From the road, in SLO
Aug. 16th, 2007 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecunium13 Aug 2007
Well we finally got on the road, three days behind schedule, and only two behind my expectations. Sola isn’t here, Maia’s father is, but he has to leave on the 19th (he’ll grab a train, or a bus). I don’t know why the packing (even factoring in the horses) takes so long, but it does. Maia and I tried to figure it out, and the answer we got was not less than 50 man hours, and maybe as many as sixty. Since we didn’t try to pack all the food for 10 days it seems excessive.
On the flip side, I didn’t figure out how many we took for the Utah trip two years ago, so maybe the horses do add that much labor.
Regardless, at the rate things are progressing, if we get out of California I’ll be really surprised.
We got on the road, all the horses loaded, at 1700. A brief stop for gas, and to find a squeegee on the way, about the same below Gaviota to eat some supper and we were at the campsite about 2300. It was inky black, which is fine for starwatching, but not so much for setting up camp. I saw about half a dozen shooting stars, some of which had long, numinous tails. Being in the hills, with the ocean just beyond half the horizon, the sky was dense with little white lights.
The last time I saw stars so dense constellations were hard to make out was in Iraq.
For, amusement as we travelled, I was, when the sun went down, and I could no longer read, playing Onslaught (a Tower Defense Game). Every so often I would be told there was a network nearby. One was in range long enough to tease me with notification that I had e-mail, but not long enough to retrieve it.
The dominant sounds are the wind in the eucalyptus, and the rise and fall of traffic on the road. Well, that’s what the ocean beyond the ridge sounds like. This morning there was the, almost obnoxious, twittering; and arguing, of quail. I didn’t bestir myself enough to don my glasses and watch them, but there was, at least, one of them who kept getting pissed about something, and the conversation would change. It also got a whole lot louder.
First thing out of bed was to empty a wheelbarrow of manure onto the heap, then go to the trough; fish out the wasp, and draw some bucket of water for the horses (it’s not that I have any particular fondness for wasps, but I hate the thought of, pretty much anything drowning, and don’t want a not dead wasp to sting a horse on the lip).
16 Aug 2007
Yesterday was a make and mend day. The weather was nasty. We were socked in, and reports from home said the weather in LA was 104F Yech. I hope the mice and plants are doing alright.
So Maia and her mother were working on fixing a saddle, and I was sharpening knives. After that we actually decided to go riding. It was about 1700 when we hit the trail. It was pleasantly miserable. The fog (which I presume was being pulled in by the high temps inland) never let up. There were times the visibility was perfect, all the way to the horse in front. On razorback trails, with a good third of a mile to the bottom of the draw, this wasn’t the best of times. The combination of fog, steep trail, and scenery made it reminiscent of Scotland, if you didn’t look to see the heather and gorse were actually scrub oak and sticky monkey flower, and the pines actually eucalyptus.
But Rudy was better than he was the day before. He’s been ridden less than a dozen times, and his accelerator is so-so, and the brakes are less than completely reliable. On the upside, if one falls off, the ground is pretty close.
He is, however learning what being in trail is all about. His pace isn’t terrible (Sienna and Leus are horrid when they pace, you can’t post, and it’s like being bounced on a bag of rocks). It’s actually fairly comfortable, though it makes one’s knees wobble as though race-walking.
His canter is sweet, and when he stretches out to a wide open run, it’s as smooth as pondwater. Now the trick is to make it so he does it only when one desires it.
The best thing I’ve brought is my duster. It acts as heat trap, raincoat and chaps. With snap pockets for treats it makes training him easier.
It’s also stylish. I look swell, apart from the helmet (a lovely shade of charcoal, in metallic deckle).
Today, in comparison to yesterday, is a travel day. It seems we’re heading toward Ben Lomond, via a couple of shops. We have to get some cups, take on stores from TJ’s, and elsewhere, refit some tack and generally make sure the things we forgot, or failed to foresee, are on board.
This, of course, will take all day, and the trip to Ben Lomond will have us pitching camp somewhere in the near vicinity of midnight.
1800: We've done most of the shopping, are about to eat at Big Sky, and I'm raiding some wireless.
Well we finally got on the road, three days behind schedule, and only two behind my expectations. Sola isn’t here, Maia’s father is, but he has to leave on the 19th (he’ll grab a train, or a bus). I don’t know why the packing (even factoring in the horses) takes so long, but it does. Maia and I tried to figure it out, and the answer we got was not less than 50 man hours, and maybe as many as sixty. Since we didn’t try to pack all the food for 10 days it seems excessive.
On the flip side, I didn’t figure out how many we took for the Utah trip two years ago, so maybe the horses do add that much labor.
Regardless, at the rate things are progressing, if we get out of California I’ll be really surprised.
We got on the road, all the horses loaded, at 1700. A brief stop for gas, and to find a squeegee on the way, about the same below Gaviota to eat some supper and we were at the campsite about 2300. It was inky black, which is fine for starwatching, but not so much for setting up camp. I saw about half a dozen shooting stars, some of which had long, numinous tails. Being in the hills, with the ocean just beyond half the horizon, the sky was dense with little white lights.
The last time I saw stars so dense constellations were hard to make out was in Iraq.
For, amusement as we travelled, I was, when the sun went down, and I could no longer read, playing Onslaught (a Tower Defense Game). Every so often I would be told there was a network nearby. One was in range long enough to tease me with notification that I had e-mail, but not long enough to retrieve it.
The dominant sounds are the wind in the eucalyptus, and the rise and fall of traffic on the road. Well, that’s what the ocean beyond the ridge sounds like. This morning there was the, almost obnoxious, twittering; and arguing, of quail. I didn’t bestir myself enough to don my glasses and watch them, but there was, at least, one of them who kept getting pissed about something, and the conversation would change. It also got a whole lot louder.
First thing out of bed was to empty a wheelbarrow of manure onto the heap, then go to the trough; fish out the wasp, and draw some bucket of water for the horses (it’s not that I have any particular fondness for wasps, but I hate the thought of, pretty much anything drowning, and don’t want a not dead wasp to sting a horse on the lip).
16 Aug 2007
Yesterday was a make and mend day. The weather was nasty. We were socked in, and reports from home said the weather in LA was 104F Yech. I hope the mice and plants are doing alright.
So Maia and her mother were working on fixing a saddle, and I was sharpening knives. After that we actually decided to go riding. It was about 1700 when we hit the trail. It was pleasantly miserable. The fog (which I presume was being pulled in by the high temps inland) never let up. There were times the visibility was perfect, all the way to the horse in front. On razorback trails, with a good third of a mile to the bottom of the draw, this wasn’t the best of times. The combination of fog, steep trail, and scenery made it reminiscent of Scotland, if you didn’t look to see the heather and gorse were actually scrub oak and sticky monkey flower, and the pines actually eucalyptus.
But Rudy was better than he was the day before. He’s been ridden less than a dozen times, and his accelerator is so-so, and the brakes are less than completely reliable. On the upside, if one falls off, the ground is pretty close.
He is, however learning what being in trail is all about. His pace isn’t terrible (Sienna and Leus are horrid when they pace, you can’t post, and it’s like being bounced on a bag of rocks). It’s actually fairly comfortable, though it makes one’s knees wobble as though race-walking.
His canter is sweet, and when he stretches out to a wide open run, it’s as smooth as pondwater. Now the trick is to make it so he does it only when one desires it.
The best thing I’ve brought is my duster. It acts as heat trap, raincoat and chaps. With snap pockets for treats it makes training him easier.
It’s also stylish. I look swell, apart from the helmet (a lovely shade of charcoal, in metallic deckle).
Today, in comparison to yesterday, is a travel day. It seems we’re heading toward Ben Lomond, via a couple of shops. We have to get some cups, take on stores from TJ’s, and elsewhere, refit some tack and generally make sure the things we forgot, or failed to foresee, are on board.
This, of course, will take all day, and the trip to Ben Lomond will have us pitching camp somewhere in the near vicinity of midnight.
1800: We've done most of the shopping, are about to eat at Big Sky, and I'm raiding some wireless.
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Best wishes for the trip
Date: 2007-08-17 02:37 am (UTC)I'm slightly jealous that you can go to TJ's on your trip for stocking up... when we went to Archon/NASFIC a couple weekends ago my friend Allie and I stopped in (I picked up party stuff) and on the way back *U picked up house stuff like good olive oil and cereal). I wrote them a letter the week before when I discovered that they have FOUR STORES in the St., Louis area (all on the west side of town) and still NONE in Kansas City.
On the way in we had the manager manning our cash register, I commented on the inequity and he said, "don't hold your breath, but there may be one there in the next year or so...." Hell, I'd work for them. And it's have to be on the Missouri side, Kansas still doesn't allow liquor/wine/beer >4% sales in grocery/convenience/retail stores.