The Conclusion of the Three Grannies Great Adventure

 I was really getting into this vagabond lifestyle of driving to a new camp site, riding new country and then traveling on to another. What a treat this whole trip had been!! And we were getting this packing thing down to an art! But as some idiot once said, all good things must come to an end. So Friday morning, July 18, OTRA bright and early heading home from Graham Corral.The air had a lot more smoke and there were several fire crews at the Sisters gas station being dispatched to the fire scene. The fire 26 miles North of Sisters was getting pretty big, guess it was a good thing that we were getting out of dodge and heading back to Idaho, which also had a few fires. But during this entire trip the timing had been fortuitous and we had always been ahead of any trouble. The good Lord was taking great care of us on our journey.

As we passed through the Burns area visibility was down to maybe a mile thanks to heavy smoke from surrounding areas. By the time we got to Vale it was actually improved and really wasn't that awful by comparison when we got home. Colleen was wanting to do another endurance ride so the plan was to unload some stuff at home, switch horses and head to Oreana for the Almosta Silver City Ride July 19. Linda's husband came and picker her and her mare up, we went over to Nicholes' and loaded Brass because they were taking 4 horses to the ride, and off we went to Oreana! By the time we vetted etc I was putting easyboots on horses at 11 PM.

I was grateful the ride started early as it was hot already. The rising sun was a deep scarlet. Thunder was trotting along and it was the beginning of a great day. Despite hauling around the country for ten days Thunder and I completed in 5th place on the 50 without incident, but some of my friends weren't so lucky on the LD. Rushcreek Hollie tore a boot up so Colleen walked back to camp and pulled. And The Big Brass had a muscle cramp at the finish and Ted didn't get completion. Bummer!! The rest of the Nicholes family completed with their horses though!!

By the time dinner and awards rolled around most of the folks had gone home. We had a great dinner with those who remained and good conversation before heading home to stay. For the first time in ten days the vagabonds had landed. The great adventure had sadly come to an end. The horses were happy to be back home and Molly trotted off with the neighbors dog to go swim in the ditch. It had been an amazing ten days. A trip that I couldn't have done without my friends nor would I have wanted to have done it without them. It was truly a great time and now we have to figure out what to do next year!