Today was gonna be a long and hot one. I had 33 miles of exposed dirt roads to cover so naturally I took Shyla, my power-walking horse. We got an early start, before 8am, and I did not go light on the sunscreen this day. I was feeling uncomfortable enough with the terrible sunburn from yesterday and was trying to minimize further irritation to my skin. Audiobooks absolutely saved my sanity on this day. You can only be entertained by cows and pronghorn for about the first 30 minutes; after that you need something to distract you from ticking off the minutes as you cover 3 to 4 miles per hour. There were lots of cattle guards along the way as the road traveled from one pasture to the next. For every one I had to dismount, open the gate, wait for Shyla to walk through, close the gate, and remount. The one blessing was how flat the terrain was. The 33 miles seemed effortless for Shyla and she absolutely blazed her way down those dirt roads. We arrived at camp at 5:30. The gusts of wind were powerful and shook the camper around for the rest of the afternoon and evening. My mom was smart and used the camper and trailer as a wind break for the horses, setting the corral up right off of our truck. It was not a very attractive area, right on the edge of a brackish water hole with lots of cattle for company, but it would have to do for the day. We were looking forward to a break from the basin with a planned rest period in Rawlins coming up next.

#2018CDT