|
11/26/08, Mansfield, OH - It was a day of Up and Downs (as far as the terrain goes.) We pulled out of the Marathon station on the south side of Ashland about 8:45 am. The folks there treated us real well and I appreciate their support.
Right from the start, we encountered some pretty good sized hills. During the morning run to the outskirts of Mansfield we only encountered a max grade of 7 or 8%, but there was some really long hills. The team did very well and we covered about 9 miles by lunch time. The top photo shows the view from the cabin (with the coffee brewing) when we stopped for our first break.
At lunch, a reporter for the Mansfield paper interviewed me for about an hour. We stopped at a gas station. Because of the interview, I wasn’t able to leave until shortly after 2 pm. If the terrain had been flat, we could have driven across Mansfield before dark. However, it was very hilly and the team had to pull up one long hill with about a 15% grade. This was a tough pull and took about 45 minutes.
We covered about 16 miles today and quit shortly before dark. With dusk approaching and no where in sight to park for the night. A nice lady named Carol came to the rescue and secured a spot of grass for us at the Masonic Temple. The horses had a long day and were pretty pooped by the time we set up camp.
This morning, I changed Doc back to his smaller collar. I was running with the larger one, because he gained so much weight on his week off. The larger one tends to bruise his shoulder, so with the smaller one he pulls a lot better. Joyce’s performance on hills in nothing short of spectacular. She’s definitely “Arnold Schwartzen-Horse”
Tomorrow, I plan to make a short run in the morning and find a place around noon to spend Thanksgiving. All the horses will get an extra ration of grain for their meal.
|
