Today's Forecast : sunny. Highs 100 to 105. East wind 5 to 10 mph in the morning, becoming southwest in the afternoon
I was up by 4am this morning. As I have on many mornings when I wake early I think: "I can get a little riding in before the heat if I go feed the horses right now"... Usually I drag my feet, make coffee, check my e-mails and by the time I give it a second thought it's already warming up outside.
But this time I decided to follow through..
Before I even had my morning coffee I dressed quickly and put my shoes on my bare feet (didn't even take the time to check for scorpions! lol) and within 15 minutes I was out the door to go feed the horses. It was still pitch black out and I didn't bother to bring a flashlight. I am not afraid of the dark but I am leery of snakes out hunting for rodents as it is warm enough for them to be out so I kicked the dirt as I walked in hopes that if anything was in my path it would move!
Survived the walk in the dark and drove home to drink my coffee, get my socks on and hook up the horse trailer in that order...
45 minutes later the sun was coming up. (I will have to get an earlier start if I do this again- I would rather be saddling up at sunup.)
By 5:30 I was on my way back to the ranch, loaded Mocha in the trailer and brought him home, saddled him up and we were on our way down the road by 6am. Didn't plan to go anywhere special. Decided to ride down the ATV trail between hwy 60 and the railroad tracks.
Crossed the road to "bother" some friends who live at Arizona Sunset RV Park. Rode around behind the park to the back of their trailer and called their name just loud enough that they would hear me if they were awake but not loud enough to wake them-- no answer-- they ware still in bed.
Crossed the highway again and continued another mile. By 7 it was warming up so I turned around and headed for home. The sun was now at my back so I could take pictures :)
Crossed the highway again and rode towards the farm fields along a very old ranch fence before heading back to the house.I love those old fences- the stories they could tell...
I wanted to find a trail so I could keep riding south of the highway but the brush got too thick and I didn't wan't to disturb any snakes that might be hiding so back towards the highway we went..
I rode along the highway instead of the ATV trail most of the way back in case the train came by. He has seen the train many times but not up close. He doesn't have a problem with traffic, not even big trucks so along the highway we went..
Rode closer to the highway and the traffic didn't bother him...
Passed a noisy farm water pump, hardly bothered him at all...
Crossing the tracks on the way home...
Shadow and Dozer are happy we are back...
