thought about getting up but fell back asleep.  I was putting my boots on about 6:30 and I heard Mona tell me good morning.  She came by my camp this morning and brought me some coffee and to tell me good luck on my trip.  I wanted to take a picture of her with my horses but I wasn't able to get my camera to work.  Mona helped me put my gear on my horses and Ken came down then Chuck showed up.  He was the nice guy who let me stay there.  He is a heck of a nice guy.  I sure do appreciate all his help.  I suggest if you are ever in Crested Butte in the Rockies you stop in at Fantasy Ranch and go for a ride because this is the most beautiful country up here.  There aint no better way of seeing it then on the back of a horse. Mona took a couple pictures with her camera and she is going to e-mail it to the web site.  I met a lot of people this morning.  Please forgive me for not remembering your names but thank you.  I don't care if I have to shovel snow to get to Aspen cause I will.  I will be darned if I am going to ride a hundred miles back around these mountains.  It is a good time of year to check out the rockies not a good time to cross over the rockies but a good time to check out the rockies.  I rode through Gothic today.  Talked to quite a few nice people there who told me the same thing that it has been a hotter year and I might get through.  I might have to shovel snow.  I'm not sure if I am on the right trail.  I ran into a bunch of kids and a school teacher and they are going to be following the web site and I am glad to have them along.  Copper Creek is where I am and it is absolutely gorgeous.  The trail I am on now is somewhat of a rode there are pine trees and wild flowers every where and a canyon.  The birds are chirping and you can hear the water trickling in the creek.  I took a break by the creek and let the horses eat and drink.  This girl hiker came down.  She didn't notice us at first but then she turned and we startled her.  She wasn't expecting to see a couple of horses.  Her name is Helen and she told me a little bit about the trail.  She too will be following the site and I am happy to have her along.   There is a lot of snow as we have gone up the trail.  It is windy too.  I wouldn't recommend anybody trying to climb this, this time of year.  Yippy Ky-yia I made it to the top of this mountain and I don't know how we are going to get down.  It looks like I have about 500 yards of snow to shovel.  I dug down and never did find the bottom.  It would take me as long to find the bottom as it would to melt.  I don't know how we got over the top of the pass here but we did it.  It took 2 hours to go 500 feet .  I thank the good Lord for getting us over the top of this peek.  I am down on the side of this dang mountain in another snow drift.  I don't think we can go back from where we came.  I know better then to do stupid stuff like this.  It is one thing to go down it but to go up it is impossible.  I don't think I can dig a trench here it is so rockie.  I am trying to keep my calm.  Then we ran into a bear.  We are stuck in a little spot and then we run into a bear.  He weighed about 4- 500 lbs .  We are stuck on the side of this mountain and I don't know what to do.  We  are going to try and go back the way we came.  I seen a trail and we went down it a little ways and the rocks gave out beneath us.  There was a creek  beneath us.  I fell down and Red decided to go straight up the hill and I grabbed a hold of his tail and he dragged me and Jahob followed along.  He pretty much kind of saved me.  He dragged me up to a little side of the cliff.  Red and Jahob both lost there right front shoes.  Jahob had bent his on a rock or something so I took it off.  I was trying to stay calm  and not panic and figure out what to do.  I had hurt my leg the one that I had broke my femur and it hurts something fierce.  I climbed on top of Red and I don't know what happened.  All of a sudden all three of us fell off the side of the cliff.  Red rolled over the top of me.  I don't know if I broke my shoulder or dislocated it.  It hurts and I looked at Red.  All these things are going through  my head............did I hurt Red........what am I doing???  I grabbed a hold Red's tail and I told him get us the hell out of here.  Red started climbing and got us out.  I feel like an idiot.  I went this  way to cut out a lot of miles when I should have just rode around these mountains.  I was trying to find some nails to put shoes back on Jahob and I couldn't find them.  I might have a broken rib and my head is killing me.  It is really rockie through here.  They are both gimping and so am I.  All on our right leg.  We made it back over to Gothic.  I ran into this guy named Tom and asked him if he would take my pack to the Fantasy Ranch.  I am leading Jahob and Red and we made it back to the ranch and I called Mona.  She came over and helped me unsaddle Red.  Mona is in the medical field and so she checked me out.  She tried to talk me into going to the hospital.  She took me over to her friends house and I will be staying there tonight.  I need to rest now today was a long horrible day.  Good night.

Mona ran me to my horses this morning.  I definitely have a broken shoulder and I might have a concussion.  I don't think my ribs are broke but they are sore.  I have met so many wonderful people.  Red has a few scrapes on him.  I am more banged up then they are thank God.  I would feel horrible if any thing happened to them.  I called Jeanette to see if she knew any where for me to lay up until I feel a little bit better.  I went to town with Ken and Chuck and had a beer with them and Mona called so I invited her down.  I met Chuck's fiancee Sherry again.  She is the nice lady who introduced me to Chuck.  Mona and I went to get a bite to eat then to get an ice cream.  We were walking around town and I started to get a headache and not feel well.  We went to this hotel like where the guys stay in dorms and the girls stay in dorms they have a kitchen downstairs.  It fit my needs for now.  Chuck said my horses can stay at the  Fantasy Ranch.  I am going to  be back later and let you know what I am going to do.

I slept for a few hours last night and I woke up and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head.  I was freezing cold running a high temperature.  I went down stairs and Tim was there he thought I was on drugs or something he said my eyes were all glassy and red.  They took my blood pressure and I highly recommended me going to the hospital.  So Mona and Tim took me to the hospital.  It was about a 30 minute drive and this real pretty nurse there put some stuff in my eyes.  They weren't exactly clear on what was wrong with me.  They thought I had a sinus infection on top of my injuries.  I still feel like crap today.  Mona and Tim are all studying for this paramedic class they are here for.  They have been awesome checking up on me and taking care of me.  I guess I made the papers today they come out once a week here and I made both papers.  I'm not feeling good today.  I sure do appreciate every ones help.  I will be back later.

I got up this morning to get some breakfast and I met a nice guy named Jason.  He is riding his bike  across the country.  He will be following this site and I will put a link on my site so people can follow his trip.  I went and got a hair cut this morning.  The real nice gal who cut my hair, thank you so much.  Laura is a lady here where I am staying she is real nice. She helped me out and got my medicine for me.  She has been terrific.  Ryan and Paul are my bunk mates.  They are both taking the EMT classes.  They came home for lunch and checked on me.  I appreciate everyone helping me.  I have been so blessed.  I will be back later.

This morning I woke up and Mona gave me a ride to the Ranch where my horses are.  I had a horse shoer showing up.  I can't shoe them myself with a broken shoulder.  Being a horse shoer myself it is a little hard for me to let someone else shoe my horses.  Every horse shoer I have met has a different way of shoeing a  horse.  Some believe things are  right this way and some think things are right that way.  So I am a little nervous a bout letting someone else shoe my horses.  I am concerned about Red because he has real thin walls and is hard to put a shoe on.  I interviewed Dan at the ranch.  It is a phenomenal place if you ever get a chance to come to Colorado make sure you go to the Fantasy Ranch and go for a ride.  I highly recommend it.  It is some of the most beautiful country you have seen.  The horse shoer was an older guy.  He wasn't bad we didn't see eye to eye on some things but he wasn't bad.  Red was a little sore after he shoed him but his feet were pretty soft when he started out so you can't really blame that on the guy who shoed him.  Hopefully Red will be better in a few days.  Some nice girls working at the ranch gave me a ride back down the hill.  I went to the doctors office they have a gorgeous girl working there.  She was pretty with blonde hair. (he's a sucker for blondes)  She will be following the site and she checked it out the night before she said.  Dr Rogers the doctor there is a great guy too.  He told me of a couple of routes to get over the mountain.  They didn't charge me anything for my visit.  I thought that was real nice.  I do appreciate that.  After I got done seeing the doctor and the pretty nurse I walked around down town.  I thought I would get a thank you card for Mona for helping me after I fell off the cliff.  Hopefully I made a life long friend because she would make a great friend.  This evening  a bunch of people that I met here like Tim and Mona, Ryan, Mark, Liz and Paul who are all studying for the EMT  class.  We all decide to go out.  It is bike week and there is mountain bikes all over town.  It is a busy weekend here because of the bike thing.  We went to one place and they were playing some real  hard rock so we  left there and went to another place to play some pool and ran into Ken from the Fantasy Ranch.  He hung out with us for the rest of the night.  We had a great time.  I got my butt stomped in pool after I bragged on how good I was.  Maybe it was my shoulder.  : )  No I just sucked tonight.  We walked over to a late night restaurant and had some appetizers and talked and joked.   We went back to our bunks and we all started singing.  We had a girl come down and tell us we were being too loud.  We quit and went to bed.  I can't sleep yet so I am playing the guitar real soft and feeling so grateful for the people I have met along my way.  I just am so glad that there is so many nice people in the world.  On TV and in the papers or even on the streets you hear of so much bad out there in our world.  There is really so much good out there.  There is beautiful land and nice people who are willing to help a complete stranger.  If only all the good out there was publicized.  Well folks it is really late and I am going to go to sleep now.

I took a hot shower this morning and took my antibiotics for my sinus infection.  I am going into town to look for some new clothes.  I met so many nice people in town all though I cannot remember all their names.  I couldn't find an affordable coat any where. I also was looking for a pair of shorts and I found a pair and some socks.  I found some numbers and letters at the Ace Hardware so I can put my wen site on my pack.  I thought that would be cool to have.  I found some epoxy glue to fill in the gap on Red.  I did some laundry today, not that I have a lot to wash.  Ryan and I visited today and then I visited with Paul my other roommate.   I haven't seen Mona much today she is busy and she is an outdoor girl.  I went and got me a bite to eat for dinner.  I called my nephew and he said he got to see Thomas the Train.  He is really in to trains.  I love getting to talk to my nephews.  The people here at the Hospice where I am staying are like family.  They are great people.  Well I am going to turn in for the night.  Good night folks.

Tony and Anu are staying here at the Hospice and they are from Europe.  They told me a little bit about Europe and over seas.  They will be following along with us.  I said good bye to everyone.  Ken took me up to the horses and he was going to ride with me for a little ways but he couldn't.  I rode out of Mount Crest more.  I forgot my cowboy hat and had to go back and get it.  Now that Kevin rode his bike down and picked it up for me. I can head out of town.  When I first got on Red he let out a big buck which is not unusual for Red when he has been cooped up.  He was a little gimpy at first but he is starting to get over it.  Hopefully he will be alright if not we will have to camp out until he gets better.  Sandra and Susanna are some really nice ladies I met.  They offered me some tea and cornbread.  So I said sure why not.  Susanna called Lisa who owns a dog named Tasha that had followed me. When Sandra and Susanna called me over I thought maybe it was their dog but it wasn't.  Tasha had a dog tag with a number to Lisa the owner.   The dog catcher was going to give Lisa a ticket for her dog being lose, and I told her I was watching the dog and we got out of the ticket.  I walked over to the trailer where my horses were tied and noticed Red's leg.  His leg is swollen where he had a scrape.  It wasn't swollen when I left this morning.  Sandra called a few people to find a place to put my horses for the night.  So we hauled the horses out there to the corrals and she took me back into town to the Hospice and insisted on paying for my bunk.  She is a sweet, sweet gal.  Lisa invited me over for a barbeque and I met Jenny, Diane, Patrick and Evan.  They were all good people and I sure did enjoy visiting with them.  After dinner I started to not feel good at all.  I got dizzy and felt out of it.  I went back to my bunk and went to sleep for awhile.  Then I called my Pops and talked for a long time.  I decided to wait until my horses are better.  Good night folks.

Sandra came and got me this morning and we went and picked up my horses.  I am still not feeling good.  I have been getting hot and cold so I set up my tent and have been laying in it hoping to get better because I don't want to be sick.  I am so tired of being sick.  This last month has been one thing after another.  It has really slowed us down.  Thank you Sandra and Susanna for all your help.  Thunder and Lightening storm has moved in on us.  I can see the lightening striking down not far from here.  I slept for along time today in my tent in hopes of feeling better.  Diane is going to come out and take me to town.  She is a really nice girl.  She came and took me to a concert in the park and Evan was there and few other people I met.  Evan, Diane and I went to a pizza place and it was the best pizza I had ever ate in my life.  The owners name is Roger and he is from Brazil.  Heck of a nice guy.  He told me I oughta ride through Brazil.  I told him I would consider it.  I got to meet more people and tell them about my trip and I got to hear other peoples stories.  Everyone has a story and I love hearing other peoples stories.  I appreciate every body's hospitality.  Jenny was there she is a real nice girl with a lot of energy.  Five girls are going to camp with me tomorrow.  I thought that was kind of cool.  Diane drove me back out here to my tent.  All the good people I met in Crested Butte thank you.  I am tired so I am going to get some sleep.  Good night folks.

I woke up to the beautiful music of the birds chirping this morning.  It is a gorgeous morning.  I took the horses down to the water.  I let them graze a little bit more.  I met my neighbors and they gave me some water so I didn't have to purify it out of the creek.  I have done a lot of sleeping and read some of my book.  I saddled up my horses and I need to get out of Crested Butte.  It took me quite a while to get them saddled up I am still not feeling well.  It is beautiful out here.  I reckon if I am going to be sick then  the Rocky Mountains are the  place to do it .  It sure is disappointing that I came all the way up this mountain to ride all the way down  again.  I was 18 miles from Aspen.  It is starting to rain on us.  It is cold today and for some stupid reason I got rid of my gloves.  I think it was because it was  110* in the dessert and I didn't need them.  We are having the most magnificent lightening storm.  Bolts coming down real close to me.  It is phenomenal.  Red and I have been talking it over on what route we should be taking.  The sun popped out and beautiful water falls coming down off the mountain.  I found a place to camp at the same place I was last night.  We rode 30 miles for nothing today.  I should have just stayed in my tent and slept.  I would really like to get to Aspen before the fourth of July.  I am going to lay here and figure out what I am going to do. To Aspen or not to Aspen???  Good night folks.

I left my campsite this morning.  A real nice lady came over and brought me a cup of coffee and talked to me for a while about my trip.  Her son came over and talked I think he was about my age.  She also gave me a few dollars for the trip.  They were real nice people who are going to be following the site.  For some strange reason I didn't catch their names.  We got to talking and nobody ever said names.  I decided to ride into Crested Butte again we are about 8 miles from there. If I get the opportunity to get a trailer ride back to where the Flying F Ranch is I will take it because it is about a 75 mile ride backwards.  I took a break on the side of the road.  Cars around here go fast on these dirt roads.  Horse Park Ranch is where we are heading.  I am disappointed that I am going back the way I came. It is what I have to do to get around these mountains.  I ran into a huge buck and there was a doe not to far away from him.  Red has been walking pretty fast today he wants to go.   I think they think we are going home.  We are in a since just not to the home they think.  I am back at the Horse Park Ranch didn't think I would see this place again.  There is plenty of green grass for my horses.  I appreciate every body following the site.  A little bit ago I was coming down the trail I ran into some people who said they were having a little bit of a situation.  I told them what I was doing and they didn't want to tell me what they were doing.  I got to my camp spot and they come pulling in.   I looked over yonder and seen a really nice horse trailer with living quarters so I reckoned it must have been theirs.  I figured they must have lost their horses.  Later he came over and visited with me.  I guess they lost their horses and had to walk out 10 miles of the rockies.  His name was Scott I think and his wife was Sharon but don't quote me on it.  They had a little bit of a hike today so it can happen to the best of us.  I offered to help them find their horses but they said no.    Well folks good night folks thanks for everything.

I woke up a little later this morning.  I guess I must have been tired.  The nice lady who lost her horses came over this morning and chatted for a little bit.  Then I met this nice guy named Harold from Africa.  He is sight seeing.  I am happy to have you along Harold.  It is a gorgeous morning.  I got off Red and walked a few miles.  My vision is all screwed up for some reason I can't figure out what the heck is wrong with it.  Everything is all blurry and I'm kind of seeing double.  I feel alright I don't feel sick or anything.  I ran into another nice guy named Steve. He gave me some water and I sure do appreciate it.  He sells beef all over Colorado maybe I can run into him again cause I sure wouldn't mind trying one of his steaks.  It is a beautiful ride even though we are going the other direction.  I have been fighting all day with Jahob's pack.  I might have to take it off and re do it.  Brandon and Cody came by in a horse trailer and stopped and talked a bit.  They were only going a quarter mile up to move some cows and if they see me when they come back through they would give me a ride.  Shoot even 10 miles will help that's less back tracking I would have to do.  If we don't get a ride there is going to be about couple of days of back tracking.  I ran into Brandon and Cody again and they invited me to chase cattle with them.  So I thought ok.  We pushed about 250 cows about 5 miles .  I let Jahob loose and he was helping us.  It took about 5 hours but we had a blast.  After wards we took their horses up to the main camp.  Cody decided to shoe his horse and neither one of them knew of my horse shoeing experience.  I offered them help but they said no.  I was getting frustrated watching them so I just climbed in there and got it done.  After that we visited for awhile. They told me about the ranches here and there around the hills. I had some of Brandon's Grandma's chocolate chip cookies.  They were good.  I know you're watching Grandma and they weren't as good as yours.  But they were definitely Grandma cookies.  They drove me up to Muddy Creek and that is where we pretty much made a wrong turn thinking we could get over that pass.  Tomorrow I will ride up to Red Stone.  I could get a few more supplies and a hot meal.  I had an awesome day with you Brandon and Cody thanks for all your help.  Good night folks.

I woke up this morning and heard some cars go by as I lay in my tent.  I heard a car stop then I heard Steve's voice.  He said hello and visited.  He is good people it was nice to see him.  I met up with some people and I didn't catch their names but they brought me some medicine for Red's withers and some grain and a couple of sandwiches.  I sure do appreciate that. I climbed up the mountain the horses worked up a little bit of a sweat.  It is hot out and we all worked up a thirst.  So when we came up on the creek we all got a drink and took a break.  It is clouding up and looking like it is going to storm.  The mountains look  like they are getting some thunderstorms.  I came into Red Stone and went into the cafe and met a real nice lady named Joanne and her son is a bull fighter and she used to do some barrel racing.  She is an awesome gal.  She works for AAA.  She bought my lunch and is going to email me some information on Iowa.  I took a picture of her and her mom.  I think it was her mom.  I rode out of Red Stone after lunch and the storm is getting closer we have some sprinkles coming down. I need to find a place to set up tent before it starts pouring.   We it started pouring on me folks.  I saw this place up ahead called Avalanche Ranch Cabins.  I went up to see is I could get a cabin and I saw horses there too.  I knocked on the door and a nice guy came out and told me he would get somebody in charge of the cabins.  This nice lady came out and it was his wife and she said the cabins were sold out.  I told her that was alright.  It was pouring real hard and I walked down to get on my horse and she said just a minute.  She said she has a house they rent out and they usually charge $300 a night but they charged me $40 and then took my horses down to the Hill Riders Ranch.  The horses are out to a green pasture and a pond and I will be sleeping in a nice big bed. I will be heading out tomorrow nice and clean. I met a lady from the Hill Riders Ranch and she was nice and quizzed me for awhile.  I sure do appreciate all  the hospitality around here.  Good night folks.

I didn't see anybody from the Avalanche Ranch today.  I sure do appreciate them putting me up in a room even though they weren't supposed to.  I got into Carbondale and was trying to get a hold of Lisa who said I could stay at her house.  She must be out of the area.  Everybody has been honking and waving.  Every one is in good spirits.  It seems to be a real nice little town.  I stopped at a Mexican Restaurant and had a burrito.  I met a lot of Steve's I think everyone around here is named Steve.  Janet who works for the newspaper interviewed me and is going to put something in the paper about the boys and I.  I rode down Main St and people seem to know who I am before I get into town.  Which gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.  I met a couple real pretty girls riding and asked them about the area.  So the two nice girls and me rode down to the stables.  The girls asked Mario and he said he was all filled up but I could stay at the Rodeo grounds that nobody would mind.  It is sure pretty here.  Lisa got a hold of me and told me of a place to stay tomorrow night.  Red's sore isn't doing all that great I gave him some Butte tonight.  I am really concerned about it.  They are happier then happy eating all this green grass.  We didn't ride that long today and tomorrow will probably be a shorter riding day.  I may not go into Aspen now.  There will be too much back tracking.  I thank all of you for following my site and please e-mail me with any ideas or input you have.  I really honestly from the bottom of my heart do appreciate every single little thing that any body I have met has done or that has helped in any way.  Well good night folks I am going to go to sleep now.

I woke up this morning and saddled up the horses and Red's sore looks better.  We rode through Carbondale and into Glenwood Springs everybody seemed to be nice.  Everybody was waving and at the edge of town there was this big bridge that went over the Colorado River and Hwy 70 and this Hot Springs place where there is a bunch of pretty girls in bikinis and what not.  There was some people tubing and it was just awesome.  We got over it and I couldn't find that darn road to get to that guys house that Lisa hooked me up with.  There is a lot of pretty girls and nice people waving at me here.  I met a girl named Sara working at the rafting and bike rental place.  I figured they would know the bike trails so I could get out of town.  Sara made a few phone calls and I was interviewed for the paper.  I thank you Sara for all your help.  I am riding down the bike trail and there is people on inner tubes and rafts and bikers and even trains.  There is some mountain sheep up on the mountain.  I don't know how the heck they got up there but I reckon that is why they call them mountain sheep.  This trail has been different.  It is an easy going bike trail but goes underneath the freeway and next to the train track and follows the river. We left this morning thinking we were only riding 6 miles then we end up riding 40.  I am still looking for a place for us to camp out for the night.  We are getting pretty tired.  Finally I came up on a ranch called the Bear Ranch  and the sign said cabins and camping and covered wagon deals.  It is a real beautiful place.  I don't know how many miles we rode to day but seems like a lot.  Seems like one of the longest days.  I need to quit saying I am going to ride a little ways because every time I say that it ends up being a long ways.  I talked to a few people when I first came to the ranch and they didn't speak English.  They pointed up the hill so I went up there and talked to a man and he went to get his wife and then people started showing up, I think they were their family.  It cost me $35 to camp here so I put my tent up and the horses have food.   They acted like they had energy left in them today when we got here. Which is good after a long ride like that.  I hope the people in Carbondale understand that I could not find their house or I would have stayed there.  It is probably a good thing that we are here tonight I have a covered wagon next to me.  I feel like I am in the wild wild west.  If you ever get a chance to go to Colorado check out the Bear Ranch off Hwy 70.  Thank you to everyone in Carbondale and Glenwood Springs.  It is starting to sprinkle and I am real tired tonight it was a long day.  If my  friends here enjoying this web site can send and email to Good Morning America or any talk show or any one you know.  I would appreciate it.  Thank you to any and everyone who has made donations.  I hope all of you are enjoying this journey.  Tomorrow is the 4th of July one of my favorite holidays.  Well good night y all and thank you for all your support.

Good morning America it is the 4th of July.  I told Red he needs to start bucking or something so I feel like it is the 4th of July.  This will be the first 4th of July I wasn't riding a bucking horse all weekend.  Red didn't want to buck he said he would rather just walk.  We got on the bike trail that goes along the freeway.  It is a beautiful place to ride a bike or a horse.  I need to stock up on some food and supplies today or tomorrow.  Happy 4th to everyone this is my favorite day of the year.  Last night I studied the map and the railroad goes up this road and the river goes up this road.  So I figured it couldn't be all that steep.  So we are taking it to Steamboat.  A guy stopped by named Harley he seemed like a nice guy.  I stopped in to Laura's house who lives next door to Harley and Laura's husband Jim.  I tightened up Red's loose shoe and visited with them and they gave me some cherries and an apple.  Thank you for your hospitality.  That organic apple was one of the best I have ever eaten in my life, the cherries were good too.  It looks like it might rain on me here on Colorado River Rd.  There is a lot of pretty girls floating down the river, looks like they might get rained on too.  It is starting to look a little deserty around here.  I came a cross a guy named Jim and had a drink with him, he said I could stay there tonight.  I am going to take him up on that and stay there tonight, so I will see you all in the morning.  Have a fun and safe 4th of July everyone and thank you for following along. Day 131I decided to stay another night here and give the horses a rest.  Jim found a pad laying around and I cut a hole out so I can put the saddle up a little higher off Red's withers.  I think it will help him out quite a bit.  We went fishing and didn't catch anything.  Jim is a heck of a nice guy he will be following the site.  We are happy to have him along.  Thanks so much Jim for the hay, the grain ,and your hospitality we appreciate it.  Well, we really didn't do much today but relax and visit and fish.  I will be back later. Day 132I'm on the trail again riding down River Road.  I have about a 30 mile ride today.  Jim gave me a can of beans and some things.  I still need to stock up on supplies.  I will at the next town.  It has been a beautiful ride today and the river has white caps.  It rained a little bit yesterday and so the river has a pink tent to it.  There's not very much grass where I am right now, a few trees in the distance.  It is kind of a dryer area.   A little bit ago a guy named Jim came by, heck of a nice guy.  He's an outfitter.  If you want to go packing in the Rockies and you need a guide his name is Jim, his phone number is 970-435-5707.  Jim supplies the horses and outfit and he is a heck of a nice guy.  Jim's your man and he will take you for a pack trip ride and you will kind of know what I am doing.  He gave me some directions from Steamboat to Laramie.  If any of you have some spare time send a email to me or to a big company and tell them I am looking for a sponsor.  I ran into Jim again as I was riding on Hwy 133 and he gave me a candy bar and soda pop some  trail mix.  We visited for a while.  The traffic on that rode is worse then some of the interstates.  He had an empty trailer and was on his way to Laramie.  I had him give me a ride 5 miles up the rode so I can get some food supplies and there was no place to camp off this busy highway.  This town I am at has one general store.  Thank you Jim for the ride and hospitality.  I figured with my extra 200 miles I rode in the Rockies here that getting a ride for 5 miles was probably a smart thing to do.  I met a nice family  that was coming from Glennwood which is  about a 3 days ride back and they asked me if they can have my autograph.  I let there son sit up on Red and they took a picture and his sister they were probably about 10 years old.  I love meeting kind people and people that are interested in my expedition.  It gives me the inspiration to get up in the morning and saddle up and keep going.  I got a few supplies at the General store and met a nice lady that works there.  I can get some more supplies in Yampa.  I think Yampa is about 30 miles from Steamboat.  The nice lady at the store let me set up my tent here. They have a big field where they have the U-Hauls are.   I saw 5 skunks when I was putting up my tent. I didn't get to close I didn't want to get to stinking.  They are stinky little critters when they squirt there juices out.  I was sprayed before and it took weeks for that smell to go away.  Big meadows everywhere and  a lot of ranches.  It is beautiful country.    Tomorrow is going to be another great day.  I do thank all of you for following my site.  Please send me an email and let me know if there is anything that you would like to hear more about.  Good night folks.  Day 133The horses and I have been riding for a few hours already this morning.  We feel pretty good the horses got enough to eat last night and we seen some raccoons a little bit ago.  They were hiding out and it is kind of strange to seen raccoons this early in the morning.  We saw a fox and a couple of birds, some hawks.  We are taking a little break, we are a few miles from Yampa still.  After our break we seen a guy on a four wheeler fixing a fence and he yelled hello at me so we rode over there and he was a real nice guy.  He had a horse flipped over on top of him not to long ago and he is still real sore.  He is going to follow the web site.  I rode off after chatting with him and his dad Paul and Paul's grand daughter rode up and asked if I wanted to follow them back to the ranch and visit with them.  So I followed them back and across the ranch.  His two granddaughters for give me for forgetting there names, can ride horses like no other.  One of the granddaughters, she was 6 and the other one was 12.  They were straight up cowgirls.  The one had won 27 buckles and the younger one had won 5 buckles.  The older girl does a lot of roping and barrel racing.  The younger one only does barrel racing.  I helped them move some cows.  After the third or second load he had the girls make us some sandwiches and they were great.  It had been a long time since I had home made sandwiches.  I sure do appreciate them making us those sandwiches.  I got to visit with Paul and his son and granddaughters.  I appreciate their hospitality and I hope I run across them again.  I left there and made it in to Yampa.  This town is awesome, they have dirt roads in the main street of town and they actually buck horses on the main street of town.  It is just an awesome little town.  I went in to the Post Office to shoot some tapes down to Annamarie so she can put them on the web site.  I ran into this real nice guy named Cody.  He came up to me and asked if he can ride my horse so I said where is your mom?  He came back with his mom and she said it is ok and he had never rode a horse in his life.  I stuck him up on Big Red and he was smiling from ear to ear.  He looked like he was glowing.  Cody came running in after me when I was in the Post Office. He says how do I prove that I rode your horse.  So I gave him a signed autographed picture of me and Red.  He said this proves I rode that horse and I said it sure does.  He went around telling everybody in town that he got to ride Big Red.  Cody I hope you are following the web site.  He is probably, I am guessing 7 or 8 years old.  I don't know I could be wrong.  After we left Yampa we headed up this crazy rode of Hwy 133.  The traffic was horrible and it was raining and cars were going way to fast.  We sat on the railroad tracks and saw a fox cross the tracks.  We rode past Pittsburgh and to the State Park.  We went to the Office and asked if we could camp there but they said all this crazy stuff about permits and stuff.  So we rode off and this lady in a State Park truck came up to us and wondered what we were doing and I told her I was trying to get off the State Park land and she told me I couldn't camp on Forest Service Land either.  I think it is wrong that they don't let a horse or person stay in a State Park for the night.  I got a little up set, and I tried to be as nice as I could.  It was almost dark and she was telling me I couldn't camp on Forest Service Land.  So we rode off and she followed us for a ways.  It was getting really dark when we finally found a spot and it was the side of the rode.  I really didn't like my camp spot I wasn't able to put up my tent, there wasn't enough room.  If anybody here following this web site gets an urge send a letter to State Parks Commissioner or who ever is in charge of the State Parks in Colorado.  They should let a horse stay the night there if needed.  It started raining on me so I got my tarp over my head.  My horses have grass to eat so that is good but I do not like this place we have to stay.  Well good night folks.  I will be back in the morning. Day 134We had a rough night last night.  We rode 13 hours yesterday and we sure wish we could have stayed in that State park.  It started raining on me last night pretty hard and I had that tarp over me.  I didn't get much sleep it was a miserable night.  We are heading for Steamboat Springs Colorado.  Hopefully I will find a nice place to put my horses up and take a shower and shop.  I took a little break on the side of the rode and  called my family since I haven't been able to talk to them in a few weeks.  A nice guy named Ren came by he was a heck of a nice guy.  He offered to put my horses up but I wanted to ride into town.  I heard the rodeo grounds were pretty nice and I can put my horses there.  I ran into Lisa the nice girl who's dog was following me through Crested Butte.  She pulled over and visited with me, and we decided to go to lunch in Steamboat.  I told her it would take me about an hour to get there.  It started raining on me after I ran into Lisa.  We rode in on County Rd 14 into town.  There was people taking pictures of me and videoing me as I came into town.  Lisa arranged from JR for me to have a spot at the Rodeo grounds.  She also got me a room at the Rabbit Ears Hotel and filled up my refrigerator in my room.  I showered and Lisa and I went out to dinner and then we went to the Rodeo.  JR works for Bad Company Rodeo he is a heck of a nice guy and has been working there for 30 years.  They put on a heck of a good rodeo tonight. There is a Rainbow festival going on with all kinds of people in town.  Lisa and I went out dancing.  Lisa I sure do appreciate all that you have done and I know you will be following the site.  Lisa and Dianne will be coming to Cheyenne they are nice girl and I enjoy their company.  I am going to get some sleep tonight in this big bed.  So I will be back tomorrow.

I decided to stay another night here and give the horses a rest.  Jim found a pad laying around and I cut a hole out so I can put the saddle up a little higher off Red's withers.  I think it will help him out quite a bit.  We went fishing and didn't catch anything.  Jim is a heck of a nice guy he will be following the site.  We are happy to have him along.  Thanks so much Jim for the hay, the grain ,and your hospitality we appreciate it.  Well, we really didn't do much today but relax and visit and fish.  I will be back later.

I'm on the trail again riding down River Road.  I have about a 30 mile ride today.  Jim gave me a can of beans and some things.  I still need to stock up on supplies.  I will at the next town.  It has been a beautiful ride today and the river has white caps.  It rained a little bit yesterday and so the river has a pink tent to it.  There's not very much grass where I am right now, a few trees in the distance.  It is kind of a dryer area.   A little bit ago a guy named Jim came by, heck of a nice guy.  He's an outfitter.  If you want to go packing in the Rockies and you need a guide his name is Jim, his phone number is 970-435-5707.  Jim supplies the horses and outfit and he is a heck of a nice guy.  Jim's your man and he will take you for a pack trip ride and you will kind of know what I am doing.  He gave me some directions from Steamboat to Laramie.  If any of you have some spare time send a email to me or to a big company and tell them I am looking for a sponsor.  I ran into Jim again as I was riding on Hwy 133 and he gave me a candy bar and soda pop some  trail mix.  We visited for a while.  The traffic on that rode is worse then some of the interstates.  He had an empty trailer and was on his way to Laramie.  I had him give me a ride 5 miles up the rode so I can get some food supplies and there was no place to camp off this busy highway.  This town I am at has one general store.  Thank you Jim for the ride and hospitality.  I figured with my extra 200 miles I rode in the Rockies here that getting a ride for 5 miles was probably a smart thing to do.  I met a nice family  that was coming from Glennwood which is  about a 3 days ride back and they asked me if they can have my autograph.  I let there son sit up on Red and they took a picture and his sister they were probably about 10 years old.  I love meeting kind people and people that are interested in my expedition.  It gives me the inspiration to get up in the morning and saddle up and keep going.  I got a few supplies at the General store and met a nice lady that works there.  I can get some more supplies in Yampa.  I think Yampa is about 30 miles from Steamboat.  The nice lady at the store let me set up my tent here. They have a big field where they have the U-Hauls are.   I saw 5 skunks when I was putting up my tent. I didn't get to close I didn't want to get to stinking.  They are stinky little critters when they squirt there juices out.  I was sprayed before and it took weeks for that smell to go away.  Big meadows everywhere and  a lot of ranches.  It is beautiful country.    Tomorrow is going to be another great day.  I do thank all of you for following my site.  Please send me an email and let me know if there is anything that you would like to hear more about.  Good night folks.

The horses and I have been riding for a few hours already this morning.  We feel pretty good the horses got enough to eat last night and we seen some raccoons a little bit ago.  They were hiding out and it is kind of strange to seen raccoons this early in the morning.  We saw a fox and a couple of birds, some hawks.  We are taking a little break, we are a few miles from Yampa still.  After our break we seen a guy on a four wheeler fixing a fence and he yelled hello at me so we rode over there and he was a real nice guy.  He had a horse flipped over on top of him not to long ago and he is still real sore.  He is going to follow the web site.  I rode off after chatting with him and his dad Paul and Paul's grand daughter rode up and asked if I wanted to follow them back to the ranch and visit with them.  So I followed them back and across the ranch.  His two granddaughters for give me for forgetting there names, can ride horses like no other.  One of the granddaughters, she was 6 and the other one was 12.  They were straight up cowgirls.  The one had won 27 buckles and the younger one had won 5 buckles.  The older girl does a lot of roping and barrel racing.  The younger one only does barrel racing.  I helped them move some cows.  After the third or second load he had the girls make us some sandwiches and they were great.  It had been a long time since I had home made sandwiches.  I sure do appreciate them making us those sandwiches.  I got to visit with Paul and his son and granddaughters.  I appreciate their hospitality and I hope I run across them again.  I left there and made it in to Yampa.  This town is awesome, they have dirt roads in the main street of town and they actually buck horses on the main street of town.  It is just an awesome little town.  I went in to the Post Office to shoot some tapes down to Annamarie so she can put them on the web site.  I ran into this real nice guy named Cody.  He came up to me and asked if he can ride my horse so I said where is your mom?  He came back with his mom and she said it is ok and he had never rode a horse in his life.  I stuck him up on Big Red and he was smiling from ear to ear.  He looked like he was glowing.  Cody came running in after me when I was in the Post Office. He says how do I prove that I rode your horse.  So I gave him a signed autographed picture of me and Red.  He said this proves I rode that horse and I said it sure does.  He went around telling everybody in town that he got to ride Big Red.  Cody I hope you are following the web site.  He is probably, I am guessing 7 or 8 years old.  I don't know I could be wrong.  After we left Yampa we headed up this crazy rode of Hwy 133.  The traffic was horrible and it was raining and cars were going way to fast.  We sat on the railroad tracks and saw a fox cross the tracks.  We rode past Pittsburgh and to the State Park.  We went to the Office and asked if we could camp there but they said all this crazy stuff about permits and stuff.  So we rode off and this lady in a State Park truck came up to us and wondered what we were doing and I told her I was trying to get off the State Park land and she told me I couldn't camp on Forest Service Land either.  I think it is wrong that they don't let a horse or person stay in a State Park for the night.  I got a little up set, and I tried to be as nice as I could.  It was almost dark and she was telling me I couldn't camp on Forest Service Land.  So we rode off and she followed us for a ways.  It was getting really dark when we finally found a spot and it was the side of the rode.  I really didn't like my camp spot I wasn't able to put up my tent, there wasn't enough room.  If anybody here following this web site gets an urge send a letter to State Parks Commissioner or who ever is in charge of the State Parks in Colorado.  They should let a horse stay the night there if needed.  It started raining on me so I got my tarp over my head.  My horses have grass to eat so that is good but I do not like this place we have to stay.  Well good night folks.  I will be back in the morning.

We had a rough night last night.  We rode 13 hours yesterday and we sure wish we could have stayed in that State park.  It started raining on me last night pretty hard and I had that tarp over me.  I didn't get much sleep it was a miserable night.  We are heading for Steamboat Springs Colorado.  Hopefully I will find a nice place to put my horses up and take a shower and shop.  I took a little break on the side of the rode and  called my family since I haven't been able to talk to them in a few weeks.  A nice guy named Ren came by he was a heck of a nice guy.  He offered to put my horses up but I wanted to ride into town.  I heard the rodeo grounds were pretty nice and I can put my horses there.  I ran into Lisa the nice girl who's dog was following me through Crested Butte.  She pulled over and visited with me, and we decided to go to lunch in Steamboat.  I told her it would take me about an hour to get there.  It started raining on me after I ran into Lisa.  We rode in on County Rd 14 into town.  There was people taking pictures of me and videoing me as I came into town.  Lisa arranged from JR for me to have a spot at the Rodeo grounds.  She also got me a room at the Rabbit Ears Hotel and filled up my refrigerator in my room.  I showered and Lisa and I went out to dinner and then we went to the Rodeo.  JR works for Bad Company Rodeo he is a heck of a nice guy and has been working there for 30 years.  They put on a heck of a good rodeo tonight. There is a Rainbow festival going on with all kinds of people in town.  Lisa and I went out dancing.  Lisa I sure do appreciate all that you have done and I know you will be following the site.  Lisa and Dianne will be coming to Cheyenne they are nice girl and I enjoy their company.  I am going to get some sleep tonight in this big bed.  So I will be back tomorrow.

Well I am back folks.  I just woke up at the Rabbit Ears Hotel.  I slept in a queen sized bed last night.  It was sure comfy.  I woke up to JR calling me he wanted to know if I wanted to help him feed the horses and if I needed a ride to the Rodeo grounds.  He came and picked me up.  I fed my horses and helped him feed his horses.  We did a bit of chores.  I took him to lunch.  I met quite a few  nice people with the Bad Company Rodeo.  I sure do appreciate all their hospitality.  JR is a great guy.  I highly recommend the Bad Company Rodeo they have, good guys, good horses and good bulls.  I went to the vet today since JR needed to go there any ways.  I picked up some wormer and the vet recommended some stuff that is like the Blue Ocean stuff I have.  It is in a spray can and it will help the saddle sore on Red.  He was a heck of a nice guy and everyone said he is one of the best vets in the area.  We went back to the Rodeo grounds and I wormed my horses and sprayed some of that good medicine on Red and spent some time with my horses.  They are enjoying this little break that they are getting.  I hope they do good going up into Cheyenne.  I am supposed to leave tomorrow.  The weather is calling for rain all week.  I went back to my room and called and talked to my family.  JR is a heck of a nice guy and I wish him the best in life.  Thank you to everyone from Bad Company Rodeo and all the nice people I have met.  I am glad to have met you and I wish you all the best in life.  I am glad to have you all along on my web site.  I will be back in the morning.  Good night and sweet dreams everyone.

I woke up this morning and packed up all my gear.  I called JR and asked if he could pick me up and give me a ride to the Rodeo grounds.  He was almost to my hotel when I called him. I didn't quite eat all the food that I got from Lisa so I gave the rest of it to JR.  We went over to the Rodeo grounds and walked over to my horses and realized that Red had some how last night got tangled up in the cable and broke his halter.  Some one had jerry rigged it on so I imagine he was loose at some point last night.  He had a pretty swollen back hawk.  I don't know what I am going to do I put some ointment on it and ran some water on it.  I am trying to get a hold of the vet back home or my dad or the vet here.  I gave him some Butte a little while ago.  Hopefully the vet or someone will give me a call and give me a call and give me an idea.  I am going to camp out here at the rodeo grounds.  I can't afford a room for another night.  It is a bummer that my horse is hurt and that I am not on my way to Cheyenne.  I am going to do every thing I can to make Red comfortable and to help him heal up.  I can't believe he got caught up in the darn cable.  I have used that cable for three months now.  Maybe he rolled or something, I don't know.  I got a hold of Joseph's wife he is one of the nicest Vets, he is up in Palermo.  The Vet here called and told me to do exactly what I have done.  I might have him come out tomorrow.  If I have to I definitely will.  My horses are the most important thing so I will do anything and everything to make sure they are taken care of.  My dad told me to do what I had done.  He also told me to lead him around and put some ice on there and get some blood flowing through there.  I need to keep the swelling down.  I met a nice guy, Eric he is part of the Rodeo staff he pretty much takes care of the Rodeo grounds here, him and a couple of other guys.  He told me I could stay here as long as I needed, which was a relief because it is really hard to find places sometimes.  Especially when your horse is lamed up and you can't ride.  I just found out that last night JR had to go to the hospital.  He was having some chest pains and they wanted to keep him at the hospital.  He is a tough old fart and pretty stubborn too.  He told them he had chores and things to do so he wasn't staying.  I noticed he is out of breath now and then and I think that has something to do with his condition.  I tried to talk him into going back.  I think I can talk him into going back to the hospital.  A lot of the guys here with the Bad Company Rodeo have been trying to talk him into doing a follow up.  I finished the chores around here and doctored Red and walked him.  I soaked his leg for quite a while and I gave Jahob and Red a bath.  Hopefully my horse will be better in a couple of days.  I hope JR will be ok too.  He is a good buddy.  I will be back tomorrow to let you know how my night went.  Good night.

I am back and last night I stayed at the apartments with JR and the boys.  JR and I went down and got dinner last night.  We got up pretty early this morning and had breakfast at the Egg and I.  I had some oatmeal.  I am not a big breakfast eater.  We headed to the Rodeo grounds after breakfast to feed the horses and do the chores.  I could kind of tell that JR was having some problems.  He said he felt ok but he had been telling me that you have to take care of your bones because when you get older it starts hurting.  He told me that quite a few times in the last couple of days.  We took him back to the hospital after that to get JR checked out.  They did a EKG on him where they stuck a bunch of sticky deals on his chest.  It monitored his heart rate and his heart.  They done one the other night when he was at the hospital and it has gotten a lot worse in a couple of days.  I called his boss and the doctor talked to his boss.  They thought he might be having a heart attack at that time.  They wanted him to stay the night.  They need to do some blood work and more tests on him.  JR is an awnry, tough guy and a good guy who has worked hard all his life.  He really didn't want to stay he tried really hard to sell me on why he shouldn't stay.  He is going to stay and I am hoping and praying that he is going to be alright.  I stayed up here at the hospital for a while with JR and then went back to the Rodeo grounds where there was some drama going on.  I am not going to mention any names but there was a guy who has been dealing with a lot of family problems and hard times in his life.  He was taking it out on his girlfriend which put me in an awkward position.  I was trying to stay out of it because I don't like to get involved in a relationship deal like that.  He got a little physical with her so I couldn't help but get involved with it.  I knew he had been going through a lot lately in his life.  To make a long story short I tried to calm him down and hold him to keep him from doing anything.  I let him know that I am here for him as a friend and if he needed to talk about this I was here for him and to leave his girlfriend alone.  It eventually was over with and I don't like drama and I guess I was supposed to be there at that time.  I believe peoples paths cross for a reason.  There is sure a lot going on around here. After all that I was doctoring Red and feeding JR's horses and graining them.  John is the trick rider a very talented man and he does pretty crazy cool stuff on his horses.  If any body needs a trick rider let me know he is good.  John and Carla brought a vet with them to the grounds.  They were talking to a really nice vet and he said he wanted to come check it out his name is Nolan and he is a heck of a nice guy.  John and Carla are great people too.  Nolan he is one hell of a good vet he did acupuncture and chiropractic on Red and gave me Emu oil for him.  He said I was doing a pretty good job of treating him but told me of some other things I can do.  He also checked out John's horses that he does his trick riding on.  I am going to put a deal on my web site so you can check out his site.  He rides two horses at the same time, jumps through a flame and jumps over a car.  It is phenomenal.  I so appreciate John and Carla for caring enough to bring Nolan out ,and Nolan for checking out my horses and didn't charge me, he just told me to say a lot of prayers.  Thank you everybody.  I went back to the hospital after that. I am staying the night here tonight with JR.  So far it is looking good and he has a few more test tomorrow.  I hope and pray he will be alright.  he is a good guy.  Well good night folks I will be back tomorrow.

Good morning everybody on Ez's Expedition.  It has been a heck of a morning this morning.  I woke up this morning on a roll away bed in the hospital.  I got a little bit of shut eye last night.  JR my buddy,  passed all his test and he surprised the doctors.  We went back to the Rodeo grounds to check on my babys and doctor them up and bathe them.  I was looking forward to seeing them.  Red's doing a little better but not good enough to be riding out tomorrow.  I helped JR feed the horses and do the stuff around here.  John offered to let me stay in his horse trailer, he has a really nice horse trailer here.  He did most of the work in the living quarters himself.  It is really nice it has cow skins and country decor.  It is an awesome looking trailer.  I sure do appreciate you John letting me stay in your trailer.  They are having a shin dig here.  I think it is kind of like a Gymkhana.  It nice to see little kids riding that aren't even 4 years old.  It's like their born to do it.  I met a lot of people here that will be joining the web site.  I also want to thank every body at the hospital for their hospitality..  The Yampa Valley Hospital here in Steamboat Springs has a lot of good nurses and good Doctors and they treat their patients really good.  They also put a deal up on their computer for everybody in the hospital to follow my web site.  I appreciate that and I thank you.  I also want to thank everybody here at the Rodeo grounds for their hospitality.  I would like to make Frontier Days in Cheyenne but I won't be leaving until my horse is better.  The condition of my horse is the most important thing to me and that is just the way it is.  If my horse don't feel good then my horse isn't going any where.  Hopefully he will be feeling better shortly.  John and I went to the nice restaurant and had dinner.  I had dinner with Kayla, Max, and J.  I got to visit and get to know everybody a little bit better.  It was really nice, we had a real good time.  After dinner John and I went back to the trailer and he pulled out the couch into a bed for me.  It feels like I am traveling first class here in this trailer.  John asked me if I would help him with his act in the Rodeo.  I hope to get it on video and put it on the site.  Thanks John for you kindness.  Well folks I am going to sleep now.  See ya in the morning.

I slept real good last night.  I got up this morning and went out to my horses and saw JR already over there feeding so I went and visited with him for a while.  I got my horses out and moved them over towards John's trailer so I can keep a better eye on them.  The spot I had them in was a little bit of mud because they wash the horses over there.  The mud was good for their feet but I didn't want to leave them to long, didn't want any thrush or anything.  After I moved the horses John took me up to the feed store and I got some more hay and grain and supplement that Nolan brought over the other day.    I put that in their grain and fed it to them and then we had to go back over to the feed store to get some propane.  We picked up some lunch while we were out.  I met a few people here at the grounds when we came back and they had a little girl who has never been up on a horse before so I set her up on Jahob.  I talked with them for a bit about my journey.  John washed his horses and I  headed to wash up Red.  I saw a fox sneaking up on us here I took a picture but I am not sure how it is going to turn out. John ran me through on how I am going to help him out tonight.  I am going to drag his inflamed jump out to the middle of the arena that he will jump through.  Then I am going to drive him out for his Miss Universe skit that he does.  Pretty funny from what I have been told.  I drive him out in this old car.  We did the skit at the beginning of the Rodeo.  John was riding into the sun and he said that is the worst way to do it.  The horses didn't want to go through it at first.  He stands on two horses back while they jump through the flame ring.  I drive the car out kind of fast and he acts like he is falling out of the car,  he is dressed in a fat lady costume with big  rolls and boobs hanging out all over the place.  I park the car and he gets out and does some funny stuff and the announcer says I never heard of Miss Universe.  He goes on to say I heard of Miss Colorado and Miss USA but never Miss Universe.  The announcer says you are supposed to ride a horse and he says that's my horse as he points to the beat up old car I drove him in on.  They bring the horse out to him.  He acts like he doesn't know how to ride or get on a horse then he jumps on and jumps over the car with his hands in the air.  I highly recommend him to any one.  Any type of entertainment thing that you have horses involved.  He is the best and more into pleasing the crowd then collecting a pay check.  I'm sure he likes his paycheck too.  With the price of gas and expenses to take care of his horses.  He does a great job.  I had a chance to visit with good people at the rodeo grounds after the rodeo.  Then we came back to the trailer.  I am going to get some sleep now.  I will be back in the morning.

Day 141

Good morning everybody. I went out and checked on my ponies and Red's leg looks good. The swelling went way down. He looks like he could actually go out today but I am going to give him another days rest. I want to make sure he is healed before I take him back out on the trail. That stuff Nolan the Vet gave me is working pretty good. Great stuff, it is some type of a Emu oil. I am going to stay another day and head out tomorrow. We will take our time on making it over to Cheyenne. I gave Carla's dog a bath. John is watching her dog so I decided to bathe it. I am kind of falling in love with this little dog. It needed a bath for sure. After that John and I and this nice lady who is the Rodeo secretary for the PRCA, went to lunch. We went to this little Mexican Restaurant. After lunch I went over to the laundry mat to get all my clothes clean for tomorrows ride out. John and I got his horses ready for his Roman act. He jumped away from the sun today and it looked a lot better. His Miss Universe act went well too. After the rodeo was over I helped John pack up his gear and I packed up my gear. I highly recommend hiring John for any rodeo's or parties. He is really good and his act is hilarious. Well folks it has been a long day and I am anxious to get out on the trail tomorrow. I am going to go to bed now. Good night folks.

Day 142

Well folks I am back and headed out on the trail. I got up at 6:30 this morning. Saddled up my horses and said my good byes. John loaded up his horses to take off too and he is a great guy. I visited with a real nice guy who keeps the Rodeo grounds in Steamboat organized and clean. I appreciate all the hospitality of Steamboat, they are great people. I took a bucket of that supplement for my horses and gave it to Jason he was headed over to Cheyenne. He said he would take it over there for me. I kept some on me for the ride over. As I headed out of town people were waving at me. I didn't get an ad in the Steamboat paper. They weren't interested in my story for some reason. Anybody in Steamboat if you could spread the news about my story, I sure would appreciate it. We took a few trails up the Buffalo Pass and it was a beautiful ride. I met nice people everywhere on bike and on horseback. Colorado is beautiful I might just have to come back here after I go around the world. It is an absolutely gorgeous ride here. We got to the top of the mountain here and we took a break. There is a nice breeze and a creek. A fox crossed our path and I grabbed for my camera and as soon as I got it the little critter ran. I guess I need to be quick on my camera draw if I am going to catch a picture of a critter. It seems like a long ways down the mountain. These switch backs make it look steeper. Hopefully we make it to Grizzly Creek where we will stay for the night. The horses are doing real good, Red is full of energy. We finally made to the bottom and passed the Grizzly Creek camp grounds. I didn't stay there because it was packed but I am regretting not staying there now. An antelope crossed in front of us and then he stopped and turned and looked at us. It is pretty wide open here. We rode quite a ways before we found a place to pitch my tent. The flies and mosquitoes are so thick they could pick you up and carry you away. Where I am at there is green grass for the horses. I just realized I crossed the Continental Divide today. I am half ways across the United States. A few people stopped by to say hello. The wind picked up and feels like a storm is blowing in. There are a few sprinkles. Red and Jahob could use a few weeks off. I want them 100% when I leave and they weren't quite 100%. So I have decided when I get to Laramie WI I will take a few weeks off. Well good night folks I am going to sleep. Be back in the morning.

Day 143

I woke up this morning and took my sweet time and saddled them up. We left our camp site around 10:00 a.m. We rode down Rd 24 off of Hwy 14. Buffalo Pass turns into Rd 24. We seen some deer and antelope and it seems high deserty here like I am in Nevada again. We should be back in the mountains by tomorrow. If there is any body out there that enjoys this web site and what we are doing and thinks it is really cool, if you could run an ad in your newspaper to let people know. Or tell a friend or e-mail my site to all your friends. The more the merrier. I want everyone out there that might enjoy this to be a part of it. I want to put a smile on anyone and everyone's face I can. Thank you. I am almost to Walden and the horses were pretty thirsty. There was this nice lady and her husband working on their house so I pulled up and asked if we could get some water. They got me a hose and a bucket. Thank you that was really nice. My horses and I appreciated it very much. They told me how to get to the newspaper office. I am happy to be to Walden. I rode through town and some people told me the newspaper would be interested in my story. They took some pictures of me and the boys(Red and Jahob) and they found a place for me to stay for the night with a local guy named Jim. They are the head of the Paramedic Group and their nieces Kayla and Hillary were over there at the barn. Jim and Becky came to the newspaper place and told me how to get to the barn and there was a couch in the tack room for me to sleep on. I unsaddled my horses and cleaned out my gear and cleaned out my pack boxes. Jim and Becky came back to the barn with their nieces who were feeding the chickens. I gave Hillary my Kangaroo skin and sunglasses, I needed to cut down on the weight. I know she will take care of that kangaroo skin. I went over to the Moose Cafe in Walden and had dinner. They have awesome peach cobbler there. I met quite a few people there and I appreciate their hospitality. I am about 120 miles from Cheyenne I found out. I went back to the barn. I am going to get myself comfortable on the couch and get some shut eye. Good night everyone.

Day 144

I left Jim and Becky's place and I sure do appreciate their hospitality. I enjoyed visiting with them. I wish I had a little bit longer to get to know them better. I went to the Moose and had breakfast. I tied up the horses out front and I met some real nice people there. One guy bought my breakfast and a lady gave me a few dollars. I sure do appreciate their hospitality. It is really nice that people are out there and appreciate what I am doing and I thank you again for being so nice to me. I met this nice lady named Ruth and she seen me in Nevada somewhere between Elly and Baker. It was pretty cool to see somebody who has seen me before on the trail. She was real nice lady I hope she leaves me an e-mail. It was a pleasure seeing you again. Walden thank you for your hospitality. If you ever get a chance to go to Walden you should. There is really nice people and beautiful country. I just rode into a little town on the out skirts of Colorado, I don't recollect the name of it. A guy named Ray that I met at dinner last night lives here. He stopped by the side of the road and told me to stop by and get a drink for my horses. So we stopped in and visited he gave me a soda pop. He is a real nice guy and used to be the Fire Chief in Fort Collins. I enjoyed visiting with him. As I was visiting with him a nice lady named Karen stopped by. She said she has some pasture near the border and I could put my horses there for the night. She also gave me some bug spray and she said she was going to tell as much people as she could about the web site. I sure do appreciate that. I wish the best for you Karen. Cawdrey was the name of the town I was just in. I am a little ways from Wyoming Laramie is 53 miles from here. The sign says 104 to Cheyenne. I came a cross a real nice guy I believe his name is Buck. He is the brand inspector around here. He does a lot of stuff to cattle marking them and branding them. He saw me yesterday and decided to stop and say hi today. He gave me an ice tea. I really like when people stop and say hi and give me an ice tea on a hot day. There is some cloud cover in the mountains looks like thunderstorms up there. We made it into Wymoning and it feels good to cross the state line. It started to rain a little bit on us. I want to thank everybody in Colorado. I hope Wyoming will treat me as good as Colorado did. I stopped at a little bar restaurant here and had me a Buffalo Burger and met a nice guy named Mike I don't remember the waitress name but she was a nice lady and a young lad there that I didn't get to talk to much. After leaving there I rode up a ways and couldn't find the spot Karen was telling me about. I am somewhere out on Forest Land in this big meadow. As I was riding up here there was some elk that were right under a thousand pounds a piece I would guess. They were the biggest elk I have ever seen in my life. I trained on us a bit here so my feet got pretty wet walking in the grass. I had my high tech shoes instead of my cowboy boots. They aren't quite water proof. I took Red's saddle off and his sore isn't getting better. If I can't get the pad situated to keep any pressure off the sore I am going to have Chris my buddy pick us up we are about 30 something miles from his house. I don't want to lose another week. I can't relax knowing he has a sore on him, he has carried me a lot of miles, and I love him more then anything in the World. I don't like seeing him have any type of ailments. I will work on something for him tomorrow. My horse are the most important thing to me next to God of course. This is my first night sleeping in Wyoming with my two horses. I am looking forward to a wonderful trip through Wyoming. I will be back in the morning folks to tell you more about Wyoming.

Day 151

I talked to my little brother and my nephew and my older brother too. I think I talked to them to long. It was pretty late and I slept in till 7:30 this morning. Luckily Cody slept in too. We made it on time to the store to open it. I went out to my horses and found that Red had leaned over the fence last night and cut his chest. It's not real bad but one of them could have used a stitch. It was dried up and crusty. What am I gonna do with that boy? I put some medicine from the feed store on it. I am going to have to get him to stop leaning over that fence. The fair is coming into Laramie so I was thinking of what I can do for the fair. I had a nice day at the store today. I also got a phone call from Chris Beaty tonight and he asked if I wanted to ride in Cheyenne. I said can a fish swim? I will be riding Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I am pretty excited to ride in Cheyenne since it will be my only rodeo this year. I haven't been on a bucking horse in a year. I am not going to tell my Pa about it, tell afterwards because he would kick my butt. One day away tell Rodeo time. Wild horse race is dangerous so there is no telling what can happen. That is the thrill of it. In rodeo you don't think if I am going to get hurt it is if and when. You just have to be comfortable with that fact. Being that I have been busted up at this rodeo three years in a row. I think the odds are in my favor. I appreciate everybody following my site. Stay tuned tomorrow for my adventures at the feed store. Good night and sweet dreams.

I got up this morning and drove the truck and trailer to the feed store.  We opened the store and met some nice people and some repeat customers I have already met.  I am going to finish the addition I am doing before I leave town.  Bob came in today and we got to visiting and he is one heck of a nice guy.  He is into Endurance riding and he knows some of the top Veterinarians in the country.  I wish I had more time to visit with him but I had to tend to customers and work.  I am going to visit with him before I leave he is a heck of a good guy.  After I got off work today I borrowed Allan’s truck and went over to Bob’s and met his lovely wife and see all his landscaping he is working on.  It is a tough thing to do in Wyoming because of the long winters.  He invited me inside and I showed him my web site and visited with him and his wife.  I gave my hat that was signed by all the team bronc riders.  I just got a feeling that I was to give him the hat.  I know all my friends would want him to have that hat too.  He is a heck of a good guy.  He plans on coming to Africa and see me.  I know he and his wife will be following the site.  I thank you for following the site and being my friend.  I left his house and went to Walmart and got some things I needed like soap and peanut butter and other things I needed.  I am home now and ready to get some shut eye. Good night folks.  I will be back in the morning.

I am back folks and it is morning.  I woke up and drove to the store and helped open up.   I then proceeded to work on the addition but it is hard when customers are coming in and I am helping them.  We close at noon today so I am hoping to get some stuff done on the addition this afternoon.  The horses are doing great and putting on weight.  I still haven't rode Striker yet but I will.  Cody and Allen left to go the fair to buy a pig and a steer and left me in charge.  I had customers come in and I figured out how to ring them up and the prices but the customers were real nice and patient.  I am having a hard time getting things square on this addition.  The building I am going up against isn't square the floor isn't level and the wood is all twisted.  This isn't working out for me like I would like but I am doing the best I can.  Cody and Allen came back around 5 o clock. We worked on the addition until about 9:30 tonight then we grabbed a bite to eat.  I came home after that and I am beat.  I hope to get up early and get back on that addition. I am going to get some shut eye now.  I will be back in the morning folks.

Good morning folks.  I woke up a little later this morning and went over to the feed store and it was all locked up.  Allen and Cody hadn't got there yet.  I went over to the stock yard to see if they were there.  I saw Bret, Cody’s cousin and visited with him. By then they were over at the feed store and it was opened.  I got to meet Cody’s friend John and had some time to visit and get to know him.  Then we went to work on the addition and came a cross the problem of the square ness.  The grounds not square and some of the woods not straight.  So we tweaked some things and got it as straight as we can.  It is frustrating for me because I am a bit of a perfectionist.  It is just an inch off.  We are know where near having this addition done yet but hopefully we will get it done so I can go in a few days.  Rob came home after picking up cowboys off of bucking horses for the past week.  We got to visit and I talked to him about Striker.  I need to get on him and ride before I leave and I only have a few days left.  I hope he is not a bucking bronc but who knows maybe I will get him cheaper if he is.  Well I have a lot of work to do tomorrow on that addition so I better get some sleep.  Good night yall and thank you for following my site.

I woke around 7:30 this morning and I didn’t really want to get up this morning.  We opened the store when we got there.  We were busier this morning more then usual because we have so much stuff stacked up because of the addition.  I met a lot of new customers today and told them about my trip and some of them had heard about it in the paper.  This one lady had the most beautiful eyes I think I have ever seen in my entire life.  She was quite a bit older then I but she had gorgeous eyes.  She will be following the site too.  I welcome all the people  that will be following along.  We had more customers  and I was trying to help them and work on the addition in between.  Cody and I went and checked out Striker.  We got him separated from the other horses and I talked to him and pet him.  He definitely has some wild bones in him.  I don’t think he has a mean bone he seems real sweet.  Cody and I thought if we got him separated from the other horses it would be a good idea so we did and put him in the corral.  We then went back to the feed store to work.  Cody and Allen and I worked on the addition real late.  The building we are going up against isn’t real square.  I think we did a pretty good job because it looks real nice.  I think it is going to take at least 4 more days to get this done.  We have been pulling late nights.  I still have to shoe my horses and ride Striker and get his blood work done.  I have so much too do.  I am so grateful to Cody and Allen for giving me this opportunity to work and have a place to stay and being my friends.  I want to tell you a little bit about them.  Cody is one of the hardest working guys I have ever met and I have met a lot of hard workers.  He is not that tall but he is tough.  He works from sun up to sun down.  He has his hay business and his feed store and this project and that one.  Allen is pretty tall and a hard worker too.  He always has something going on and he is knowledgeable of horses.  He has worked in a feed store for thirty years.  They are both horse men and have a lot of knowledge.  They are very kind also.  If there is any single women in Laramie they are both single.  I do appreciate all they have done.  I need to get some sleep these long days are kicking my butt.  Good night everyone and thank you for following me.

Day 163

I slept in this morning until 9 o’clock.  My feet were hurting me bad last night.  This morning I could barely stand on them.  I went to Kmart and bought some Dr Scholls and  put them in my shoes,  I got a pair for Cody too because his feet were hurting too.  When I got there they had already opened the store and I went and checked on my horses and grained them.  I talked to Red and Jahob for a little bit then went to work on that addition in between helping customers.  People are starting to look familiar now.  Bob came in today he is a very special person. He and I got to visit for a while he is a great guy.  He read my entire website all the way up to the date I am on now.  He is an awesome guy and I am so happy he is following my trip.  He is sending e-mails and doing things to help my trip.  He says he is going to visit with me again before I leave.  He gave me some great information on some pads that are made.  I feel very honored to have met Bob and I am grateful for all he has done.  Another wonderful guest came in to the store today.  The real nice lady that I stayed in the lime cabin in Woods Landing.   She is a heck of a nice lady.  She heard I was working here and she came in with her granddaughter.  She stuck some  money in my shirt pocket and told me to buy some lunch.  She put a picture of Red and I and Jahob in the lime cabin she is an awesome person.  We put some sheet rock up and Cody made an appointment for Striker to get some blood work done.  Cody sent me over to get Striker and there was a white horse with his foot up.  I was able to get to him before the Vet and took a look at him.  It stepped on a nail up in his foot and I pulled it out and tied him up so the Vet can doctor him up.  I caught Striker and it could have been easier but I got him before the Vet got here.  He is still a little skittish.  After the Vet got down with him Cody came down and we put Striker in the round pin and found the saddle and bridal.  As soon as I pulled that synch strap on the saddle Striker started a bucking.  I finally let him go and he calmed down and I went and talked to him.  Cody put the driving rains and bridal on him.  It is a little different then how I train but it worked slick.  He is bad about going to the right he favors the left.  I am going to have to work on him on the right side.  After Cody drove him for awhile I decided to ride him.  I put a little weight on him and he started bucking again.  I tried again, I believe in teaching a horse not breaking a horse.  He had 45 days on him a couple of years ago.  I guess you can say he is green broke.  I kept my body really low and went real slow.  Once I got on him and got my feet in the stir ups I just sat there for awhile.  I gave him some time to take a breath and get used to me being on there.  Cody helped me out to get him moving a little bit and Cody got it on camera.  He plow reigns he doesn’t neck reign.  I started to relax a little bit which you should never do on a green horse.  He ended up bucking and bucking hard.  I had some air between the saddle and me and I hit that saddle hard.  Cody ran towards the fence.  I stayed on him and rode him some more after that.  I was hurting though.  Once the bucking was all done I rode him in circles and put him away.  I am going to sell Striker probably when I get to New York.  I am going back to the feed store to work on the addition.  I am pretty sore but I am all right. We got a lot of sheet rock hung tonight.  I hope to get this addition finished and hit the trail in a few days.  Striker is pretty good about people coming up to him and touching him.  I hope he works out.  I am tired and sore from my ride.  I sure could use my personal massage therapists Annamarie right now.  Well folks I will quit whining like a sissy la la.  Good night I will see you tomorrow.

Day 164

I woke up this morning and my neck was hurting so bad I could hardly move it and I had a gimp too.  I thought it would be best if I went to see a chiropractor.  I gave Bob a call and he told me of a real good Chiropractor on Grand Ave and sure enough Mr Jones’s office was right across the street from Taco Bell.  The office ladies had seen my pictures in the Boomerang news paper.  I told them I was riding a bucking horse yesterday.  They gave me some papers to fill out and told me to come back in an hour. I went to the feed store and had a cup of coffee and loaded a couple of trucks.  Cody’s cousin showed up and we talked about the addition and riding Striker.  Guy came over and offered to help me shoe the horses.  I went back to the Chiropractor Mr Jones he is a nice guy and he is good.  I highly recommend him if you are ever in Laramie.  He popped every bone in my body.  He even gave me a break on the fee.  He put me back in place.  Mr Jones and all his staff are going to be following me site and I am happy to have them along.  After that I went back to the feed store and met some wonderful people today.  I met this nice lady named Connie.  I showed her Red and Jahob and I am happy to have her long.  This other lady came in to see me.  She told me she is following the site and wanted to give me some money.  She wanted to do what ever she could to help out her name is Jill and she is one of the sweetest ladies on the planet.  She gave me a check for $500 and told me to use it for supplies or food.  Jill you couldn’t have come at a better time and I really do appreciate it.  I appreciate all donations and I know the kids for Cancer appreciate it. Thank you everybody that has made a donation.  As Jill was leaving a nice lady named Bonnie came in and she wants to ride with me when I leave Cheyenne.  Hopefully her husband will be able to go also.  They know the area real well.  Another guy came in and he is from Australia and I am glad to take any advice anyone has to give me.  After work at the feed store I went to get some new shoes.  My shoes are giving me blisters.  I went to a sports store here in Laramie.  This guy named Paul must have gotten me 10 pairs of shoes to try on.  I found a pair and was pretty excited about my new shoes.  I went back to the feed store to work on the addition and my good friend Greg Miley called and we got to talk for a while.  He is an awesome guy couldn’t find a better friend then Greg.  I hope to see him in 6 years when I get back from my trip.  I went to work with Allen and Coty.  I hope to get this thing done within the next two days.  We hung sheet rock and then Coty and I visited and talked about my brothers and my dad and life in general.  Coty and Allen are definitely gonna be good friends for a long time.  My neck is feeling better but I am tired and I am going to get some shut eye.  I will be back in the morning.

Day 165

Day 166

I woke up this morning and went over to the job and got the rest of the sheet rock hung and started taping.  There was a lot of nice people who came in and said hello and good bye.  There are a lot of nice people in this town of Laramie.  It’s a real nice town.  I went to Wal-Mart and got some supplies today and then I went out to Jack’s house who is a real good horseshoer.  Jack wasn’t around so I went home after looking for my spurs that were past Jack’s house but I couldn’t find them.  I talked to my nephews and then went home to bed.  I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to but oh well.  Good night y’all.

Day 167

I woke up this morning like I do every morning.  It is always a good thing to wake up in the morning. : )  I had quite a bit of stuff to do like shoe my horses and get my gear ready.  I went over to Guy and I thought he was going to help me shoe my horse but he ended up shoeing the horse and I held the horse.  We had to tie up his feet to get shoes on him.  I was having second thoughts on taking him after that little rodeo of shoeing him.  I went and got Red and Jahob and took them to the horse ranch where Cody’s dad Bob lives.  Rick came in and visited with me and then Cody and Rob.  We decided to go get some dinner and stopped in at J J’s Bar.  There was a band and some cowboys playing there guitars.  I think the ones name is Seth he has a lot of talent and I hope he shares that talent.  I danced a bit and kicked up my heels.  I had a Prairie fire which is Tequila and Tabasco.  I had fire coming out of my mouth.  That drink kicked my butt.  We went home and I went to sleep.  I will be leaving on the trail tomorrow.

Day 168

I woke up this morning and had to get Striker his shot and some loose ends to tie up.  I went back over to Wal-Mart and got a ship for my camera and I stopped by the store and picked up some gear and the vaccinations I needed.  I got all the horses together with the help of Allen and Bob.  Bret and Cody were there to see me off.  Bob decided to ride out with me.  It started to rain and then some thunder that was real close to us.  Bob told me to get off your horse that I can get struck by lightening on a horse.  Something to do with the shoes and electricity, I hear that a lot in these parts. I made it up to Bonnie’s house and she had been cooking a roast all day so we ate dinner and got to visit.  Bonnie’s husband is a Doctor here at the local hospital.  Tonight I am going to sleep in a nice warm bed and Bonnie is going to ride with me for a little ways in the morning.  Good night.

Day 169

Bonnie made me a mean omelet this morning it was so good.  I packed up my horse and was getting them ready.  She gave me a scarf and a shirt she said she didn’t need them any more.  She actually let me take a pick of which scarf I wanted.  She is a really nice gal and we headed up the hill.  Striker acted up a bit but he was real tired from yesterday.  For the most part it is supposed to be downhill to Mississippi so this should be our last hill.  I took some pictures of antelope and there were about 50 horses.  From what I understand most of the Ranchers don’t get along so they don’t put any gates by the cattle guards so we had to ride for quite a ways.  Bonnie decided to turn back and she had made me a sandwich and some snacks.  I sure do appreciate her hospitality and her husband.  They are wonderful people.  I have rode pretty far today.  Cody came by to bring me some of my things I forgot in Laramie but he didn’t see me.  I was waving my arms to try and get his attention but he didn’t see me.  Striker is coming along the more we ride.  Manny and Bobby crossed my path and told me I could stay in for the night.  I told them I was going to try to make it to my friends but they said there weren’t any houses for 10 miles.  I am hoping they are wrong and it is 5 miles.  I cantered the horses for a little ways and we trotted for about 5 miles.  I made it to my good friends Chris Beatty’s parents’ house.  Striker is really tired and Red and Jahob were just getting started.  I was so glad to see Frank’s face when he opened the door.  I think I am going to give Striker the day off tomorrow.  I am in a nice comfortable bed and I am going to get some good shut eye tonight.  Sweet dreams.

Day 170

Well I got to sleep in this morning a little bit.  Frank and I got to visit a little bit and went to Cheyenne got some breakfast.  We also found a place for my horses to stay when I get into town tomorrow.  It will cost a bit but they will be safe so it is worth it.  I saw Cody and Allen and I appreciate them and will be friends with them for life.  Thank you everyone in Laramie.  We went back to Frank’s house and he showed me a shorter way that I could have taken to his house from Laramie.  It would have cut off about 12 miles.  He is a really neat guy and has accomplished a lot in his life.  I wasn’t able to see Chris’s mom because she was out of town.  Hopefully everything will be just fine with Striker riding thru his first town.

Day 171

I went with Frank this morning to feed the horses.  I wish his wife Louis was here to see but I will have to catch her next time.  After we fed and checked on the horses we ate breakfast and the neighbors came over George and Brianna and Dominic.  Brianna said she might be doing a school project on me.  I told her she could talk to me and ask me anything she wanted.  I got to spend a little time with them and it was a pleasure meeting them.  I am planning on staying at the Rodeo grounds in Cheyenne.  Frank is going to bring me a bale of hay and some of my gear so that my horses weren’t loaded down.  I think it is better to ride Red thru town.  I am not sure Striker is ready for that yet.  I have been riding for awhile and we got attacked by flying ants.  There is one on my nose right now.  I have never seen flying ants like this before.  I have been dealing with them for about 5 miles.  I can see the highway 25.  Frank, George, Dominic and Brianna stopped by a couple times to check in on me and then I seen them at the gas station.  They told me where they dropped my stuff and the hay.  I sure do appreciate them.  Striker is afraid of the sidewalks.  I am pretty impressed with his progress.  I made it to Frontier Park where they have Frontier Days.  Striker has the start of saddle sores already.  I plan on riding Red anyways thru town.  I sponged the horses down and I am sleeping on a tarp underneath the stars and tomorrow is going to be a great day.  Good night to all.

Day 172

I woke up and saddled up Red and I put Jahob on the back of Striker.  We made a practice round here and Striker did ok.  He is ornery this morning.  I am a little nervous about leading three horses around this town.  I met some nice kids and gave them some quartz rocks I picked up in Colorado.  A guy came by and asked me if he could rent a horse I told him my story and he told me how to get to the Channel 5 News Station.  I met this nice girl at the News Station parking lot and she invited me to a roping tomorrow.  While we were talking some girls walked out and interviewed me.  I visited with these other ladies.  I let the one get on Red and she never rode a horse before.  She was a real pretty girl wearing a suit. I got down on one knee and helped her on.  Red’s pretty tall horse.  After all that we stopped at a commercial feed store down the rode.  I got me a new girth for Red and some suave and what not.  I ran into Brenda again and I had forgotten my phone at the park and she went and got it for me.  I met a real nice lady named Debbie and she got on the phone to find a place for me to stay for the night.  I sure do appreciate Debbie doing that for me.  I also ran into Manny a real nice guy that offered me a place to stay awhile back.  Brenda came back with my phone and I started riding off towards the truck stop that I will be staying at.  Striker isn’t being real cooperative today.  I got to the truck stop and found Mike and he was a real nice guy.  He said if there is anything I can do let me know.  He said we will get you some dinner.  He told me about the bar and it is named after a horse that no body could ride at Frontier Days.  It is a Bar and Grill Truck Stop.  Cathy got the hay and grain and some buckets for water so my horses are set tonight.  I sure do appreciate the hospitality there.  Everyone was so nice.  I got settled in and was visiting with Smurf and Steve and others I met.  Debbie came in and patted me on the back so we had dinner and visited.  She is a terrific nice lady and I am happy to know her.  She is definitely a caring person and will have a spot in my heart forever.  She told me stories that let me know she was a great person.  I appreciate her time she gave me and the gifts a jacket and notepad and jerky.  I am going to turn in now for some shut eye.  Good night and thank you.

Day 173

I got up and showered and washed my clothes and walked across the street and had breakfast.  This lady that was waitressing there recognized me from TV last night.  She bought me breakfast and wouldn’t let me pay for it.    I am going to go roping with these girls.  I am not real good at roping. Maybe they will teach me a thing or two.  It is pretty windy today but better then hot.  I rode to the end of Railroad and realized I needed to turn around and then came Brenda with her horse trailer and she told me how to get there.  She was on her way to take her horse to the Vet.  She does her own shoeing.  We looked at some maps and she said if she didn’t have any bills she would love to go.  We went over to Leather’s house and she had a son named Cactus.  He was a real cool kid.  I gave him a souvenir.  I met a guy named Greg and he is a brand inspector.  He talked to me about getting my brand inspection papers and is going to help me get them.  Luckily I didn’t get in trouble for not having them this far.  I can not believe how good these girls can rope.  Red did pretty good.  We were team roping and I had a lot of fun.  Brenda and Heather are excellent ropers.   Greg had a nice set up there and is going to see what he can do to get us legal.  Cactus is only like 3 or 4 and he was sitting on a horse watching us having a great time.  We went over to the trucker stop and had some dinner.  Brenda and I went back to her house.  She said I could stay on her couch but her parents had to meet me first.  Which, I understand.  I told her I would just sleep in the back of her truck.  I was almost asleep and she came out and said she had to go feed at her grandparents so she jumped in the truck and went over there to do her chores.  Now we are back and I am going to get some sleep.  Good night.

Day 174

I woke up to her knocking on the truck again and jumping to go do chores again.  It seems like it was only a few hours ago we did those chores. Her grandparents are out of town so she has to feed the dogs and the sheep.  Then she had to go help somebody to go catch a bull that got out.  We said our good byes.  Greg the Brand Inspector showed up and I showed him all my papers and he checked out my horses.  He was concerned about Striker and said I should have gotten the proper papers before taking him over the county line.  I sure hope nothing happens with Bob because he was sure nice to me and I know he meant no harm.  Greg impounded my horse and I got a fine.  Brenda’s mom came out and I got to meet her.  We all went in the house while he was trying to get my stuff straightened out.  I know he was trying to help me out but also do his job.  I understand that.  We visited and he told me about different routes.  He was able to get my paperwork.  I gave him my phone number and he knows where I will be at.   Once Greg left I visited with Brenda’s mom.  She is a sweetheart.  I left my bridal and my reigns in Brenda’s truck so we tried to get a hold of Brenda but we couldn’t.  Her mom gave me reigns to use.  I am headed out now on this nice warm day.  Striker started acting up and I don’t know what’s wrong with him he is acting like a dork.  I stopped on Striker for a second and he started bucking like crazy.  I rode him out.  I don’t know why he did that.  Red and Jahob stopped and started eating grass while Striker thru his fit.  We have been riding along the rail road tracks.  I am hoping to find some water up ahead for the horses.  I flagged down Dave and his wife and asked them if they knew where I could get some water.  They told me they had a rental up here that I could get some water at.  They came back by and told me there is food and water for my horses and a place to set my tent.  Cathy and her son John he is the youngest out of five kids.  They came out and told me where I can put my horses and got them some hay and oats.  They were really kind and happy for what I was doing.  I got to visit John he is 16 and has been riding bulls for quite awhile.  He is a great guy.  Cathy invited me in for dinner and told me I can shower and had a bed set up for me.  They were really nice.  I watched a little bit of football and fell asleep in the chair.  I am in bed now and I am pretty tired.  I will be back in the morning.

Day 175

Cathy made us some pancakes for breakfast and I invited John to ride with me for a little ways.  He said he had to take care of his some stuff at the vet so I got to visit with his sister and his dad.  John’s dad helped me tighten up my gear and then John showed up.  He got his Welch /Morgan pony to ride.  He was a little jumpy when saddling but he calmed down.  They kept up with me and the horses just fine.  We got down the rode a ways and Brenda came flying up she drives a little crazy like a wild woman.  She didn’t have my bridal we think I may have left it when we were roping.  She said she would find it.  She is a great girl. Once John and I got into town we got the horses a drink of water and went in to the Wild Horse Café and got a hamburger.  I have met so many wonderful people on this trip.  That is the best part of the trip is meeting all the wonderful people in America.  John’s mom showed up with the trailer and picked him and his pony up.  Thanks John for everything.  I hit the Nebraska border and there is a storm sneaking up on me.  It was more wind and thunder mixed with a little rain.  I walked for a while and now I am on Striker.  We found our Lake we were looking for and found a place to settle in for the night and got the horses watered.  There is grass for them to eat and people have stopped by to chat.  I am not going to put up my tent to attract more attention to me.  It’s getting pretty dark.  Put some miles on Striker and he seems to be doing alright.  He didn’t do very well on the cable so we will have to work on that.  Well I am going to get some shut eye.  Good night folks.

Day 176

Good morning everyone.    Last night I had a little bit of rain hit me.  It rained for about an hour.  I had to pull a tarp over me since I didn’t pop my tent.  It took awhile to go back to sleep.  Jahob got his cable wrapped around a tree so he didn’t get a whole lot to eat.  I let him eat for an hour while I was packing up.  I made myself a peanut butter and jelly and I am starting to like it again.  I gave all the horses a sponge bath.  I led Red down to the lake to get a drink of water and Jahob got all upset and broke the line off the tree and came down.  Striker isn’t acting up as much today.  He was a little nervous about going down to the lake to get a drink.  We got on the trail and Striker kept putting his head down like he was going to lie down and roll.  I kept jerking it up telling him to knock it off.  We got up to a fast walk and he lay all the way down.  I got upset with him and made him get up with me on him.  I took a rope and tied his head up so he couldn’t get it down to the ground.  He just dropped down to the ground again.  Almost on my leg and I made him get up again with me on him.  I can’t figure out why he is so itchy.  I took the saddle off of him.  He finally rolled and he keeps rolling.  I need to find a place to rinse him off.  I have never seen a horse be like this it is kind of weird.  Striker keeps laying down and I am thinking maybe he is cholicing.  I stopped in at this house and this nice lady Jane and I asked her if I could rinse him off.  She said go right ahead and got me a hose.  She was a real nice lady.  I gave him a bath and that didn’t make him feel any better.  Jane said there is a Vet up ahead.  He body slams himself as we are walking.  I am worried he might be colic and the Vet said that is what it was.  She gave him a few shots.  I am keeping my fingers crossed and saying a prayer.  She put the horses in the pasture behind the Vet and I am going to get a hotel and shower.  I feel a lot better after my shower.  I talked to my good friend Nolan the Vet he has been a lot of help on this trip.  I will be back in the morning to let ya know how Striker is doing.  Good night.

Day 177

The Veterinarian called me this morning and said that Striker has beaten the hell out of himself all night.  She said he is all cut up and she needs me to get down there right away and take a look at him.  I asked Nolan what he thought on my way there and he said to put some mineral oil, charcoal and lukewarm water down a tube into his stomach to see if it would soak up any poison and get him to stop cholicing.  We did that and sedated him and it has been a couple hours and he is acting up again. I am real concerned about him right now and I was just starting to like him.  Now he is not feeling good and is costing a bunch of money.  He is one of my buddy’s and I don’t want to lose him.  I talked to my Dad and he told me to put a tube in the other end so the Vet did that and when Mimi pulled out her hand he went all over her.  She and Tracy have been great I am so glad they are here helping me.  I am going to walk him around.  He is very tired and exhausted.  I am just praying to God he is going to be alright.  I can’t tell if he is doing alright.  I need him to make a bowel movement.  I saw Jane at the hamburger stand and she introduced me to some people and the one guy was real interesting he has done a lot of horseback and studying buffalo.  He will be following the site and I am happy to have him along.  I went back and Striker wasn’t doing better so I walked him for as long as I could walk him.    I am going to go to sleep and pray for the best for him.  Good night.

Day 178

I woke up this morning to Striker going to the bathroom.  That means things are working again.  I will have to take it easy on him today. This is a good sign he is going to be alright.  We should be able to get back on the trail.  Mimi and Tracy looked at them and they think they are going to be alright.  I shampooed the boys and made them all pretty.  I said my good byes to Mimi and Tracy and thanked them.  We’re all saddled and ready to leave the nice town of Kimball Nebraska.  It is a hot day and we are going to need some water soon.  I saw a man running a lawnmower and asked for some water.  The boys drank quite a bit.  I got to visit with him and his family.  The ground is flat here so the miles are easier.  I got myself into Potter a nice little town.  I stopped in and got a bite to eat and talked to people about where to stay.  They said there was an arena that I could stay at.  Jahob was lying on the ground when I came out.  This nice girl named Amber helped to get the horses all untangled.  I don’t know what happened with these guys but they got themselves in a mess.  I went over to this real nice guy’s house and he has a couple of kids.  His daughter is getting ready to go to college and his son plays football and does some roping.  He put my horses in a couple box stalls.  I am really tired because I didn’t get much sleep last night.  I am going to turn in now.  See yaw in the morning.

Day 179

Striker is looking better this morning but not yet 100% so it looks like another easy day.  The trucker guy who is a real nice guy gave Red and Jahob some grain this morning and came out and visited with me.  I apologize for not remembering his name.  I call people sir or buddy because I am bad with name.  I will remember him forever for helping me.  I am hoping to make Sydney today.  We will go to the Cabella’s Headquarters to see if they are going to sponsor me.  Todd who I met yesterday stopped by and made some calls to Cabella’s and gave me some numbers and told me to call Mike the Manager.  Todd is a contractor working on the building, he is from Illinois.  There have been lots of trains passing us and a lot of flat hot land.  There are nice people waving as they go by.  One lady stopped by named Misty and she took pictures and wrote down stuff.  I enjoyed visiting with her and look forward to reading her article if she does one.  I turned on a side road and met a guy named Major he told me where the feed store is.  I made it to Cabella’s and they have corrals for the horses.  I ran into Todd and he offered to put me up in his hotel.  He is working on the remodel at Cabella’s.  This nice guy brought me hay and grain from the feed store.  Todd and I went and grabbed a hamburger at a Café in town and had a chance to talk about my journey.  I am going to sleep on his pull out bed in his hotel.  I will be back in the morning.  Good night.

Day 179

I slept in a little bit and went over to check on my horses.  I got to talking to Todd and he wanted to introduce me to the manager.  I met Mike the manager and they were really nice and in to my trip.  They asked me if I wanted to stay tomorrow and Judge their Dutch cook-off they were having.    We all went out for a bite to eat and then I came back and saddled up Red.  Cabella’s is a great Corporation and I would love to represent them.  The real pretty ladies that I talked to there said they would talk to the people they need to do try and get me a sponsorship.  I met Todd’s parents they were real nice.  They were going to go check out the Black Hills.  Mike from Cabella’s called me up and asked me if I wanted to go to a Barbeque so he picked me up.  It was a lot of fun I signed my hat and gave it to Jake a 9 year old that I met.  I know he will take good care of my hat.  Mike drove me back to the hotel after the barbeque.  I am going to get some shut eye now, so I can be on top of things for the Dutch Oven Cook-off tomorrow.  Good night and sweet dreams everyone.

Day 180

I woke up this morning and checked my horses and got them some more hay cubes and grain for them.  They seem to be doing fine.  I rode Red over to the hotel to get my camera.  There are some kids that I gave rides to on my horse.  I sat down at the Judge table and the eight of us got to eat some really good stuff.  It was some of the best cooking I have had in my life for sure. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of good people.  The cook off is over and Debbie from Cheyenne came out and brought me some goodies.  We got to visit and she took some pictures of the horses. Mike walked me around the store and asked me what I needed.   I decided to downsize on my equipment and I got some socks and I got it all on video tape.  I sure do appreciate Mike being so nice he is a heck of a good guy.  I do not know how to say thank you enough.  This is just awesome.  The management here and everyone I met are working hard to get me sponsored.  I am glad to have met them and they are happy with their job and happy with where they are at.  Mike and I are going over to Richard and his wife’s house.  We were running a little late and had a great dinner.  I ate more today then I have eaten in two Thanksgivings put together.  We had a great time there and then Mike drove me over to a ranch to get a bale of hay that we took over to the horses.  It looks like rain tonight and I am planning on leaving in the morning.  So I am going to turn in for the night but I will be back in the morning.

Day 181

This morning they had some cooking going on downstairs at the hotel.  I met a heck of a nice guy and his wife down there.  He put some money in my pocket and told me best wishes on my trip.  Then I went over to Cabella’s and visited with everyone and interviewing everybody there.  Cabella’s is a great place.  They are all really nice there.  I ran into a guy I met earlier that worked at a mill. He took some pictures and he said he would send my old tent home.  This new one I got is more compact.  I saddled up Red and I am riding out.  I can’t say thank you enough to Cabella’s for everything they are all awesome.  Mike and all the staff thank you so much.  It is a pretty late start for me today so I am not sure how far we are going to make it.  One of the guys from the Dutch cook-off stopped and talked to me. He said he is going to get me some media attention.  I sure do appreciate him stopping and offering me a place to stay.  It is starting to sprinkle on us.  Another guy stopped and brought his kids to see Red and I they heard about us.  This nice guy named Dean stopped and offered a place to stay tonight.  He has 100 acres for me to turn the horses out on.  I got here and got the horses all grained and nestled.  His wonderful wife Margret she works for Cabella’s and she made a wonderful dinner.  I am going to put on weight if I keep eating like this.   I won’t be able to get up on my horse.  We don’t want that now.  Well folks I am going to go to sleep so I can get some miles done tomorrow.  Good night.

Day 182

I got to sleep in a great bed last night.  I had some cereal for breakfast and visited with Dean and Margret.  I went out to get the horses and I could not find Jahob any where so Dean and I got into the truck driving around looking for him.  We found him where he had fallen into a drainage ditch.  I had to put a girth under him and my Laramie and pull him out with a tractor.  It was a hell of a deal.  I do not know how he got stuck in there.  His leg was hurting him but he walked it off.  I am contemplating weather taking him or not.  I know he wants to go and he is tough enough to do it.  I think maybe I should give him a break.  I gave Todd a call because we talked about him wanting a horse for his kids.  I am thinking about letting Jahob retire all though I don’t want to pull him from the Expedition but I think it is time.  Todd came by and we went over the papers and I told him about Jahob.  I know he is going to make one little girl really happy.  I know Jahob will be a great horse. He was for me for many years and he was well taken care of.  This is kind of emotional for me right now but I know this is what I have to do.  Striker is doing ok with the pack on him.  I do appreciate all that Dean and Margret did for me letting me stay and being so nice. Thank you once again.  Jahob was whinnying at us when we left I almost want to cry but I know this is what is best for him.  I can tell Red is wondering where he is too.  It looks like rain ahead and the wind has kicked up.  I road into Lodge pole Nebraska and we are going to grab a bite to eat.  I met a couple of guys one from West Virginia and Troy who is a local around here.  Troy is going to find me some hay for tonight.  Striker freaked out and started haling ass the opposite direction.  I turned Red around and went running after him and he stepped on his lead rope and it made him flip over end over end.  I don’t know if this darn wild horse is cut out or not.  I got him packed up again ready to get back on the rode.  It was a crazy darn deal.  I wish he would have gone the right darn direction if he is going to take off.  I am wondering now if I should just get rid of Striker and just ride Red.  I have had quite a few people stop like a Doctor and his wife from Los Angeles California and a lady that works at a deli in town.  She wanted to go get me a sandwich and bring it to me.  I told her I wasn’t picky.  Rose came over to the Rodeo grounds and brought her grand kids with her.  She brought me a hamburger and chips and a soda pop.  Rose called her friend Denise who came over and we went to her house and got a bale of hay.  Troy showed up with his wife and kid.  After visiting everyone they all left and I called my Uncle Scott in Ohio.  I tried to get a hold of my little brother all day it is his birthday so I want him to know I love him and I was thinking about him on his birthday.  I am going to go to sleep now see you in the morning.

Day 183

I woke up this morning and was checking my messages and one was from Todd and he said he isn’t going to be able to take Jahob.  Denise came by and offered to go and pick up Jahob for me.  I rode up there with her and we came back.  She is a heck of a nice lady and I got to see Dean again and tell him about Striker’s packing experience.  Jahob was excited to see Red and Red happy to see him.  I don’t think Striker could care I don’t think he likes Jahob.  This nice guy Doug stopped by as I was riding thru town.  He wanted to know if I could stop at the Senior Citizen Hall in Chapel and they fed me lunch and I met a lot of great people there.  I got back on the road and two people stopped at the same time and they happened to know each other.  I got to visit with them for a couple of minutes and they gave me some info on how far things are.  I was riding down this little hill and this guy was pushing his bike up the hill and he was packing something.  Red didn’t like it much and Striker must have felt what Red felt and he bolted again.  He lost the pack and I had to re pack him and calm the horses down and my hat went over my face and I couldn’t see.  I don’t know about this horse I keep thinking I might just get rid of him.  Maybe if I was back in Nevada or Utah he would be fine.  In this part of the country we are running into more towns.  It is getting pretty late so I decided to find a spot here on the side of the road to stay for the night.  I am going to read the book and enjoy the beautiful stars.  I am lying in my cool mini tent from Cabella’s.  There are so many stars and it is just awesome here.  Thank you for following my web site.  Good night.

Day 184

Good morning y’all.  I saddled up Red and packed up Striker this morning.  This really nice guy named Gary he asked me if I needed water for my horses or anything.  He lives across the street.  He fed me pancakes and watered my horses and gave them treats.  He told me to stop in at the radio station because they would be interested in my story.  He was real nice.  I am a wanted man now about 7 cars have stopped and told me that I am wanted at the radio station.  Josh wanted to talk to me there.  There are a lot of trains and a lot of corn and sunflowers and flowers.  It is pretty here and colorful.  Lots of greens and shades of gold.  I made it in to Okawawa here and went in to this stockyard and that had an auction yesterday for horses.  I won’t be getting rid of Striker here.  I would like to sell him to a private owner anyways.  I am going to stay the night here and I will go see Josh tomorrow at the Radio station.  I am going to get a bite to eat at the A & W here and then turn in for the night.  I will be back in the morning.

Day 185

I woke up and saddled up my horses and went in to the life stock Inn and had a breakfast burrito and talked to a guy named Shane.  I found the radio station and tied my horses to a telephone pole and met Josh and we talked for a bit and he recorded a deal and will be playing it next week on 106 Country music.  Thank you for having me on your station.  After my interview we went outside and they took some pictures of us.  Then I moseyed over to the News paper and met Mary who will be doing a story on us.  She will be following the web site and took some pictures.  I ran into some kids with their teacher and I met all them and talked with them and Mary was still snapping pictures.  I asked her to hold my horses so I can run into the Radio Shack and buy more tapes.  I say there is a train every 5 minutes here.  I have never seen so many trains in my life.  I am riding thru a big field right now.  It just dawned on me that I didn’t go grocery shopping and it is like 40 miles to the next town.  I think I only have one piece of bread and a little bit of peanut butter.  I hope there is another town in between there.  There are an awful lot of grasshoppers and Red doesn’t like it.  Red don’t like the flies either.  I am hoping for a town to get some food and fly spray.  There is a Ranch that claims they have the best bulls.  We took a break and I let the horses eat for while.  Vance and Gloria stopped and seen me yesterday and they are two magnificent people.  Vance is from Germany and they are just traveling checking out the world.  They are going to be following the web site and I am happy to have them along.  Paxton population 500 is the town I came across.  Maybe we can find a store for food.  We stopped in at the Bar and Grill the food was great and I got to visit with a few people there.  There is another town up ahead I found out.  I can’t recollect the name but it is about 12 miles I should be there tomorrow morning.  I appreciate all the hospitality in Paxton.  The sprinkler we came across when we first came into town startled Striker but he did ok.  We rode 2 miles out of Paxton and I am going to set up camp.  There is a stream about 200 yards away.  I think it is normally bigger but it is low on water now.  I saw a bunch of turnkeys when I was going down to get water.  Then there were dear that came thru.  We should be good for the night.  I think the next town is Silver Springs.  I am in my sleeping bag and tent and my tarp over my gear and I am under a big Willow tree and some of the grass is a few feet tall.  I should be crossing the time change tomorrow.  That should give us more day light I reckon.  We will get up earlier and ride that one more hour.  I sure hope everyone is enjoying the website.  I have been real tired lately.  So far Nebraska is filled with lots of people, lots of good food, lots of trains and lots of corn.  Well I guess I am going to sleep now.  Good night and sweet dreams.

Day 186

Good morning everybody. I got rained on last night.  My little tent kept my sleeping bag dry.  I had my last peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast.  I got my ponies saddled and it looks like it is going to be overcast today.  We got a drink out of the creek. It is supposed to be the river but it aint much of a river right now.  My horses got plenty to eat and we are back on the trail.  It is getting hot fast today and I guess we should be thankful we aren’t in a blizzard.  We made it to Southerland.  Like most of the towns there is a Veterinary Clinic and thank God we don’t need to go there.  We crossed over the time line so we lost an hour.  This town is kind of interesting and has some history behind it. I ran into a guy named Edward he has done some packing in his day so we got to talking.  We are going to ride up to this grocery store and get some food.  I got my shopping done and we are heading out of town.  We don’t get a lot of quiet time riding along these tracks with trains going nonstop.  The horses are getting used to trains though.  I talked to a guy and he said this trail along the tracks goes to North Flat so I will just ride it instead of 30.  I am glad him and his buddies stopped and gave me that information.  I made it to a town called Hershey.  It also is a small little town.  The wind has kicked up here and it looks like it is going to rain pretty good.  I am going to look for a place for the night.  The weirdest thing is that right next to the tracks we found some grain.  The horses munched on it and I tasted it myself it wasn’t bad.  Then a train came by and we had to move.  It is starting to get cold and windy.  I am thinking I am about 10 miles from North Flat but I got a nice little setup between the trees.  I was wishing I had my big tent to put all my stuff in it.  I love my little tent but it isn’t big enough to put all the gear in to keep dry.  I had chicken spread sandwich for dinner.  It tasted a lot better then peanut butter.  It is going to be a cold and wet one tonight.  We are going to take a day off when we get to North Flat.  I was reading my Louis L’Amour book and a Union Pacific guy stopped since we are by the tracks.  We chatted and I met his partner in the truck.  Dave told me that if any type of police comes out here they will make me leave.  He told me we are only 5 miles from South Flat.  We are already setup tonight and we are going to take that chance.   I will be back in the morning.

Day 187

I woke up this morning and the sun was shining even though it rained pretty good.  My shelter held up pretty good.  I had a granola bar and saddled up Jahob and packed up Striker and thought about all the different things that could have kept me from doing my trip.  I guess that is why things don’t always happen the way we think they should.  I cannot find my address book.  I lost it back in Nevada but recovered it and now it has even more information.  I thought about photo copying it and sending it home.  My phone number is in the front and I talked to one of the railroad guys and told him it might be along the tracks somewhere.  He said they would watch for it.  I don’t know if we are going to run into my friend from the Dutch Oven Cook-Off. 
Red stepped on a rabbit and he ran off I hope he is alright. We made it to North Flat and people are giving us a lot of weird looks and the newspaper guy came by and interviewed me.  There is a stockyard I can put my horses at and stay for the night.  Richard gave me his card and we could have stayed at his place tonight but it was in my book that I lost.  The newspaper guy was real cool and I met a couple of other people that were real cool.  I decided to ride out of North Flat but I am frustrated and today just wasn’t going the way I planned.  I thought today was going to be a short day but it is turning out to be a long day.  We are going to ride into Maxton and maybe stay at the rodeo grounds.  Striker is doing real well and I am proud of him.  I talked to the guy yesterday and he said this is the busiest stretch of tracks in the United States and he wasn’t joking.  The trains are going by all the time.  I am in Maxton, Nebraska and there aint much of nothing.  I can not find any place to put up my horses here. This old guy let me fill my canteens from his faucet and we are going to go up a little ways and there is some grass and some trees.  I should be happy that I am 15 miles ahead of what I thought I would be.  I am going to set up camp and go to sleep.  Today wasn’t my day.  Good night everyone.  Thanks for your support.

Day 188

I woke up and let Striker walk around and graze. They all ate pretty god last night.  Jahob he is just standing there.  I wish he would eat more.  I guess he is tired and doesn’t want to eat.  I have been just reading my book and listening to the trains go by. I am going to get going and back on the trail.  I found a farm on the left side of me with a horse trailer and some tractors.  So I figured there might be some good people living there that might want to donate some water to my trip.  I rode down the driveway and this nice guy named Dick came up to me.  I asked him if he had any water and he said he did and he would put it in an old tub he had.  The horses drank and Jahob wasn’t as thirsty as the others.  Dick asked me to have supper with him.  It was a great dinner and sat under some shade trees and talked about rodeo and all kinds of different things.  I was there for a while and then decided to get back on the trail.  He doesn’t have a computer but his daughter does and hopefully she can relay the message that I am very thankful for his hospitality and the meal. Thank you so much Dick.  Shasta, Jacob, Emily and Abby -- those are the names of the young people I got to meet today.  They came walking up the driveway.  They wanted to meet us; they read about us in the paper.  I got to meet their parents also.  I want them to know that they can do anything they want to in life -- they just have to set their mind to it and “get ‘er done”.  It was awesome meeting them and I know they will be following the website and I am happy to have them along.  I rode into Bradley and they have rodeo grounds so I am probably going to camp here for the night.  There is a store and I am going to go in and get me some bread and fruit cocktail.  The ladies that work there said that the rodeo grounds weren’t much for the horses so they made some calls and found some folks who want to put me up for the night.  I rode over there and I got my horses situated and fed and they have a camper trailer for me to stay in for the night.  They have a son named Dylan.  I taught him to tie some knots and then I met the neighbor named Don and went to his house and looked at his pictures from when he was packing and he wore buckskins and hung out with the mountain men.  He is quite the character.  He ran me back to the place I was staying and they brought me out a plate of steak and tators and corn and I ate real good.   I sure do appreciate all their hospitality.   I am going to go to sleep now see ya in the morning.

Day 189

I woke up this morning and grained the horses.  Dylan came out and I got to visit with him.  Then a nice lady from the newspaper in Gothenburg came out and I got to visit with her.  She spent quite a bit of time with me and I am sure she will write a good story.  I am happy I got to lay up here and meet a lot of good people.  I am headed out back on the trail to Gothenburg.  I have rode by a lot of trains, a lot of corn and farms here and there and sunflowers.  I want to get my hair cut when I get into Gothenburg and maybe find some Skin So Soft from an Avon Representative.  There wasn’t too much open in Gothenburg so I am gonna have to get it cut tomorrow.  I met a few people in town that shook my hand and wished me luck.  It is a nice day and lots of rabbits in the grass, and lots more trains and lots more corn and a few cows.  I watched a crane stick his head in this little channel that had a bunch of fish and he pulled out this fish and flew off with him.  There is a horse whinnying at me now.  Today is a day for birds and then I watched this hawk dive down out of the sky and grab a rabbit out of the grass.  It was crazy.  I don’t know what is going on today with the birds.  It is a nice day to ride -- not too hot not too cold.  I rode into a nice little town.  There isn’t very many stores open and hopefully I will find a place for the night.  This nice guy named Nolan I ran into gave me directions to the stock yard.  I appreciate that Nolan.  I got to the feed lot and met Chris the manager here.  He had a corral for me and got me food and Ron another employee I visited with.  Then another guy named Ron showed up and visited.  We were all talking having a good time and Nolan stopped by and asked me to go grab some dinner with his wife Margaret and him.  They have been in Nebraska for over 50 years.  They were really nice and they will be following the site also.  I am sleeping in the livestock barn with my horse tonight so I have a roof over my head.  I am going to get some sleep now and I will be back tomorrow.  Good night y’all.

Day 190

Good morning everyone and today is my big brothers birthday.  I love him very much and I wish he was riding with me today.  He is also the webmaster who does all the designing of the website.  Nolan woke me up this morning and invited me to breakfast.  He said I could use his house to get cleaned up.  I haven’t had a shower since Dean’s house.  In other words, I stink.  So I went to Nolan’s and took a shower and got all cleaned up.  I got to know Nolan better at breakfast.  He is retired and had been a farmer his whole life.  I feel privileged to have gotten to know him.  Nolan took me back to the yard and I saddled up my horses and I am back on the road again.  I didn’t get to see Chris before I left.  I told someone there to let him know I sure do appreciate him.  Hopefully my brother is having a great day today.  I keep thinking about something that Nolan told me this morning and I want to share it with everyone because I think it is pretty cool.  We were talking about sleeping and how I sleep good and he said he sleeps really good if he has his wife but if she isn’t home he can’t sleep.  They have to be in their 70’s and I think that is one of the coolest things ever.  Especially after being with the same person for that many years, to still feel that way is pretty cool.  Most of the people I know at that age sleep in separate beds.  I thought it was cool and wanted to share it with you.  I am hoping that here in Lexington I can get a haircut and some grain for my ponies.  I rode around town and stopped at this gas station and there was this pretty news girl doing an interview on gas prices.  I asked her if she knew of a place to get my hair cut and she asked if she could interview me.  So she did and it is going to be on the Channel 2 News tonight, NBC North Flat.  She told me how to get over to a barber shop and I met the Marshal Jessie during my interview.  I got my hair cut and now I look good.  I was looking a little shaggy.  Scott made some phone calls trying to find an Avon Rep for me.  I would like to thank everyone for being so nice.  I made it to Overton, home of the Eagles, and I am tired and thirsty and I know my ponies are tired and thirsty.  I found a rodeo grounds next to a football field and a baseball field all together.  This will be my spot for the night.  It is a beautiful night here and I cleaned out my stuff and organized it now I am just enjoying the stars and beautiful night.  I will be back in the morning.

Day 191

Well good morning everybody on Ezra’s Expedition.  I am riding out of Overton seeing if there isn’t a feed store around.  I got the horses packed and we are on the trail.  Striker, he jumped three feet backwards.  We were riding around the corner and there was a window over there and he saw his reflection.  It was hilariously funny.  We are in Elms Creek now and hopefully we can find some food for my horses and I am kind of hungry.  I passed a plant where they compact pellets.  I stopped in at Momma’s Kitchen and had lunch.  I met some nice people there and visited with them.  I know they all will be following the web site.  I got some grain on the back of Striker; about 50 lbs of it.  It is some performance feed.  I am headed out of town and there are a lot of trains and they all like to beep their horn.  I think train drivers all like to beep their horns.  The other people that work on the tracks they beep their horns too.  They are horn beepers!  I rode into another little town and a guy walked up to me his name is Dick. He said I could put my horses on his lawn so he wouldn’t have to mow his lawn.  We got to talking and I got to meet his wife Betty Joe.  We went back to Elms Creek in the car and got some supper and I got to meet Marla and Rick who are their neighbors.  We had Mexican food and it was good then we went back to the house and I met Derrick and Dan, their kids.  I am ready for bed now I am going to sleep on their couch for the night.  Thanks for following, everyone.  Good night.

Day 192

I woke up and Betty Joe had called the news and they said they would be out this morning.  I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast and visited with them.  I waited for the news people.   They were supposed to be out by 9:00 but I guess they are going to have to catch me in Kearney.  I sure do appreciate all their hospitality and I am glad they will be following the site.  I rode into Kearney today.  I have a joke-like deal and I will tell you the answer in a couple of days.  There is this cowboy who rides into Kearney on Wednesday and two days later he rides out on Thursday.  How is that possible?  I will give you the answer when I ride out of Kearney.  I just rode the crazy part of town by the University.  There were a lot of college kids around and we had to take up one lane and quite a few of them cut us off.  I think they need to go back to Drivers Ed.  They don’t quite know how to drive.  There were some that do, though.  It is a nice little town and lots of people waving at me.  I am headed towards Cabella’s.  This nice lady in a RV stopped and asked me where I was going because they had seen me four times.  I told them about my trip and they took a bunch of pictures and will be following the trip and I am happy to have them along.  I got to Cabella’s  and put my horses in the corals and they were expecting me.  They had my paperwork for Jahob that Mike had sent down.  They called up the local news channel and the news paper.  The news channel got there about 15 minutes after I had gotten there.  They interviewed me and taped Red, Jahob and Striker.  After the interview I was able to meet the managers and I really hope that I can get a sponsorship from this company.  Even if they don’t it is just an awesome company and awesome people working for them.  They got some water out for my horses with a fork lift.  Jay the manager took me to the local feed store to get some grain and some hay.  I went back and fed my horses and this other guy showed up with some horses and I visited him.  We moved some panels around for the horses and put my gear up.  I checked out the store and it is an awesome store.  I was able to meet the manager Mike and he was a nice guy.  I went over to Motel 6 and took a shower and they don’t have guest laundry so I talked the girl at the front desk into doing my laundry.  I really appreciate her doing that for me.   Jared is going to come and pick me up after he gets off work to go eat.  He picked me up and we went to a Bar and Grill and watched some TV and tried to watch the news but we missed it.  I had a drink and a hamburger and met Jerry.  I thank everyone at Cabella’s for their hospitality.  Good night y’all.

Day 193

I met with Mike the store manager at Cabella’s and he got me some more gear. Some thermal pants, emergency wind-up radio with am and fm stations on it, another hat made out of leather and waterproof.  I got to interview Glenna.  She works there and is an awesome girl.  I am happy to know all the people at Cabella’s.  After all that I saddled up my ponies and Glenna went out and got me lunch and I got to visit with more people in the lunchroom there.  Then the news gal came out.  Stephanie was her name and she was a real nice gal.  She interviewed me and took pictures.  I said good-bye to everybody and got on the trail and headed towards Lincoln.  I can’t thank everyone enough there at Cabella’s.  They are just awesome people.  This guy said hello to me and I asked him if I could put up in his pasture.  His name is Lawrence and met his wife they fed me steak dinner.  They are real nice people and I really appreciate their hospitality.  I set my tent up and I am going to get some shut eye.  I will tell you more tomorrow about my adventures.  Good Night.

Day 194

Well I woke up this morning in a puddle of water because I forgot to zip my tent all the way.  It’s raining real good and steady.  I geared up and saddled up the horses and got back on the trail.  Something crazy just happened! I can’t believe it happened.  I noticed Striker’s halter was loose and about to fall off.  I should have gotten off of Red to buckle it off but I didn’t.  I leaned over and Striker went left and Red went right and I didn’t want Striker getting loose so I didn’t want to let go.  I fell on the ground and my foot got stuck in the stirrup and Red spooked from me falling so he jumped and drug me.  I still had a hold on that darn halter.  I was able to get my foot out and stopped Red and ran over and grabbed Striker.  Some people were honking going by so I know they saw it.  It was kind of stupid.  Good thing nobody got hurt.  Anyway I am fine and I would like to thank Lawrence and his wife for a nice dinner and a place to stay last night. I just realized I left my telephone at Lawrence’s home.  He had a little building and he had an extension cord out there for me to charge it.  It is 6 miles behind me.  I am going to see if I can find some nice person to give me a ride back so I don’t have to ride back 6 miles then back to here 6 miles.  I stopped in at a gas station and this guy named Jose gave me a ride to go get my phone and it is still wet and raining.  The horses are drenched and I am drenched.  I am headed towards Woods Landing.  I think this is pretty close to the rainiest day we have delt with.  I reached Woods Landing and stopped in at a gas station to get a cup of coffee or hot cocoa.  This nice lady  Jan asked me  what in the world I was doing riding my horse around in this rain.  I told her I am trying to get around the world.  She looked at me like I was crazy and laughed.  She said we got to get you out of this rain.  So she called some people and talked to Craig Anderson and said I could put my horses up there and I could stay at her house or his.  I started this morning out wet and have been wet all day.  It sure is going to be nice to get out of this rain.  I followed her over to Craig’s house and he is really nice.  Him and his wife greeted us and had a corral for my horses.  Jan took my clothes to wash them for me.  She is a real nice lady. I am honored to have met her.  Hell, I am for sure honored to have met everyone I have met in Nebraska.  I had a cup of coffee and visited with Craig and his wife.  His lovely wife made me some popcorn.  They were getting ready to go to a wedding and invited me to go.  These nice folks named Carver and Billy came by to get a horse from Craig.  Carver is Billy’s husband and they were wonderful people.  I talked to them about a home for Jahob.  They said they might know somebody who would want him for his kids.  I want to find him a good home.  I do have a home for him in Ohio but I don’t think he has it in him.  He is a great horse and I know that he would be good for a kid and teach them a lot.  I told them I wanted to meet the people they had in mind.  So they took me to a town named Louis Nebraska and I got to see all Carver’s horses.  They are just awesome good folks.  After visiting with everybody at Billy’s folks place we went over to a barbeque deal that had about 25 people and they were all people around my age.  The newspaper gal is here and she is going to do a story.  Luckier than lucky I am to have met all these people.  They are barbequeing some alligator and beef and real good food.  I am getting a belly full of food and having loads of fun.  We went to a place called Dick’s place and met Dick and he gave me a t-shirt.  Everybody put a bunch of donations together inside of this hat and gave it to me and I don’t know what to say but thank you.  I hope everyone there will send me an e-mail and give me their address. After the shindig Carver and me and his lovely wife went back to their place and they let me sleep in their guest room.  I am going to get some rest now.  Talk to ya in the morning. It’s a good feeling knowing my horses are warm and dry and with good people getting plenty of food.  Well on that note, Good Night Folks.

Day 195

Good morning folks, I woke up this morning and went downstairs and Carver cooked up a real good breakfast.  I had breakfast and he called up his dad and I got to talk to him.  He was a real nice guy and now I know why Carver’s so nice.  He has great roots for sure and they are cowboy to the heart.  Good people for sure.  I am looking forward to someday after my trip going up to the northern part of Nebraska and visiting Carver and his family.  They are in the beef business.  I am sure going to have a lot of info on buying American Beef if you live in America.  We talked quite a bit about the beef industry and folks if you live in America you should eat American beef for sure.  The reason why I am saying all this about beef is because I had that long discussion with Carver at breakfast about beef.  I have always been the kind of guy to eat American Beef.  I should have some info on my site to educate anyone that wants to know about it.  After that we took a little ride in the pick up truck and went over to Billy’s folk’s house since they were gone for the weekend.  We fed all the horses there and then we went back over to his house and watched some TV.  We watched some news and some history channel about what that son of a gun Ben Laden did in that horrible deal in New York and all over the USA.  We talked about that for awhile and then a guy named Justin knocked on the door that was there last night at the shindig.  We all talked and joked around and then went on to my site to look at pictures.  Billy cooked up some real good spaghetti for our lunch then we visited some more.  Carver took me to see my horses and we stopped at the feed store and picked up some wormer and grain.  I try to worm them once a month since they drink and eat at so many different places.  Then we went to Craig’s house but he wasn’t home and I visited with my horses for a bit and fed them.  We then drove down to Jan’s house who introduced me to all these nice people.  He dropped me off there and I hope he knows how much I appreciate him and his wife and all his friends.  He is a good man and has a great wife for sure. I hope we will be friends for a long time.  Jan had some friends come by her husband’s brother and his wife and her son.  I met some awesome folks there and got talk with them and get to know them.  They were great people.  Jan made some awesome peach Jell-O and tator soup and sandwiches.  After a while of talking I found out Jan sells Avon!!!  I have been searching high and low for an Avon lady and she had the Skin so Soft that I have looked for.  I am so honored to have met all the wonderful people I have met.  We got on the computer and looked at pictures on my site and I told her stories about what I had experienced.  It’s like 1 a.m. now and I am going to get some shuteye here in the guest room.  I have clean clothes and a shower ad I know I will get a good night sleep and go get my ponies in the morning.  So good night and sweet dreams to you.

Day 196

Good morning!  I got up and Jan had already left and her husband and I went and got breakfast right by the Post Office that Jan works at.  You wouldn’t believe it but this guy named Louis that I met a couple towns ago-- his wife was working there.  She was a little surprised that I only made it 12 miles.  After breakfast we went to the Post Office so I can say good bye and thank her.  She has a heart of gold, that woman there.  I hope to keep in
touch with her and I appreciate all she did for me.  I then went over to Craig Anderson’s house to get my ponies, the great fella who took care of my horses for a day.  Jan’s husband dropped me off there and he is a heck of a nice guy.  I would like to thank the Anderson’s for taking care of my horses for me and I had a great time here in this town.  I have Jahob with me.  The people who thought they might want Jahob decided they did not want a horse.  I am happy but I still need to find a good home for him even though I want him with me.  I think that is what is best for him.  I rode down a country rode listening to my wind up radio I got from Cabella’s and today happens to be 5 years since 911.  They got a documentary on the radio station.  I ride along looking at all this
beautiful country and all the beautiful country I have crossed and all the wonderful people I have met or came across in the United States.  Makes me realize and appreciate the wonderful country we have.  I just can’t imagine what kind of things would go through someone’s mind to do something so horrible.  If every one following the site can take a minute when they get a chance and say a prayer for the victims and the victim’s families of 911.  When I was back home when 911 happened I was out shoeing a horse when I found out about it.  I was really pissed off that somebody would do something like this.  After the next couple of weeks even months there were flags everywhere you couldn’t even buy one if you wanted to they were all sold out.  The whole country seemed to get patriotic.  I think we should always have them flags flying because they represent freedom and our country.  I think it shows everybody that we all care and have something in common.  I would like to thank all those people and organizations out there that helped the victims and their families.  I am sure there are a lot of other people out there that would like to thank them also.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.  Who knows maybe Red and I will get over there to the Middle East and find old Bin Laden and open a can of whoop ass on him.  J  That would be great!   
I am glad to be on these back roads and off the highway.  I road up to this guys’ house and his name is Kevin and he is a nice guy and told me I could turn my horses out in the pasture and I could stay for the night.  He is really nice and his wife is nice.  We all decided to go into town and get some dinner and visit and we talked about Jahob and they said they would like to take him.
We went over to meet his nieces and they like horses and play sports and then we went back to their house and talked about their life and my life and saw pictures of their family.  It was a real pleasure to meet them and get to know them.  He has to do some work around here before he puts Jahob out there.  Well it is time once again to get some shut eye.  I’ll be back folks.  Night Night

Day 197

I woke up this morning to breakfast.  Lavonne cooked up an awesome breakfast.  Her nieces showed up.  Their names are Riley and Jessie.  I got to take pictures with them, Jahob, Red and Striker.  I know they will be giving Jahob a lot of TLC.  I am really sad but I know he will be ok.  I am all geared up and we are walking a mile down the road to take Jahob to a coral for a couple of days until Kevin gets his place set up better for him.  I dropped him off and I am sad and trying to keep myself from crying over it.  He has been a great friend of mine for years he is a darn good horse.  I got to say good bye to Kevin and I want to thank him and I know he will take good care of my good friend Jahob.  This real nice guy from Grand Island named Harold came out and interviewed me Striker and Red.  He will be writing a story for the newspaper there. I am riding down this road that they say goes all the way to Iowa.  I sure like these country roads.  This photographer from Grand Island pulled up named Barret and he took some pictures of us.  I am sure he got some great pictures.  I got to talk to him for a minute and I let him get on Red and took some pictures of him on Red.  I am sure he will send them to the site for all of you to see.  We stopped up ahead and took a break where I fell asleep under a tree for a bit.  We got back on the road and I came across a guy named Camden and his buddy named Leland.  I asked if I could tie my horses to the tree and he said ok.  So we did and we got attacked by skeeters.  There are more skeeters then I have seen in my life.  I put the Skin So Soft on and for the first time in my life that didn’t work then.  I put on bug spray and that didn’t work.  These are Super Skeeters.  I don’t know what kind they are but they are sure tough 'lil boogers. They don’t care if you got bug spray or not and they are big enough to shoot with my 22.  There’s millions of them.  I have been killing them left and right.  I have the blankets on the horses and I am going to crawl in my bag and see if I can get them off of me.  I even tried olive oil and Listerine and that didn’t work.  I am in my tent and going to try and get some sleep.  Good night
Well I am back and it hasn’t even been an hour and Camden came by and asked if there was anything I need.  I told him I could use some bug spray that works.  So he took me into town and we got some bug spray and he asked me if I wanted to stop at Arby’s so he stopped in where there is a FFA thing going on. They have all types of FFA things going on there.  They got a gymnasium and a swimming pool and it is just a real nice place they got there.  I got to meet the director and he was a real nice guy, he offered me a room if I want to stay there.  I told them it was too far from my ponies but I do appreciate the offer.  My horses are pretty important to me.  After we left the FFA folks we stopped by a guy named Steve’s.   After I got done visiting with Steve we went to his parent’s house.  They were really nice people and they believe in the Lord.  After I got done visiting with his folks and his nephew he invited me over to his house.  He said I could stay there and I did like the thought of staying there instead of with all those bugs.  We stopped in at Arby’s and there was a real nice girl that I got to visit with.  I didn’t tell her about my trip though.  We then went by the horses and I moved them and got my gear.  We went to his house and he gave me a nice bed to sleep in and now I am going to get some zzzzz’s.  Good night everyone and thank you to all you nice people out there.

Day 198

Good morning everyone.  I woke up and took me a shower and I met Camden’s really nice wife and his daughter Jamie.  Camden asked me if I would go to Jamie’s school and talk to all the little kids there.  I told him I would be more then happy to do that.  Camden took me over to my horses and I packed them up.  I met his bookkeeper she said she will be following the web site.  I rode my horses to the school.  As I rode into the school Red put up his ears and looked at all the kids.  So I got off of him and led him up there he seems to be a little calmer when I walk him up to something.  It was pretty cool that all the kids were out on the lawn waiting for me.  I got to visit with all these really nice youngsters and they asked me all kinds of interesting questions.  They did a pretty darn good job of interviewing me, if I don’t say.  They asked what we eat, how old we were and all sorts of good questions.   It’s a real nice little Christian school.  One of the questions asked if I knew any of the kids with cancer.  I said no I don’t and the Principal had been asking questions too.  Well, she ran inside and brought me a picture of a girl named Sydney to take with me.  I gave the Principal my hat to give to Sydney and tell her she will be in my prayers.  Maybe she can send me an e-mail after she gets to feeling better.  I got to visit with Camden’s parents and their preacher and the newspaper guy.  He is going to go off the kids interviewing me.  Thank you for having me and everyone’s hospitality.  They also gave me some water and cookies.  I am going to go down to the gas station and have an ice cream and say good bye to Camden.  I appreciate all his help and everyone I have met.  I have done a lot of walking today to get some exercise.  I had an eventful day and the kids touched my heart.  This trip has just been awesome.  I met this guy named Clark and he is a really nice fella.  He lives a few miles up the road and he said he has a fifth wheel trailer I can stay in and a place for my ponies.  I got to meet his wife and visit with them.  I cleaned out some stalls for my horses and will have dinner with them.  Fran his wife works for the paper and is going to try and have somebody come out and interview me.  I got to go out and see his horses.  He has a nice ‘lil colt with good conformation.  I had a copy of the Grand Island paper and showed them my article.  We watched this crazy TV show where they steal junk off people’s lawn and fix it and put it back on people’s lawn.  I guess that is a common thing in the East where they sit their junk on the lawn.  It was a crazy TV show.  Anyhow after TV I came out to the fifth wheel trailer and I am going to get some shut-eye.  I will be back in the morning.  Good night.

Day 199

Good morning everybody I woke up a little while ago and Clark asked me if I wanted to go get some breakfast.  I said sure so we went down to the café and I met his buddies.  I am honored to meet everyone I got to meet.  I had a bacon cheese omelet and hash browns that was real good.  After that we went back over to the house and Clark helped me get my gear all loaded up on the horses.  Clark is a great guy and I wish him the best of luck in life and I hope our paths cross again.  It is windier then you can imagine right now and the sun is shining and we are truckin along on the trail.  I rode by a jail or something there was bob wire and razor wire around it. I rode thru the town of York and the nice lady from the paper interviewed us.  I think there were about 5000 people in that town.  It wasn’t a big town.   The winds still blowing pretty good and they say it might rain or have thunder storms tomorrow.  We probably rode 12 miles from York and there is a lot of corn and wild life around these parts.  We took a break and I let the horses eat for a while.  The houses around here are about a mile apart and I am not sure how far to the next town.  We are looking for a place to hold up for the night.  I see this house and it has a big grassy field with a bunch of trees by it so I went up and knocked on the door.  This guy answered it and I asked him if I could tie my horses up and camp out in his field.  I recognized him from passing by me and waving earlier.  He said no problem we could stay.  I got us all set up and realized I left my GPS in Clarks trailer.  I called him and asked him if it was there and he said yes he would run it out to me.  Well it took him a lot less time for him to get here then for me to get here.  He was here in about 35 minutes.  While I was waiting for Clark to show up, Craig came out with his wife and I got to visit with them for a while.  They said they had to go some where but they would be back in the morning to bring me out some coffee.  Then Clark showed up and we visited for a while.  I wish him the best and sure do appreciate him bringing my GPS to me.  Now I am all nestled in my tent.  I will be back in the morning for more of Ezra’s Expedition.
Good night and sweet dreams.

Day 200

Well folks I am back and it is morning time.  A little while ago Craig’s wife Erin brought me some coffee and a granola bar.  I got to visit with her a little bit while I got my horses ready.  This morning when I woke up it started raining on me pretty good.  It is starting to rain again now that I am back on the trail.  I sure do appreciate Craig and Erin letting me put my horses up and stay in that field last night.  I appreciate all that they did for me and I am glad to have met them.  I have ridden thru rain and thunder all day today.  A guy named Richard stopped by here a little bit ago.  He does a lot of stuff with horses and he is going to see if he can get me some media attention.  He is going to try and find me a place to stay tonight.  I am sure he will be back by later and if not I wish him the best in life and it was nice meeting him. The weather is getting pretty hairy.  I rode into Stuart and went thru the nastiest rain storm.  There is a couple of bridges I have to cross to get into the main part of town and the traffic on Hwy 15 is pretty crazy. We cantered across the bridges and the sun finally peaked out.  I am going to find the newspaper.  I don’t think Richard thought I would make it as soon as I did.  He said I wouldn’t get into town until dark.  I made it by 1:00.  As I was walking through town this police officer pulled up next to me.  He asked me where I am going he told me to be careful.  He was a heck of a nice guy.  He went over and got the newspaper for me and stood there as they interviewed me.  After they got done he handed me some money.  Instead of a ticket I got money from a police officer.  How often does that happen?  I know he will be following the trip and I sure do appreciate him being so kind.  He also gave me some directions towards Lincoln.  I am heading out of Stuart today and it started raining on me again as I went down Hwy 34. Hopefully this rain will let up.  I stopped by a tractor supply place and he was telling me I was best off to go north a few miles then go east.  I am thinking about trying that.  That way I will be on a gravel road.  I didn’t catch his name but I appreciate his help. There is a lot of jerks driving down this dirt road.  They drive like 60 mph on this road.  One guy scared the hell out of all of us. He was in a little grey Volvo; he came up behind us so fast.  I guess these folks here near the city of Lincoln don’t know that I got the right away and they aren’t supposed to go any faster then 5 miles an hour then what the horse is traveling.  All these people around here are due for a speeding ticket.  I stopped to see if I can put my horses in a pasture and I asked the guy and he said he didn’t think it was a good idea so I said thanks and rode off.  That is the first time in my entire trip across the country that someone has told me I couldn’t put my horses in a pasture for the night.  I am sure he had a reason for it.  I stopped in at another house that I seen had a bunch of llamas.  On the other side of the road was a big ole creek and stuff.  I tied my horses to a tree because I don’t like to ride them up to someone’s front door.  I knocked on the door and this lady answered the door and her husband flew to the door and I asked if I could camp out across the street by that creek with my horses and he quickly said no way.  I have never had nobody be like that to me.  He did say good luck as I was leaving.  He wasn’t very nice how he said it.  I am getting a hunch that the closer I get to the city the less hospitality I see.  I’m not asking for a whole lot just a spot to rest my head on vacant land for one night.  I guess that is there right as an American.  Anyhow I am a little bit fired up about that one because of the way he said it and acted towards me.  Normally if someone says no, not a big deal to me.  I see another storm rolling in.  There isn’t enough room on the side of the road here to camp out.  I found a bare piece of land about 100 yards from a corn field.  The horses have grass and there is a piece of old concrete where something used to be.  Hopefully no one will come tell me I have to move.  Normally the people around here are real nice but I get discouraged when someone gets all upset with me.  I have seen all kinds of critters around here.  I am in my mini tent and it is supposed to rain real good tonight although it isn’t right now.  I am going to rest my head and I will be back in the morning.  Thank you for following my site and all the help and hospitality of all the wonderful people out there.

Day 201

It was a crazy night last night it got all stormy.  Thunder all around me and I heard weird noises like a dog that had gotten hurt or something.  It woke me up pretty good.  I hope today is a better day then yesterday.  I didn’t like that spot we had last night.  Red and Striker are doing real good this morning they were happy to get back on the trail.  I saw this guy working on a police car he was cleaning it out and everything and I thought I might ask him for some water for my horses and I.  He said he would be more then happy to give me some water.  We got to talking and he asked me if I would like to stay for breakfast and I told him I had to get back on the trail.  We kept talking and he asked me quite a few more times to stay for breakfast so I thought what the heck.  I went in the house and I met his wife and she cooked up some breakfast.  As Candy cooked up some breakfast I shoed Striker.  He had lost a shoe and I have wanted to shoe his front feet for while now.  I figured this was as good as any to do it.  Then I went in and had breakfast with Joe and Candy.  .They were really nice folks and I am glad to have met them.  They told me about a nasty storm coming in maybe even some tornados.  They asked me if I would like to lay up for the night.  I hadn’t even rode three miles today.  So I told him I need to get some miles on the trail. Joe told me a few more times about the storm and to stay so I decided I better take him up on his offer.  Joe and I went down town and I got my pads washed up and I did some shopping done at the grocery office.  Then we went by the Sheriff’s office where he works and I got to meet some of the Deputies there.  One of them was pretty cute if I don’t say.  We went back to the house and his wife Candy cooked up some fired chicken and corn baked potatoes.  It was a real good dinner; she knows how to fry her chicken if I don’t say.  We watched football and visited and looked at my web site pictures.  I got to read the sightenings that people have sent in and they really touch my heart.  Some of them made me almost want to cry.  It has been a long ways and I have met a lot of nice people. We had a good time.  Candy made a cake.  They are letting me sleep in a spare room that they had.  It was their kid’s room that grew up and moved out.  I sure feel lucky to have met these nice folks. I am going to turn in for the night and get some sleep.  Good night.

Day 202

Well folks it’s a new day.  I woke up this morning and I went down stairs and Candy cooked up some Eggo waffles.  So I ate some breakfast and then went out to put my gear all back together.  I had taken it all apart yesterday to wash it at the laundry matt.  It took quite awhile to put everything back together.  While I was getting everything done their son showed up with his wife and I got to visit with them and take some pictures of everybody.  I thank Joe Candy and the mother in law for everything they were real nice to me and I am glad to have met them.  I saw snakes on the trail.  I think they were bull snakes they were kid of crazy looking.  Then I saw the biggest darn doe I have ever seen.  I tried to whip out my camera and take some pictures but it ran off to fast.  I ran into this really nice guy and his name is Max he stopped me and asked me where I was going.  He asked me if I wanted to hold up at his house for the night it is only a few miles down the road.  He seems really nice and it is Sunday.  Even though I hadn’t rode very far today, and I do want to get into Lincoln on a week day so I can go to the newspaper.  When I rode up to Max’s house he was working in the shop welding up some stuff.  I visited with him a bit then we went out to my horses and fixed them up to some trees.  We decided we were going to split some wood then we went in a he cooked up some hamburgers.  We watched football for a while and talked.  Then his grandkids showed up and they were kind of wanting to see the horses.  He had his daughter and his son in law so I gave them a ride on Red in the back yard and they really enjoyed it.  One of thems name was Grant and he was 4 he was an interesting young lad.  I am sure I will see him on some hunting safari show some day.  After visiting with everyone, Max and I went in the house and I am ready to go to sleep.  That’s where I am at right now so I will be back in the morning.
Good night everyone.

Day 203

It’s morning time again.  Another day is another day with lots of adventures I am sure.  I asked Max to wake me up.  He told me to rise and shine.  It was still dark outside.  I showered and then went upstairs for breakfast he cooked some breakfast up.  We ate then I went out to saddle up my horses and said good bye.  I sure do appreciate his hospitality and letting me stay.  He is a heck of a guy and I am honored to meet him for sure.  I should be riding into Lincoln today.  The sun peaked out over the mountain as I rode off  from Max’s house.  The sun disappeared, the wind is blowing pretty hard and it was getting cold.  I decided to stop and put on that nice jacket that Debbie gave me so I stopped got off my horse put the jacket on and was taking a leak.  Red decides he needs to go to the bathroom too so he starts to go.  Well the wind was blowing and it blew his urine all over me.  Red peed on me!  I couldn’t believe he did that.  I made it to Lincoln and it is windy and cold.  I stopped in at a farm supply store and there was a good looking girl named Jamie there and I asked her if she could get the manager for me.  I visited with him and asked him if he could get the news out here for me.  He said he had seen me riding a couple of times back by Grand Island.  I called the news and he gave them directions on how to get there.  As I waited for the news to show up I got to talk to the employees that work there.  There are some really nice ladies working there.  They helped me pick out some gear.  I got me some treats for my horses, a new hat, some water repellent spray and they gave me some power bars for horses.  I tried one they were pretty good and Red likes them too.  After awhile of visiting and shopping the news people came out they interviewed me and another news channel came out and did the same.  I got to meet a lot of nice people and pretty girls who took my picture.  After that I went back inside the manager told me I didn’t have to pay a thing for the stuff I was buying.  I sure do appreciate all they did for me they were really nice people.  I continued after that to ride thru Lincoln the capital of Nebraska.  According to the people I was talking to there is a bout a million people here.  This really nice guy named Clarence road his motorcycle by me and stopped and asked if I was the guy riding my horse around the USA.  He said I could stay at his house and it was about 13 more miles down the way.  He came back by in a little black car and gave me a map to his house and said he might come and ride with me for a ways.  I will be looking forward to that.  I road for quite a ways and then here came Clarence riding his little fox trotter.  That little horse was cruising along his feet moving like a little motor.  I am glad to have met him he seems like a nice guy.  We rode up to his house and these guys in a pick up stopped and talked to us.  They wanted to know more about my story and Clarence told him how he met me.  Then another guy came by that works for the train newspaper and he took some pictures.  They were all nice guys who I am glad to have met.  Hopefully I will meet up with them again.  We got to Clarence’s and we hitched up the horses and un packed them, grained them and set them out to pasture.  I got to meet his wife and his daughter and his grandson.  His wife fed us dinner and we all visited.  The guy from the paper stuck around for awhile he is a real nice guy.  We watched the news and Striker and Red and I were on there.  They messed up some of my facts.  The one station said that all my donations goes to Cancer for Kids.  That is not true.  I give 50% to them and the other 50% goes to my Expedition.  I wish I could give them 100%.  Maybe if some large corporation sponsors me I would be able to do that.  Channel 8 did a good job and had the facts right.  I talked Clarence into riding with me tomorrow. I am going to shoe his horse first thing and he took the day off work.  They gave me their guest room to sleep in with a great big bed.  I know I will be getting some shut eye tonight.  Good night folks and thanks to everyone.

Day 204

I have had quite an interesting morning.  Clarence woke me up and said get up Cowboy its 7 o’clock.  I got up and got to put nice clean clothes on and eat some mean bacon that he had cooked up.  After an awesome breakfast I went outside I messed with his stallion.  We cleaned up some shoes and I showed him how I shoe.  His is a heck of a horse man and knows quite a bit about horses.  He hooked up his truck to his horse trailer while I shoed his horse.  I didn’t have all I needed to shoe a horse but we made it work.  I was almost done and the stallion jerked and I slammed my finger.  When I break a leg it is “it’s alright”, but when I hurt my finger I cry like a baby.  After I shoed Rocket another newspaper came out and I got to talk to them.  I met Clarence’s son and his daughter he is a heck of a nice guy.  They were nice people who interviewed me and hopefully they will send a copy of it my way.  Clarence and I have been talking all day while we ride.  Stories of his and stories of mine.  He mentioned a horse that rares up all the time and I said give me a shot at it.  So he made a phone call to a lady and told her to bring it over to his brothers where we are headed to hang my hat for the night.  I got to talking to this lady and she wants me to ride a different horse that is a bucker.  So I am looking forward to meeting her.  I am having a bad time with directions today.  Ted is his brother’s name and his son and his wife showed up Clarence’s wife and Ted’s wife and Megan Tyler and Brianna.  Clarence is the kid’s grandpa.  I got the horses in corrals and fed. We waited for the nice lady to come down with her horse.  When she showed up with her horse and her daughter I thought to myself she is god looking.  This nice lady got bucked off this horse one day and has been skittish of her since.  I got on this lil horse and she bucked.  It kind of hurt my leg since I had pulled my ham string before and it seems like you never heal up all the way.  I think it is best not to ride a bucking horse to begin with for her safety but since she did get bucked off and didn’t get back on it is like she is beat already.  Give your horse lots of love the more you give her the better it is.  It is also important to  give and get respect from your horse.  I didn’t want her getting bucked off this horse so I went and got Red and let her ride him and taught her some of what I know about riding.  I told her how to use her legs to support yourself so you aren’t all bouncy all over the place. I asked her if she would like to ride with me tomorrow and she said she would call and let me know.  Debbie, Ted’s wife cooked us up a real good dinner and it was awesome.  I had pork garlic tators and home made bread.  I am glad to be surrounded by wonderful people.  I had a big slice of Apple Pie for dinner and that was nummy too.  After dinner we visited.  They told me I could sleep in their trailer.  I said good bye to  Clint and Marcy and their two daughters Megan and Brianna and Butch and his nice wife.  I talked to Ted  and Debbie a bit.  Debbie works the night shift so she headed out to work.  I went into the cozy trailer to turn in for the night.  I am going to get my shut eye and be back tomorrow.  Good night.

Day 205

I woke up at 7:30 this morning and Ted came and told me he had breakfast ready.  I had some bacon and eggs and homemade bread that I made a breakfast sandwich with.  We got to visit some more and Tyler was up and got to visit with him too.  I saddled up my horses and Tyler filled up my canteens.  I said my good byes and I wish them all the best of luck and I appreciate all their hospitality.  I am hoping to get 30 miles in today.  I am not feeling very good today.  I hope I am not coming down with any thing.  I have been thinking about Jahob and wondering how he is doing.  I am sure he is fine because I left him with some real nice folks.  I also was thinking about the pretty girl who I helped her with her horse.  I believe her name was Lorrie, if I am right.  I wish she would have gotten a chance to go riding with us.  I would have liked her company.  I think I will make it to Nebraska City today.  I got to not feeling very good again so we stopped and took a break.  We got back on the trail and came to a bridge and there was no way across it.  So I got off the horses and thought about swimming with the horses across the river.  As I looked at it I seen there was no way up the bank on the other side.  We had to ride about 2 miles back west and then go north again.  There’s quite a few streams and rivers and bridges are missing and stuff.  This super nice guy named Marty pulled over in a black Ford pick up truck.  He said he might come out tomorrow and put his flashers on so I can get across the busy interstate to cross the Missouri River.  That would be awesome if he is able to do that.  He said I could stay at his house but it about 3 miles back.  I sure do appreciate his hospitality.  He brought me a hamburger and he told me if I get to Iowa he has another place for me to stay.  I found a spot here next to the highway for me to set up tent.  People on the interstate can’t see me.  I am not feeling good again my throat is sore and my head don’t feel right I hope I can shake this off.  I got my horses settled in tied up to the trees and tarps over my stuff.  I am in my mini tent and hopefully Red won’t step on me tonight.  I am going to try and get some sleep now so I will be back in the morning.  Good Night y’all and thanks for being a part of my Expedition.

Day 206

Well I didn’t sleep real well last night, I didn’t like the place I stayed but I guess it is better then nothing.  I woke up with a real bad sore throat and stuffed up head.  It is pouring down rain and I think I might lay up in Nebraska City.  Red has thrown a left front shoe and we made it into Nebraska City.  I went to this western store and got me a hat.  There  was real pretty girls working in this store and a lady from the newspaper came in  and took some pictures and also another lady named Jan who said I can lay up at her house and it is 5 or 6 miles out of town.  I might find some where else because we are all soaked and cold and I am so not feeling good I just want to go to sleep.  I met quite of few people riding thru town.  I saw a Days Inn and a Veterinary Clinic across the street so I stopped in at the Clinic and asked if I can leave my horses there and they said sure.  There was theses guys named Bob and Scooter who came in.  They are friends of Carver’s and they have been looking for me.  Bobby shoes horses so he has nails and stuff so he said he would come back later after work.  I got my room at the Days Inn and I am sicker then a dog.  I might have to go to the doctor.  I can’t get laid up before winter and I need to get better.  I am going to go to sleep for the night and see if I can’t shake this darn bug.  Good night.

Day 207

Well I am back this morning and I went over to check on my horses.  Bob and Scooter took over a bale of hay for me.  I got a hold of a medical clinic and got a cab.  The Doctor was a super nice guy and there was some real nice nurses there.  He gave me some medicine and took real good care of me.  I know they will be following my web site.  I felt a little better after I took some medicine.  My head felt like it was going to explode before.  I am taking it easy today and give the horses a break too.  Bob called me up and asked me if I wanted to use his horse shoe equipment to shoe my horse.  It was almost dark and we had flashlights set up.  I put a left front shoe and a rear right shoe on Red.  The rear right the one side of the whole shoe was worn off.  Was we got the horses all shoed up we went out and visited and met some girls.  I probably shouldn’t have went out because I was supposed to be resting.  I kind of got talked in to it.  We all had a good time though.  I met an awful lot of nice people tonight and I know they will be following along on my site. I am going to be leaving in the morning. So I need to get some rest now.  Good night

Day 208

I am feeling a little bit better this morning my nose is runny still.  I got the horses all saddled up and ready.  I wish Bob and Scooter all the luck in life. They deserve it, they are good guys.  It is totally crazy and wild around here I am on Interstate 29 and Hwy 2 towards Iowa.  We have to cross the bridge across the Missouri River.  I have had quite a few people stopping and waving and I sure do appreciate their hospitality.  I hope the cars are nice enough to share the road with me across the bridge.  It is a long ways done so I hope Red and Striker don’t decide to jump.  I don’t feel like taking a swim today.  I made it to Iowa.  I want to thank everyone in Nebraska for their hospitality from the bottom of my heart.  Nebraska Rocks it is a good state.  It feels good to be in Iowa.  Everybody is asking me at the gas station if I am the guy with the horses tied by the gas pump.  I bought a map of Iowa.  It looks like it is going to rain and I got my fingers crossed it won’t I heard on the radio about tornados in Illinois.  It is real pretty here in Iowa I am riding against the bluffs right now.  There is a lot of trees and pretty greens and cotton trees.  It is absolutely beautiful here.  I rode across the top of the bluff.  The clouds are out and you can see the sun peaking out 20 miles or so away.  It is just breath taking here.  I seen a swarm of birds fly in these trees and then another swarm of birds.  They are singing away.  And it is raining bird poop and Red got a splat on him right between the ears.  He don’t like it either.  It sure is pretty to see all these birds.  I got into a little town called Riverton and a guy pulled up and asked me where I was going.  I told him and his wife my story they were real nice people.  He said he is going to go and get some strategy and said he would bring some back for me too.  That would be great to get some grain for these horses tonight.  I rode out of Riverton and I had to pick up the pace because it was getting late and I had 7 miles to Mike’s house the nice guy who stopped early.  He rode his nice quarter horse to meet me.  Mike’s friend donated a bag of grain and I sure do appreciate that.  I got the horses in stalls and they have lots of grain and hay and water so they are loving that.  They are sheltered tonight too so that is another plus.  After that I went inside and met his girlfriend who I thought earlier was his wife but maybe someday will be.  She made us some chili definitely cowboy chili it was pretty spicy.  I liked it a lot and I sure do appreciate her making dinner for us.  Mike and his girl took off to a wedding.  They invited me and I declined since I am still not feeling up to par.  I did some laundry and made some phone calls to my family.  Mike said he might ride out with me tomorrow.  I sure do appreciate you letting me stay at your house Mike.  I feel real lucky that I have met all these neat people that have put me up.  To everybody out there that has helped me along the way I appreciate all of your hospitality from the bottom of my heart.  I am sure there is a lot more people I am going to meet out there that I am looking forward to meeting.  It has been quite a trip.  I will  be back in the morning, it’s time for my rest now.  Good night.

Day 209

I had an awesome morning I slept real good on Mike’s and Kesha’s couch last night.  He is a good cowboy and I am happy to have known him.  Red and Striker were in a tie stall.  Striker lost a shoe yesterday so I decided to put it back on and I grained them and had a good breakfast that Kesha made for us.  We got to visit some more.  Striker was pretty good when I put his shoe on.  So I put a right front shoe on Red.  Mike went and got one of his Mules saddled up to ride with me.  He then remembered he had to go to his mom’s to see his Grandma that came to town.  I can understand that so I said my goodbyes to everyone and set out on the trail.  The sun is shining and it is going to be a great day.  There was  a big buck that ran across the road he is standing in the field.  He was big.  There is tons of birds and a big hawk that swooped down to the ground.  There is more trees in these parts.  I walked a few miles to get exercise.  I seen a couple of trucks behind me and the one truck stopped and asked if he could take some pictures and the truck behind them was Mike and his girlfriend.  I got to visit with them a little more and I sure do appreciate their hospitality. After they left I visited with Julie and her dad they were real nice folks.  I had her get on Red and take a picture of her.  I hope they send those pictures to the web site.  I sure do appreciate meeting them.  Red had a little swelling in his legs where he stood all night.  But his swelling is gone.  I was thinking of all the miles that Red and Jahob and I have done.  All the people we have met, being back in Nevada at my good friend Chief Ely’s house and all the people we have met since then.  I would really like to thank all those people good people out there.  I feel really privileged and honored to have met all those good folks.  Thank you for everything you have done and to all those people I haven’t met that are following my site thank you for following.  It is a nice day sunshine and not too much wind.  As I was riding down this country road I saw a nice little ranch house to the left of me.  I seen a couple of people out in the garden digging a hole and a German shepherd came running out.  This real nice lady named Patty came out and asked where I was going so I turned around and told her.  Her real pretty daughter Ashley came out and I told them about my trip and they said they will be following the site.  They told me about a guy who rode his horse from Iowa to Tennessee for spinal cord injuries and he will be having a thing in town tonight.  I am not sure I would make it another 10 miles to go there tonight but I sure would like to find him and visit with him.  I am looking for a spot to set up it is getting late and I haven’t found the school.  I am sure that thing isn’t even going on still since it is so late.  I don’t have a clue where I am going and I somehow ran into a feed lot.  I didn’t see nobody around and there was a phone number on the door for someone to call if they came in late with a load of cows.  I called and the fellas name was Clark and I left him a message.  I picketed the horses here next to a crick with water in under a great big Willow tree.  It is kind of a parking lot but there is grass for the horses to eat and it is a clear night so we won’t be getting wet tonight.  I had dinner, fruit cocktail, chef Boyardee, some jerky and this stuff kind of like sardines.  Now I am going to crawl into my tent and try and get some shut eye.  Good night and thank you for following my site.

Day 210

I woke up this morning and had two peanut butter sandwiches and some fruit cocktail.  I let the horses graze for a while and saddled them up.  I went in to the store and met Clark he was a real nice guy.  I called the newspaper and one of the photographers came out and took some pictures of us.  It was the Clainda paper.  Then we hit the trail on this nice beautiful day.  I hope to get some miles in today.  I seen quite a few deer and hawks today.  I traveled East on an old country road North of Hwy 2.  We then ended up on a black top road.  This guy named Seth pulled up and said he read about me in the newspaper.  He told me there was a place up ahead we can stop at to get some water for the horses and I.  It is a hot day.  We found a creek and got some water and took a break and let my ponies eat some grass.  Red seems tired today maybe it is me I am tired and out of it today for some reason.  There is a lot of rolling hills here up one and down another.  Definitely a lot of rolling hills here in Iowa.  I stopped at a place where I saw someone looking out the window at me.  I walked up with my canteen and Gregory came out a heck of a nice guy.  I introduced myself and  he let me fill up my canteens.  He is in the meat market business he raises American Beef.  Once again folks I want to remind you make sure you eat American Beef if you live in America.  I got to meet his lovely wife also.  I said my good byes and thanked them  We continued on and crossed Hwy 148.  The gravel road we were on had big rocks that the horses were walking softly on so I got off and walked with them for a ways.  I also found that there is gigantic preymantesis about 6 inches long and crazy looking.  I am rode next to Blank Angus cows that are running the fence line and bucking.  There is one bull out there.  I am going to look for a place to crash for the night.  I do not like asking people to stay I just don’t like to.  I would rather them offer.  I rode up a ways and there is a spot to camp out.  It isn’t the best camp site but it has grass for the horses and a tree to put my tent under.  A guy named Rusty stopped by and asked if I wanted to stay at his house.   He let Red and Striker have the whole pasture for the night and put his horses in the corral.  His wife Dianna cooked up chicken for dinner.  It was a real good dinner.  They have a bed and breakfast so they let me stay in one of those rooms.  I am so glad that Rusty rescued me from the side of the road because this is way better.  I am going to turn in for the night and I will be back tomorrow.  Good night and thanks Rusty and Dianna.

Day 211

I woke up this morning to the smell of bacon and coffee.  Rusty woke me up and I had a great breakfast with Dianna and Rusty.  I got to visit with them this morning and they asked if I would like to stay another day.  I was still pretty tired since we stayed up so late looking at pictures on my site and sightings people have sent in.  Rusty does carpentry work refinishing cabinets and antiques.  I figured I could stay another day and do some work on my pack boxes and they are definitely good company.  This is a good place to hold up and give my horses a day off.  I packed and unpacked my gear and cleaned up my gear and sewed up Red’s pad.  I got to see Rusty’s cabinet work and he does beautiful work.  I grained the horses and the boys are enjoying the day off.  This nice guy named John who is a good friend of Rusty’s and Dianna.  He is employed  by one of the oil companies’ and he told me about this nice girl who tried to ride from Maine to California and they didn’t make it but a couple hundred miles and said forget it.  He is going to hook me up with them.  After I visited with John Dianna made some cookies.  Several people showed up while I was working on my boxes and they barbequed.  It was a nice little party and everyone  was trying to find places for me to stay down the road.  They wanted to have a get together so everyone could meet me.  Around these parts they have get togethers a lot.  I really appreciate that.  Rusty and Dianna and I looked at the web site a little bit more and I showed them some videos.  I feel honored to have met all these awesome people I have met along the way.  I am going to get some shut eye.  I want to get on the trail tomorrow.

Day 212

I woke up again to the great smell of bacon and coffee.  I went down stairs and they even made cinnamon rolls.   I got to visit with them again this morning.    You know, some people I have met on this trip have touched my heart.  Saying good bye is like saying good bye when I said it to my parents to go on this trip.  When someone invites you into their home and you get to know them it’s absolutely awesome.  I hope I feel this way all the way around the world.  I hope I get to me more wonderful people.  I thank you very much.  After breakfast Dianna took off to work and Rusty and I went out to the barn and saddled up my ponies.  Rusty walked over to me and put $100 in my hand and told me he hopes this helps me out down the trail.  They were so nice to me and took such good care of me.  I am so grateful.  I have met some good people here in Iowa too for sure.  Rusty told me there was going to be some people looking for me on the trail and I might run into Amish people.  I am looking forward to that too.  I got on the trail and was riding down the road and seen this machine they were dragging down the asphalt and it grinds up all the asphalt that is on the ground.  There are three machines and it oils it and throws it back down on the ground.  I took a break and ate some of the cinnamon rolls Diana made for me.  I sat and watched some Eagles fly over us.  There are tons of birds in this part of the country.  It is kind of over cast and it is supposed to freeze tonight.  Hopefully I will find a good spot to lay my head for the night.  I heard pig noises and then I smelled them and Red put his ears up and Striker was alert.  I tightened up on the reigns in case either of them wanted to do something stupid.  They didn’t but there must have been 200 pigs out there.  Striker keeps wanting me to pull him along.  He has been acting like that for a week now.  I wrapped the lead rope over his nose so it pulls on him every time he does that.  I don’t have a stud chain but I might be able to figure something out. It’s gorgeous country out here.  It is still corn but a lot more trees and rolling hills.  I seen a deer run through the corn to another corn field.  I have been thinking about Jahob today I really miss him.  I wonder what he is doing.  I asked Red if he missed Jahob and he is giving me the silent treatment and I am not sure why.  I think it is because I gave Striker more attention when we took a break.  Red is kind of jealous like that.  I have rode a lot today and done a lot of walking to.  I saw a creek so I thought I would go down there and get a drink.  As we were walking down there two great big pheasants flew out at us.  Red did real good and didn’t even flinch and Striker did good also.  Then as we walked further I could see rocks on top but the reason somebody put rocks there was because it is a huge mud hole.  Red sunk almost to his chest but he was able to get out and be alright.  We decided not to get water there.  I had seen a few camp spots but it is supposed to rain real good tonight.  Hopefully I will find or see a place that will keep us somewhat dry.  I seen houses and I didn’t want to ask anybody cause I don’t like to do that.  I stopped up the road a ways on the other side of a bridge and had a peanut butter sandwich and let the horses eat some grass and unpacked them.  I ate the homemade cookies that Dianna made for me.  It started to rain on me so I got my tarps out and my mini tent and my gear.  It is going to be a wet one tonight and my tarps aren’t 100% water proof.   I am going to hope for the best tonight and try to get some sleep.  Good night folks and I will be back tomorrow.

Day 213

I am back and I had a rough wet night last night.  I woke up to the sound of Red winnying.   I jumped out of my sleeping bag and looked back to see what he was winnying at.  I saw a couple of guys there that pulled over cause they seen the horses and they didn’t see me because I was under my tarps.  I got to visit with them for awhile.  I told them what I was doing and they went about there way.  I packed up Red and Stryker.  My map got soaking wet.  I don’t know why in the world I left it there.  I laid it next to me because I was looking at it, but somehow there was a hole in my tarp.  All the water seemed to want to drain right there where my map was laying.  Now I don’t have a map of the state of Iowa and I will have to stop and get another one.  I headed east on Hwy 2 there is about a 10 ft gravel easement on it. It is for horses and tractors to go down.  I hear there is a lot of Amish people around here.  Hopefully I will get to meet an Amish family or even stay with one I am sure there is a lot I can learn from them and it could be very interesting.  This nice guy named Larry stopped by.  He is on an expedition himself except he is in a car.  He is following his Grandfather.  He got his video camera out and video taped us and I told him what we were doing.  We will get a lot more people following the site thru Larry he is a nice and interesting guy.  We rode on and seen a big water tower.  That is always a sign that there is a town ahead.  I rode into Ary Iowa and this guy that was up a head a quarter mile or so was taking pictures of me.  I got to meet him and he was with the newspaper and he was a real nice guy.  As he was taking pictures of me the preacher came out and I got to visit with the preacher for a little bit.  He gave me some coffee and bacon and toast.  After I got done visiting with him I went to the feed store and I got me some grain and the guy at the feed store donated a bag of grain to me.  I sure do appreciate him doing that for me.  I let Stryker and Red eat some grain then I packed up the grain in my boxes and put my long johns on.  It is a cold day today probably in the low 40’s and it is supposed to get down in the 30’s tonight.  After I got Stryker packed up with the feed and everything I realized I needed to go to the store and get me a tarp and some other stuff.  This guy I met there at the feed store was telling me it was just up the road a little ways. (the store)  So I headed into town and this Amish guy passes me in his little buggy which was just awesome.  Red didn’t know what to think of that buggy at first but he did alright after I told him it was ok.  I went into the store and got myself a tarp.  Then I decided to go get myself a hamburger and went over to a place across the street.  I had my horses tied to a telephone pole.  I visited with the people inside the bar and grill and the nice waitress  filled up my canteen with water.  Another guy there bought my lunch for me and I didn’t’t even know he bought it.  He came over and told me he bought my lunch for me and he had read about me in the paper.  I thought that was really nice of him to buy my lunch for me. He introduced himself and we talked for a bit.  After I got done with my lunch I went back out to my horses and several people came up to me.  He lived here all his life and he was very interesting guy to talk to.  Then I got on my horse to head out of town and I ran into a couple of Amish guys that were standing there behind the store that I bought my tarp at.  They had three of there buggies tied up to the telephone pole behind the store it was pretty cool.   One of them was a one horse drawn buggy and the other one was a two horse and the third one was a one horse.  I got to visit with them for a little bit.  It was definitely interesting talking to them.  I do appreciate the hospitality in this town.  We headed out of town about 1:30 and I hope to ride another 10 miles before we look for a place to lay up.  I don’t know if we will get much further then that today.  We went back down Hwy 2 and seen a lot of beautiful country rolling hills and little farms here and there. I rode into Kellerton Iowa  and stopped at the Post Office and mailed Anna some tapes.  Then I stopped at a convenience store and meant to get a map but spaced that out.  I got some jelly and fruit cocktail there. They didn’t have a whole lot there.  I seen a few people in town here that asked me what I was doing and what not but nobody offered to put me and the horses up tonight so maybe I will find a good spot to camp or run into somebody down the road.  I rode out of town a couple of miles.  I found a spot with lots of grass where I can picket my horses for the night.  I got the horses all settled and my new tarp is up tied to a limb on the tree so the water can drain off and it doesn’t have holes in it like my other tarp.  I got good and wet last night and my gear was pretty wet. As I was taking off my stuff off of Red I took my back saddle bag off and laid it on the ground and when I turned around Red decided to take a big Wizz and peed all over my sleeping bag.  I was very upset with him but I still love him.  I will have to keep him around.  I guess it is my fault for laying it there on the ground.  It is kind of funny in some ways but in other ways I am upset about it because the stink on my sleeping bag is absolutely horrible.  My saddle bag is all soaked with and it is a mess.  I will have to find someplace to wash it.  Oh well life goes on.  I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some fruit cocktail for dinner.  It is supposed to get good and cold and I am keeping my fingers crossed it doesn’t.  Well I am going to read my book and get some sleep.  Good night y’all.

Day 214

Good morning folks I am bad.  I woke up to rain hitting my tarp.  It was raining pretty good so I went back to sleep for another hour.  Then when I woke up again Red was winnying at me telling me to get my lazy butt out of bed.  So I got up and gave the boys some grain and packed up my things.  I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast.  I sat and admired the sky.  It’s a beautiful sky.  Even though it is colder then cold this morning, the cloud formation id pretty cool it almost looks like a white leopard.  It is crazy looking.  I got my ponies packed up and it is cold and it was freezing cold last night and the coyotes were near our campsite and I had to yell out at them to leave.  It is an over cast day but the sky is amazing today.  I haven’t seen any corn and I am in Iowa I can’t believe that.  This is the first time I can look around and not see corn.  There are a lot of beautiful trees here though they are changing colors.  I rode down this long country rode.  I talked to Red  and he seems to think since he carried me across the United States that I should carry him across Africa.  I told Red he doesn’t have to go to Africa if he didn’t want to but he wouldn’t see me for a couple of years.  He changed his mind real quick when I told him that.  He will be glad to carry me across Africa he just wants me to guarantee him that he won’t be eaten by any crocodiles or lions.  So I have to figure some way to guarantee him that.  I have been brain storming how to keep the critters away from us since we left Chico.  Speaking of that, we ran into a bobcat.  I went to grab my camera but there’s no batteries in it.  He was one of the biggest bobcats  I have seen in my life he was the size of a mountain lion.  He started to trot towards us so I pulled out my 10/22 cause I wasn’t quite sure what the critter was going to do.  Once I pulled it out he turned and went into a corn field.  I looked to see if he was going to jump back out at us.  He didn’t have a tail so I am pretty sure he wasn’t a mountain lion.  It is rare to see a bobcat trot towards you.  I rode by this house and these dogs came out barking and that is pretty normal.  Usually when we ride by houses dogs come out barking.  This on looked like he had some micnab/border collie was growling and barking and went down like he was going to bite Stryker.  I thought Stryker was going to kick him but he was being a good boy and didn’t.  So I turned around on Red and chased him off.  Then he came right back barking on Stryker’s heels so I chased that dog about 100 feet.  He put his tail between his legs and ran off.  That was the end of him and we came out ok.   Then down the road there was this big ol snake.  I thought he was ran over at first because he wasn’t moving then he started squirreling all over the place opening his mouth wide like he was going to bite something.  It was a wild and crazy morning.  I got up to a bridge that said not to cross it.  I got off my horses and walked across it.  It was a little shaky.  I looked down at the muddy river and I think I might rather take my chance crossing the bridge.  We went across the bridge safely it was a little spooky at first but we made it.  Red didn’t know what to think about the cows in the road.  I have roped with him before so I am not sure why it freaked him out.  He must have remembered  what they were and relaxed.  Today has just been an awesome day.  There was this hawk that swooped down that wasn’t even ten feet from us.  He was eye level with me on Red.  It was just awesome.  He flew off into the bushes he was white underneath and grey on top.  I stopped at a Shell station that had a restaurant next door.  I could smell the food so I thought  I would grab a bite to eat. Everybody kind of looked at me when I walked in they seen me ride up on my horses.  This one guy Bill asked me where you going where you  coming from, so I told him and his wife Lorrie my story.  They said they will follow my web site and they even bought my lunch.  I sure do appreciate that.  I rode on out of town and rode into the town of Leon.  As I was riding up this guy pulls up in front of me and his name is Gray and he is with the paper.  I talked to Gary for a little bit. I hope he does a nice job on the article and e-mails it to us.  I stopped at a little place there in Leon to get a pair of water proof pants because the ones I got got holes in them.  I was going to see if Richard from Cabella’s could send some too me but I am not sure where I will be for him to send.  So I stopped into this little outfitters here.  This nice lady there I got to chat with for a bit and I got some shoes for Stryker and a brush and some other stuff.  After I left I realized that I paid $6 a piece for them shoes.  I didn’t pay no attention to that until I left and seen how much I paid.  Oh well they are definitely the most expensive shoes I have ever bought in my entire life.  For that price they should already have borian put on them.   We were riding down the road and we went to cross this bridge and I looked back and it was all clear.  All of a sudden I hear something and look back and it is a semi  going way too fast and keep in mind this is right down town.  I was taking up the whole lane to slow him down but he kept on going and went in the other lane around us. On a trip like this you have to have lots of patience and people will test your patience every day.  It amazes this guy would do something stupid like this when the speed limit is 35 and he was going about 50mph.  Speed limit next to me is 5 mph faster then my horses are going and he passed in a no passing zone.  He really got underneath my skin, I will tell ya that.  I had people waving and asking me where I was going and I would tell them around the world.  We got thru town and it was kind of congested on Hwy 2 and there was another Hwy coming in.  When I got out of town the first sign I see is a sign that says Watch for Horse Drawn Vehicles.  I don’t think anybody reads these signs.  Carol and Gabriel stopped and asked me some questions.  They will be following my trip and wished me the best and I sure do appreciate them stopping and saying hello.  I rode for quite a ways out of town and a mini van pulled over and turned around his name was Dick and he has been following the site he was a real nice guy.  I thought that was cool that he was one of the people that have been following my site.  I am glad to have him along. This nice farmer named Steve stopped by and I followed him to his place to fill up my canteens.  He has some nice hay but they don’t get as much for it as they do further west.  Steve got me some water for my horses and a bucket of oats and corn for them.  His wife is named Debbie and she brought me a glass of water and a couple of egg rolls.  They were leaving so I didn’t get to visit with them as long as I would have liked to.   He then offered me to stay in his barn as I was pulling away.  I said yes and I turned around and went back to his house.  I unpacked the horses and Steve’s daughter came out and I let her ride on Red.  She tied up her Border collie dog that was barking and I put the horses up.  Steve came out with his son  and brought me some egg rolls and french fries and a glass of milk. They were going to a football game and he said he would see me in the morning.  I told him to kick me if I wasn’t up when he was up.  I got to shower and charge up my phone and I talked to Carver tonight.  I talk to his dad for awhile a real good guy.  I put a link on my site about Arcalf that I encourage everyone to look at and read about educating the public on American Beef. I think it is real important, in regards to the meat market for sure.  I talked to my Grandma and she said she misses me I think she does I miss her too.  Grandma I know you are reading this I miss ya a bunch.  I also got to talk to the lovely Annamarie that wonderful girl that’s doing all this typing and I know that everybody on this web site loves Annamarie for all this typing she does. ( Aww he loves me, I love him too)  I am going to get some shut eye and I will be back in the morning to tell you another adventurous day on Ezra’s Expedition.  Good night.

Day 215

Good morning folks I am back and I got a good nights rest.  I woke up to a beautiful sunrise.  Steve came out with a cup of coffee and told me to come in the house for breakfast when ever I am ready. I went in and had breakfast with Debbie Steve and Dylan.  All the stuff he made was grown fresh on their farm.  It was real good.  I saddled up my ponies and fed them some more oats.  Steve and Debbie came out and visited with me and took some pictures.  I sure do appreciate their hospitality.  I then rode back down the Hwy 2 trail.  I guy named Mark stopped by and he will following along our site and I am happy to have him along.  Cars have been flying by.  For the most part all across the country the cars have been jerks.  They are in a hurry to go no where.  My advice to people out there drive cautious you never know what might be around the corner and don’t be afraid to tell someone else to slow down. If you see somebody doing something stupid tell them to slow down you might save someone’s life. Ya never know.  I really appreciate everyone that is following my website.  There was two people that were on a tractor a woman and her husband it was an Oliver Tractor.  It had two seats on it but it was kind of cool looking.  I don’t know where they were headed but it looked like they were on their way to town. This nice lady named Nancy came up and she is going to do an article on me in the newspaper and then Rita the nice lady that owns the steak house we were standing out in front of came out.  I was able to visit with her for a while.  I got back on Red so she could take a picture.  She wanted to give me a steak on her at her steak house.  I appreciate her doing that it was one of the best steaks I have ever had.  It was real good that was for sure.  I then road out of the town of Corydon to get back on the trail.  I pulled up to this place where they have these dinosaur skeletons made out of metal out front. That nice lady Nancy that did the newspaper article about me back in town told me that this place might be able to put me up for the night.  This nice lady named Jan pulled up and her husband  and her grand daughter and her great granddaughter.  When she first pulled up she said are you looking for a place to stay the night and I said sure.  She said well we got a cabin down there you can stay in. She said I could picket the horses where ever I needed to.  She said follow me down and her husband got into another truck and signaled me to follow him to the cabin.  We got down there and we got to visit with a guy down there, a nice guy that was into airplanes.  I don’t know much about airplanes but my roommate back home Greg he used to be into airplanes quite a bit another friend of mine I met thru Greg Cal was into airplanes too.  He showed me this lake he built it himself.  It’s got all these big ol fish in it.  He said it has some of the biggest fish in Iowa in it. As we were standing out there on the porch looking out over the lake I saw some big fish almost 2 feet long(is this one of those fish stories?).  There was some 5 or 6 lb catfish in there.  I unsaddled my horses and Jan came down and I got to visit with her.  She brought me some grain down.  I hope to visit with her more in the morning.  They are very nice and I am in a nice cabin with a comfortable bed and a shower.  I talked to my brother back home he is the webmaster for the site.  I love him dearly and he is having some problems right now and I wish I could be there for him.  I can’t right now being on this ride but I wish I could go see him and give hima big hug and tell him I love him.  He is awesome and he has my two wonderful nephews that I adore and he is married to my only sister in law Mandy which I love very much too.  I hope everything works out for them.  I will be praying for them and I hope they know how much I love him and I miss them very much too.  I talked to the lovely Annamarie the narrator for the site we have going on.  I miss her too she is a very good friend of mine and I hope she knows I miss her.  You better type that too Anna.  I will be back in the morning it is late and I got to put a shoe on Stryker he has one coming off in the back.  I have been really tired the last couple of days.  I don’t know why.  So I am going to get some shut eye now.  Good night.

Day 216

Top of the morning to y’all.  I slept real good and sound last night.  I woke up to Jan knocking on the door of the cabin I stayed in last night.  She said I could come up and have breakfast with them if I liked to.  I got up and showered and dressed and went up there.  They are awesome wonderful people.  I got to visit with them and she cooked up a good breakfast.  They were getting ready for church and Jan’s husband Denny, I believe that’s his name I hope I got it right.  I was having such a good time talking to him I forgotten to ask his name again to make sure I have it right.  He is a really nice guy he told me about his airplanes and hot rods that he is into.  After breakfast he asked me if I wanted to go on an airplane ride and I said heck yeah.  I wasn’t expecting that.  He went and got his shoes on and we walked out to the hanger and seen his hot rods and we pulled the airplane out of the hanger.  We got in and drove to a runway and he took it up in the air and it was a totally awesome thing.  I think one day I am going to have to get myself an airplane and my pilot’s license some day.  It was totally cool.  He was real good about flying I felt totally safe the whole time.  In fact he could’ve gotten a little wilder and crazier with me.  I was having a blast. I seen all kinds of wild life from up there.  I braced myself for a hard landing and it was so soft I didn’t even feel a thing.  I sure do appreciate him taking me up it was a lot of fun.  After the airplane ride and went and shoed Stryker and said my good byes to them since they were taking off for church.  Stryker was being a knot head about me shoeing him.  He was doing better and I didn’t have to tie him up at least like I did back n Laramie.  I talked to my Dad on the phone before I left and my mom.  I got a late start this morning but I did have a blast and I appreciate their hospitality and I hope that Jan will send some pictures of the airplane.  I kept thinking about airplanes all day and I talked to Red about it.  He’s not so sure about airplanes even though we have to ride on a great big one to get to Spain.  I think those airplanes are totally cool.  The ride was beautiful.  The leaves around here are starting to turn colors and there is beautiful rolling hills.  Red told me he wants to thank everyone for following this trip and Stryker says he seconds that. I rode across a little bridge and looked down at the crick beneath it and I saw a mountain lion.  He jumped across the crick and ran off.  It was neat to see on out here with my own eyes.  I know they have plenty of feed that I seen with all the deer I seen from the airplane.  We were riding into town and this car came flying past us and I don’t know what they were dragging behind them but t was kind of a ribbon or plastic deal that looked like about 40 feet long.  Red and Stryker jumped about three feet to the right of the road.  I wasn’t expecting it at all.  We didn’t ride too far into town and we seen a Veterinary Clinic that Denny told me about.  I rode into the clinic and met Bill a really nice guy.  I got the horses unsaddled and in a stall and fed.  I then met his wife Lorrie.  I was showing Bill the sores that Red as acquired on his withers.  It’s kind of a sore that came back from Colorado.  I didn’t ride him tell it was good and healed up and now it has come back and has been a pain in my rear. Bill said he would look at it in the morning and see what we could do about it.  Lorrie invited me to a horse sale tomorrow.  I might take a day off for Red to rest.  It was Bill and Lorrie’s anniversary so they took off to celebrate.  I wish them a happy anniversary.  They have like a spare room deal next to their clinic with a couch and place to wash my clothes.  They made me some pizza that they had.  I do appreciate their kindness.  I am really tired so I am going to get some sleep folks.  Good night.

Day 217

I woke up about 5 o’clock and it was still dark.  I went out to check on Red and Stryker and Red’s withers are not better so I am going to give him the day off.  I decided to go to the Horse Sale with Lorrie.   This guy Larry who works for the clinic and Lorries sister Lisa and Lisa’s niece Cammy all went and it was about a 2 hour drive there to the horse sale.  Lorrie showed my around when we got there.  I checked out the horses and there was 500 horses there.  There was two auctions one for broke horses and one for not broke horses.  Some of the horses were in horrible shape and it pissed me off that people would ever take care of a horse like that.  I think that is the wrongest thing ever.  Here I am traveled over 3000 miles and I have horses that are in fantastic shape really as far as health goes.  Yet there is all these horses that people aren’t using them aren’t riding them and they are skinny or grotesqly over weight.  It is the worse thing ever.  I have some mixed feelings here.  My opinion is if you have a horse you should take care of the horse weather you have it for a pet or for a work horse wither way you need to take care of the animal.  I take extremely good care of my horses.  I am always taking care of their feet, brushing them, washing them, riding them to keep them in shape.  If you have an animal it is your duty to take care of them.  There was also a lot of good looking animals here and the market is good here.  There is some really well broke horses going for really cheap.  I think that is wrong too.  I know I am expressing a lot of my feelings and thoughts today but I have a lot of thoughts that went thru me and I wanted to share them with you.  It is not just here that I  have seen this but as I have ridden across the country I have seen this kind of thing in pastures that I have passed.  I have even seen it in the wild animals.  It is just a kind of horrible deal that is going on with horses in the country.  I also want to state another thing about the fact that they want to get rid of the kill plants in the United States.  I wasn’t going to say anything about this but I decided that I ought to. I personally think that the kill plants aren’t a bad deal.  There is a lot of sick and crippled up horses out there that should go thru them and I think that if you have a good horse that is well broke it shouldn’t be going thru a kill plant.  That is just wrong.  I think they should put restrictions on them and not get rid of them.  It is better to send a horse to a kill plant then to set them out to pasture to suffer.  The meat can be used for dog food or what not. At least that way they aren’t suffering and we are putting them to use.  That is just my opinion on the crippled horses.  Also there was this lady a while back in this little town I was in that said why don’t they just turn those poor horses out to pasture.  I said and once again this is just my opinion, you can’t turn a lot of horse out to pasture.  They will over eat and founder and get obese.  Then they will suffer even more.  That is just wrong to do to a horse.  I don’t know who has enough money to feed 90,000 horses a year and I think it will be complete chaos if they shut them down.  I think it should be controlled not eliminated.  It just really upset me the condition of some of these horse that were neglected.  I think that if you breed horses you should make sure you have the right facilities to care for them.  I know that I have been talking a lot about my opinions tonight but that is just how I feel.  Back to the sale, Lisa bought 4 ponies she had 13 horses but now she has 17 horses.  She bought this little black and white one who was an awnry lil sucker that I had to jump on to catch him.  It took us a little while.  We loaded them up in the trailer and she had gotten a roan and an appaloosa pony too.  This kid came out and was glad to see that he was going to a real good home.  He visited with us and we got them all loaded in the trailer and headed back.  I got to visit with Larry and Lorrie Cammy and Lisa a  little bit more.  Cammy sold a horse there.  Lorrie said I could stay for a week or a month to rest up my horse and train some colts for her.  I might do that I will decide later.  We got back to the house and I am going to get some sleep it has been a long day.  Good Night.

Day 218

Good morning everybody on my Expedition.  I woke up this morning and Lorrie was feeding the horses.  I went out and visited with Red and Stryker.  Red’s withers still need to heal so I decided to stay here a week and let him heal.  I think that is the best thing for me.  I started working with this really nice lookin Thoroughbred horse.  He is a real smart horse with a good head on his shoulders.  I probably could have rode him today but I didn’t.  I lunged him around and did a little bit of tarp training on him.  That is one of the techniques I like to use is the tarp training.  If you get a horse to trust you with a tarp you can just about get them to do anything.  Trust is a big thing with horses and people and relationships.  After I got done with him I started working with a horse they call Tear Eyes.  She is a nice little roan red colt.  She isn’t near the horse that the Thorough bread horse was but a really nice horse it took her a little bit longer to pick up things.  She was a little filly. After I worked with her I worked with this grey filly she was a real nice horse.  Then I started working with this Bay horse which was a pretty intelligent horse she is picking up things pretty quick I wouldn’t say she is as advanced as the thoroughbred.  I got her lunging pretty good.  They are all really nice horses though.  I have six horses to saddle break in a week while I am here.  I got to meet Lorrie and Bill’s daughter Claire.  She is a real nice girl.  We went target shooting she don’t shoot too many guns be she is a pretty good shot for sure.  After that I went to the house and showered and Lorrie  cooked us up a good dinner.  I helped Claire with her project she was working on.  She is a senior in high school.  She’s got this project that she has to find 75 articles about Government.  It has to have certain people’s names in it though.  I think her teacher is a Democrat.  Shes’s got nothing but Democrat people in the list she’s got.  It is one of her requirements for her Government Class.  I am in a great big bed it is their son’s bed and he is off at college.  I am going to get some shut eye and I will be back tomorrow.  Good Night

Day 219

Good morning folks.  I went down stairs this morning and Lorrie made some coffee and I had a cup then went outside and worked with Tear Eyes.  I got a saddle on her she did ok not as well as I would have liked her to remember from yesterday. I got the saddle on her and the bit in her mouth but I didn’t drive her today.  I got to visit with Larry and Cherokee.  I got to work with the grey mare and with Bay and the horse I call handsome the thoroughbred.  I rode him and he did great.  After I worked with the horses Larry and I went to another part of their ranch.   They got stables downtown and we got two more horses. When we got over there they looked like they were pretty wild. The horse we took out there that we were going to turn out I was holding on to.  Larry he was way down in the field to get the other horses to come up.  I was hoping the horse I was holding on to was like bate to get the other horses to come up.  I seen he had a hold of one horse and the next thing you know the horse is dragging Larry.  He was upside down and finally he lets go of the horse and then I didn’t see him and I am looking and looking.  I started to walk down there and find him, thinking maybe he got kicked in the head or something.  Then I found him he had gone around the back way to go and get some grain.  It took us awhile to get those horses loaded but we got them.  It took a lot of energy.  We took them back to the clinic where they have a nice set up to train them.  I figured I would work with them tomorrow.   I started to work with one horse I called Peewee. She was so wound up from the trailer ride that it was just a waste it wasn’t worth working with her.  She was too fussy at the time and I figured I would just let her get used to the area and work with her tomorrow.  The other horse is a good lookin' horse for sure.  After we put them away Lorrie asked me if I would put a shoe back on her stallion for her.  I ended up doing that for her and trimming up the back.  She had a mare that she wanted to take to the sell that she wanted me to trim her feet up so I did.  I didn’t have all my tools like I would have liked to but I got them all nice and clean.  I then went to visit with Stryker and Red.  I gave Red a bath and put more ointment on his sore.  I want to make a completely different pad so it won’t be on his withers at all. After I got done with that Claire and I went and did some more target practice. Then I went into the clinic and Bill the Vet was finishing up a spade on a dog so I helped him a bit.  He is a real good Veterinary for sure and I am learning a lot from him.  I got to watch how he sewed up the dog and how he loops it around and gets a good knot.  We went up to the house and had dinner.  A real good dinner if I don’t say.  She made this pumpkin cake that was real good.  I helped Claire some more with her project, looking up newspaper articles and now I am ready for bed.  So I will be back tomorrow to tell you about my day at the Country Village Animal Clinic.  Good Night.

Day 220

Good Morning folks I am back.  I got another exciting day here at the Country Village Animal Clinic.  I went and got me some coffee and went down and started working with the horses.  I started with Tear Eyes.  I lunged her and worked her with the tarp.  She is starting to remember and is doing good.  I don’t want to get on her tell I get the buck out of her.  I don’t like a horse to buck when I first get on them if I can help it.  I worked with the Blue Roan stud colt after that.  He was pretty full of himself at first but he is doing better.  He was ok with me putting a saddle on him.  I then worked with Peewee the nice little filly we picked up yesterday.  I lunged her and got her used to the tarp a little bit.  She is going to be a real nice horse. I worked with Bay and saddled her and drove her around a bit.  I am going to ride her tomorrow.  I worked with the grey mare after that and she did real good.  She is starting to like me for sure.  I saddled up handsome and I rode him around the arena.  I saddled up some horses for Lorrie and she rode her Red horse that she thinks is faster then fast.  Which he is fast but not faster then Red.  She thinks he is faster then Red and that is impossible.  Red is faster then fast.  That’s just me I am bias when it comes to my horse.  He is a really nice horse and handsome did really good with me on his back.  I put him away and Lorrie ran some barrels on her horse.  Claire and I did some more target practice.  After the chores were all done for the day we sat down for dinner.  Lorrie made a real good dinner.  I got to get all cleaned up and had ice cream for dessert.  I helped Claire some more with her project.  We found some more articles but her mom found a lot more articles.  I am going to get some shut eye.  I will be back in the morning.

Day 221

Well good morning folks I got up this morning and got some coffee and did my regular routine.  I said I was going to move some horse so I got into this corral with this little filly.  She didn’t act like nothing when I first went in there then I touched her and I turned around and gave her a chance to kick me.  That’s exactly what she did.  She jumped up right in the air and kicked me right in the ribs and the shoulder.  Same shoulder I hurt in Colorado when I fell off the cliff.  I decided to let them be or I wasn’t going to have the time I wanted to work the other horses.  So I got out that grey mare and put the saddle on her.  I got up on her and she was acting all calm and all of a sudden she just blew up.  She was jumping and bucking, I told her to calm down.  She did, I would have liked to work her more on the ground before I did that but I would like to get all these horses broke enough to put a saddle on and someone to be able to sit on it.  That is kind of my goal for the week.  I got on and off of her and rode her around a bit.  I then took out the Bay horse and I took more time with her on the ground and when I got up on her she jumped around a bit but nothing like that grey horse.  I hurt my leg on that grey horse.  I hurt it rodeoing before and I feel like it has never healed up all the way.  It seems every couple of months it pulls out again and hurts.  I got out the red horse and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to get on her yet.  I just lunged her and worked with the tarp with her first.  My gut feeling was to give her another day before I get on her.  She did real good with the tarp she walked over it and let me put it on her.  I took out handsome after her and saddled him up and Lorrie and I and one of the girls from the clinic went for a ride.  We rode down thru a couple of spots next to the clinic and Handsome did real good out in this environment.  I was real proud of him.  Once we got back I grained Red and Stryker. I went in for dinner and then helped Claire again.  She said she wants to move to California I was telling her it is probably not a place for her to move to.  She is going to move their when she turns 18.  She wants to go to Los Angeles and I told her she should go to the Northern part of the Country.  I went up stairs to turn in for the night.  Good night.

Day 222

I woke up and went downstairs and got some coffee and went out to work with the horses.  I got up on every single one of them today.  I would like to leave on Monday and I called Richard from Cabella’s he is the manger in Sydney he was the assistant manager when I was there but he is the Manager now.  Mike was the manager when I was there but he moved back down to Texas.  I asked Richard if he could send me a few things that I needed for my gear.  He said no problem.  I sure do appreciate all that they have done.  After all my chores were done I hooked up the horse trailer hooked up and washed it and cleaned it, since Lorrie and I are going to another horse sale this weekend.  I got a few things done on my gear that needed fixing.  I did a few odds and ends for Lorrie.  I went in the house and cooked up spaghetti.  They said they liked my spaghetti.  We all looked for articles for Claire's project.  We watched that Tom Hanks movie where he is trapped on an island.  I can’t recollect the name of it but I have seen it before.  After that we were all tired so we went to bed.  I am going to sleep now thanks everyone for following along.  Good night.

Day 223

I am back and I woke up this morning and went out to the horses and said hello to them all.  I did some odds and ends for Lorrie so we could go to the sale.  I got my saddle cleaned up so they can use it for the sale.  Lorrie’s been giving me a hard time about my saddle she thinks it is too heavy.  I told her any good saddle is going to have some weight on it.  She has been scared to ride in it because she knows it is really comfortable and nice.  She likes those really lightweight rinky dink saddles.  I don’t know why.  I talked her into riding my saddle into the show.  She will know what a good saddle feels like then.  I got everything loaded into the truck.  We went into town and did some odds and ends and took some pictures of all different stuffs.  We took pictures of a blue roan that was the colt of her horse black horse that we are taking to the sale she is a 17 year old mare that she used to run barrels on.  After we got the horses loaded up we hit the road and it is a 2 and half hour drive.  We got there a little late then expected.  This sale is a lot better then the last one; has nicer facilities and better horses.  They were still going pretty cheap.  It isn’t a very good market right now for sure.  Lorrie bought 2 painted horses about 6 months old a colt and a filly.  They were good lookin’ for sure.  Then we went down town to find a place for dinner.  She took me over to the trailer and I told her I wasn’t hungry anyways.  She has a nice trailer with living quarters.  I got to talk to the lovely Anna tonight and I sure do miss her and I appreciate all the typing she is doing and I know everybody on the web site does.  Now I am going to get some shut eye and I will be back in the morning.  Good night.

Day 224

Good morning folks I slept like a baby in this trailer last night. It has some kind of foam padding on the front of this trailer.  Lorrie took off last night to go see her son at the college he is at.  She left me here to take care of the horses in the morning.  I was still sleeping when she got here.  She said it is easy to over sleep in this trailer its pretty comfy.  I got up and fed the animals and got her horse all saddle d up and cleaned up.  I got to check out the two horses she bought yesterday.  Lorrie rode her horse in the sale and she did pretty good.  Especially for not being ridden at all in the past two years.  It is a little corral that you are on your horse in and there is people all around and an announcer doing the auctioning real loud.  So sometimes horses get a little nervous with all that noise and commotion.  We took two other horses up there for Lorrie’s friend.  He sold one of them but not the other.  I let him use my saddle also and he really liked it. I got to meet the owner of the sale his name is JR.  He is a real nice guy.  I rode a horse for Lorrie she thought she might want to buy.  They wanted $2000 for it and they said it might buck.  It had good bloodlines.  She decided not to get it.  We then went to Subway to get a bite to eat and then back to the sale.   We loaded the two horses we got and one of the ones we brought.  We headed home and I thought to myself here I am sitting in this truck.  We drove all the way there and now driving back and it is 200 something miles and it takes me a little over two weeks to do it on horse and only a couple of hours in a car.  It is amazing how much country we cover in a car.  People don’t realize it unless they are walking or riding a horse. We stopped at a gas station and Lorrie jumped up on the side of the truck and she has been giving me a hard time about things and I have been giving her a hard time about things.  Playing around kidding around.  She was sitting on the edge looking at the babies so I pulled forward just a little bit maybe a half a mile an hour. Bout the time I stopped she did a complete 360.  She was faking it a little bit but I felt so bad and she was laughing so hard.  I am so glad she wasn’t hurt.  I got a call from Dianna and Rusty.  It was nice to hear from them.  We got home and unloaded horses and then we all headed to bed.  Good night

Day 225

I went out to the stables this morning and said hello to the horses since I hadn’t seen them all weekend.  I saw Red and Stryker grained them and doctored Red.  I got to see them last night for a bit when we came in.  Then I went over and saw the colts and the fillies I have been working with.  They were sure happy to see me too.  That was cool.  I do get attached to horses especially when you work with them you put your heart and soul into it.  I went for a ride with Bill this morning.  There is this Amish place that has pads and stuff that they sew and they do all kinds of really good work.  We went over there and I got to visit with this really neat guy.  They have some medical felt that they use for bed sores.  I took my pad that I already had that I put a hole in and sewed up.  He’s going to make me a new pad.  He’s also got this pad he can put on called More Wither that’s what the Amish guy was calling it.  I got the pad that he called More Withers and he will have the other pad for me tomorrow when I ride over there.  It is about 20 miles.  We went by another place that was a Vet call and it was another Amish guy that had beautiful horses.  They raise Morgans and Freshans.  Amish people only have black horses.  It was neat to see his place and meet him.  We then went on another call to another Amish fella his horse that had a nasty deal that gets up on the neck it was full of puss and he cut it and drained it.  It upset me that it was let go for 6 months.  I would have liked to say something but its not place.  I wish they would take better care of their animals.  I guess some people just don’t know I guess. If you don’t know ask questions don’t wait and let matters get worse   After he got done with that we went over to another Amish place we got some flowers and I got to meet and interesting guy there.  If he had a computer he would be following but I told him he will have to get the book.  He said he would do that.  We went back to the clinic and visited with my horses and washed my saddle pad for Stryker. I want to head out in the morning so I got all my stuff re arranged and my pads and the pads my Dad made with the medical sheep wool all washed up. I went over to Wal-Mart and stopped off at the Post Office to mail something for Lorrie and they were closed.  I guess it is Columbus Day.  Then at Wal-Mart I got some supplies for hitting the road tomorrow.  I messed around with Red and Stryker for awhile, and then helped Bill with the two ponies we got at the sale.  Then Bill asked me if I would like to use his truck to go get my pads and I said yes.  That way I don’t have to ride extra miles to go pick them up.  I left Delbert the nice man who made my pad.  He did a real good job on it.  He said if it doesn’t work to let him know.  I got home and helped Lorrie with the pork chops and Bill got a vet call to pull a calf out and I had his truck but he was able to get over there and take care of it.  Lorrie washed my clothes for me and I took a shower.  We had dinner and I got to visit with Claire Lorrie and Bill.  I am going to get some shut eye now.  I will be back in the morning.  Good Night y’all

Day 226

Well folks I am back.  I woke up and went down and had a cup of coffee. I then went to the stables and grained Stryker and Red.  I got their gear out and ready.  I went into the clinic and said good bye to everyone there.  Claire had gotten me some breakfast and I ate a breakfast sandwich.  I got to say good bye to Bill and Lorrie they are leaving and they will probably see me along the road somewhere.  I visited some more with Clare and she is an awesome kid and I wish her the best of luck in life.  I said good bye to Cherokee but I couldn’t find Larry any where.  I saddled the horses and got on the road and had to turn back realized I left my hat and some other things there.  I rode thru Centerville and it was a congested little town with a lot of cars on the road.  I saw Claire she honked and waved at me.  Right out of town there is a lot of corn and trees and rolling hills.   It’s real pretty.  I ran into Bill and Lorrie they were coming back from Boonville.  They said hi and good bye again.  I sure do appreciate their hospitality for sure.  I hope to see them again and I wish them all the best in life again.  It is pretty darn cold today and it is going to be in the low 30’s.  That nice Amish man that made my pad for me and stuff called the clinic this morning and said I could stay there.  I hope to make it to his house so I have some shelter from this cold weather.  I thought about unpacking Stryker and putting some more clothes on and I probably will because it is really cold.  I was riding down a skinny road and it is funny how when people get in a car they are not nice any more.  They aren’t being very nice right now.  Some of them drive like idiots.  It’s normally the big rigs that are nice for the most part.  I rode in to West Cove some nice Amish girls were riding up the other side of the road in their buggy.  Red seen about 4 buggies now and he used to see them in the reenactments.  They sure bug the crap out of him now; he jumped about 3 feet in the air.  He saw it before I did but it was alright.  I am going to have to get him used to these buggies you never know he might have to pull one some day.  There is a lot of Amish in these parts and you can see buggies crossing the road a head of you.  It is a nice feeling.  It makes you feel like you are in the 1900’s.  It’s an awesome feeling.  I made it to Delbert’s house the Amish man that did my pad.  He had me follow him over to his shop because he said he had a bed there.  He was in his buggy and we followed him then I tied up my horses to the hitchen post next to the buggy.  He said I could unload my gear and  put my horses in the barn.  The barn looks like a little shed.  It is where his employees keep their horses while the work.  Two of his sons came down their names were Joe and Gilbert.  Their Dad Delbert got in the buggy and went over to the neighbors.  I visited with the boys and they were nice and I enjoyed visiting with them.  Gilbert was excited about me coming and both boys asked me lots of questions.  We walked over to the big barn  where they keep the buggies and stuff.  There is a whole bunch of buggies in there and Joe and I got a bale of hay out.  Gilbert had these two Clydesdales hooked up to this deal, it had like this claw on it.  He backed it up to a big ol round bale he then put blocks under the one tire. The claw swang over the top of the round bale and then he got the horses to pull forward and it pulled the bale on to the top of the wagon to feed the cows.  It was pretty cool.  I was very much interested in it.  I wanted to video it but the Amish don’t like that and they are not supposed to pose for any pictures.  I wanted to respect his wishes.  I learned some of their ways and I admire the way they do things.  They asked me what I wanted for dinner and I could have anything I wanted.  I told them that I was fine with whatever they were making.  I wasn’t expecting dinner too.  I got to visit some more with the boys and they talked to me about the wagons and how they do everything by horse back.  They do hire for people for rides and they don’t have phones but at the end of the road about a mile away there is a phone in the box where they can get messages.  I am really happy I go a chance to meet them and learn.  We pushed the buggies in the storage room  and then we got the horses settled and went in.  When I walked in the room they took my coat and hung it by the fire.  I asked if there was anything I could do and the mom told me to go sit down in the living room and rest.  There was all the girls just working and cooking away.  I visited some more with the boys in the living room and then it was dinner time.  Their mom had made some really good biscuits and gravy they all had excellent manners.  Normally they speak a lot of German.  They speak English at school but German at home.  The girls didn’t talk much to me they just smiled and laughed, it was cute.  The mom asked me some questions and the boys did too over the course of dinner.  I had a great time getting to know each other at dinner.  After dinner we said a silent prayer and then us men got up and went to the living room and the girls just started grabbing dishes and cleaning up.  They have an Amish paper they are going to try and put me in.  This paper goes all over the US to the Amish communities.  I learned a whole lot of stuff and I hope I can remember everything.  We walked out to the tack room/office where they have a bed and this is where I will be sleeping tonight.      Joe is 23 and he is very interested in my trip and Gilbert Ray is too.  Gilbert doesn’t ask as many questions as Joe does.  They are going to keep track of me somehow.  They might ask their cab driver or something.  They told me breakfast is at 7 a.m. and they said someone would come out and kick me in the morning about 5 a.m..  That is pretty cool.  Well folks I am glad to be here and I am tired so I am going to get some sleep now.  I will be back in the morning.  Good night

Day 227

Well good morning folks.  I woke up to Joe singing a German hymn song at 5 a.m. and I rolled out of bed about 5:30.  He said breakfast would be on in a little while and he was getting ready for the day.  It was still dark out side.  We got into the house and all the girls were fixing breakfast.  They were all cleaned up and had their chores done.  One girl was ironing  a bunch of dresses with a gas iron because they don’t have electricity.  They use an open fire to cook most all their stuff.  Sometimes they have some stoves they use.  We sat down for breakfast and said a silent prayer.  They made scrambled eggs and toast with homemade apple jam and gravy for on top of the eggs and red powder that was hotter then hot.  We had homemade granola and milk from the cow they milked.  We put peaches on top of that and like a cake bread.  Everything was really good.  One thing I found interesting was that everyone cleaned their bowls.  I mean they scraped them clean not a morsel to spare.  After breakfast we said another silent prayer and we sang a couple of hymns in English then they sang a hymn to me in German.  It was very cool and a different experience.  We went outside and I said good bye to the girls and checked on my horses.  Gilbert came out there with me and I took some pictures of him with the Clydesdale horses.  He had saddled all the horses before breakfast put the harnesses on them and he was looking forward to me taking some pictures.  We visited  and he educated me on some things.  He takes really good care of his horses and I was glad to see that.  He’s only 14 years old and he is done with school.  The Amish go to school until 8th grade.  He is an extremely intelligent young man.  After 8th grade they stay home and learn a trade.  I wish him all the best.  I am going to send him a post card.  We went into the sewing shop and made a really neat pad for Red.  We put this gel pack stuff inside there and put some camouflage material on top and put another layer of felt in the front like a ropers pad.  We worked on my breast strap and put some sheep skin on it and we made a cover for my pack that goes on my pack horse.  I appreciate all the girls who were sewing for me.  I will have more info in my book.  While I was packing up my horses Gilbert held them for me.  Once we got the saddle on Red I noticed it was still a little bit too low so Delbert gave me some more withers it is a pad you sit where the withers are.  I think it should work pretty good.  I said my good bye and I truly enjoyed myself.  I hope to meet them again.  I hope to meet everyone again.  I have quite a few layers of clothes on it is colder then cold, especially with this wind blowing.  If anybody here has a computer and knows the Bechy family please tell them that I appreciate them.  They told me of  back road to get to town so we took that into town.  Red  saw these big ol black Clydesdale and he thought what in the heck or those.  Stryker whinnied at them then Red thought they were ok.  I told him they are just big horses.  They were bigger then the Budweiser horses.  They looked like elephants; they had to weigh over 2000 pounds.  I asked some people how to get to the newspaper office and when I got there the nice lady told me the reporters were gone.  She took my name down and another lady took my picture.  I then went over to the gas station to get some hot cocoa to warm up.  Everybody in there started asking me what I was doing and where I was going.  The girls in there called the newspaper and news channels and I appreciate them doing that for sure.  They say it is going to get really cold tonight maybe even down to the teens.  I would like to find a place to stay tonight.  If I had my big tent it would be better but this small tent it gets pretty cold.  We rode out of town and some people stopped and said hello and told me there is a place in Milford that I could stop and lay up for the night.  It has got to be below 30 degrees now.  I rode into another gas station and got some hot chocolate.  I talked to the lady in there and she made me a hamburger and she told me it was on the house.  She said she is intrigued with what I am doing and she will be following the site.  As I was leaving this real nice girl ran up to me and said the lady in the gas station told her what I was doing.  She said she had done some endurance riding herself and she could probably find me a place to stay and that is was going to be really cold tonight.  I went back in and got a refill on my hot cocoa while they made some phone calls.  She said her dad lives about 8 miles back.  I didn’t really want to ride 8 miles backwards and there was an hour left of daylight so I would have had to push the horses to ride back tracking.  So I went back outside and found that Red got loose and was over eating grass.  I fixed the reins and went back into the store and this guy in there was telling me about an Amish guy named Leroy who lived down the road from there.  Which means we would have to do 6 or 7 miles an hour to get there before dark.  Then there was a lady who said she lived right down the road and I could stay there so I introduced myself.    I told everybody else there that I appreciate them.  I met a lot of nice people there and do appreciate their hospitality.  It is getting colder and there is a nice breeze going that makes it feel even colder.  The good news is it is going to kill all the flys around here.  I sure am glad to have a place to stay tonight.  I wish I had a big hot tub with a big cup of hot chocolate and a couple of beautiful girls and a heated stall for Red and plenty of hay and grain and a few beautiful girls rubbing Red.  Had to include Red in my fantasy.  We rode over to that nice ladies house and she had the barn door open.  Her father brought over some hay and another nice lady brought over some grain.  I visited with them for awhile then I decided to go to sleep.  I am in the barn with the horses, it’s still pretty cold but near as cold if I had a wind chill factor to deal with.  I just got off the phone with Kevin, the nice guy in Nebraska who has Jahob.  He had left me a message and I called him back.  He said Jahob is doing great and he rode him in a parade.  He is real happy to have Jahob.  He got Jahob a yearling horse to keep him company.  I am happy that he is happy because I have been missing him and thinking of him every day sometimes I can’t stop thinking about him.  I know Red misses him too.  I promised Red I would never do that to him. I would never leave him with a total stranger.  They are good people.  Kevin I know you are following this site and thank you for taking such good care of Jahob.  Red appreciates it too.  Stryker does but he just don’t realize it yet.  Now that Jahob is gone Red is his buddy.  It is freezing cold.  I think I could spit in the air and it would freeze.  I am going to get some rest.  So I’ll be back in the morning.  Good night.

Day 228

Well I got back on the trail this morning and I was still freezing..  It was real good and windy too.  Mike Baily was the name of the guy’s house I stayed at last night and his wife’s name was Andrea.  They were real nice and I sure do appreciate them letting me stay in the barn.  He came by when I was a couple of miles down the road and told me I could come back for breakfast if I’d like.  I didn’t want to turn back.  This guy named Jim pulled over and said I could stay at his house if I wanted to.  It is freezing cold with the wind chill it has to be in the teens right now.  I am going to go to Jim’s house so today will only be a 10 miles day.  He has a barn and everything.  I followed him there and put the horses in the barn and gave them some hay and grain and water so I know they will be good and warm tonight.  Jim and I watched an old John Wayne movie.  Jim told me a bout a new ordinance they have in town.  They just passed it that no horses near town.  I guess people were complaining that horses were winnying and keeping them up all night.  I sleep next to my horses nearly every night and I sleep just fine.  I met some more people the ones who live across the way.  They were real nice people.  He brought over strawberries and ice cream.  Jim cooked up some steak and squash.  He used to be a chef and he cooks real good.  I also met the newspaper lady she is going to do an article and then I met Mike Jim’s step son.  His wife’s name is Sherry she works at the hospital. We watched another movie then I decide to turn in.  I have a real nice warm cozy bed to sleep in. Good night

Day 229

Good morning folks I slept in a little bit today. I got up and Jim had made coffee so I had me a cup and went out to the horses.  I got them fed grained and watered.  We went to town and I bought myself a pair of insulated coveralls.  They were a little pricy but they will keep me warm.  Jim and I went back over to the horses and  I saddled up the boys.  The nice lady from across the street that brought over strawberries and ice cream over came over and visited with me.  They are the Flanders.  It was hard to get on Red with the bundle of clothes that I had on.  I managed to get up on him.  I rode him over to this Amish Tack