God works his magic

We made it back to Casper safe an sound but not without a few mishaps.

Once again TC decided to take a short cut. This time through durango and Silverton. It was truly the most beautiful place I have ever been through. I was begging to stop and explore but TC, ever the adult, said we did not have time. He did assure me that we would be back someday and go just for fun.

As is the tradition with our short cuts, this particular one added 3 hours to our trip. It literally took us from 2 pm to 5 pm to get a mere 50 miles over those mountain roads. Buyer had a great time and that is all that really matters.

At this point we decided to spend the night in Grand Junction. A good thing too because as we pulled into town we noticed the pick up truck was chug chug chugging. A sure sign that we probably picked up some bad fuel at that little gas station along the way.

Since we knew that we wanted to lay over in GJ with the horses I thought this was a perfect time to locate a pet friendly hotel to accomodate us with the dogs. TC suggested motel 6 as they always take dogs. We found one and checked in...ugh! Will not ever stay there again.

The next morning we drove to a lube shop and had them change out our fuel filter. The pick up ran slightly better but still not like it should. But TC was confident that it woul get us home. While all this work was being done I was on the phone and on the Internet trying to locate a hotel close to fair grounds that would let us bring in 4 dogs. The "hotel strip" is on one side of town the fair groundson the other. Not cool! I did not care for the thought of not being able to easily check on my ponies.

We went to the fairground and I spoke with the gal there. I rented my stalls and she showed me where to go and where to park and the warm up arena where I could turn them loose to kick up their heels for a bit. They supply the shavings and the clean up. Totally worth the 20 dollars per horse.

Then came my answer... The KOA is right next door. I managed to secure the last cabin they had left. The gal said that it was a bit pricier than the other cabins, 79 dollars, still less than a hotel room. But most important is the gate between the properties making it walking distance to the barn. Perfect!

Now here is how I know that God had a hand in this. If we had not had to stay in GJ until the lube shop opened we probably would not have taken the time to secure those stalls or the cabin. I would have just secure the stalls over the phone and then searched for a hotel on the other side of town. The cabin was the only one they had left so I doubt it would have been available had we waited.

God knew that we needed this peace of mind on our next trip and he made sure we took the time to get it. So cool.

We also had made a quick stop in Holbrook and spoke the the fair grounds manager there. Jose was his name. A weathered old cowboy who showed me some nice big pens. He said, " stop in here before you head down through the mountains into the valley. It is a twisty turny road and those ponies will need a break before hand. If you need to spend the night it is 10 dollars but for just a few hours it will be free.".

As we made our trip down last time I watched the temperature everywhere we went. The 2 hottest spots were Moab and then once we left Payson Az. So those are the places we need to be traveling through in the early am or in the evening. I do not want to hit Mesa (Phoenix) during rush hour traffic. So having that ability to lay over in Holbrook is perfect.

We have new tires and new axles under the trailerand new brakes on the pick up. We have a service truck full of tools that I will be driving which will make any breakdowns less stressful. We have done all we can do to prep for this trip. I have turned the rest over to God and asked him to take care of us.

Now I am getting our house ready for the renters. I have been scrubbing, painting, and fixing things for 2 days. I,ve gotten the basement done, and most of the upstairs done. They hardest part will be the kitchen which i have to finish today. Tomorrow is all about getting dogs bathed, horses rinsed off and then sprayed down with the good fly spray and
Getting the horse trailer loaded with all the feed and stuff.

It has been busy busy and I am ready for it to be over. I have not really been able to look at anyones blogs so I have no idea what is going on with everyone. I just pray that all is well with my blogging buddies. I will catch up with you all soon.