My guest, Kathy Burns overcame personal trauma by immersing herself in nature while traveling the country, camping and riding. She is the author of SHLEP: Finding Healing on Horseback in the Lower 48 States. In the book, she describes her experiences traveling solo with her dog and horses, while healing herself on the trail and… Continue reading Finding Healing on Horseback
On this episode of Happy Trails we discuss trail riding and camping in southern Arizona. The state draws horse travelers from all over North America. They flock to the land of the sun to escape harsh Winters in the north. First time visitors to the desert are usually concerned by the idea of encountering cacti… Continue reading Southern Arizona Trail Riding
I grew up on a farm in rural New Jersey. Horses have always been my passion. I was riding before I could walk and even though I spent most of my life focused on competition I’ve always loved trail riding. There’s just something about it. Being alone with your horse surrounded by the beauty of… Continue reading Happy Trails Preview
Our first full calendar year of full-time RVing is coming to a close. The summer differed quite a bit from our plan, but we learned a lot. Our travels in the early part of the year aligned with our plan. From Tombstone we went to Paria River Ranch, spending one night in Catalina State Park… Continue reading 2019 in Review
I’ve been updating this draft (pun intended) of a blog post with each new local beer I drink. Here’s a recap of the craft ales (mostly IPAs) from each state we lived in over the past 3 years. My favorites are in bold. New Hampshire – Smutty Nose Double Knot Arizona – Dragoon IPA, Mudshark… Continue reading Local Beer
This weekend was the 64th running of the Western States Trail Ride, also know as The Tevis Cup. It is a one day, one hundred mile, point to point endurance ride through the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Tahoe to Auburn, California. It is the hardest and certainly the most prestigious endurance race in the US.… Continue reading Tevis 2019
Long ago, the native nomadic people in Wyoming required a week and a half to travel to the mouth of this canyon. Today, we decided to stop for Thirty Sleeps to fully appreciate the abundance of rock climbing. The limestone cliffs that line both sides of Ten Sleep Creek (and the parallel highway 16) offer… Continue reading Ten Sleep
My horse and I have just gone our furthest distance yet. I’ve been in the saddle for hours. My knees and back ache. The sun is beating down; temperatures are climbing, causing us to slow to a walk. It feels like it will never end. The enthusiasm I felt at the start is waning but I don’t want to give up, so I just keep riding, taking it mile by mile.
It turns out that being a gypsy takes a lot of fore-thought. There have been numerous iterations but our route for this year is now fairly solid. Originally, our plan for 2019 revolved around Squamish, British Columbia. We thought we’d make our way north from Arizona and settle in Canada for two or three months… Continue reading The Plan for 2019
The weather in Oracle has a tendency to change quickly. It seems like just as we’re getting comfortable with warm and sunny days, the type one expects from Arizona, a storm will blow over the mountains. On one such occasion in mid-January we decided to escape the predicted storm and take a weekend trip south… Continue reading Cochise Trail in East Stronghold
