The Journey Home..........

Since the decision was made to leave Tuesday instead of Monday, we decided that we would get up at 4:00 a.m., get to the barn, put standing wraps back on, load up and hopefully hit the road by 6:00 a.m. We had come down to Scottsdale with 16 horses and we would be coming home with 19 horses. How does that happen, you ask? Well, the 2 horses we sold before Scottsdale were delivered to their new barn while we were down there, which left us 14 at the end of the show, and we sold a horse while we were there, so that had us down to 13. The last couple days of the show brings a lot of people that purchased horses to our barn, looking to find a ride home for their new horses. So we ended up with 6 additional horses to haul home. We also had people that bought new saddles and asked us to haul those home too. We already were fully loaded, but it is amazing how much you can pack into the tack room of the 6 horse. We put 13 horses and our set up material in the semi/van and loaded the rest of the 6 horses in the 6 horse, with a cram packed tack room. We ended up pulling out of Scottsdale at 5:50 a.m.



The day started out nice and sunny. A very nice day for a drive. We seemed to be making really good time, and our GPS told us we should be home around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Or so we thought.....



I don't know what it is about me driving, but every time I drive, it rains. It rained almost the whole way to Scottsdale, and on the way back once I took over driving, it started to rain. And just my luck, we hit a big wind and rain storm, plus it was now dark. I absolutely hate driving in the rain, especially at night. I can't see. But I had to drive. It doesn't help that I still had not slept and with the rain and darkness, it made my eye's even more tired. That Monster energy drink can only do so much when you are exhausted.

Around 10:30 Tues. night, the guys in the semi got us on the radio and said that it was snowing in the mountain pass and that chains were required. They told us we needed to pull over and find our chains. The only problem was that when the AT packed the trailer, then she got injured by clipping that "psycho" horse, she was never able to finish packing, and she didn't remember seeing the chains in the tack room. So we stopped at a gas station and we dug through that crammed tack room looking for the chains, in the pouring rain. We couldn't find them. The AT even called our breeding manager back at the farm to see if they were still there. He couldn't find them. So we continued on. Our head trainer said that we had to find them. He was not happy. He basically said we would have to deal with it on our own. Wow. Thanks very much. We were pissed. If he even was thinking about driving over that mountain pass without us, he would have some really pissed off employees. Because if we got to the check point and didn't have chains, we would be turned away. Great. The boss finally came back on the radio and said that they were pulled over up ahead on the freeway and they would help us look for the chains. So we caught up with the semi, pulled over on the side of the freeway and started pulling stuff out of the tack room of the 6 horse in the pouring rain, again. After about 15 minutes, the chains were found. Apparently they were taken out of the trailer in Scottsdale and someone put them in one of the stalls used for storage, so that is why we never saw them in the trailer. Since the AT and I never saw them, we just thought they were left at home.



We get to one of the check points, and the guy inquired about our chains. We told them they were in the back of the truck. The next thing we had to do was pull over in the chain up area and chain up the truck and trailer. While the guys were chaining up, us girls climbed into the van to feed and water horses. It was snowing like crazy, and we obviously were not dressed properly for that kind of weather. We were soaked. The chains for the truck did not fit the truck tires properly, but somehow they made them work. Hopefully the guys will remember this and get a set that fit better for the next time. After about an hour or more delay putting chains on, our boss got into our truck to drive for us girls. At least he had calmed down at this point. I guess it doesn't help that there are 4 drivers, lacking sleep, who are getting really grouchy.

We hit the next check point and they sent us on through since we had chains on. We were actually joking around because we had chains on and the pavement was just wet, which made it really slow going. We were hoping we actually would hit some snow on the road to make it worthwhile of putting the chains on. For those of you who have driven with chains, when the road is pretty much bare and wet, you have to drive super slow while the chains are on. But since chains were required, we couldn't do anything about it. It was a very slow drive over that mountain. We did finally hit snow on the road, but definitely not enough to require chains. Oh well, gotta follow the rules.

We decided to pull in to get diesel. We were running low and wanted to play it safe. We were a little worried pulling off the freeway, because you know that snow can get worse on side roads. The gas station was closed, but since we use gas cards we were able to fuel up. Someone was parked at the pumps when we pulled in. This woman looked like she was just sitting there sleeping, we actually had to tell her we needed her to move so we could fuel up. When the boss tried to pull forward, the tires just spun. Our truck is a Ford 350 one ton, but it isn't 4 wheel drive. Then our AT saw that one of the chains had come off right tire. We searched for it and found it about 20 yards away.



We fueled up then got back onto the freeway. The slushy snow was pretty deep here, and we got a little concerned that we weren't going to make it up the on ramp. But we did. We had a very slow drive down the mountain. We finally got to the chain up area and were finally ablt to take off the chains. Well, there was still one more mountain to go.

We get to the next check point and told the guy that we had chains and we really didn't need them the last time. He ended up letting us go through without chaining up again. Thank goodness! We already had a huge delay having to chain up the first time, basically for nothing. We still hadn't gotten any sleep and it was around 3:00 a.m. Wednesday. We were hoping that the rest of the way would be free sailing.



The closer we got to home, the more awake we became. Although I did finally get some sleep, I guess when you are so tired from the show and the drive, you can sleep anywhere and in any position. The rain finally let up, the sun started to shine and we knew we were almost home.



One of our last stops before we finally were able to break away from the semi and just drive.



We pulled into the farm around 2:00 p.m. 4 1/2 hours later then anticipated. We unloaded the horses, pulled our luggage out of the trailer and my OH met me at the barn to take me home. I was planning on going straight to bed when I got home, but I ended up going out to see my horses and dogs. The dogs went crazy. They were so excited to see me. Bailey had been going through a severe depression while I was gone. He wouldn't play with his toys and he would go straight back to the guest room and sleep. He hasn't left my side since I've been home. I laid down on the couch for a nap and told my OH to wake me up when dinner was ready. Well, he says I wouldn't wake up. I slept for 14 hours.

I was going to take the next 5 days off until I got a phone call asking if I could go into work for a couple hours on Saturday. I couldn't say no, so I ended up going into work. The groom that we left at the farm while we were in Scottsdale had put in her notice before we left, and her last day was Friday. So horses had to get turned out. And to top off matters, that cold I got while I was in Scottsdale, was almost gone. Then the next day after returning home, yep, it's baaackkk!! My head is so stuffed up. All I am doing is sneezing, sniffing, coughing.......maybe the weather change isn't treating me so well. Maybe I should go back to Arizona to dry out.

I am so thankful that we are home and that we had a safe trip, although it was challenging. I told my boss he had to break me in slowly with these long hauls. I am not used to them. Our next show isn't until April, and I think it is only a few hours away. Now that I can handle!