Day 81: Short Cuts - 36km

Lonnie's in Hardwood Lake to Margaret and Glen's in Bancroft

We left around 10:40. Just as we were about to head down the driveway, I asked Lonnie (half jokingly) "know any short cuts right up through those woods there?" There was all brush and a hill behind their house. I was dreading the 2.3km hill that led us back to the main road we were supposed to be on. "Yeah, there is." "Oh really? Is it safe for horses" I asked excitedly.

He led us on his ATV, and it was a good thing because there were so many hidden turns and twists I never would have guessed my way through there. It was fun because we had nothing on us but our saddles and water bottles and we had to constantly duck and dodge branches, trotting and cantering to keep up with Lonnie. I could hardly hold the horses back they were so excited. It must have been 1.5km.. its really hard to tell going fast through brush like that, but we must have shaved off around 4.5km! All on a busy traffic up hill road! So our day really started right.

We were on Highway 28 the rest of the day. As we cut on the road we met a long line of cars waiting to go to family camp day. There were all shocked and waving, a lot of people thought we were joking when we said we came from Nova Scotia, or were riding across Canada.

We trotted and even cantered a lot. After a break, the horses felt very energetic and strong. We didn't have our boots and so the sand shoulder was good for the horses feet. We met up with Mom and Joseph at the County corner store. Luckily they brought us subs and fruits because (like always) theres nothing to really eat in the gas stops but chips and chocolate and canned food or bread. We're at that point were bread is starting to make us a little sick. Even my sub didn't sit right with me the rest of the day, but at the same time,we need fuel and its what is available. I know we will both miss mom's smoothies and fresh beet juices. (Talk about a privileged diet).

(Alyssa loved the horses!)

The rest of the day passed in a blur of traffic and up hills and down hills and waving cars around us. I guess all the traffic was the parents returning home from camp.

There was one close call. Jewel and I were probably 30 feet apart. Over the hill in front of us this black car pulling a small trailer was passing the five cars in front of it while OVER hill coming towards us. This is a two lane highway. I moved over because I had space, Jewel was still at the part with gard rails and couldn't move over. The car didn't have enough space to pull in front, with on coming traffic, and Ora half on the road they slammed on the breaks and a cloud of black smoke surrounded the car, burning rubber and black gas. We were both so mad!

We arrived at Glen and Margaret's just after 6! And were very warmly greeted. We had a beautiful dinner on their porch and they all admired the horses in the evening sunset. Above are all pictures from their home and in their yard. They were all so engaged and interested with what we were doing, we had such nice stay with them!