Didn't bother to set the alarm this morning, as we only have a relatively short trip today. Penny was nice enough to let us buy a couple of bales of her hay to get us through, and we shoved off around 10:00. Stopped at an IHOP for breakfast in San Marcos, but it was so packed there was a 30 minute wait, so we walked to another restaurant nearby, but decided we were too much in the mood for breakfast to eat peanuts at a Roadhouse, so we moved on. We finally stopped at another IHOP in New Braunfels, which was only about 30 minutes away from the N&S Stables, which is where we've arranged to spend the next two nights. We arrived at about 2:00, met owner Larry, who showed us a nice three acre paddock where our horses will be staying. We got them settled in, parked the RV, and I spent the rest of the day on the computer looking for horse trailers, hay and planning our next leg of the journey. We had originally thought that we be heading to Brazos Bend, but I just discovered yesterday that they allow horse camping on the beaches of Padre Island near Corpus Christi, so I called them to get the details and discovered it was all true! There's another cold front coming, and we want to be as far south as possible before it hits, and what better way to celebrate New Year's than on a beach? After all, it was riding in the Atlantic that made us want to ride in the Pacific, which started us off on this incredible journey. Now we can ride in the Gulf of Mexico, and next year, ride in the Great Lakes, and then we can truly say we've ridden all four corners of the country, touching every border! Cool! And considering that December 30 marks our first anniversary of full-time horse camping, it couldn't be more appropriate. That decision made, I've arranged for mail to be forwarded there, checked to make sure our truck registration got through, and now we're just about set for the New Year. Yeah!
