|
Blog
|
|
Private Premier & Hot Docs |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by kimber
|
|
Friday, 14 May 2010 01:31 |
|
On Sunday April 25, 2010 we held the private premier of Chasing Canada at the Pickering Horse Centre (the barn that I have ridden at for the past 17 years and where Katrina has lived for the past 2 years around the ride). The night was a hit! People came in from Ottawa, Kingston, Haliburton and all over the GTA to be part of the night. In all we had about 130 folks out for the screening which also included a BBQ…decked out to a whole new level by my dad who made things like chocolate-covered-bacon for an appetizer. We kicked off the night we a performance by the amazing Dave Borins…an awesome acoustic rock musician who is one of the more recent additions to my life via the ever continuing journey of the ride. (He tracked me down through my website about wanting to ride across Canada while doing a tour and we have since become great friends) Everyone should check him out www.myspace.com/daveborins
All in all it was a really fun night for everyone. Katrina was part of the festivities as she was in a pen next to the indoor arena where we were having everything and I even embarrassed the both of us for the occasion by drawing a huge silver glitter maple leaf on her rear…yup you got it right they make body glitter for horses in pretty well every colour. And of course she loved all of the attention and the numerous treats that she got to eat…but was thankfully polite about it and I didn’t hear about any fingers being mistaken for carrots. She was in full form, head held high, showing off for her public, Her Royal Highness at her best. (Check out the photos of the night in the photo corral!)
Leading up to this screening have been all over the place about how I feel about everything as always. Even though the documentary is now finished the journey of this ride is still far from over. And now that this major aspect of the project is done I have been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, how to structure it in a way that I can continue to create but where I don’t have to bartend any more. Right now I am bartending at a Fox & Fiddle near my house on the edge of downtown Toronto, and there are times that I love it and love the people, but I just cant keep it up…the being up well past 3am multiple times a week and dealing with all the negative idiots that frequent our bar is just so draining that is doesn’t leave a lot of myself, Kat and my work. So I have been considering going back to school for my MA and PhD in Theatre. I want to keep doing film, but I just don’t have the energy to find the money for another film and I miss the community of creation that theatre offers…but I don’t know if that is really the answer for me either, it is more a course of life that I can control incase nothing takes off with Chasing Canada that sets me on a path forward, because I also cannot take putting my whole being into another project that nobody may ever see…at least with theatre if you do the work at least a limited audience will see it and you aren’t thousands of dollars indebt at the end of the day. So there were many things going on leading up to this screening…
I didn’t know how I would feel about showing our story to the people who are closest in my life and to a few of the people who had taken us in along the road. The Lee Family, who took us in just outside of Haliburton, ON came down for the night with their daughter and granddaughter, and ‘Katrina’s Parents’, Deb and Brad, the folks that we bought Katrina off of came in from Kingston, as well as a friend from years back, the teacher that I went to Kenya with I was 18, and who came out for a day and biked with us near Ottawa came in for the night. Along with these amazing friends there was my entire family from both my mom’s and dad’s sides, and many family friends that I haven’t seen for many years, a bunch of the kids from the PHC and their families, girls I grew up riding with and of course Gary and Danielle, the owners of the Pickering Horse Centre (PHC) and our biggest supporters of the ride. I have never had so many aspects of my life in one room at once before. My riding family and my family, family. People who have known me forever and people who I barely know, but who did so much to support us in our journey. It was more than I could comprehend. But what blew me away more than just having all these people come together for me and Kat, was the response that we received for our story. Would people get it? Would it really capture what we did to those who hadn’t been there day in and out? Would people care?
I measure the length that it impacted people based on those who were there who had no reason to care. The people who had never heard of us until that day and had no attachment to our journey other than that their kids convinced them to come for the event. And the response from those people on top of the feedback from the people who would have cared to some degree no matter what gave me a lot of my faith back in myself and my struggle to keep on keeping on, that at least occasionally I know what I am doing. The response that meant the most to me for so many reasons was Gary’s. And he was the one who brought me to tears. We have had an up and down time since I came home from the ride, a good example of how hard it has been for me to explain anyone what we went through and what I hoped it would mean, but when he came up to me at the end and he understood, as much as anyone can getting that brief glimpse, and saw the merit and beauty in our story, that was what I needed from him, more than from anyone else. He had been the one that had said, ‘It can be done’ and bought me Katrina, and though understanding may have wavered in the middle, at the end of the day he was still right there with us and believing in us more than ever.
Last week I took the doc to Hot Docs, the largest documentary film festival in North America to try and sell it. It was 10 days of trying to sell our story at every opportunity. We still have our sights set on selling it to CBC, and we have a good amount of interest from them. Hopefully between the connections that we made last week and the amazing support team of connected folks that has stepped out to offer their assistance since the screening we will find Chasing Canada a home and reach the rest of Canada and maybe even some of the larger world!
Thank you to everyone who made it out for the Premier and supported the doc even further through buying t-shirts and DVDs (which will be available online shortly through the website!) And to everyone who couldn’t make it in person but was there in spirit! Sincerely thank-you!
Photo: Me headed to the Hot Docs opening Gala in heels, skirt and cowboy Hat!...I stood out to say the least, dont know that it is going to become a trend though! |
|
|
Written by kimber
|
|
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 01:30 |
|
Last Sunday, Oct. 4, was one year to the date that Kat and I finally made it to the Pacific and for the first time in five months we could turn east instead of west and seriously think about going home. It took us another three weeks to actually make it home, jumping trailers across the country, but on Oct. 4 the official journey was done.
Well Kat and I are a year older, perhaps wiser, but in so many ways we are still walking that uncertain path and putting our faith in our dreams and the unknown.
We have been 'home' for about a year, putting our lives back together, or more precisely building new ones.
For Kat that meant a crash course in show jumping in the hopes that she would prove to be gracious enough to tactfully handle the daily affronts that a school horses face at the hands of well-meaning, enthusiastic and inept kids. If she could handle it, it would mean that she would be able to earn her own keep, ((her rent otherwise is about as much as mine) while being well looked after and us still being able to spend time together.
It was touch and go to begin with. It actually got to the point where I had decided to give her one more week and if she still didn’t seem to be able to handle the situation without a some sort of meltdown then I would give up on the idea and find some way to buy her and pay her board. But she came through and managed to be a school horse through the rest of the winter, spring and right through 8 weeks of summer day camp…that I really thought would have done her in. There were even a few kids that called her their favourite and requested to ride her for their parents to see. But in the end, she proved to be a bit too opinionated to deal with ignorant kids…and she also is ridiculously lazy.
Gary, Danielle and The Pickering Horse Centre put up with her girly, outspoken ways for a full year, and made it work because she is mine, because she is the horse that crossed Canada for me, because she is my best friend and I am committed to her for life. They bought her for me, gave me the tools to make my ride possible and then went even further beyond anything that ever could have be asked and gave her a home and a job for a year, while still me letting call her mine and work with her on my own in my own way. They made everything that we have done over the past year and a half possible.
The day after she was kicked out of the school, she bucked a kid off… okay she had made her point, the riding school not so much her thing. So if she hadn’t already be fired, for being less than cooperative, she definitely would have been then. Leave it to Katrina to make an exit.
As for me it has been a year of ambiguity. I have been a bar/restaurant manager, barn staff, and a web designer, at one point I was going to apprentice with a farrier, to pay the bills, while working on my real, yet currently less bankable career as a writer and director. I finally finished one of my short films that I had been working on for two years, and the documentary is well on its way and is still scheduled to be finished in dec, and the book is over 100pages in. The doc is going so well, and my editor Dan is amazing, which is a saving grace with so many other things in need of some direction. So there has been lots to do, lots of changes and lots of decisions to be made as always.
So a year later Kat and I still have a lot of life to figure out. I have all sorts of things on the go to try and keep the ends meeting and creative drive flowing productively, but to say the least my life is pretty random. But I fumble through some how... very much like the ride, or at least that is what my dad tells me everytime I am getting sick of the uncertainty. He is usually right.
And as of Oct. 1 Kat became mine again full time, though now I have to find a way to pay her rent with mine and pay down her price…anyone interested in buying a share in a famous…albeit feisty horse? :) Of course life has just about as much uncertainty as it did last year when we turned for home, but we are definitely both stronger, happier and have some form of harmony with our worlds. And the one thing that has been a constant all the way through is that no matter what we are in this together. Kat may not have the right stuff for a schoolie, but if nothing else her antics make me laugh. So we are good, actually if I could marry a millionaire we would be about perfect, know anyone?
We'll keep you updated. xk&K
|
|
Written by kimber
|
|
Wednesday, 29 April 2009 22:15 |
|
It was one year ago yesterday that Kat and I rode away from Sumac Farms in Trenton Nova Scotia to start our ride. At that point we had no idea that we would actually make it...that wasnt even a thought that I was willing to entertain. The goal was to get through the day. We started out after having done a 21hr trailer ride out to Trenton from Pickering. We had arrived the previous morning, giving us one day to 'rest' and then first thing Sunday morning we packed up and were on our own. I was just holding it together and trying to focus while saying good bye to the family and friends that had come out to send us off. Kat knew something was up and was nervous and wouldnt stand still. She actually did not stand still again for another two months. That was one of the first bits of training to go straight out the window once we were doing this for real. So a year has gone by. And we made it. But I still dont know what it was. It was so many things. And that cold morning in Nova Scotia seems so long ago, yet it feels like we have just started and the journey of our story still has such along way to go. We are definitely different than we were when we left. Kat and I had only known each other for four weeks, and though the initial bond was there, the stress of the ride masked it and it is only really now that I can fully see how committed to each other we are, on a larger scale than having to just having to depend on each other everyday to get through the day. She is my best friend. It overwhelms me when I think about what she went through for me and how even when other people were giving up on me, us, the idea and the worth of the journey, she never did. No matter how much she just wanted to hangout in a field and eat and how much she missed constant equine company, it never occurred to her to not keep stride with me. Hell even when I wanted to give up and go home, she kept plodding along. I tell our story in brief all the time, and the two questions that always come up are 'What was the highlight of the journey?" and the other being something to the effect of "What did you learn", or "How has what you experienced changed your view of things?" And still a year later I still dont really have an answer to either of these. In terms of the highlight I usually joke..."Finishing". But that isnt true. Though to touch the Pacific was such a relief and it removed the huge burden of the daily stress of everything that we constantly contended with, from traffic to health to ignorant people, but that wasnt the point. Those were a given when I set out. And to say that to finish was the highlight would completely go against what we told ourselves everyday, "It is not about the destination, it is about the journey". Though it is not the concise answer that people are looking for the highlight was the journey and all of the amazing people that we met...starting with Lesley and Rhonas on this day in 2008. I recommend to everyone to go to the "Community Blog" on the site and look back to the first one, which is Rhonas' account of our first day. A lot happened that day and it was purely because of those two women that we made it through. And though we didnt know it then there were so many more like them between Trenton and the coast that had the heart and courage to help us and believe in our dream. Thinking about the ride leaves me with two rather overwhelming and contradictory emotions. On one side the lengths that people went for us and how widely they opened their doors and hearts to us is almost beyond comprehension. The degree of support that we found is to such a massive extent and stretching in so many directions that it is not possible to fully take it all in. And I will never be able to fully express my gratitude and how much everyone of those people meant me and still do. But on the other side I find myself a weird mixture of sorrow and anger that more people cant be like them and that we live in a society based on giving up and in, rather than giving it your all and finding your dream and the life that you never knew you truly wanted. Why is the fight so hard to convince people that there is more to life than commericials lead you to believe? The box is so small, and yet everyone is fighting to get in and conform, rather than fighting to be the person that you want to be and find a life that satisfies you on every level, not just one. It just makes me tried. And all the more grateful for every person we met, and we met more of them in those 6 months then in the rest of my 25 years, who dared to live the life they wanted to lead, because it is a life in harmony with all that they are. They are all truly inspiring. And somewhere in there perhaps is what I learned on this road, but I think there is still a lot discussions to be had between me and the journey. Thank you so much to everyone who helped get us to the road, to everyone who saw us through to the end and most importantly to everyone who took the time to believe. |
|
Written by kimber
|
|
Friday, 09 January 2009 23:01 |
|
After over two months being 'home' the adjustment process is still in the works. For both of us. Though I think at the moment Kat is more settled into her new life than I am. I don't know what it feels like...but in a lot of ways it doesn't feel like we spent the past 6 months the way we did. When I tell people, which isn't very often, or people find out and ask questions etc if they manage to get me beyond the automatic responses that come so naturally, to actually answer and think back to that life feel surreal. But the ride is still very much alive with me, as every day there are moments when I am taken back to specific times and places that the now resurrects. It feels like having access to another person's memory. And I suppose really it is as I am no longer the woman that I was. As I update the site and start to bring it into its post-ride format...which means pulling together a lot of info and making it easily accessible (it's coming, but not there yet) I get choked up looking at the photos and reading people's messages. But I dont know what to do with those emotions, how to use them or where to put them. It is so much larger than myself. How does one comprehend the extreme lengths that hundreds of once complete strangers went to for her while asking nothing in return? On a practical level Kat and I are doing well. Kat is such a good girl and tries so hard to please...which is good because it balances out her alpha mare tendencies and allows her to be in the school as a lesson horse at the Pickering Horse Centre. At the moment she is just doing one lesson a week and playing with me the rest of the time working on her show jumping skills. For a horse that just walked thousands of kilometers she has the worst cardio and gets so winded jumping and cantering that she cant keep up with the other lesson horses. But she is (ironically) getting into shape with her one hour a day workouts and will be doing more lessons a week soon. And me...well I am hibernating. Other than riding Kat and Domino, another horse I work, four days a week I spend most of my time hiding away in my apartment and appreciating the quiet solitude while working on the documentary. I did have a job...which through a long and eejity story ceased to be leaving me unemployed. So I am in the process of looking for something. And asap would probably be a good thing given that between school and the ride I really had almost no income in 2008. Here's to savings. Just waitressing is the plan so that I can still ride and work on the doc. Hopefully that will be remedied soon, which will also force me out into the world again and to figure out what life is now. Here's to seeing what 2009 will bring and enjoying the ride. Cheers. |
|
|
Written by kimber
|
|
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 21:40 |
|
First of all I want to apologize for not writing again sooner. As many of you noticed right after we finished on Oct 4 the website was hacked. And though I managed to get it back up quickly I had lost access to the website...meaning I couldnt update anything, until now. So now that the website is fully functional again I can talk to you all and give you an update on the last month and our journey home! After we finished we stayed in Langley, BC for another week with the lovely Sarah and Elaine. Which was the perfect place to rest knowing that the road was behind us. We both got the time to relax and start to readjust and for me to start to figure out how the heck we were going to get home...and when. The Hirsche Family of Bow Island, AB arranged a ride for us from Langley to Calgary, where they would then pick us up and bring us back to their place in Bow Island. And from there we would work out our next hop to get us closer to home. So our first trailer was an 18 hr ride to Calgary with a friend of Trevor Hirsche's, Dave Mailer. Dave was kind enough to haul us all this way and go out of his way to make sure he could get us in his load. So it was 18 hrs with 5hrs of 'sleep' in the truck near Golden before arriving in Calgary a few hours later. This worked out well because it got me to Calgary in time for Thanksgiving, which a really good friend of mine had come in from Prince George for and to see me...we hadnt seen each other in 5 years! It was great to catch up with Felicia and then be picked up by Trevor on Monday and go back to the comfort of their house of chaos (5 kids under 11!) It was so reassuring to know that Trevor was coming for us and that we had a place to stay while I worked out the next step. At this point though I still thought that I had a ride coming out for us from Ontario. So the plan had been that I would get us as far as I could via jumping trailers so that they wouldnt have to come all the way to BC and then they would come for us. All that was keeping my overwhelming desire to be home in check was the knowledge that they would be here for us soon even if I couldnt get us any further hoping trailers. After being at the Hirsches for a few days I spoke with my ride and found out that they were in fact not coming for me and I was instructed to sell Kat. With my voice choking me I told them that I couldnt do that and that that was fine, I would get us home some how. Then I hung up the phone and fell apart. We had come so far and the hardest was supposed to be over. I went out to Kat in the corral and cried into her neck. I looked at her seeing the strain of everything that we had been through in her eyes and yet she was still there for me and willing to go through anything that I might ask of her. How could I just leave her here to an unknown fate? Even if worked out the not knowing would be more than I could take and not fair to her. I belong to her as much as she does to me. No. I had to get us both home some how. It really was the only option. I didnt even have another short trailer ride lined up. I love staying with the Hirsches but the chaos and the stagnation of not being able to get us even one step closer to home was wearing on me. I just wanted to be home. I called Dave, who had trailered us to Calgary. Dave set about finding us a ride. He promised to get us home some how. At least I knew there were people out there who still believed in us in what we were doing and that they wouldnt abandon us. Canada would get us home safely some how. Dave came back quickly with an option of a cattle liner that was willing to put Kat on the back and get her all the way to Toronto for $700. But it didnt look like I would be able to go with her. And the idea of putting Kat on a cattle liner concerned me. I didnt really know much about them, but i worried about Kat and didnt want the trip home to upset her. It looked like it might be the only option though. And both Dave and Trevor assured me that as long as she was in the back compartment by herself that she would be safe. It wasnt the ride so much that worried me, but that she would have to load through a shoot and that I wouldnt be able to be with her. I knew that i could get her on, but I didnt know what she would be like when they took her off in Thunder Bay to water her. Or how they would handle her to get her back on. It could be disastrous. But it looked like it might be our only option that didnt involve waiting a few more weeks. We decided to take the weekend and look for other options since they couldnt take us until the middle of the week anyways. At this point we saw Penny again, a friend of the Hirsche's that we had met the first time through. Penny offered to haul us a few hours east on Saturday if we wanted. A few hours could get us to Melaval, SK, where we could stay with a great family that we knew there. Penny's offer and the promise of staying with Kate, Karen, Corey and MacKenna became my focus. I knew that if Penny could get there that Kate would be happy to have us for as long as we needed and that they would do everything that they could to get us home...and get us home in a horse focused way. I contacted Kate and we were very welcome. We arrived in Melaval on Saturday to the warmest welcome you could ask for. They had even planned a little dinner party for us to see all their friends again. Which they hosted in the loft of their barn...so great! Their loft is set up for barn dances. It wasnt home, but it was as good as it could get without being the real thing. With room to breath at Kate's hill top farm and a bit of freedom having her truck to drive around the idea of not getting home anytime soon became okay...even enjoyable. But the world had other things in mind. Kate put out the word to a few horse transport companies on Monday and Tuesday morning I got a call from Kate saying that Perry Transport from Nobleton, ON has responded saying that they had a load going to Toronto that day from further west. Could she get us to Regina by 11:00 that night? Yes! We had a ride home. I had planned to cook them dinner that night, but that plan got quickly pushed aside as I scrambled to get us ready to go home. We were to meet the truck that night and with driving straight through we would be home Thursday morning! I couldnt believe it. Perry Transport gave us a deal on the ride, so it ended up being about the same as the cattle liner...but this time it would be in a top of the line air ride horse transport. Kat would be so well looked after with hay and water throughout and a box stall to relax in. They even arranged for me to be able to ride along...but this meant that it could only be guaranteed that I would be able to ride in the trailer and at that only until Sault Ste. Marie. Oh, okay...that will do. It was going to be a cold night so I would need to pack a lot of warm clothing and food..bring a thermos. Sure. One more adventure. It seemed appropriate, even on the ride home Kat and I are still really in this together. I would have to charm my way into the cab to get from the Sault when they were bringing on more horses, which would be taking up my stall space. Kate had complete confidence in my ability to get myself in the cab with the two guys driving, who I was informed were both really good guys. We left for Regina as soon as Kate got home from work and a few hours later we hugged goodbye and Kat walked on to the trailer like a pro...which surprised me. The guys were very nice and they did let me ride up front, but the passenger's seat of the cab was the most uncomfortable seat ever and I was going to be in this seat for at least 32hrs. So when we reached Winnipeg and picked up another horse I moved into the back until the Sault. I actually preferred it back there. I set up some hay bales and made myself a bed so I spent the trip sleeping and reading. And since I had been warned I had come prepared and had everything I needed. The only down side was that it was freezing cold. I ended up wearing three pairs of pants and covering myself in a cocoon with a blanket I bought to sleep. With a delay due to some horses that didnt want to load we arrived in Nobleton, ON at 10am Thursday morning..35 hours after leaving Regina and 40 hrs after leaving Melaval. But we were home. Kat would have to stay at Perry farm for the night and we would pick her up in the morning with Gary from the Pickering Horse Centre and get her home to the PHC for good. My dad was waiting for me when we pulled in. We settled Kat in and as odd as it felt I was going home. I got home to my mom and fell into a desperate sleep on the couch for the rest of the day. Up to that point I hadnt acknowledged how tired i was. I was home now and on Friday Kat was too. Now the journey was to adjust and figure out what life would be for us now. And we have been home for 2.5 weeks and that is still the journey. |
|
Facing west with no more land to tread |
|
|
|
|
Written by kimber
|
|
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 21:13 |
|
On Oct.4, 2008 at around 3:00 in the afternoon Kat and I walked into the Pacific Ocean. Kat didn't want to cross the barrier of kelp on the shore without me, so I dismounted and we got our feet wet, cold and salty together. Finally, 160 days since we rode out of Trenton, Nova Scotia we rode into White Rock, BC and touched the other ocean. We made it! And not only made it, but arrived mentally and physically healthy. And now we can finally say that we are done and get to go home. It has been a journey beyond words...though I will try to find some to do it justice when i go to write our story shortly for the book which i have come to think of as "Riding the Karmic Cowboy: One Woman's Journey into the Heart of Canada". And upon just now looking up the Wikipedia explanation of Karma, Karma really is the wave that has carried us shore to shore. "Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others" It is the hundreds of people who we have met that have opened their hearts and homes to us and all of the positive energy that those folks and many others have sent our way that got us across these thousands of kilometers safely. And right to the end of the ride the hospitable, generous, supportive spirit of Canada has been at our side. When we arrived in Chilliwack last Tuesday after being trailered through the last unrideable stretch of the journey I decided that I needed to put my faith in Canada one more time and do a cold-ride-up. We had not used this uncertain approach to finding bed and bale since Ontario as we had been carried across the prairies on a network of people calling ahead for us. But now that we were in BC, in a highly horse and farm saturated area and only with a few more days to go we set out Thursday morning not knowing where we would rest that night. The cold-ride-ups have been one of my favourite aspects of the trip. While they seem to be a far more dodgy way of working out accommodation i had always found the days that we were traveling in this manner to be the most enjoyable and free. On these days there was no time line, no destination and nothing to focus on but living in the minute and taking advantage of all unexpected opportunities and interactions that came our way. Why worry about where we were to stay or that we wouldn't find a place until we are face to face with it, until then let it go, enjoy the day and let come what may. We tried two places earlier in the day that had horses and might be willing to accommodate Kat for the night, but both times we had to continue on as the owners were not home. And the thought crossed my mind as it has so many other times throughout this trek, that tonight may be the night that we are turned away or find no place to stay and spend the night on the side of the road. But as i have told myself every time that thought has reared its head, don't give up yet. We turned the corner and i noticed a paddock, though there were no animals to be seen. On further examination I saw fresh droppings and then two horses made their presence known. Maybe they will take us in, I so desperately hoped. We were so tired and had had enough for the day. We rode into their driveway and while i was sitting there trying to figure out how i would reach the door to knock while holding on to Kat a lovely man came out of the house. i raised my question of a place for Kat for the night and it was answered with an immediate 'of course' and an offer of a place for me as well. Our stay with the Walls was everything that i had hoped these final days would bring. It also set us on a great network which brought us into the company of Larry, who offered us a trailer ride from our final spot on the ocean back to where we would be staying and Sarah & Elaine who enthusiastically invited us in and put us up for not only the next night but also for the days following the ride until we started making our way back east. Through stumbling upon the Wall's little equine set up we found family in BC, just as we have in every province from Nova Scotia through. And on Saturday we covered the final 10km of the may thousands of kilometers that Kat has walked and reached the ocean. Luckily with our new friends we had full support to get us through this very populated area and had a trailer waiting for us at the end. We rode this last stretch with my parents, who flew out to see us get our feet wet, escorting us and controlling traffic in front and Sarah tailing us and controlling traffic from behind. We were quite the little convoy making our way from Langley to White Rock. And it was there at the ocean that i could finally breath. We are now resting and starting to make our way back home, one trailer hop at a time. And though the main trek from shore to shore is done, there are still many more journeys to come and stories to share right here. Keep in touch Kat & I are not nearly done! Thank you to all of you who have been there for us physically or in spirit. This ride would not have been all that it has become without each of you. Sincerely thank you. K & k |
|
Salt in the air and a few more roads to tread |
|
|
|
|
Written by Kimber
|
|
Friday, 03 October 2008 13:56 |
|
We arrived in Chilliwack yesterday after having spent the past week 4,000feet above sea level at Circle 2 Ranch. After being trailered into Rock Creek we had hoped to ride for about 3 or 4 days to Keremeos. We were happy to be on the road again and able to move ourselves along and our relaxed snail's pace. Kat was going really well enjoying the landscape and sights which fed her A.D.D nicely keeping her walking out and in an enthusiastic mood. But then the world turned into a series of blind corners and guard rails and life was not nearly so cheery when mixed with our arch nemesis, transport trailers. Approaching another blind corner with guard rails, on the stretch of road that was deemed safe and rideable by many, a convoy of semis peaked around the corner and sent us up at steep bank to perch on the top ledge next to the barbed wire fence. How are we to get around safely? Where else can we go? Just as I was in tears trying to find a way to stay up the bank while getting around the corner a truck pulled up and a relaxed cowboy got out and tried to talk to me. I was so worried, focused on the task and crying that I couldn't listen to this stranger, but then he mentioned that he was a friend of Art and Norah who we were to stay with that night. Finally I calmed down enough to listen. Apparently there was an even bigger issue up ahead which no one had mentioned up to this point...a extremely tall 90foot long bridge. The cowboy offered for us to come back a bit to his and his wife's ranch and regroup and plan from there. He offered to come ride us over their land to get us past the bridge.
In the end Art came and picked us up and trailered us back to their place as we had a way past the bridge, but how many more issue spots were there to come? I just couldn't take it and it wasn't worth the stress and the risk. So that was our one day riding in the mountains as it just got worse from there. So we stayed with Art and Norah for the past week and they gave us an even bigger hand up by trailering us to Chilliwack yesterday. And tomorrow morning we ride out again to enjoy the first of the last three days of our journey. We are scheduled to finish on Sat, 160 days since we rode out from Trenton, NS. And having spoken with Barb today she is trying to arrange to fly in Friday to be there with my parents when we hit the Pacific.
We are so close I can almost smell the ocean, yet I can't relax yet. We are so close but so much could go wrong in this short distance. I will only truly be able to breath easy again once we make it all the way home and pull Kat's trailer into the Pickering Horse Centre. But I can't wait to see the ocean and to be able to say we are done...though I have no idea what to think about what all that means. |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 5 |
|