Thurday, November 17, 2011 - Travel Day to Valentine Stables, NC

With the alarm set early, we were up and on our way out by just after 8:00 with a cup of coffee in hand. Said our goodbyes to our hostess and headed south on 301, stopping once in Waldorf at a Burger King for breakfast (which oddly had no indoor restaurant, it was strictly a drive-thru, with a few picnic tables around the outside... Weird). Of course, we’re too big to drive-thru, so we had to stand out in the cold until our breakfast was ready. Drove the rest of the day in rain, despite earlier forecasts that it would clear up, with our load of hay getting soaked as we geaded down the highway. It finally quit raining about a half hour before we reached our destination, a layover place called Valentine Farms near Dunn, NC. A bit expensive but very conveniently located just 3 miles off I-95. Horses each had a lovely big stall with a run (though we closed the doors to the run after dinner because of the cold breeze coming through), and we were able to plug in the RV to an RV designated plug on the outside of the barn. We arrived by 3:00, tired from the early departure and busy last couple of days, so we relaxed the rest of the day, again getting to bed early.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - Back to the Stables

Slept late (as we had expected), packed up and headed out right at the noon checkout time. Met up with my old friend Steve at a local IHOP for brunch. He had just been around the globe in the last few weeks, first to Germany then to New Zealand, so his body clock thought breakfast at 12:30 was a good idea, too. After a pleasant meal, Hubby and I headed back to the stables where we unpacked our suitcases and prepared to pack up and leave the next day. The weather forecast had been calling for rain today and clear skies and cooler tomorrow, but they’ve been wrong about this rain for some time, and we’re concerned about getting out in the morning. We decided to hook up the horse trailer this afternoon and pull it out onto the driveway where it had better traction, but the van slipped and slid all over the place even WITHOUT the trailer behind it, so we decided to do something we had been planning on doing but hadn’t gotten around to; rotating the tires on the van. Last year, we had bought to huge honking Wrangler tires with giant tread (which look really MEAN on the van!). We put them on the front because the other tires had worn unevenly (for a long list of reasons too boring to talk about), and that made a loud thunking noise on the front, so we put the loud tires in the back and the new Wranglers on the front, figuring once the bumps were worn down that set would be quieter later on, which is exactly what happened. But the tread on the old tires, naturally, weren’t too great anymore (not bad enough to get rid of, just not great in certain circumstances, like soft, wet grass on a hill with weight behind it), so we headed out to the Wal-mart Auto Center, and two hours later they rotated the Wranglers to the back and the now smoother old tires to the front. Though it was dark, we decided to go ahead and try to move the horse trailer, since the newly revised forecast was calling for more rain during the evening and overnight hours. Fortunately, everything worked our perfectly. The Wranglers had no trouble gripping the grass, even with the added weight of the horse trailer behind it, and we managed to pull the trailer up onto the gravel driveway easily, with no damage to the yard. Moments afterward, it started drizzling again, so we congratulated ourselved on a job well done and headed inside to the warmth of the trailer and a hot meal of leftover Indian food. The rest of the evening was quiet, and we headed to be early in preparation for our early start tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - Day Two of Workshop

Another great day of workshop, running right up to our schedule 5:00, then hanging around for another hour or more just chatting with some interested attendees on other matters. Had dinner with our seminar organizer at the hotel restaurant before getting to bed, satisfied with a good training camp.

Monday, November 14, 2011 - Day One of Workshop

Conducted our workshop all day, with a great group of folks from all along the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest, had dinner in our room delivered from a local Indian restaurant so we could relax for the evening, then to be asap.

Sunday, November 13, 2011 - Move to Arlington, VA



Pentagon-DC in background

After spending the morning packing, we headed out to the Sheraton in Arlington, VA where we will be facilitating a workshop for the next two days. Happily, they accept dogs here, which adds a nice element to the trip, not having to worry about dog care back at the stable. It means having to put the dogs in the van during the day when we are teaching, but at least they can come up and spend the evenings and nights with us. They’re so used to sleeping in the van whenever we travel anyway, it’s really all the same to them. Took a hot bath to soothe my still aching side (the bruises are out in full glory now, and I still have a stitch or two along my rib when I take a deep breath), watched a fun Tom Cruise movie on HBO, then got to sleep early in anticipation of an early and long day tomorrow.

Saturday, November 12, 2011 - Preparation Day

Spent the day getting ready to move over to DC tomorrow, with the added fun of taking the dogs to Petco for a bath and grooming, something they’ve never done before. We just didn’t have the capability to do it ourselves today, because it’s too cold and water is too far away, and I’m still in serious pain from my fall, so we decided to splurge and let the dogs have a "spa" day. After careful instructions to Billy’s handler (he tends to get aggressive when he gets scared or pushed or pulled around because of his abusive puppyhood), Hubby and I ran a few more errands. Came back a few hours later to some very happy, clean and nice-smelling dogs. She even managed to attach a couple of tiny bows to Marina’s short hair, which were cute and ridiculous at the same time. Job done, we headed back to the RV for a relaxing evening.

Friday, November 11, 2011 - Move to Stables near Rosaryville, MD

Set the alarm so we could get off to an early start. Spent the day running errands, first going down to the Tidewater Animal Hospital south of Waldorf, MD because all of the animals, horses and dogs alike, needed their annual vaccinations. First time ever we’ve managed to get them all on the same schedule! (Dogs were due last month, horses aren’t really due until next month, but this will make things easier from now on!) Did some shopping and made a few other stops before finally arriving at our host stable, run by Anna Solan. Very near Rosaryville State Park, where we had intended to go riding before my unfortunate fall, but still very convenient for getting to DC for our next job. Horses went into a round pen at the back of the property, and we parked the RV right next to it, getting settled in quickly. Too late for the satellite dish tonight, too cold and dark by the time we got set up, so we just relaxed for the evening with the PVR after our hectic day.