There’s No Place Like Home!

May 20, 2008

Greetings!

As much as I love to travel, one of my favorite things is coming home again. Yesterday was not exactly a smooth–sailing travel day for me however. Just as I was headed from the hotel to the airport, Rich called to say Dually was feeling bad again. Some days he just feels punky—not really colicky, he just doesn’t want to eat and wants to lay down a lot. Our standard remedy—the same one we use for a mildly colicking horse—is to put him in the trailer and take him for a ride. He always feels better after that. I wasn’t overly concerned about Dually because this happens with a fair amount of regularity and I knew that if Rich had any doubts at all, he’d drive him right to the vet. But still, it’s not the best way to start the day.

Then, without realizing it, I entered the wrong airport into my GPS and so drove blissfully for an hour before I arrived at a tiny little airfield no where near Sacramento International. I finally found someone to ask and hit the freeway driving 80 mph hoping not to miss my flight. Fortunately, I had left extra early (which I always do because I hate having to rush and worry—exactly what I was doing now). As luck would have it, I made it to the correct airport, still an hour and a half before my flight which was plenty to time to return the rental car, check my bags and get to the gate in time to check my email.

Once safely there I called Rich to check on Dually and found out there was good news and bad news. The good news was that Dually was fine—back to his old self and enjoying the day. The bad news was that the house keeper had called to cancel, meaning that with house guests coming the next day, when I got home, I’d be making up beds, cleaning toilets and vacuuming. Not exactly what I had in mind. I know, I know, you are thinking I am very spoiled because I have a housekeeper that comes every other week for a few hours. One of the questions I get the most is, how do you do every thing you do? Well, that’s one way—I have someone to help me keep my house clean! Fortunately, Rich used his magnanimous powers of persuasion and Megan came after all. So at the end of the day, it wasn’t so bad.

After landing in Denver, lugging my huge and heavy bags to the car and driving about 2 ½ hours, I come to my favorite part of the drive home. It is when I top the last little pass (I go over about 5 small passes on the way to and from Denver), I am rewarded with an incredible view of the valley we live in, the Upper Arkansas Valley, and the range of mountains that form the western border, The Collegiate Peaks. These are a range of 14,000+ foot peaks that are just magnificent and they always remind me of how great it is to live here in this mountain paradise. And they have become my symbol that soon I will be home with my husband, my dog and my horses (not necessarily in that order 😉

Today I am scrambling to meet several writing deadlines, go grocery shopping and then be here for the arrival of my dear friends from Kauai. Rich is taking a vacation week from the ski area and he is busy setting up a challenging trail course. We are all going to ride hard the next few days in preparation for the Versatility Ranch Horse clinic and competition we are going to this weekend. Since Dually hasn’t been ridden for four days, he’ll be a little fresh today so some extra riding this week will be just what the doctor ordered. Hopefully by Monday—the day of the competition—he’ll be good and relaxed!