with Horse and Hound

Fort Carson Hounds

Day_3_Kit_and_Ali_at_Greg_Steeles

The Road Warriors: Day Three

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Ali and Kit (with Betsy) pose in front of Greg Steele's house upon arrival in sunny California.

We had a fun afternoon Wednesday at Alison and Bruce's in Colorado. We took Alison to late lunch at the toney Wisdom Tea House in Monument. She brought us up to date on the Fort Carson Hounds (they're getting some more hounds from the Arapahoe Hunt and are probably going for registered status or farmer pack status with the MFHA) and with her Wuff-It invention (a GPS dog collar that has applications in the hunt field with a virtual fence that can see which hounds are on riot and which ones are out of place when working and running), which is selling well.

 We loaded up Wednesday afternoon and got away by 5:30 p.m. (4:30 PCT). We took the I-25 to I-470 (loop road south of Denver) to the I-70 westbound. We could see storm clouds rolling in from the west, but I pressed on, with no idea how it would affect the trip, the mood, and the muses.

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Day_2_Ali_and_Kit

The Road Warriors: Day Two

Day_2_Ali_and_Kit
Kit (foreground) and Ali munch hay in the shadow of Mount Herman near Colorado Springs.

After a great day and nice early dinner with Mo and Jeannie Trail in Kansas, we were back on the road at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday evening. Kit and Ali had their dinner on-board (loaded up without complaint) and tucked into their hay as we headed out. They were like travel professionals. We, too. We had it down to a science: packing, loading, stopping every three to four hours for refueling (whether we needed it or not).

At the stops I start fueling, then carry the girls a snack (sloppy wet beet pulp) and refresh their hay and water. Every time I looked in on them they were cool customers, not a hair out of place, happy to eat, drinking well, interested but not loopy.

I'd gotten four brand new tires while in Paola to hopefully prevent more road-heat blowouts. The tire guy said my tires, while in good enough shape for winter hauling (mostly what I do), were not up to the relentless summer trip we embarked upon.

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