We knew that coming home after being gone for 2 years would have plenty of challenges, but knowing and experiencing them are two entirely different things. Emotionally, it was a bit rough for a couple months. We had adapted to constant change, so sleeping in the same

bed every night was a bit unnerving. And honestly, while it was often exhausting, we had also grown accustomed to being in the center of attention, so the quiet and suddenly not telling our stories several times a day felt disheartening until we got used to ‘normal’ life again. It has also been quite a challenge getting back on our feet financially after 2 years without an income. We had a lot of bills to pay right away that we no longer had a working budget for. Horse hay, for example, was something we saved all year for, but we did not have that luxury this year. And after two years of sitting, both our vehicles needed quite a few repairs. It amazed me that they fall apart so much faster when NOT in use! Every paycheck went to a large bill like that, and we are only just now starting to catch up! Moving was an additional strain we weren’t exactly expecting. It took several months to move a ranch worth of stuff, unpack, organize, fix the new place to meet our needs, etc. Even just redeveloping our connections of where to find the best, cheapest, and closest stuff was- be it horse hay, lumber, food, or anything- was extremely time consuming. All that asking around and research to get reconnected to the local knowledge was quite a chore and I no longer take thatknowledge for granted! Our summer went by so fast and was mostly filled with work, work, work!

But through all that, God took amazing care of us. The month of horse hay that we had left in our barn for our use when we got homesomehow stretched to last 3 months to bide us time to afford hay. How does this happen other than God????!!!! Our cars ran, albeit rough, and didn’t die on us until we had the paycheck to fix them with! Even our tires were rotten with metal showing through from sitting but they managed not to explode until we could buy replacements! As you read in the newsletter, we had quite a few health issues from pure exhaustion and adrenal burn-out when wegot back, yet God provided a chiropractor/health practitioner who wanted to trade horse training for health care! Our God is so creative when it comes to providing that you just never know how the blessings are going to come!

Additionally, we were so blessed that Richard got a job right away when we got back, but after struggling for 3 months at night shift, he found that he was just too worn out from the ride for him to physically handle that schedule. He had

spent so much time at the coffee shop next to his job just to get through, that he landed a daytime job there instead where he worked until he found full time employment at Silver Star Communications where he works as a Customer Service Agent (something he is no stranger to!). I continue to enjoy and succeed at my job as Supervisor at Happy Tails Pet Resort where we board cats and dogs while their owners are away. The position has definitely stretched my comfort zone and made me grow and learn quite a bit.

We continue to thoroughly love where we live and are developing a rich and wonderful connection with our community- more so than we have ever had in the past. Through the coffee shop and other connections, Richard is developing a side business called Precision Gunsmithing, which is really being received well locally. Also, an amazing local church developed while we were away, so we no longer have to drive over an hour to go to a good church. The pastor has been tutoring Richard and developing his skillsand knowledge as he works toward becoming a spiritual leader. He is currently leading the teenage youth group and I am sooo proud of him! In addition to my job, I have been developing a Barefoot Hoof Trimming business as a professional farrier! I never in a million years wouldhave guessed I would become a farrier, but I developed a passion for barefoot horses on our ride after seeing how well our horses did, and I love it!  My business is called Coast to Coast

Barefoot, and I have been excited about its success thus far.

The highlight of our summer was celebrating our 10th anniversary (I got to wear my wedding dress again)!!!! …. and getting to see our long term Kentucky hosts- the Basham family- when they

came out to visit us in July.

The newsletter was actually written back in the spring and we intended to send it out right away. But it was an unexpected and grueling process of compiling all of the contacts of hosts, friends, supporters, and helpers we met on our ride into a useable format. We spent many lunch breaks at work, evenings, and weekends typing and typing…. And typing! We finally were offered help by our new and dear friend, Clea Connors, who was an absolute Godsend helping us finish this project.

Additionally, you may notice several changes, updates, and improvements on the website. At one point, the website went completely down, then we switched the site over to a new server and web master, which of course caused several other challenges that took time to fix. We decided to get all of the bugs worked out before we sent out the newsletter.

At long last, it is probably in your hands by now! If you did not receive one, please do contact us. All future newsletters will be via email and we would love if you would sign up by clicking the button so we can continue to stay in touch! It is the easiest way to communicate with a large number of people who we care about immensely. If you do not have email, please call us as we will happily send a hard copy of each newsletter to you. Enjoy the update and please know once again that it is from the bottom of our hearts that we thank you for being part of our success.

PS- I believe I forgot to mention in the newsletter how we got home! 8 different drivers- most of whom were previous hosts, got together on a trailer relay and each took a few hundred mile section and drove us all the way home! It was exciting to change trailers at least once a day at a truck stop or some other pre-planned meeting spot where we would connect with our next driver. It was so fun to see our host friends again and just a wonderful, blessed time of decompressing from the finish. What a joy it was to finish the ride in this finale show of support and love from those we met across America.

We have also decided recently that we will be moving out of our current home and will officially become residents of Idaho. Jackson is right on the border of the two states so it is very typical in our area to live in one state and work in the other. There were many challenges with our current housing when we returned home- thankfully we were not caught unaware of the situation. We were hoping to avoid the most delightful task of moving (dripping with sarcasm there!) but we are very excited about the place we have chosen to move into. It is set up very well for horses complete with pasture, corrals, round pen, barn, riding arena, and immediate access to forest service! A horse lovers haven! The house also is far larger with 3  bedrooms, an office, 2 baths, plenty of storage, and an unobstructed sweeping view of the Grand Teton Mountains! We are very excited because our new home will have plenty of room for guests!

We also took a few hours to clean out the chest freezer to see what as in there and cleaned out the car. Good thing I did too because I found the source of the stench- two dead mice and their humoungus nest all over our trunk. NASTY!! The only thing left is filing the mail, updating all the records, going through the pictures, and making a scrapbook with our special momentos. That will have to wait after more urgent matters are seen to- like getting jobs!

We enjoyed a well deserved day of relaxing on Sunday when we finally got to see all our friends from church again. Then the second week it was back at it- only this time our focus was job searching. We created a powerful resume which we emailed and dropped off to about 15 jobs each. Thank God there are even jobs available! We each had 3 interviews the first week, and Richard landed a decent job on his third one. He is working at Broulim’s grocery store- the same store that donated all the produce we dehydrated for the trip! He was hired with the assurance that the store was making some changes shortly and he would be moving into management and great pay very quickly. But temporarily, they had to insert him in a night shift position. We were willing to put up with that inconvenience because there is great long term potential for this job until we are able to do Hearts Up Ranch full time. We had had Broulim’s on our hearts for several months before we got home as somewhere Richard should apply to and now we know that was God prompting us so we would be blessed with this opportunity.

I have not been hired yet and we are trusting in God as always to provide the finances we will need to pay our next month’s rent, utility bills, and insurances. It’s a bit daunting to get home and suddenly, without having had a job for two years, have to come up with the money to insure and register vehicles, renew my license, get the car tire fixed, pay for gas to drive the car, pay for copies of paper for resumes, pay for rent, pay for utilities, pay for trash, etc, etc. God has provided miraculously for us many times in the past and I am trying not to worry as the next month’s

bills sneak up on us before we have even received one paycheck. But it looks like we will continue to eat dehydrated food until I get a job! We are very thankful though, that the vehicles seem to be running fine and even the knock has gone away in the car.

Finally, the animals are all doing surprisingly well. The horses’ hair grew so quickly that they weren’t near as affected by the cold as we anticipated. Well, that and the fact that the temperatures have been unseasonably mild. I think the coldest we’ve seen was -1 so we are grateful for the ‘warm’ January! We have definitely been using the blankets on the horses, but not as much as we expected we would. They are adjusting very well and seem to be perfectly content to just be hanging out in the pasture. Chance also seems to have relaxed here and we can only hope his pals explained to him that this stop is different from the rest! I have noticed that he seems to be more a part of the herd than he has ever acted before. Perhaps the others, now that they are home, have decided he really is here to stay and now he is ‘one of the guys.’ It’s good to see. We have been giving them supplements and continuing to have them do their stretches to help them recuperate. And as promised, we have not been on their backs since they stepped in the Atlantic and will not do so until this summer so they can have a good 6 months off.

Nacho was cute. For the first few days it seemed that he remembered a little more each day who we were. He started to act his old way with us and remember our habits. When our friend Rick was over, he was surprised that Nacho was sitting on the toilet behind me trying to get my attention while I was using the bathroom mirror. He exclaimed that Nacho never even went in the bathroom when he lived here. I was confused because he always used to do that with me! It made me happy that he is obviously remembering us and starting to act just like old times around us.

Bella is just as precious as ever. She immediately chose the rocking recliner to be her chair and has spent many hours there ever since. I feel bad for her because she is used to walking at least 15 miles a day with lots of stimulus. And now she’s becoming a couch potato. But she is taking it well and we are doing our absolute best to get her out for two long walks (or cross country skiing) each day. It’s vital for her and it’s a good excuse for us to get started getting back in shape and adjusting to the high altitude, which by the way, has been remarkably easy this time. I have always had a very difficult time acclimating to high altitude- it affects some people more than others- but this time has been a piece of cake! I am so blessed by this. Back to Bella- we discovered that if we don’t take her out for some fun, she has a blast when we aren’t home getting into the garbage, toilet paper, and shredding newspapers! Little miss puppy is going to have to learn how to be civilized! This whole new life of not being around us 27 hrs 7 days a week is a bit of an adjustment for her. As far as Nacho goes, she is still very jealous of him every time he gets pet instead of her, but she does want to play with him. She is very polite about it, but he still swats and hisses at her when she gets too close. In the last couple days though, they seem to have made some headway in becoming friends, and I am confident that they will get over each other in a month or two and learn to enjoy each other’s company.

Well, friends, I guess we are home and nearly settled! If you are led, please continue to pray for a job for me, our physical stamina, recuperation, and adjustment to the high altitude, and our financial needs being met by March 1st. We continue to keep working on our pile of “to do’s” that has accumulated over two years. We are slowly catching up. You may notice many updates throughout the website. That is just one of many projects that we have been working on in between job hunting. When life normalizes a little, we will continue our fundraising work with Hearts Up Ranch and we will keep you posted on those developments via the blog and newsletters. Please do continue to check back here at least weekly. It may not be life-and-death adventure stories, but God is always up to something exciting! Our friends who have known us a long time know that ‘it’s rarely boring at the McGrath’s!’  So keep an eye out on these blogs- you never know what the future will bring when you have a vision….!  With much love always, the McGraths

As we watched our last driver pull out of the driveway and head back to Colorado, we didn’t waste any time getting to work sorting out our life. First project: pull the vehicles out of the snow banks! With Teton Mountains and our purple blanketed horses playing in the pasture as our backdrop, we got to shoveling. Thankfully there was only about a foot and a half of accumulated snow- about half of normal for this time of year. A local mechanic had volunteered his time to get our vehicles running again before we got home, so at least they started. The truck was out of the snow, so the car was the main priority. In the process of trying to pull it out, we managed to get the truck quite stuck and had to cut the tow strap. Then we went at it from a different angle with a new strategy and were able to get it out that time. It stuck like dead mice though, had a very flat tire, and a pretty noticeable knock in the engine. Vehicles parked neatly in the driveway, we got to the next project.

The shed. All of our horse equipment that was neatly stored in the barn had been moved into a big heap in the tiny shed while we were gone. We were not happy about this to say the least and it was clear indication of issues that needed to be resolved. Guess we get to start our new life with trouble on the home-front already. “Lord, please give us grace to deal with this situation as You deal with our own failures. And since you have proven to be a God of details, would you please go before us and resolve this situation?”

So the shed ended up being about a two man, 18 hour project. It was a mess. Several things were broken, several were missing, and there was no room in that tiny space to sort it out. We had to take most of it out in the snow just to sort it out. Hours and hours of intense labor later, we finally had it stored in a somewhat organized fashion- as best we could do in the space that was there. Why, you say, would we start on the shed first instead of the house? Well, half of the gear with us was horse stuff that had to be stored outside, and our camping equipment couldn’t be put away either until we were able to organize it out in the shed. Thus, the shed was holding up the whole party!

That project finished to our satisfaction, we moved our efforts to the house. Upon first glance, the house was in order and cleaned up for our arrival. Many thanks to our friend for cleaning before moving out, and for leaving us with a comfy recliner! But for all his efforts, it still wasn’t ‘home’ to us. They had the house organized and to their cleanliness standards the way they wanted it to live in- which of course is no problem- but we needed to make it our own again. We decided it would be silly to unpack our gear and put it away when we had no idea where anything was anymore. So rather than moving things twice, we decided first to go through every cabinet, drawer, shelf, closet, dresser, – absolutely everything- and clean it and put it the way we wanted it. Think spring cleaning- or worse- moving. What a project!

I have to insert here our amazement once again at God’s timing. You know how we had said that we wanted to stay in Colorado to go to the cowboy church but our driver had to leave on Saturday? Well, had we left on Sunday afternoon or Monday, we would have had a serious problem. Not 30 hours after we arrived home, we were absolutely dumped on with snow! Two and a half feet in 24 hours then several inches each day after for a week! Not only would we not have been able to get in the driveway, the drive would have been dangerous especially for John’s return trip to Colorado, we would have had a very hard time pulling things out of the shed, and we definitely would not have been able to get our vehicles out of the snow banks! We arrived on the very last day of beautiful weather for the next week plus! So while we were unpacking, it was snowing and snowing! We did eventually have to give in and start shoveling in between the unpacking, but at least we didn’t have to drive in the mess to get to work.

We started on the kitchen so we would be able to cook. It was almost kind of fun actually. We listened to our own music as loud as we wanted to, spent time talking, and it was almost like Christmas discovering what we owned! The bathroom was next. My ulterior motive was that I wanted to be able to find my makeup and hair stuff! We began in small increments to put our gear away- anything that would find its home in the kitchen or bathroom was removed from its temporary place on the tarp in the livingroom.

Then we headed for the bedroom. The closet was a thing of beauty. All my clothes! Dresses and skirts and cute jeans and high heels and classy coats and purses and belts and jewelry and and and….! Not that I’m a material girl. Far from it. But to have choices of what to wear again! It was overwhelming actually. I think I changed three times the first few days! I couldn’t remember what went together, how to look stylish, or even decide what I wanted to wear. I figured I better start practicing how to dress nice again before I go to work or it would take me five hours to get ready! We pulled Richard’s clothes out of the boxes we had stashed them in out in the shed (so Mom could have room in the closet), and got them hung up. I didn’t mind putting most of our gear away, but when it came time to dump out our dry bags and put our trail clothes away, I got emotional. We’ve been living out of those bags for basically two years now. It was very weird to put them away.

So Saturday morning, he met us bright and early, we loaded the trailer, blanketed the horses for the cold drive, said goodbye to the Martinez family, and off we went. We had many hours of great visiting getting to know …. and he us as we traveled north through Colorado and crossed into wonderful Wyoming. It wasn’t so wonderful this time of year though- the wind in the south east of the state was pretty brutal not only on the temperature but on the fuel economy as well! We had called ahead to our friend, Grant Golliher, in Pavillion who had suggested that we stay with him for the night on our way through Wyoming. It would have been a 16 hour trip straight through and we weren’t willing to put the horses through that. So we accepted the offer and found our way to his house well after dark. Grant wasn’t home yet so after looking around with a flashlight, we finally figured out where to put the horses and headed inside for the night. Grant came home just as we were heading inside and we spent the rest of the evening telling him about our journey. He admitted that he thought we were crazy, weren’t going to make it, would go through several horses, and would never come back to this area again. We knew exactly how he felt and we had heard that from many people before we left. That’s the thing about going against the norm of society- you get alot of people telling you it can’t be done and giving you all the reasons why you shouldn’t do it-  and that’s why God had to make it utterly clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were supposed to do this crazy journey. So we were honored when he said, “You’ve earned alot of respect around here and I am proud of you.” He seemed to really enjoy our pictures as well and was just in complete amazement. I wish Jane were there too- we missed seeing her- but she was out of town. But we did have a good time with Grant and were thankful he let us stay for the night.

We woke up on January 15th with excitement and a bit of trepidation- today was the day we were going home! Our stomachs and minds were churning with excitement, concerns, and emotions. We had looked forward to it for so long, but what would it be like? How many challenges would there be? Would anyone in the area care that we were home? So many questions with no answers- just relying on God to take care of everything just as we’ve been doing for two years with no home. It didn’t take us long to get the horses back in the trailer and head out. The trailer was already loaded so that made it easy.

It was only a couple hours before we were back in our old stomping grounds with familiar scenery. We stopped to fill the gas before committing ourselves to the drive over Togwotee pass and the Continental Divide. I can’t even stress the miracle of the weather we had. The ENTIRE way across the country during this trailer relay the weather was unseasonably mild, warm, and sunny. IN JANUARY!!!! That is unheard of. A week and a half of mild weather in January across the entire country! Crossing this dangerous pass was no exception. Normally the roads are covered in several inches of ice all winter long. Taking a full horse trailer across is not something that is recommended. The roads were ninety percent dry. I’ll say it again- they were dry!!! It was sunny, relatively warm, and gorgeous. Our first glimpse of the Grand Teton Mountains made my heart race! We were so glad it was a beautiful day so we could see the whole range from bottom to top and it was glorious. They were larger and more beautiful than we remembered. I guess you kind of get used to a good thing and take it for granted- so it was fun seeing them with a new perspective.

While I’m on the subject of blessings, I have to mention how generous everyone was who drove us. There were 8 drivers throughout a week and a half period of time. We had just enough money left to pay for gas back to Wyoming- leaving us with no money to live on until we got jobs. A scary thought, yes, but God is bigger than that problem. After more than 2,500 miles on the road, we were ‘allowed’ to spend a sum total of $270 in gas. Total. That’s it! I can’t even tell you how much of a blessing it is to come home with a little bit of money to start on! Thank you friends for your generosity- it has helped give us at least a little bit of a start in our new life.

We continued to tell stories as we drove through Jackson Hole, through Teton National Park, past the elk refuge, and past the elk antler arches in Jackson. We only had a little further to go- around the end of the Tetons before we would be coming down the homestretch. We craned our necks, looking out the window trying to get the first glimpse of home.

As we pulled in the driveway, our first thought was, “wow- the barn and fence look great!” Our landlord had renovated quite a bit while we were gone. As the truck came to a stop, the first thing a did was headed for the house. I wanted to see my kitty. We unlocked the door and there was Nacho, alive and well. He didn’t run away or act mad as I expected, so I gently went over to him and picked him up, he snuggled into me, and I just wept and kissed him and hugged him. He acted a little like he didn’t know us- after all we had been gone for a quarter of his life, but we knew it would come back to him. Richard got it all on video and he gave Nacho hugs too. I had a serious fear when we left him- my childhood horse died while I was away at college and I was so afraid that was going to happen to me again and I would never see Nacho after we left him that day two years ago. But there he was alive and well. Praise God for preventing that fear from manifesting, and many thanks to all 5 of our friends and family who helped take care of him while we were gone.

I pried myself away from Nacho and we all went back out to take care of the horses. It was surprisingly warm with very minimal snow, so we took the blankets off and walked them over to the pasture gate. We knew immediately that Satchmo, Tiska, Apache, and Fiddle all realized quickly where they were and remembered their old home. Their heads went up, they sniffed the wind, listened to the local sounds, and went trotting off to check out all their favorite hang-out spots. To Chance, it was just another stop. He eventually followed, but he held back without the same eager excitement as the others had. We hoped they would explain to him in horsey language that this was home.

Finally, we got to the task of unloading the truck of all our gear. We packed the horse tack into the shed and all our other gear into the house where we laid it on a tarp in the living room. It took up the entire floor and looked like a very daunting project! We even peaked into our spare room where all our dehydrated food, extra supplies, boxes we had sent home, and other gear was piled shoulder high with hardly a walkway and we promptly shut the door. One project at a time! When it was all unloaded and there was nothing left for ….. to do, he gave us a hug before heading back to Colorado, turned to us and said, “Well, you’re home!”

Indeed we are. GLORY TO GOD!

The end of the Ride Across America.

The completion of a life-long dream.

Just the beginning of another- Hearts Up Ranch.

From one adventure to another- the next chapter in life begins……..

{Note- while this is the official end of the Ride Across America, we fully intend to continue blogging periodically to keep you posted on the progression of the plans and vision for Hearts Up Ranch. I already have one coming out in the next day or two, and my goal is to do at least one per week. We will also share stories from our personal lives, updates on the animals, and planned events as we continue to push toward this goal. Do not hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions or are curious about certain updates that I may not have mentioned. We desire to stay in touch with as many people as possible who we met across America, and this is one way we can do that. Additionally, we are creating an email list so we can personally send out newsletters. If you are not sure if we have your email and would like to be added to this list, please contact us via the link above and let us know. Also, don’t be afraid to call to keep in touch- even if it’s five years from now. Finally, one last thank you to everyone who helped us along the way, from the time when the ride was still in the planning stages to helping us get back on our feet back at home, from the prayers of those we never met to those with whom we spent weeks, from the humble donations of pocket change to the very generous donations including the ones given specifically for our personal use, from the tiniest church who invited us to speak to the broadest national news coverage, from the single encouraging word as we rode by to our cheerleaders who were there every step of the way, from the least little thing to the greatest. We could not have done it without you and your kindness will remain gratefully in our hearts always and forever. – With greatest love, Richard and Jeannette McGrath}

We met our next driver, Allen Dunagan from Princeton West Virginia in the parking lot of Tractor Supply in Farmville, Virginia at 12:30. Our timing was almost impeccable- both parties arrived there within 10 minutes of each other with several hours of driving from each direction! We pulled the horses out of the trailers, walked them around for nearly a half hour, got them some water to drink, let them snack on the grass, packed all our gear from one truck to the other, and loaded the horses back up. It was a tight squeeze in his two door truck, so Bella had to lay across all three of our laps for the whole afternoon! Allen drove us 4 hours to his home where we put the horses back in the pasture they had stayed in once before, and we found our way back to their dining room table where Paula once again fed us a delicious home made meal.  Since we were to stay at the Dunagans for a day, Richard and I worked on trimming horse hooves- determined to get it done where we could take advantage of warmer temperatures- then Allen took us on a scenic local tour, and I took Bella for a great hike. That evening we were blessed tremendously by a large get-together at a local restaurant with their friends and many of the people who had hosted us or helped us in some way get through that area. Pete and Donna Hagerman were our next drivers, and we were so grateful they were able to come that evening with the kids because we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to see them. It was like a little family reunion and we were so grateful for the thoughtfulness of Allen and Paula arranging it.

We left at 9am with Pete and Donna. They had brought a trailer, but they came up with a brilliant idea- they just hooked up to Allen’s trailer so we wouldn’t have to move all our gear again since they had to come right back in order to go home. We had a wonderful 3 hour visit with them, and it didn’t seem long enough. That family is so dear to us and they have truly accepted us as part of their family. Such a blessing. You would remember them as the ones who invited the musicians over for an impromptu evening of bluegrass. We remember them as our new family and friends. I never imagined we would acquire new ‘sisters’ and ‘brothers’ across the country, but we are so blessed with those we have met along the way. It was with tears that we hugged the Hagermans goodbye at the truck stop just inside the Kentucky line where we met up with Cowboy Pastor Dewayne Waldrup.

For the next 6 hours we enjoyed the company of Dewayne. We have alot in common with him, and it was a joy to just yack the afternoon away. In fact, we got so lost in conversation that we missed a turn that cost us a good 45 minutes! I was actually holding the map, so I guess that’s the navigator’s fault! :\  He drove us all the way to McQuady, Kentucky where we were greeted by more ‘family’- the Bashams who hosted us for two months when we were recuperating- complete with a “welcome home Richard and Jeannette” sign in the front yard.

This time though, Ronnie and Talli weren’t back yet from a vacation so we stayed with Kenny and Linda- who had horse fence already up anyway. We had decided to stay there for the weekend so we could go to church with them and leave on Monday, giving Ronnie a day to recuperate from their vacation before driving to Kansas. However, Ronnie and Talli completely shocked all of us when they showed up just in time for dinner Friday night- a whole day earlier than they were planning to come home! They didn’t want to miss a single minute of hanging out with us. We were so thrilled and excited to see them! And Bella- Ha! She went absolutely nuts when she saw Talli- and then even crazier when she saw her best friend, Ben!!! Until she is at our house for a while, the Bashams are the closest thing she has known to a home, and she definitely has a best bud in Ben! It was so fun to watch them play. We also spent time with Steffanie, Rick, and Ariel as well. It was such a wonderful weekend and it went by way too fast. These are some of our dearest friends in the whole world now, and another two days just didn’t seem like enough. But, we had a schedule to stick to, so after many tears of goodbye, we headed out bright and early with Ronnie and Kenny as our drivers.

We can’t thank them enough for their constant generosity. They drove us all the way from the middle of Kentucky into Kansas- over 600 miles and 12 hours one way. We got to spend some more quality time with them, but it is never enough. The horses did really well for that long of a day, and we made sure to stop every few hours at a truck stop, get them out to walk around, eat, and drink. It was well after dark when we finally arrived in Humboldt where Dave Gant was to host us. Ronnie and Kenny immediately liked Dave, but they chose to leave immediately after we were unloaded rather than putting off saying goodbye. So once again, with hugs and tears we watched them drive away. We were, however, very grateful to hear from them in the morning that they had made it back home safely- even without stopping to sleep.

Dave was just as we remembered him- fun, hilarious, warm, inviting, generous, and a great host. When Carrie got home, we had fun with her as well. Their guest bed was the only Tempurpedic we slept on during the entire trip, and it reminded us one of many reasons why we were so looking forward to getting home- to our bed! It even made us want to have a Tempurpedic for our guest bed eventually. Why not treat your guests like royalty! We had decided to give our horses a day off in between the really long trailer rides since they weren’t used to it, so Richard and I spent the next day while the Gants were at work just completely relaxing. There’s no internet or phone reception at their house, so it’s wonderfully peaceful. We slept in, watched a movie, took a long walk, hung out on the deck by the pond, and just chilled. The only work we did was packing our stuff, including the gun that Richard had left behind in Dave’s safe,  into his trailer. It was great! I had only one silly concern- we were only a dozen miles from where Bella started following us. She sniffed the air immediately like she remembered something in a way I’d never seen her do before. Was she going to run away from us after all this time? I was admittedly worried about it. But she had chosen to come with us nearly a year ago- of course she wasn’t going to run away now! And of course, she didn’t.

In the morning when Dave was done with his essential work at his business, we loaded the horses again and headed for Garden City. As always with Dave, we had great conversation and a good time, and we all had fun talking about our favorite subject- horses. I just wish we could collect all our favorite people from across the country and make a town where we could all live near each other! As we drove across Kansas, Richard and I marveled at how atrociously windy and bitter cold it was- and how on earth did we ride our horses outside in this same wind and cold- not to mention a whole lot more snow- during the same month of winter? We were definitely less worn out then, but there is nothing that can convince me otherwise that the main reason we did it is because God was our strength and He was with us on this journey and He helped us succeed. There’s no way I’d go out there now and ride in that kind of wind and bitter cold! It chilled us to the bones in just the 20 minutes we had the horses out of the trailer and we were walking nearly sideways just bracing against the searing wind! No thank you. Once is enough for me! We pulled into Garden City after a good 6 hour drive and quickly unloaded our stuff into the next trailer and put the horses in their enclosure for the night so Dave could head home right away. It was sad to say goodbye, but I bet we’ll see him one of these days at some ‘extreme cowboy’ competition!

Rob and Joyce Adams were there to welcome us with open arms. We made ourselves at home in the guest bedroom we had used for our first Christmas on the trail and enjoyed our visit all evening. Dave cooked steaks special for us, and Joyce made a pie. She is so excited because she gets to retire this year and she is planning out her year of endurance trail ride races. That evening, we went and checked on the horses because we were concerned that they would be too cold without blankets on in that wind. But we were trying to hold off blanketing them as much as possible so their winter coats would grow in more. Thankfully, livestock owners in Kansas are quite familiar with their windy winters, and there was a large stack of hay strategically placed as a wind block and the horses were doing just fine.

Having said goodbye to Rob and Joyce, we loaded the horses into their neighbor and friend’s trailer who was to be our next driver. I think Rob had volunteered him, but he was enthusiastic to help us on our journey. It was fun getting to know him as we drove the three hours to Pueblo, Colorado where we were going to stay with Lonnie and Theresa. They weren’t home when we arrived, but we knew the drill. This is where the horses had stayed for over two weeks to rest after we rode down the last mountain in the Rockies. We got the horses settled and unloaded our gear, thanked our driver once again for his time, and went in the house to relax for a bit. We loved visiting with the whole Martinez. Their three girls were happy to see us and have always been supportive of our ride. Theresa and Lonnie are special to us not only as hosts, but because they introduced the “Total Money Makeover” book to us by Dave Ramsey and I know it will really affect us for the rest of our lives. I highly recommend the book and we are so grateful they gave us a copy. We got to visit with Bev while we were there too. She and Ann were the ones who hosted Richard and I while the horses rested at the Martinez’s. Bev was at Virginia beach and watched us finish, but it was nice to get just a few quiet hours with her. We also got to see previous hosts Dale and Johnna who drove over to visit for a little while. Our last night in Pueblo was spent with Theresa, Lonnie, and their girls where they treated us to a PBR Rodeo. It was a fun was to end our time in Colorado.