In which the Fall Ride continues Westward: now, Cle Elum to Easton

I learned a lot about minimal horse camping during the 3 week

we travelled the Cross-State ride this Spring.

Mornings start early, so breakfast needs to be quick and easy
--and prepped on the fender of the horse trailer.

As soon as Fee and I have some breakfast inside us, she gets tacked up and tied to something so I can pack up the rest of my camp and move it forward with the truck caravan.

We've done so much mushroom hunting over the years that it's nothing new for her to be
tied up and abandoned for an hour or more.  She cocks a hip and takes a nap.  

When the bus returns with riders aboard,

Not nearly as crowded as the Spring ride, but just as loud and rattle-y and bumpy as an old school bus can be

we all sprint:  first for the porta-potties, then for our horses.

This hitch was a two-horse earlier in the year, but Vicky and Sharon brought Windy by himself
for the Fall Ride.

We learned stuff the previous day, and made a Plan to Help Piglet Keep His Brain before even mounting up on Day 2.

She's ready.  He doesn't know why.

Pig is an easy-enough patient that Dr. Kris doesn't even let go of her own horse while dosing him.

Elsewhere in camp, others are making ready.
This rider is securing her chaps with duct tape...as one does.

Out on the trail, the skies are misty, but not nearly as drippy as Day #1.  Gravel trails are good footing, despite the wet.

The Yakima River parallels our trail 

Piglet doesn't walk as fast as the Dragon, so he would occasionally trot to catch up.

At the 2nd water crossing, a traffic jam:  photographer David Honan is shooting pictures
of horses and riders as we traverse the bridge.  I'll post his photos here when they are available.

UPDATE: here are a couple of David's photos:

Fiddle's "bridge warning ears" slightly mitigated by "ears on Piglet ahead of us"

Q: Does this color make my butt look big?
A: Is there a butt even under there someplace?

Fiddle is good about crossing bridges, but she always has to LOOK extra hard and keep her ears on the railings.
Just in case, you know, the railings decide to misbehave or something?

We got to this road crossing just as a freight train arrived going the opposite direction--and laying hard on the horn at the road, as they are required to do.  Piglet and Jenni kept their cool, mostly, and practiced some lateral work to stay calm and focused.

Shoulder-in, followed by haunches-in.  Then reverse.  And do it again, until nobody is
contemplating knuckleheaded behavior.

The lateral-move game is one I use if Fee is uptight, but to pass the time and keep myself moving forward (especially if my toes get cold and I would otherwise be grumpy), I sing.

Davy Jones recorded this song in 2006.  I've been singing it ever since.  Lacking a piano accompaniment on the trail, I use Fee's footfalls as my rhythm section.

The sky (slowly) started to clear up as we neared camp.

Fiddle is totally comfortable with buggys and wagons on the trail now.

Day #2 was much easier--and more fun--for Jenni and Piglet!

She didn't want to know how long the meds would stay in his system.  We know they
wore off as we rode, but getting them both over that first "hump" of starting the ride
without fear was vital.

Blue sky to the west!

Also, food growing alongside the trail.  Fiddle always knows where the food is.

Entering camp, the trail goes through a covered bridge.

Not scary.

And the drag riders bring up the rear, with dignity of course!

Guy's horse Junior is 25 years old, and the perfect tail-end horse with patience
for closing gates, locking locks, and picking up stuff the other riders have dropped
along the way.

The Double K Christian Camp in Easton hosted our camp and fed us dinner (lasagna!) and breakfast the following morning (cinnamon rolls!), and let us hold a fund-raising dessert auction to benefit the club, which is trying to buy a new (prettier and more mechanically reliable) bus.

This fondant horse-and-hay-bale cake brought in several hundred dollars.
By all accounts, it was delicious.

The Double K also offers a facility to show feature films, but I went to bed early.  With shorter fall days (down to 11 and a half hours now), reveille comes early in camp.

Sunrise over camp in Easton.