I’m sitting here at midnight and can’t seem to get my mind to slow down. I have a thousand thoughts running through my head about the upcoming adventure. There’s a lot to be done in the next thirty days.

Today I received the last piece of horse gear I’m going to buy for the trip. I bought, through Outfitter Supply, a Five Star 1″ wool felt saddle pad with a spine relief cut-out. I like the look of it and have high hopes it will save my Fox Trotter’s back when he starts losing weight during the trip. On the first leg last year, both my Fox Trotters lost weight in the latter part of the trip, causing their spine to contact the underside of the saddle. They both got a sore spot that turned to a calcium deposit from pressure on their spine from the saddle cantle area late in the trip. Hopefully, this saddle pad with the spine relief will alleviate that problem.

I have had a pretty tough schedule this past month, earning money to finance the trip and trying to get in some good rides to start “legging-up” my horses, as well as getting my truck and trailer into road-worthy shape. On the way home from my trip with Dad to Moab a few weeks ago, I blew the engine in my truck. I just got it back this evening with a rebuilt engine, new A/C system, and new injectors. Hopefully it’s ready to go. I actually got it back over a week ago, but it had an oil leak, then on the way home from the trip to Swinging Bridge last week the radiator fan stopped working and I nearly ruined my new engine. I took it back to my mechanic, who got everything squared away and I got it back this evening, hopefully for good.

In the next month I will need to accomplish the following, while keeping up my work and other duties as well:

• Buy 4 new tires for my pickup
• Get horses shod
• Get health inspections on the horses for their travel to Arizona
• Pay ahead on my DeLorme Explorer account (my GPS unit)
• Contact news outlets regarding our pack trip
• Purchase horse and people feed for the trip
• Get the trailer brakes adjusted and bearings repacked and check front axle
• Put pockets on Dad’s chinks
• Make a rifle scabbard
• Finish documenting the first leg of the trip on the blog!!!
• Replace latigo and billets on my saddle
• Replace saddle string on my saddle
• Check on my hotel reservations in Panguitch
• Get our trip support arranged arranged for

Yep. Lots to get done.

I’m going to do my best to get the rest of last year’s ride fully documented on the blog before we start the second leg on May 23 this year, so stay tuned.