Well, my friends....we have arrived. I'm very sorry for the break in writing, but we've been traveling for the last 5 days and it was impossible to write my blog during the trip. I thought I would be able to do it each night from the motels, but we were so exhausted and worn out when we finally arrived at each destination, that I just couldn't do it. I also could not do all that typing with just my thumbs on my phone from the road. So, I have a lot to fill you in on.

We left on Saturday, June 22nd. Our companions were Abner Argueta, the owner of the barn where Quincy lives, and  Derek Devenpeck and Deven Rose, our two nephews. Before I go any further, I have to say that this trip would NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE HELP OF THESE THREE WONDERFUL PEOPLE!

Abner suffered a concussion only one week before we left, so we were not sure he would be able to come with us, and he was going to be the one to help drive the truck and trailer. Well, fortunately, he recovered enough to be able to come, and I thank God for that. Abner drove the ENTIRE way. I thought I would be able to do some of the driving, but with the only very little bit of horse trucking experience I have, it would not have been safe for me to drive on Route 80. where everyone is going 80 mph and the tractor trailers are boxing you in on three sides. So, Abner shouldered the entire burden and he was amazing.

In the Ithaca is Gorges Car, Deven and Derek did 99% of the driving, because Chris had too much trouble staying awake on the road, so they just took it over, and again, I am so grateful!

The first day, we pushed it hard, driving to Princeton, IL, 90 miles west of Chicago. We did not arrive at the horse motel where Quincy was staying until nearly midnight, and we got a little lost trying to find it late at night. Finally, we got him there, and there was no one around...not even any other animals. So Quincy had to stay all alone in a strange place, which, as a herd animal, was pretty hard for him. In the morning, when we went to load him back up, he was so happy to see us and to be around his human herd, that he went onto the trailer pretty quickly.

The second day, we drove to Big Springs, NE, where the only big things are the cornfields. There was nothing but corn, for as far as the eye could see.

Quincy went to HQH Stables there, and stayed outside in a paddock near some other horses. There was incredible lightning all night long, and I barely slept, worrying about Q having to weather a storm out there in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, it never materialized. He was not anxious to get on board in the morning, since there were other horses there. In the process of trying to get him on the trailer, he slipped out of his halter and took off at a dead gallop into the cornfields. Abner was saying, "Oh Judy, this is baaaaaddddd....." as we chased him around, with me thinking I would never see my beloved Quincy again. The only thing that saved him was his herd instinct, which brought him back out of the cornfields to sniff noses with a stallion in one of the paddocks. At that point, all I could imagine was a wild horse fight where Quincy would be the sorry loser. But, again, someone seemed to be watching over us when I was able to walk up to him and slip a rope around his neck while Abner gotk the halter back on him. Finally, after more attempts at loading, Abner said to him, "Maybe we will call the vet to come give you a little shot" and Quincy just gave up his resistance and walked onto the trailer perfectly. Phew! I asked for an adventure, but I did NOT mean this much!

After two days of intense driving and arriving at barns after dark, we decided that we would take it a little easier and add another day to our trip. So, the third day, we drove to Salt Lake City, UT, and arrived at the barn in daylight. We had a much less stressful time of it, and everyone was in better spirits, for sure. We even had time to shower and go out for a nice Chinese dinner at PF Changs, which was wonderful.

 Quincy had a nice barn to stay in and he loaded much better the next morning. We had a blast seeing the Great Salt Lake and the salt flats outside Salt Lake City....it is such a strange landscape. Deven and I had to lick the ground to see if it was truly salty, and yup...it sure was!

We wondered what they did with all that salt until we passed the Morton Factory! This day, we took it much easier and did more stopping along the road to take pictures and explore a little. It ended up being our most fun day, for sure. We ended up in Fallon, NV...a weird little town with nothing but casinos. We had dinner at the Stockman Casino and went to bed.

Chris and I didn't get to see each other much, since we were in different vehicles. But, we got to hug and kiss at every rest stop we took and we texted each other a lot in the car.

Yesterday was our last day, and it was probably the hardest. We only had 4.5 hours to go, according to GPS, but going through the mountains on windy, narrow roads, made it take much longer and be much more stressful. We got stopped by a Sheriff outside Reno, NV. He was really nice, and just wanted to check our paperwork on Quincy, so it was not scary at all....in fact, it was quite fun talking to him and telling him about our adventure. He asked me not to take his picture, but I didn't listen, and snapped a couple when he wasn't looking. He did allow me to take some of his car, though.

He even went into the trailer to look at Q and compare the picture of him on his papers to the real horse. I watched the whole process on my trailer cam, which he did not know I had.

After crossing into California, we stopped at the Agricultural station, to check in with those folks and to register Quincy in the state. That was also fun because the people were so nice. When I told the man I wanted a souvenir, he grabbed a piece of paper and stamped it with his official stamp and handed it to me. Perfect!

Lake Tahoe was Abner's favorite scenery so far, and it is gorgeous! I'd love to take a motorcycle trip up there someday soon!

We arrived at Linda Murrer's barn, where Quincy is living, at about 6:30. Abner had asked me not to cry, but I couldn't help it. Even though I wasn't doing the driving, my stomach felt the tension of it for all 3000 miles and the relief I felt when we got to our destination was overwhelming. Grayson arrived right away, on his Harley (actually, MY Harley...) It was so good to finally hug my boy, after all these months of planning this trip. It was his push that got us to do this move, and I am so grateful to him for that. I am thrilled to be living close to him again. Now, if I could only get Hayden to join us, I would be in heaven!

 Quincy got to go into the round pen, and he immediately rolled in the sand...his first roll in 5 days. Then, he trotted all around the pen, moving his muscles that had been working so hard balancing in the trailer for so long. He looked really, really happy.

He got hay, water and a delicious dinner of bran, grain and a little sweet feed, which he loved. He looks incredibly good, considering what he has gone through, having only lost a little weight. His temperature was good the whole way, he drank water at every stop, he munched a little bit of hay along the way and he peed every time I went into the trailer with him to take a pee break myself. You really bond in a whole new way when you start peeing with your horse, I 'll tell you!

Of course, there are a million details that I have left out, but the most important things for you to know are:

1. We are all safe...humans and animals alike
2. We had an amazing adventure
3. This is the most incredible, diverse, beautiful, awe-inspiring country imaginable
4. We love you all!