Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Cursed!

Yall remember when I rode somewhere for a while? That was off to the northwest, behind the airport. All the rest of my riding has been to the east or northeast. I really enjoy it, but motorbikes are allowed to the east, and they're technically not allowed to the west. I thought I should go back to the west and scout it out.

Well, Monday the weather kind of sucked. Usually, Peavine looms dramatically over everything, looking like the Lonely Mountain:
Peavine crowned in clouds

On Monday it was 50, very windy, and huge snowclouds were rolling down from the Mountain:
DSCN0100

We went out anyway, but my heart wasn't in it and we called it quits early.

Today I woke up with new resolve: Make horse wear boots. Make horse explore western hills. Take pictures and cool GPS tracks to share with blog friends. Well, two and a half out of three is pretty good, right? I think I'm cursed to not get GPS info from that area!

The GPS battery was dead. I could've sworn it was fully charged and turned off before I stuck it back in my backpack, but apparently it was fully charged and turned ON. And I strapped the brand new slightly bulky expensive camera very securely on the horse, but I only took a few pictures - I dare not try to fumble it out while trusting Dixie to stand still on the side of a mountain, so I have to dismount and fumble it out.

I got a few pictures, at least!
Peavine

Here's the adorably named Swan Lake, an alkali lake:
Swan Lake, Mt Rose, Peavine

See the snowy mountains on the right of this photo? They're the ones that Rides of March is held at the base of.
DSCN0108

Later, I was leading Dixie through a redneck valley filled with dead appliances and car parts, all full of bullet holes, when I noticed... a house? It was SO weird - there's NO real roads anywhere nearby! I took one very quick iPhone picture, hoping to get the GPS info from the pic, then mounted up and we rode out of there.
IMG_0476

Of course, it didn't grab the GPS coordinates on that one. :( And the mystery house is newer than the sat photos in google maps - but it really was there!

The boots stayed on, no rubs, and Dixie seemed to get used to them pretty well. At first she cantered like a padded horse, but she figured it out eventually. I walked and jogged a lot - almost all of the downhills - and I feel like I broke something in my knee. Cersei is sacked out, doing her Dead Dog impersonation. Time to cook dinner!

2 comments:

  1. I love Nevada. It is totally gorgeous. In fact, i think they should sue Montana since PLAINLY Nevada is *actual* "Big Sky Country."
    Keep up the good picture work. And stay away from the Sawney Bean Clan house.

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  2. beautiful photos! what a stunning place for a ride! i'm jealous :-)

    ReplyDelete

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