CW Event Team Blog

6 am on Monday morning July 12th. On our way. Left out of the driveway, 32 hours from now we will arrive in Kalispell, Montana.

Theresa says, “I am in shock! Are we really doing this?”

Amanda is in the middle in the back seat between Lucas and Theresa. She raises her arms over her head.

Jess says, “You can do that now, but not in 20 hours”.

I am speechless; I take another sip of my coffee.

The girls are laughing at the movie “Hangover”.

Lucas is watching an 8-hour recording of Harry Potter movies.

On I-64 now heading west.

Go West young man!

I recount my dream from the night before. “Apparently you weren’t my groom Amanda, because I was at a show and Simba wasn’t braided. Then my groom showed up with a big smile on her face, and said, “I’m here!”

Amanda and Theresa are laughing in the back seat .

Honk, honk, we are into our first crossover into a new state! We are in Indiana. We made it through Louisville’s spaghetti junction easily..

Driving past the Concrete Lady in New Albany, Amanda says we need to get a concrete hippo for our water jump.

Going North on I-65 to Indianapolis and then hanging a left. Taking 74 west to 39 north.

We traveled this way to be free of any Chicago traffic. We went north on up to Rockford Illinois.

Cuppa was in the back, in the living of the horse trailer. Lucas was in the middle now between Theresa and Amanda. I am driving with my Maui Jims and my reading glasses on my nose.

Good weather. It was only 82 degrees and low humidity. The horses were getting carrots and water at every gas stop.

On into Wisconsin. Honk! Theresa needs to get some cheese for her Mom, but we ate most of it!!
Honking our way into each new state. Hooray we are now in Minnesota!

At our gas stops the girls do their jobs, Theresa does water. She looks around for water spigots. If there aren’t any she gets the water from the front container on the horse trailer. The horses are good and drinking well. On Sunday before the trip Travis our vet came out and gave all the horses some fluids.

They are traveling well.

Its 8:30 EST in Minnesota and this is a good place and time for Amanda to soak Teddy’s front feat in ice. He is in the last slot and easily accessible to get to. She does it with him just staying where he is.

From here, Jess takes the wheel, into the buggy night. The girls are in the living getting some sleep. At the 1:30 stop, Amanda takes over the driving and Lucas and Jess go to the bed in the trailer.

Sleeping into the back of the moving trailer is like sleeping in a moving space vehicle. It is very comfortable, but bouncy. Lucas and Jess fall right to sleep. They wake up when the trailer slows at the next stop. They get out and go to the bathroom, and get back in.

They rock and roll on into the night. They feel the truck slow to a stop, they are about get up, and then it starts off again. I took over driving for Amanda.

The morning sunlight began to show its traces at 4:30 in the morning, and we are in beautiful Montana. Beautiful green alfalfa fields, the Missouri river, and buttes lining the valleys.

Jess takes over driving, and Theresa and Amanda go to the trailer to get some good shuteye.

We soak in and enjoy the scenery. We talk to Grandma Kitty on speakerphone.

The girls join us back in the truck. We grab some cheeseburgers from the gas station/restaurant/casino. Its pretty wild here in Montana, Jess wants to find out more about their gambling laws. She had made up in her mind there would be casinos’ but on the Indian reservations. But instead, there are “casino’s” attached to almost anything.

Moes Bar & Grill and Casino. Beth’s Croissants & Casino. Bob’s Tire and Lube & Casino. Ok I’m kind of exaggerating this a little bit, but not much.

I got in the back in the bed in the horse trailer for the last 200 miles of the trip. Amanda drove, with Theresa riding shotgun and back-up singer.

Jess and Lucas in the backseat, reading, video’s and watching scenery.

Hooray! At Missoula we turn north on Hwy 93 towards Kalispell! Sara Kelly of Rebecca Farms warned us don’t be too excited…. it is still 2 ½ hours to their farm from that junction.

There had been a conversation with Sara before the trip about a place on Hwy 93 that had AMAZING beef jerky. She had requested that we stop there for her and get a pound, if it was still open when we came through.

After several text messages, we pinpointed its exact location, on the left after a “sweeping turn”– Jess says, “hey Amanda, this seems like it might be a ‘sweeping turn’ lets keep our eyes peeled.”

M&N meats, there it is.

The 32 hours had turned into 35; Amanda has a brilliant sense of humor, and she still had it, she was going to jump out of the truck with Cathy’s cowboy hat on at the beef jerky stop.

As she pulled into the difficult driveway, not very much room for the rig, she had to pull left, then right. The ERK, the right rear of the trailer got caught on the pavement. Oops! She tries to back up, go forward, no success, They all get out, cowboy hat forgotten

By that time, I pop out of the trailer, Amanda starts to tell me about the rear end of the trailer, I interrupt—“don’t worry that’s why those rear skids are on it there in the back.”

We all go into the store, we obtain the beef jerky, go to the bathroom, get Cuppa a little piece of dog jerky.

Back outside, I get back into the truck, and have a few attempts to go forward and back, and in 4wheel drive, forward and back. No movement! Jess says, “Lets get Teddy out of the back!” I say, “we have 3 people—lets get 3 horses out”.

Teddy, Ready and Slew Boy all walk out for their first time at M & N Meats, thinking, we have made it! I successfully pull the trailer forward. The horses were awesome, they got off and got back on with no complaints.

And then we headed on for the next 20 miles into Kalispell without incident.

Sara met us at the farm and helped us get situated. The horses got turnout while the trailer was emptied and the stalls readied.

Teresa and Amanda took temperatures, went over the horses.

They got fed, and Sara took us out to dinner for some bar-b-que. The horses got nighttime turnout, and we all showered and went to bed for a good nights sleep!

Waking up this morning! The cool fresh air! The mountain vistas! This beautiful farm! The horses were all fine, and came up for their morning feed. Theresa and Amanda got to sleep in—very deservedly!

Lucas began riding his motorcycle around this beautiful place at 7 am!

It ended up being a 38 hour trip—it went easy without any problems, and we were glad we were thinking it was going to be 32!

Be sure to go to my facebook page for impromtu pictures and updates. I will be updating the blog every couple of days.