ticular was requiring health certifi cates to be current within 24 hours of entry into the state. We leſt home not knowing if we would even be able to get to Missouri, let alone be able to start the ride. It turned out that the EHV-1 scare was the
least of our worries. While camped in St. Joe, we had severe weather in the form of tornadoes touching down all around us along with high winds and heavy rains. T e town of Joplin was wiped out and more than 100 people lost their lives. T ere were storm-chasers parked on the highway just outside our camp, waiting for tornadoes to touch down, and we heard sirens and alarms. T ere was a tornado shelter in camp, something we learned to ask about from that point forward wherever we went.
FINALLY, THE RIDE BEGINS!
My friend Nannet e and I loaded up Chief and Wizard in my trailer and hauled across the river to Elwood, Kansas, from St. Joseph, Missouri, where we were camped. We got there a few minutes before the 6 a.m. start and began the ride right on time. A total of 35 riders started with 25 being in the AERC ride. Each of the 40 days’ rides were AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) sanctioned. My goal was to ride as many AERC days as I could on my two horses. Riders could also choose to participate as a non-AERC rider. T ese riders were called “Duck Riders,” aſt er David Nicholson, DVM, whose nickname is “T e Duck.”
Chief was calm and well behaved at the
start. We went down the side of a road, then turned and rode through a few rural towns in Kansas. Everything was so green, with lots of lush grass and corn about two to four inches high. It was warm and humid enough to not need to start with a jacket. However…. Clouds started to form before lunch and
before we knew it, torrential rain opened up on us. Fortunately I had a nice Outback oilskin raincoat to put on. Nannet e forgot to bring raingear as did two other friends riding who all ended up borrowing or wearing raingear that my husband and I lent them. I’m sure they are glad we are always extra prepared! It took us 5½ hours to get to lunch, about
27 miles. Following the trail with the GPS was easy, though it became more diffi cult aſt er we had the raingear on because get ing to the GPS and then being able to see and read it
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ABOVE: Heavy rains made following the trail extremely diffi cult. Our GPS units weren’t picking up enough satel- lites through the heavy cloud cover, our maps were melting in their plastic bags from the humidity and the tracks on the trail in front of us were washing out. Fortunately on this day, we were only a couple miles from fi nishing and man- aged to read on our maps to turn leſt at the railroad tracks. LEFT: T e EQYSS Microtek spray was nothing short of a miracle as it kept both horses from get- ting scratches during the entire trip. It was fabulous using products that work so well even in extreme conditions and circumstances.
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