Another hot day. Got up with the alarm at 7:00, out by 8:45 even though we had a few more chores than usual, headed out cross country toward Elk Grove where we picked up a load of nice grass hay, 110+ lbs. bales for $6 at a place right next to a gorgeous Equestrian Center, fully equipped with show arenas and everything that goes along with it. Next stop the Flying J at Lodi to dump the RV and fill up. Glad to have prices back under $3/gallon, for the moment at least. Though are original plan had been to go to the Los Banos Reservoir Horse Camp, apparently that hadn't been maintained and was overgrown, so the Ranger there suggested we go to Pacheco State Park, which is in the same area but had an actual horse facility. Ordinarily, we find state parks to be too commercial and too expensive, but this one was only $10 for the first vehicle and $5 for the second, minus a $2 senior discount, so we decided to check it out. Getting there was easy, the highway off I-5 was a main highway between San Jose and Fresno, and the horse facility was just off that. Of course, that means some highway noise, but the grade up to it was pretty gradual and not at all strenuous on the vehicles (which is important at the moment, as we've discovered the exhaust manual on the van is cracked, and we've scheduled a repair stop when we're in Anaheim in a few weeks). The facility is actually an old working farm that the state took over when the owner died in 1992, so the corrals are more like large pens, into which they placed quite a few pipe corrals. Because we were the only ones here, they said we could let the horses out into the larger pen, where (naturally) the first thing they did was roll. Though there's no potable water, there are spigots all through the camp area as well as the pen area, so it's very comfortable. We had picked up water at a gas station before climbing up from the valley. The camp area has a number of picnic table, fire rings and structures around, and there are trash cans everywhere. It's quite well organized, and the rangers pass by here all the time. We're at a loss as to why there are no other campers here, though a number of day riders were here when we arrived, all leaving by nightfall. The trail maps (readily supplied at the staging kiosk) indicate about 26 miles of trails that loop and loop and loop, so it seems we could ride for many days and seldom see the same trail twice. The terrain seems to be mostly hilly grassland with large labyrinth-like trees dotting the landscape everywhere. Can't wait to see what the trails are like! By the time we got set up we were sweating up a storm, so a quick meal, a quicker shower and a relaxing evening was all the energy we had.
