Monday, August 30, 2010 - Drive Day to Dru Barner Horse Camp, Georgetown, CA

Had a much less eventful drive day today (thankfully!), at least once we got off the mountain. I was naturally concerned about getting down the last descent without losing brakes, but fortunately, since it was still cool when we left, the brakes stayed cool as well. Easy freeway driving most of the way. Stopped at a Wal-Mart Supercenter and did some shopping, and was solicited by a rather nice fellow in the parking lot to take some of the dents out of the pickup, something that had been offered before but we refused. This time, we accepted, him having made an offer we could hardly refuse. It was finished and looked quite nice, even had a layer of wax on it to polish it off, a great improvement. Then we headed off to the Georgetown Ranger Station where I finally got to meet Cindy, who had graciously answered numerous questions during several phones calls previously. We spent about half an hour looking at all the trail maps (they even have a bandanna with the trail maps on it! What a great idea!), finding a place nearby where we could dump (expensive, but worth not having to go farther), and getting us out to the campground. With 48 campsites, and so many trails, we were sure the place would be quite busy, but other than one family tenting, no one was here! We were surprised. We were told that ORV's do use some of the multi-use trails, but some trails here are equestrian only (though we were also told sometimes the dirt-bikers ignored that sign), so now we're curious why this place is so underutilized. Guess we'll find out better when we go riding. Anyway, Cindy sent another ranger, who is their local horse expert, out to visit with us, and she chatted with Hubby while I was off dumping a few miles up the road. Despite the fact it is almost completely forested, clever and resourceful Hubby managed to find the ONE site that might be able to get a satellite signal, and it was plenty big enough for both vehicles, with room to spare. No corrals, but plenty of trees to highline the horses comfortably. Got set up, grateful we were in early, relatively speaking, even got the satellite dish up before we settled in. AND I'm getting 3 bars on my cell phone... Yeah!