Cheyenne or bust!

We've made it over 1500 miles so far! My lovely new jetta has handled it quite well, and she even showed the wind who was boss yesterday!

Today, we have 350 miles to go. We've chosen to take I-80 W the whole way to Cheyenne and then head north on 25 (I think). So hopefully our lunch stop will be in Cheyenne and we'll fill up on gas there also.

Until we arrive in Douglas, you'll have to wait for another update :)

pictures from manhattan

 Jocelyn rescued a 4 week old puppy while we were here- meet Abbie

 you don't realize how much you really miss friends until you're reunited with them :)

we didn't have a shortage of puppies..this is jocelyn with diesel

and Seth with Rosie!

back to business

i'm waiting for jocelyn to get done with work at noon, and then seth and i are continuing the journey to douglas, wy. 

we had a fun visit in manhattan, and seth even got to see his long lost cycling buddy, zach. now, we're facing winter weather advisories and windy weather advisories.  we've chosen a route that will get us to north platte, nebraska for the evening. from there, it'll be another 5 and a half hours of driving to douglas (according to google maps and assuming we have good weather).

here are just a few pictures from the kansas portion of the trip:

it was so nice to be able to go 75 mph :) 

"halfway" there

after making it through an enjoyable birthday party, we had a fun-filled Saturday at the PA Farm Show. abbie and i participated in a drill team performance with the cumberland county 4-h horse club drill team. abbie rode ellie and was a wonderful pennsylvania flag carrier. nifty was a little bit silly when she realized there were calves in the pens at each of end of the arena, but for the most part it was a successful performance.

sunday morning was crunch time. i couldn't put off packing any longer, and it was time to get down to business. abbie and seth were so helpful, and i did manage to fit everything into the car (with a few meltdowns when things didn't quite fit!). i'll add a bunch of pictures in a different post.

sunday was an uneventful stretch of the trip, and we made it to terre haute, indiana just a little before 10:00pm. monday morning, we had breakfast at cracker barrel and got on the road by 7:30. in kansas city, we stopped at cabela's, so i could get a good, warm pair of gloves for wyoming. i managed to find a pair of gore-tex, thinsulate (80g) gloves. and i'll admit, they're camouflage (my very first piece of clothing in that print). 

we made it to manhattan around 4:00 yesterday, and it was so good to see jocelyn and leia. having dinner at carlos o'kelly's was AWESOME! and this morning i went out to TimberCreek Stables to help Jim with the morning chores, and then we had breakfast. it was also very good to see Jim. 

now we're headed off the pita pit for lunch (one of my favorites!) it looks like we'll be heading for wyoming tomorrow morning. 

the day before the day before the day

it's thursday afternoon, and i still have so much to do.

on sunday, i'm leaving my small town of newville. heading for a new adventure in the wild, wild western united states. here i come, douglas, wyoming! a month ago, i accepted an internship position with Wagonhound Land and Livestock Company. at Wagonhound, i'll be a breeding intern, helping with the breeding and foaling of the bajillion quarter horse mares owned by the ranch.

while i am totally ecstatic to finally have a "job" that involves my passion for horses, i am scared out of my mind for this new adventure! though i went to school in kansas, this is going to be a whole new experience, and i am totally on my own. yes, seth is driving with me to get there, but once he flies out of casper, it's just me, 2 other girls, and a 150,000 acre ranch with some pretty cool horses.

between now and sunday, i have a christmas dinner to attend this evening, a hair appointment tomorrow morning, a paycheck to pick up, a dog to bathe, horses to bathe, a party to attend, and a farm show performance. and did i mention, my birthday is tomorrow?!? this is the second year in a row that i haven't been able to make a huge deal about my birthday. i suppose i can make up for that with this party tomorrow night. but until then, i;ll be running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get everything done.

i'm going to try to keep this blog updated with the various adventures i experience while i'm in wyoming. perhaps it will entertain some people. perhaps it will help me appreciate my experiences more. or perhaps i'll forget about it 2 weeks into my time there. guess we'll have to wait and see :)