The Adventure Begins.........The Road Hits Back...Closing in on Tulsa.........

The Adventure Begins

After this experience in Albuquerque every time we drove through a construction zone I could feel my body tense. I was having muscle spasms in my arm from grabbing the wheel so hard.

I just couldn't get over that feeling I had some kind of target on my back or that this trip was jinxed. I'm not normally a person who buys into such crap but between my lack of sleep and all that had happened, logic had pretty much escaped me.

I was also very much bothered because Gypcy still had not decided to drink. Heck, she wasn't even sticking her head out of the trailer window when given the opportunity let alone reaching for a bucket of water to drink. In stead she just stood there snorting at everything that moved or every little sound she heard with her eyes bugging out of her head.............Arabian horses..........you just gotta love 'em!

I'd had tried hanging a bucket inside her trailer slot on those times when we were stopped. The poor filly would plaster her butt up against the wall as far as she could get from the bucket. You'd think from her reaction she'd never seen a bucket before......but somehow in her head, buckets didn't belong here, I guess. Whatever it was, even by the time I removed the bucket Gypcy still hadn't left her position plastered up against that back wall.

I was relieved when we finally crossed the border from New Mexico and moved on into the panhandle of Texas. I knew from my MapQuest query we wouldn't be long in that state. Once we hit Oklahoma, I figured I'd finally be able to breathe........

We did make what was supposed to be a brief stop in Texas. We pulled off the Interstate somewhere in the sticks thinking it would be quieter than waiting until we hit Amarillo. The road leading to the station looked quiet enough but the station itself was swamped. We ended up sitting on the shoulder waiting for our turn at the pumps.

While we were waiting this place was suddenly swarmed with cops. I didn't see a cop during any of my times of need on this trip and for that matter none in between. Yet here we are stopping in Texas to refuel and grab lunch and there's sixty-gazzillion state troopers pulled in there..........and half of them ended up standing in line in front of Jesse waiting to get lunch. Who knew Subway sandwiches could have such appeal.

I doubt we have that many state troopers in the whole state of Washington working at the same time, let alone congregating for lunch like that. I swear it looked like a convention...............made me nervous...........for the first time on this trip, I was anxious to get back on the road.

While Jesse and his crew stood in line waiting to order, I went out and tried watering the horses again. Since the temperatures had warmed up some, I also wanted to check how the horses were doing wearing sleezys and sheets.

Legs and Rhet both drank two whole buckets of water. Gypcy still wouldn't even try to take a drink. She just stood there snorting at the open window and the water moving in the bucket. Other than that the horses looked good. They seemed to be handling the trip better than me.

It was probably a good hour maybe even longer before we finally got back on the road. For some reason being outside Amarillo had me humming to myself "Amarillo by morning.............." as we booked down the interstate.

At one time Dave had applied for a job in this area of Texas. Now looking at the trees and their tell tale windswept growth, I was really glad he hadn't gotten that job. I don't know that I could live with the kind of wind it takes to deform trees like that........even though there would have been definite advantages to moving my breeding business to a new location like that......then there are all those great western pleasure trainers in that area........thoughts for another day, I guess.

By the time we hit Oklahoma we would only have one more stop for fuel before we hit the Tulsa Expo Square where the US All Arabian National Horse Show was held. I could hardly wait to reach that milestone. Even if the trip did last a couple more hours past that stop.

My enthusiasm for that last stop vanished when I opened the windows on my trailer to inspect the horses. There stood Rhet with blood running down his nose. The colt had managed to find something in that trailer to snag his right nostril on. He'd torn completely through the ridge that forms the nostril and there was a thick chunk of tissue hanging...............

To be continued.............

The Road Hits Back........Getting to Tulsa

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