9/25/2017 - Heading East - Day 1

Monday - Right after the conclusion of the horse show last night, we got word that Joe's Aunt Nellie (Lucille's 93-year-old sister) had passed away.  So first thing this morning, we started heading east, to Indiana. We didn't even go over and say goodbye to the horses. We were dumped and on the road by 7:25, heading up Hwy 20 to I-80, then across eastern California and all of Nevada.  We had planned on taking scenic Hwy 50 across Nevada before our plans got changed, and even though this wasn't a scenic route, it was still quite pretty. We first saw snow-capped mountains in the distance around Truckee, but before the day was over, we were driving right next to mountains that were completely covered in snow.  We crossed the California/Nevada state line about 9:00.

We came through part of Nevada's Basin area where we saw a lot of white soil -- we assume this is salt.  We even saw some areas with steam, it looked like the geysers in Yellowstone, but don't know if that was what it really was.

As we left the basin area and started climbing in elevation, we had some really beautiful views of the mountains.

This also put us in the heavily-populated area of wildlife, especially deer, although we did not see any.  But they have some animal overpasses in place and are building more.

 This was the prettiest part -- and here's the road ahead.  Looks like summer here is over.

We have 5 hard days of driving ahead of us, approximately 2100 miles, so we need to put in between 400 and 500 miles per day.  We made a good stab at it today -- logging 482 miles. And I drove about 100 of them.

We pulled off in Wendover, Nevada, 2 miles from the Utah state line, about 5:00.  But it looks like there is absolutely nothing between here and Salt Lake City, so we called it a day.

I had this grand plan, I found a casino here with laundry, according to my casino camping book.  So rather than dry camping free, we pulled into the RV park, which cost $35 ($5 more than my book said).  And there was no laundry.  The guy at the registration desk said there was one across the street, and we drove up and down the street twice (this is basically a one-street town) and could not find one.  We did see one that looked like it had been out of business for a few years.

So I got on my phone and did a search.  Siri sent us out to the defunct military base, it looked like the buildings had been deserted about 20 years ago, windows were all broken out, so that was a waste of time.

Joe was ready to give up, but I told him to stop at a gas station and I would go in and ask.  Well, the gal in there didn't speak English.  Apparently, I didn't make her understand what I was looking for because she sent us to another gas station.  There was a CAR wash there.  After that, we gave up, so I still have my basket of laundry in the back of the car.  Maybe we will have better luck tomorrow.

We came back to the RV and watched the second half of the Arizona football game.  That went the way the rest of this night has gone.  Then we just called it a night.  We need to get another early start tomorrow.  We will take I-80 to Salt Lake City, go south on I-15 to where we connect with I-70, the continue East.  For days.  Probably take I-64 around the south side of St. Louis so we can come in just north of Evansville and make our last stop at the Flying J so we can come in with empty tanks.  I expect we will be tired when we arrive in Vincennes.

9/24/2017 - Draft Horse Classic - Day 4

Sunday - Our last day with the horses.  We ran out to McDonalds for breakfast, and I finally got a photo of the draft horse icon for this fairgrounds -- which is pretty impressive.  I think this would look good in our front yard!

 Then we wandered back over to the grounds, walking through the horse area on the way.  They were getting the horses ready for their competitions, but we did get to watch them hooking up one pair.

Just a few minutes later, the announcer came over the loudspeaker and asked that all visitors vacate this area so the owners could get their horses ready (without us bothering them, but they didn't say that).  We walked over to one of the California Highway Patrol equine riders who was cleaning up their area, very friendly guy.  They patrol the State Capitol in Sacramento, where we visited last week.  Here is their trailer.

The morning sessions started with Four-Up Amateur Reinsmanship, driving through an obstacle course and backing them up between 2 pylons.  This was a little different that what we had seen before.  The entertainment fill-in was chariot races, always fun to watch.

Next came the sledding event, the Lightweight/Heavyweight Pull Challenge.  There were only four teams in this, and they all made several pulls.  This took a long time, and it was HOT.  The winning heavyweight team pulled 6500 lbs plus 2 1/2 people (1 fell off the sled) after he clinched the win.  The pretty blonde Belgium teams won both classes. 

Then we had the acrobats again, and the sidesaddle Suffolk, then the final event, the Farm Implement class where they pull some kind of farm equipment.  Joe was interested in the different pieces of equipment displayed -- some antique, I'm sure.

At the conclusion of this, we worked our way back to the RV, and decided to run out to KFC for some lunch (we are tired of fair fare).  Then we got back in time to rest and cool off to get ready for the final sessions at 4:00, which we assume will go from hot to cold.

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We headed back over about 3:45, no long lines for this performance so last night's must have been the big one.  The opening always includes horse and wagons delivering dignataries to the grandstand, and this session's "delivery" horses were my favorites Rosebud and Angel.  Their owner received an award -- the equivalent of Miss Congeniality in the horse barn, I didn't catch what it was called, but it is voted on by all the exhibitors, for the most helpful person.  She didn't know she was receiving the award, so that was nice (she cried).

 The first event was Singles, Ladies Hitch, similar to some of the other ladies events we had seen.  That was followed by Americana, Farm, which was the horses pulling an antique type farm, agricultural or historical wagon or carriage representing early America.  Some of these got pretty creative.  The first was a really nice chuck wagon.  This won first place in this class.

 This was the most creative, and my favorite.  It had a guy in the back taking a bath, and a lady sitting in the toilet holding her nose.

Next was Pairs, Gentlemen, Hitch -- not much different that what we had seen before, but the horses are so beautiful I keep taking pictures.

Next was Log Skidding Finals, this surprised us.  We expected another pulling event, with logs instead of grain sacks.  Instead, the horse pulled two logs through an obstacle course without touching the pylons.  They use draft horses still to haul logs out of some forests where there are no roads, so this was a representation of that kind of work the horses do.  It was interesting.

Because we attended all the sessions, we saw the entertainment between the competitions multiple times.  Some of it was changed up, some was the same.  But I hadn't gotten a good picture of Bobby Kerr's finale to his mustang act because it was always too dark, so I was able to get one this afternoon.

The same with the California Cowgirls Drill Team.  I didn't get a good picture in the dark in previous shows.  These ladies really put on a show -- very impressive.

The final act was the Six-Up Ultimate Hitch Championship.  It's awesome to see these 6-horse teams trotting in unison.  There were only 4 teams in this competition, but they were all beautiful.

So the show is over.  It was a really busy 4 days and those bleachers got pretty uncomfortable.  But the competitions were great, it is a really nice venue, but the best part was being able to get up close to the horses.  We will cherish these memories forever.  The show was over about 6:30, before it started to get really cold.  We wore shorts and took sweatshirts, which we put on as the sun set.  It was hot in the bleachers this morning, when we were in the direct sun.  The afternoon session was much more comfortable.  All in all, it was a nice day, a good end to this Excellent Adventure.

9/23/2017 - Draft Horse Classic - Day 3

Saturday - It was a bit warmer this morning, and when we walked over to the fairgrounds for the morning session, it was getting close to 70.  We went over in jeans, and I had a long-sleeve t-shirt on, and carried a denim shirt, and Joe had his sweatshirt on, but we didn't need all of that and after the first 2 events, we walked back to the RV and changed clothes, then went back over to finish the morning show. 

The first event today was Gambler's Choice, and it involved an obstacle course and specific maneuvers, in 2 minutes.  My roan Clydesdale, Angel's sister Rosebud, competed in this. She took first place in some competition today, but I can't remember if it was this one.  I still think these are the prettiest horses here.

Joe's gray Percheron was in this one also.

One of the acts between competitions has been an acrobatic act.  I was able to get photos of this in the daylight.  They were pretty good.

And we had a lady riding sidesaddle on one of the beautiful Suffolk draft horses. 

It warmed up!! 

The last morning competition was Four Up Driving Competition.  One team had raccoons driving their cart.  They didn't win but should have gotten points for creativity.

We walked through the arts and crafts barn that we had missed yesterday.  They had some interesting things.

We headed back to the RV, but stopped along the way to watch the horseshoeing competition.

After we rested for a while, we headed back over to catch some of the concerts.  They were doing a tribute to Jason Aldean, and the singer also did an imitation of Kenny Chesney.

Then it was the night competition.  There were long lines at both gates tonight, and they had to delay the start of the show for about 20 minutes so everyone could get seated.  The first competition was Singles, Ladies, Pleasure Type.  The other breed, American Cream, was represented in this one.  This is the only breed of draft horses that was developed in this country.  It is a creamy color, rather than the white or gray of the Percherons.

The next competition was the Six-Up Rail -- it's pretty impressive to see six of these monsters all pulling one wagon.  This is that beautiful team of Shires, black with white feet.

And this team of Belgiums is one of the best-looking teams out here.  We've seen it various times in different competitions and it is always impressive.

The next competition was called Americana, and it involved pulling some kind of "period" cart or wagon, and the drivers were to were period costumes.  My favorite was this Cinderella coach, which lit up.  (It didn't win.)

The last competition was Unicorn, Hitch Type, which had 3 horses, with the lead horse in front, then the other two behind the leader.  This is a really hard team to drive, the announcer said.  I didn't take any pictures of this, but it was interesting to watch.

So another full day at the horse show.  We've seen and learned a lot here, and found out there is a draft horse show in Prescott, Arizona every year, so we will have to check that out.  It is supposed to be just a little warmer again tomorrow, so that should make for a lovely day.  And we will finish up this horse show.