Followed by The Major Pilgrimage

 (Otherwise known as my summer trip to Fort Stanton, New Mexico)

I’m thrilled to report that everything went well, mechanically & otherwise! My only complaint is that it was far too short (as usual). I drove straight through on Tuesday, which gave me the full day Wednesday to rest & recover, do some minor shopping for supplies as the nearby town of Capitan always stocks up for the Texas invasion. I rode Thursday & Saturday, taking Friday off as Silas was fatigued** and I had a minor altitude/allergy related headache.

** A 16-mile loop in the rocky hills of Fort Stanton is easily equivalent to 25-30 miles in the flatlands; Silas tripped & stumbled quite a bit which could get one’s blood pressure elevated in those hills! But I don’t think I had a lameness, a neurologic or a metabolic problem - I think I just had a clumsy Walking horse who wasn’t paying close attention to where he was putting his feet. We did my favorite, the 11-mile Homestead loop on Saturday morning; the highlight of my trip may have been the baby western diamondback we saw along trail. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, made Silas circle back - I would’ve loved to take his picture, but Silas was restive and I couldn’t take a chance on dropping my phone! He was a gorgeous little creature, buzzing those two buttons on his rattle as hard as he could…

We rested up for a couple of hours, then I went ahead and pushed all the way back home Saturday night, getting home a little before 2 AM. Let me dump a few photos and tell you the rest of the story later!

(Or not since the iPad is being funky)

Thank you work computer!