It was with mixed emotions that I left Wilson College Saturday Morning. Although my destination was home, I still felt the pang of leaving behind a way of life that I had known for several months. However, this decision was one that I had made after heavy consideration of all the possibilities. So I left Wilson College with my truck full of all my worldly possessions and the horse trailer full of Vegas and all of her worldly possessions. For a second time in four months we set out to cross the country.
Having already traversed eleven states in the middle of summer, we decided to do it again in the winter. Luckily, the only weather we ran into during all four days of travel was a little sleet on the first day. With stops in La Porte, IN; York, NE; and Rock Springs, WY we made it home safe and sound in the wee hours of this morning. Vegas is resting peacefully in her stall and will soon enjoy a few hours of turnout with her pasture buddy that she's been missing for all these months.
As for me, come this January I start at Oregon State University to finish my undergraduate work (hopefully by the end of Spring 2010). I will then proceed to their veterinary medical school - assuming I get accepted.
So for now, that's all. I'll be back with more updates (hopefully on a more frequent basis) on the college horse and her college-suffering owner.
The last entry was made on August 17th, and here it is November 21st. New Student Orientation has passed, as has most of the term. Wilson has been such a wonderful and fantastic and interesting experience! I have never learned so much about academics, had so much room to grow, and experienced so much in the horse world. I've seen new places, made new friends, ridden new horses, eaten new foods, taken new classes, and gained five pounds. I've experience temperatures so high my spleen was boiling, and so cold my eyeballs were frozen. I've met people from around the country and around the world. I've eaten food so good I couldn't stop, and so disgusting I couldn't stop gagging. I've been to some of the biggest cities in the nation, yet I live in a town so small that there's no public transportation. I've gained new physical prowess and new injuries. I've ridden harder than ever before, and loved it more than ever.
In short, I've done a lot over the past three months. Yet, in just two short weeks I will be leaving Chambersburg to return home. The reason for this is manifold, but mostly due to academic and distance constraints. So in January, I shall be starting at Oregon State University, where I will finish my undergrad and then start vet school. Wilson has been wonderful to me, and I will be terribly sad to leave, but I cannot discount the joy that I will experience when I return home.
Day Five: Oberlin, OH to Chambersburg, PA. 320 miles
Day five of the Travels dawned not-so-bright-and-early at 6:00 am, when we dressed and headed out to the barn to get Vegas on the trailer for the last day of the trip. When we arrived I found her snuggled in the run-in shelter waiting for me to come get her, but apparently she had other things in mind of what we should do because she was not eager to get on the trailer.
After a brief argument over loading, we found ourselves headed down a rural highway out of Weliington looking for the Ohio Turnpike. With little difficulty we found it and began making good time to Chambersburg.
By 1:30 we arrived at Wilson College's equestrian center, where Vegas will be living until late May. I met the assistant barn manager who was very helpful getting all my needed paperwork filled out and getting Vegas settled in to her new home. She also helped me adjust her diet as needed and offer me storage solutions to my endless tack. About an hour later I kissed my pony goodbye and bade her good sleep in her new home as we headed off to the hotel to await the start of New Student Orientation the following day.
After a much-needed three night layover in Milwaukee, WI we were back on the road. Vegas thoroughly enjoyed her break at the Barry Ridge Equestrian Center in Germantown, so when we showed up bright and early to load her she was like "you're freakin kidding me!" But loaded she was nonetheless and we were off to our first big obstacle: Tollways
In Oregon, there are no tollways. Indeed, there are no tollways that I know of west of the Mississippi. So when we crossed into Illinois we had to learn the nuances of how the geograhpy of on- and off-ramps work, how to make quick cahnge, and that maybe if we do this again we should get EZ Pass.
We survived that and found ourselves headed for Chicago. We were planning on taking the expressway around the city but we somehow found ourselves dumped off of that freeway and onto the interstate that heads straight through downtown - at 9:30 in the morning. Surprisingly, traffic wasn't too bad and it kept flowing for the most part, and now I can officially say that I have taken my horse to downtown Chicago.
We continued through Illinois to Indiana, where it was toll all the way through to Ohio. We stopped for lunch at one of those so-fantastic travel plazas and before we knew it we found ourselves in Oberlin, OH by 7:00 pm, where we stayed the night and Vegas stayed at the Equine Adventure Center in nearby Wellington. Vegas got to spend the night in a large pasture with a run-in shed and she enjoyed the opportunity to graze and stretch her legs for several hours, despite the horrendous humidity. We enjoyed checking into our hotel before 11:00 pm.
Today was thankfully a fairly uneventful day. We got to sleep in to 5:30, which was still far too early to wake up. We went out to feed Vegas, but found no less than 40-50 mosquito bites covering each side of her neck, from where the fly mask ended on her face all the way to the shoulders, despite the efforts we had taken to prevent it. But we got her out of Bugzilla land and we were on the road by seven. Our journey through the remainder of South Dakota was uneventful, and we made it into Minnesota where we continued on to a pleasant little town called Albert Lea and stopped for lunch. A kind Passerby told us that the fairgrounds were only a few blocks up the road, so we got our lunch, turned Vegas out in the empty arena, and enjoyed a few minutes' break. Vegas was most assuredly happy to be out of the trailer for a break and to eat some delicious green Minnesota grass.
After lunch we finished our leg of Minnesota and crossed into Wisconsin, where it was only a few hours to Milwaukee, where my brother lives. We booked a stall at a local equestrian center for three nights to give her a long rest and give us time to visit with my bother and sister-in-law and my two nephews. Her stall in the equestrian center is large and luxurious, and she will enjoy the turnout. I'll get to see the sites and attractions here, seeing as I have never visited Milwaukee, but the it is on with the journey to our next stop: Oberlin, OH
