DOING it ALL.

At this point I am VERY excited about the trip.
I am adding / packing more and more emergency things for me and the horses.  Life is good ALL except the route out of Asheville.

Out of respect for my horses, Out of RESPECT for my loved ones I am contemplating having to trailer to the north side of Asheville in order to make this safe, and doable ...

The Blue Ridge Parkway has REALLY put a Pain in my ASS to put it nicely, as that is truely the ONLY 1/2 safe road out of Asheville.  Going down town even a week after Christmas is just going to be too busy, too many pieces of debris that could be tossed from a tire into me or my horses. I will not tolerate my horses being hurt for no reason.   There are also seriously restricted neighborhoods down town and around the city central that will not allow me to tie up the horses in a yard with out siting me for poop!   Of all things... POOP! And while I could really care less about this I have to make sure the horses are happy and can get settled on the road.  ME? I can camp on a gravel drive and not care... but it is them I am worried about.

I also bagged up 4 days of feed for the kids... Well ALL of Navarre's is going to have to be RE DONE... The entire reason I stared them on their ride feed was to see how Navarre PPSM would react.  WELL... NOT well!   It took 2 months for it to REALLY show it's ugly head but , That would have made his last of the trip that much harder for him.  So I have to RE DO ALL of Navarre's feed and he will get little to NO hay stretcher but lots more oil and I'm out to find bran mash I need at least two bags a week for Navarre and one bag a week for SweetPea... the only issue will be finding someone to boil enough water for me to give it to the horses... that stuff has to sit / stir and absorb water ... in the freezing cold... ONE good scoop should do it but two gallons of almost boiling water will be required to allow it to soak etc... before it can be served.

While I know this will not be an issue once I am in TN it is an issue here in WNC... don't ask me why! Sounds stupid but no one around here uses bran mash as a weekly preventative.  Only one of the few things that makes life more difficult for the kids (horses) here.

So Yesterday Melanie and I drove, observed, took notes, and thought of a few more little things.  But we both gritted our teeth at the thought of Tunnel Road at any point, any time... I hate it in a car... much less on two horses.  Figuring out 100th plan ASAP.  Hoping to finalize it today!

Wish us luck!
Much love to the world.
Amber