The New Jersey Move

Last Georgia sunrise!

We left last Tuesday, stopped overnight on the eastern shore of Virginia and only had five more hours to go Wednesday morning.

We were going to be on the road at 5am Tuesday morning but Klein had other plans.  Remember she had a little streak of throwing fits about loading last winter?  She has been good for months and the morning we need to leave for a road trip...she throws a FIT.  What can you do?  Nothing but accept that we just got put on Klein's schedule.  She's loaded at 4:30am before, in the dark, in the cold, in the wind.  It was nothing else but Klein just feeling like not getting on the trailer for whatever million possible reasons in the horse universe. 

When she doesn't feel like loading she likes to walk toward the ramp then swing her hip around the outside of the trailer.  *sigh*  I pulled my trailer up along a fence line to eliminate one exit for her.  There were two of us and three exits for her.  She instantly realized we had her number once I moved the trailer.  She started not even wanting to walk forward.  Ha!  I got the lunge whip, The Other Half walked her and I walked behind her with the lunge whip in my hand, I very lightly snapped it behind her when she got to the ramp to hopefully not let her attention drift even one second to trying to swing her hip.  As soon as I softly snapped it she went on with a quickness. 

Poor Mochi, she's such a good little horse.  She had to wait on Klein's circus act for almost an hour.  Mochi, of course, went right on like she always does.

Klein's "do you still love me?" face.  She knows she was not being a model citizen getting on the trailer that morning.

Ugh, finally on our way.

We were rolling along, entertaining ourselves with the walkie talkies The Other Half had bought for the trip, which was a beyond genius idea.  I drove my truck and trailer, he drove one of his cars.  We each have two vehicles.  We dropped our other two off a couple weeks before this trip and did a one way rental car back to GA.  Him driving behind me was great actually, he kept people from tailgating the trailer and he would get over first and make room for me to get over, which was really nice when we got close to NJ on super busy highways.

South Carolina!

Water/rest break.

The random things you see on road trips...like a van full of inmates towing a porta-potty.

Oh hi, Brook Ledge!  We meet again!  Haha, two weeks ago they were picking up Wes, and there they were passing me with the girls.

We foggy patches in every state on this trip.

We were almost out of South Carolina when all of a sudden the truck shuddered and it felt like I ran over a speed bump.  As fast as I checked all my mirrors and saw a black flap in my right mirror, I heard "PULL OVER, PULL OVER, PULL OVER!" on my walkie talkie and started down shifting the truck as fast as I could to get pulled over safely with out slamming on the brakes and throwing the girls up against the chest bars.  The tread let go on my right rear trailer tire.  Seriously??  Are you serious?  ALL OF MY TRAILER TIRES ARE BRAND NEW!!!!!!  Even my truck tires are all brand new!!!  WTF?!

BRAND NEW!!!  Load range E too.  Complete bs.  The warranty will be replacing this.

Not only did I have a blow out it also damaged my fender and ripped the cap off the axle in front of it.

The definition of NOT FUN.

Traffic going by you at 70mph on the highway while you have the heaviest side of your trailer tipped toward it is probably one of the most unnerving situations I've been in.  The trailer rocked every time traffic went by.  Luckly The Other Half had it changed in five mins.  People, if you don't have Trailer Aid, you should.  It makes your life much easier in a dangerous situation like this.  Instead of messing with a jack you just pull your good tire up on the ramp and you are ready to change the bad one.  This is the second time I've had to use mine and both times I had the tire changed and back on the ground in five minutes or less.  I could see there was some damage to my fender but I just wanted to get the hell off the side of I-95.  The girls were amazing.  They were quietly munching hay through this.  I know they heard the tire let go, The Other Half said it was loud.  The girls seemed to not take notice.

We got back on the road and got off the interstate at the next exit to double check everything and put a little more air in the spare.  The full extent the blow out did was purely cosmetic. 

The cap that it ripped off the front axle.  The blue is the bearing grease.  It was fine to drive with like that.  I double checked with my dad...he builds race cars and does stuff like taking big rigs apart down to their frame, then puts them back together.

Easy fix.

Meh, that will all wash off.

So, if a little cosmetic damage and a $11 grease cap is all that happened during a blow out on a trailer with two horses and over 1,500lbs of other crap (I had to weigh my trailer) I'll take that ten times over any day versus what could happen in that situation.  I am so so so thankful.  The trailer never even weaved.  It just felt like I ran over something.  Also, I carry two spares so I had the peace of mind that IF that crap happened again on that trip, I was prepared.  We were going to Jersey.  The end.  I have U.S. Rider too.

Ok, so, back to road side entertainment...

What in the random hell?  Little Mexico in South Carolina I guess...

North Carolina!

Hay nets refilled/water/rest break at a truck stop in North Carolina.  I opened the door over my side ramp so the girls could watch the activity.

Every time we stopped for a break we would put Manny in the tack room with his litter pan so he could have a break too.  He was riding with The Other Half.

We decided to go to Norfolk and over/under Chesapeake Bay then up through Delaware because that kept us away from D.C. and Baltimore traffic.  If you go that way for any reason and you take Highway 58 out of Emporia, VA prepare yourself for a rough ride.  I have never cussed more at any piece of road than that highway.  It was an hour and a half of me yelling at the road for every bump.  How can a highway be that bad?  It's not even a little highway.  It's a popular route.  It was TERRIBLE even with a loaded trailer!  I apologized to the girls about 25 times during the time on that highway too.  I was so happy to see Norfolk and get the hell off of 58.

I was SUPER happy to see this thing too:

$22 for a two axle trailer, in case you ever use this.

Once we hit the bay bridge tunnel that meant only about 45 more minutes until our overnight stop.  I wanted to get the girls off the trailer more than anything.  I would have got them off the trailer at a rest break and walked them around, but not after Klein's fit that morning.  I wasn't going to risk having to play that game at a truck stop.

One of the tunnels under Chesapeake Bay.

We arrived at our overnight, which was an AWESOME place!  It is a bed and breakfast with a barn.  It's on the eastern shore of Virginia, so people bring their horses to ride on the beach and get away.  The owner, Eleanor, was a wonderful host.  Very, very nice lady.  You can find her website here:  http://www.windrushholidays.com/ .  The girls had a whole pasture to themselves.  Sorry I'm not sorry that I refuse to lock my horses in a stall after riding on a trailer all day. 

I unloaded the girls, unwrapped them, and let them out to relax.  I got their dinner ready and hung their hay nets, then got my stuff and headed up to our room.

The girls' pasture for the night.  There was a run-in in the back.

She has a beautiful place!

The house where we stayed.

The next morning Klein threw a little fit about loading but she was on in about 15 minutes.  I really couldn't blame her that morning.  She didn't want to be in the trailer again all day, I didn't want to be in the truck again all day.  I promised it wouldn't be as long of a day.  Mochi, of course, loaded right away. 

Foggy VA morning.

Swimming ponies!!  I told The Other Half we have to come back here when they swim the ponies!!

Delaware!  Yessss!  One more state to go!  I missed the Virginia and Maryland signs...

Delaware Memorial Bridge aka almost there!!

New Jersey!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!!!  Home sweet home!!!!!

The girls in one of their pastures.

First morning home.  I'd say Klein approves!

And running around squealing the next morning.  This is one happy Canadian.  Colder weather and NO BUGS.

So, we made it.  Safe and sound.  But, we all know the story of the New Jersey move doesn't end here.  Wes was waiting for me about 30 mins away.  I picked him up the next day.

I missed my boy.

Time to go home.

I got really lucky and had an amazing ponysitter for Wes.  She did a GREAT job with him.  I didn't have to worry about him one bit, and that made a cross country move with horses less stressful.  I am forever grateful to my friend for taking care of my boy like he was one of hers.

 Unloading the boy at home.  I took my divider out, left the chest bars, so he could have a box stall to ride home in.  He likes to ride backward (so does Klein), so when we opened the dutch doors we were greeted by his big head.

The three of them just stared at each other, probably trying to figure out how Wes got there when they were the only two in my trailer.  Then they all sniffed noses and cantered off into the pasture together.  My little herd was back together.

 Everyone in their stalls for dinner.  My barn is full, so is my heart.

 The happy herd in their other pasture.