As you all know, we recently moved to Mississippi and purchased an old house that was built in 1907. There are always pros and cons associated with such a big move. The biggest con, has been moving away from our friends, who are all very much and very intensely missed!
Selling of our house on Gloria Ct was incredibly stressful, but we made it through all the stuff associated with a house sale and having to deal with Realtor’s and loan companies who really didn’t care about the whole situation of us moving out of state on a tight budget.
Once the Old Dominion trailer had been picked up and we were left with just us and the animals to get moved, we got out of Colorado pretty quick.
I want to say a big thank you to Jennifer and Rob Mills, who allowed us to park the Old Dom trailer at the farm whilst we were packing it…it was a great help to be able to get everything out of the house and not worry about being on a tight deadline with a pending sale.
I also want to say a big thank you to JD LeClair – our horsey veterinarian, who got all of our paperwork inline with the big move to Mississippi for the ponies. It is really quite shocking the amount of paperwork needed which included a health certificate, negative coggins tests, vaccinations and State entry paperwork for each scheduled stop along the way.
The journey down to Mississippi with the ponies was scheduled to be over three days. Jen and Jordyn came with us with their truck and towed the ponies. I drove the Mustang.
The horse trailer was packed with stuff. The dogs, cats and guinea pigs traveled in the back of the truck, apart from Shelby who seemed to prefer the back seat of the mustang. It was definitely a challenge to feed all the gp’s and cats whilst worrying about them getting out of their travelling boxes.
We stopped in Kansas and Missouri. The stop in Kansas allowed us to see a beautiful stables that both Jen and I were incredibly jealous of. They had an awesome pot bellied pig there that Jordyn wanted to keep. The ponies enjoyed a night of running around in a big arena and talking to the other horses. We didn’t get there till gone midnight so I was glad that they had such a big space to stretch their legs.
The next morning, we load the ponies, get ready to leave only to discover we had a flat tire on the trailer…Kevin used his portable air pump to get some air in it. Luckily we found a local tire dealership that had a tire, and who was willing to change the tire without unloading the ponies. Amazingly with all the loud noises from air tools, Kaylie and Bold weren’t even a little bit upset and carried on eating their hay!
The journey to through the rest of Kansas and into Missouri was pretty uneventful. Our route allowed us to miss St Louis and stop at our next boarding facility which was in the beautiful Missouri hills, tucked away. A totally cute barn and arena with wood fenced pens and shelters.
We arrived again the dark but the ponies were super stars. They unloaded from the trailer and enjoyed the time that they had to stretch their legs.
We stayed in a Best Western that night…not gonna say which one as you may not want to stay in one of the rooms. Bob who does not do well travelling was a little constipated and we had to give him a bath as his bottom had some nasties there. We did clean up and wash out the tub afterwards…I promise!!! 🙂
We went out to dinner at an awesome place called Steak and Shake. Had a great burger and some awesome milkshakes. It was really good to relax.
The last leg of the journey did not go quite as smoothly. In Arkansas, I got pulled over by a State Trooper because one of my lights was out on my license plate. He stuck his head in my window with his flashlight and Shelby put her head out the window and gave his face one big lovely lick. He let us know about the light, I showed him the spare bulbs in my glove compartment and said we would replace at the next gas station. He said have a safe trip and we were on our way again.
About 10 miles from Mount Olive, Charlie decided he had to stop and go to the bathroom. We pulled over at a gas station south of Magee. I went back to check on Kaylie and Bold. Right when I went to shut the door she got her head trapped between the wall of the tack room and her body in the trailer. She couldn’t get it up, and we all started to get worried. We unloaded Bold and then tried to unload Kaylie. She was so stressed she was pushing back on the butt bar and we couldn’t get it undone. After what seemed like hours (which in fact was probably less than a minute) of struggling, she managed to free herself and her head was back again above the wall of the tack room and she was looking out the door as if to say, what are we all stressing about. This experience has proven to me that I really need a slightly larger trailer as Kaylie really does fit in their – its a bit of a tight fit!
With less than 10 minutes left to drive, this was a sure sign that Kaylie was getting tired and needed to get out of the trailer so we dragged Charlie out of the bathroom and hit the road.
We arrived at our destination in Mount Olive shortly afterwards. Audrey (who owns the property where we keep the ponies) was there waiting for us and had two stalls all ready and waiting for us with hay and water. We unloaded the ponies and let them munch on some grass for a while. They seemed happy to have escaped the trailer. Audrey also had a small house in town that we were staying at, but before then we had to take all the animals to our house and get them settled. In the dark, in an old house it was an interesting process. We put the dogs in cats in what has become our bedroom, and the gp’s went in the other room at the front of the house which is now the living room.
We finally went back to the rental house and all collapsed into a heap – just such a relief to get here with no injuries and no accidents.
We spent the next few days having fun and getting the ponies settled into their field and new home. We went to New Orleans and Jen got to see some cool graveyards. We walked Bourbon Street and had lunch in town.
It was good to relax and take things easy for a few days. Kevin had to go back to Colorado for a few days for work, so he and Jen hit the road back to Colorado – it was a tearful farewell for both Jen and I, but I have the knowledge that we will be hanging out again in October for Halloween…which I am already planning for 🙂
Kaylie tail hanging out of the back of the trailer – we removed the top doors so that they had plenty of air and ventilation for the trip.
First stop in Kansas above…see the pot bellied pig?
Swimming pool at hotel in Hattiesburg
Jordyn giving a tough time during lunch in New Orleans
Two pictures above are Charlie and Jordyn on an ANT sculpture at the Hattiesburg Zoo.
Kaylie and Bold in their new field – lots too eat and lots of shelter
Jen’s favorite part of Mississippi – the bugs – this spider’s body was bigger than a quarter!
Driving over the bridge for Lake Pontchartrain – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain – Interstate 10 – takes you straight into New Orleans
Charlie having lunch in New Orleans
Jen on Bourbon St in New Orleans
