Operation Brego, The Eagle Has Landed!! Part 2

OK, so I'm knitting and sipping my coffee when the other ladies get up. Mary runs to the gas station to fill up while the trailer is unhooked. We get to eat our breakfast to the overly load commentary of Fox News on the hotel TV *rolls eyes* Thankfully after being politely asked if they could maybe turn it down a little we were able to converse without being shouted over by political analysts, hehe!

So we all got our things together and we had some horsie hugs and cuddles and more than a few tears as Marsha said goodbye to her little boy and sent me off with instructions to give him lots of cuddles (not a problem!). I think several of us were a little red eyed as we finished loading up and headed out on our way. We opted to leave Brego loose in his nice big area in the trailer so he could stand however was most comfortable, made sure he had plenty of hay and water and off we went. Marsha headed south and west, us headed north and east. This time we paid close attention to the road signs and figured out where we had messed up the day before that lead us to miss Val's place.

We had a lot more great chit chat. Traveling with Mary and Maddie is SOOO fun! The time just flies by! I had thought once I had him close enough to touch the random outbursts would subside a bit but they didn't. I was (and still am) still having those moments where all of a sudden it hits me and I get a huge grin and start to bounce like Tigger. But I was a nervous wreck worrying about how Brego was doing back there in the trailer. He'd traveled a LONG time the day before, he had to be exhausted already. He wasn't drinking much (but he kept playing in the water and tossing it everywhere, haha!) so I was worrying about him getting stressed and sweating when he wasn't drinking much. basically I was already in over protective mom mode!

So, we find our way to Val's house and because of the size of Mary's rig and the fact that in all the time she has had it she has managed to avoid having to back it up we didn't want to pull into Val's yard and not be able to get turned around and back out. So we drove past and looked for a place to turn around. We found an old barn with a nice driveway (disturbingly nice driveway for an old barn without a house nearby, which was odd) and when we pulled in the circle through the yard looked a tad bit soft where the gravel ended. So.... with some creative "forward and back" travel, teamwork (Mary driving, me saying "turn the wheel this way... little more... ok OTHER WAY!!! STOP!" interspersed with me jumping out and running to the back of the trailer to make sure we weren;t backing into a tree....) we got turned around! After a high five and a shouted "YES!!!" we were on our way back to Val's place. And Mary can no longer say she has never backed up the trailer. Thumbs up

So we pulled up in front of Val's and edged off the side of the road (and had more than one police officer pull up to check us out, hehe) and once they were assured we weren't having vehicle troubles, and once we checked on Brego we got to go visit Val's horses. Brego, by the way, looked like he was standing at home in his stall instead of hours into a long road trip! Not a bit of sweat on him, he was relaxed and alert and the only one who looked stressed was ME! I felt much better the rest of the trip knowing how well he was handling it.


Anyway, Val's baby? yeah, pictures do not even show you half of how adorable she is. And as sweet as Val seems online, she is even sweeter in person. I could have just stuffed her in my over night bag and brought her home. Val, you are just such beauty, inside and out. I enjoyed getting to meet you SOOO much!

So, after our visit and after Maddie getting the hide licked off her arms by the baby we were on our way. We needed to find our way back to our road since we had gone off the map/instructions we had and were somewhere not shown on our map. We pulled into a WalMart parking lot and walked over to the gas station area to see if they had a map. They did not but Mary asked if the cashier knew how to get to the road we needed. She said "Stay right on this road about 10 or 20 minutes and you will go right to it." Her timing was off but her directions were not and in a half hour we were headed north and home!

About an hour later, maybe less, I started to sweat, and have stomach cramps. Maddie had been sick the night before and I guess Mary said Marsha hadn't felt well for a while the night before. Mary and I suspect the salad at the restaurant from dinner since all three of us who ate a salad ended up with some tummy pains. Mine progressed within minutes to severe hot and cold flashes, double-me-over stomach cramps, a headache that felt like my brain was going to explode and me asking Mary to please pull over because, um, yeah... I needed out. For the next hour or so I was in a bad state.

We stopped at a gas station so I could run to the potty and I got some plastic bags "just in case". Poor Mary was obviously feeling horrible for me. I managed to avoid needing the bags OR needing to jump out and be sick in the ditch along a major highway again. Rolling Eyes I was absolutely freezing and couldn't get warm. Then, after feeling like I might die any second, an hour or so later everything but some tummy pains was gone, and another hour later I was right as rain and right back to chatting along and and having random fits of bouncing for joy.

At one point we called to check on Marsha and see how she was doing on her trip home and she had stopped to ride out a storm that was spawning tornadoes!!! Talk about an exciting day for everyone! Sheesh!

But partially because of my sudden onset of food poisoning (or whatever it was) we were running somewhat behind schedule and it became obvious we'd not be home before dark. Thankfully we were blessed with huge bright full moon. A few miles from home Mary's phone rings and it is my husband checking on us. I tell him we are almost home and please meet us at the end of the drive to collect my junk so I don't have to carry it up our long drive. Maddie was in dire need of borrowing our bathroom (I only mention this because she came into the house and all of the animals just mobbed her, plus she got to see the rescue kittens!). I took her up to show her where the bathroom was located and when I got back out Mary was bringing my boy up the driveway.

I can not even find words to explain how it felt to see his hairy little hooves touching the soil on my property. It was like my heart was going to burst. I squeezed back some more tears and took him in to walk the fence line. I took him around twice, worried he wouldn't see the fence well enough because it was dark, but he was fine. Once I was sure he was ok, and once he'd had a good drink of water, I took Mary and Maddie to meet the mini horses. I think if they though they could get away with it they would have stolen my mare in a heartbeat, haha! She was a huge hit. Sparrow was just totally freaked out by my flashlight and had to get all flighty, of course, but MaryMare was mugging them for cuddles. Then I brought Nigel out to meet Mary, and he displayed his massive ears. he was so wiggly because he was glad I was home, the silly dog.

Anyway, after more hugs and thank yours and ear to ear smiles Mary and Maddie headed home. The big adventure was over, at least this part of it. I went out every half hour for a while to check on him and he was confused and a bit disconcerted at first. I'd left the barn light on so he could see and go in and out as he wished but that seemed to be kind of troubling him. He just looked so confused and I felt so bad for him. I hugged him and kept checking on him until about 4 this morning, then I crashed hard and slept in.... until 6am when I woke up in a panic and dashed out to check on him. He was acting like he'd just always been here!




He seems to have settled in just fine now. He is no longer looking lost or disoriented or confused. Instead of looking like he is unsure of himself he follows me everywhere, and now has no issues going in and out of the run in area of the barn. He found his breakfast just fine:



And he dozed off while I was giving him some skritches this morning:




I think this is him expressing his opinion of the long road trip he took:





He is drinking well, eating pretty good though he is distracted and just kind of picking at his hay. he does look really tucked up and tight from the long ride but he is starting to let back down and relax. I watched my neighbor to see when she let her animals out because she has a lovely old QH mare, some cows and a goat and the mare tends to be vocal and a fence runner. I wanted to see how Brego reacted to her. This was his reaction:





I could have showed you video, but the video looks exactly the same only you hear birds in the background and it take longer to download. he never moved, just stood there and watched her. I was cracking up!

So that is where we are now, I'm trying to just let him unwind. I'm keeping hay in front of him, he loves splashing around the in stock tank, and I am going out every little bit to hug on him and make sure he is relaxing and recuperating from his travels. I think that now we BOTH need a nap!!