Summer interrupted just kept on…interrupting. A few weeks ago I was hauling Tarma and Curly up to Timothy Lake, so Kade and I could do our annual trail ride and swim into the lake. Well….this happened instead:

“Kade and I woke up, packed lunch, got morning horse chores done in good time, managed to get the trailer hooked (despite the trailer jack being a little hinky, Universe hint number 1) and Curly having a minor leg scrape (Universe hint number 2) and horses loaded and on our way. We made it past Colton, through the canyon and everything was fine. We hit the first big hill on the way to Estacada on Highway 211…. within 50 yards the truck was dead, in the middle of the highway, traffic already backed up behind me. Coolant gone, temperature gauge through the roof, oil pressure in the basement, no more steering, no power.
Balls.
But my weird luck struck again, because while this situation was really far from ideal…we handled it. A stranger used his tow straps and truck to get us out of traffic and into a little pull out (thankfully in the shade!) while I was on the phone with State Patrol, Kade was calling US Rider for a tow, and I called Estella Ray to please get her bum ankle in her truck and come get the horses. State Patrol and a Clackamas County sheriff sat behind the rig to keep traffic off of us (we were only barely off the road, slow the fuck down when you see hazard lights people!) Estella and Matt showed up and towed the truck up the hill and onto a side road while Kade coordinated our new location with the tow truck driver. They hitched up the trailer and headed back to the farm while Tom and I followed the truck home. Oh, did I mention we were in a service hole and our phone calls and texts kept dropping? I’m happy I know that road by heart and I knew exactly where we were and the cross streets cause the maps wouldn’t load.
Tom’s pretty sure the truck blew a head gasket or something else equally catastrophic… which either way sounds like an expensive damn fix, and most of the local shops are booked out for awhile. But the ponies are absolutely fine, no one got hurt, and Kade was complimented by the US Rider call rep for how well he handled that side of things, and I’m so proud of him for keeping calm and helping get us sorted, and he took care of the horses back at the farm without me there.”

Weeks later and the truck still hasn’t even been towed to a shop to be looked at, as first we had to do some real soul searching and budget wrangling. We really had to ask ourselves if taking a loan out to fix the truck is warranted, given where the world is at. Not having a working truck mostly derails my Tevis dreams, or at least sets them back a solid amount. Why have a horse trailer that I’m still paying off if I have nothing to tow it with? Is it better for the family to sell the truck as is and get a cheap and easier to fix run around second car instead? It’s been long nights of hard conversations in the Morse household, aggravated by our new SUV being in the body shop and that dragging out for weeks already. Then again, we could go full hog, get a big loan and pay off a bunch of debt with a smaller payment…lots of choices, discussions are ongoing and the final choice will be informed by what’s actually wrong with the truck and what it will take to get her back into working order.

In the meantime, we persist. We managed several fun rides with lovely friends hauling us, and soaked up our last remaining days at the beautiful Mandorla Farm. The best thing about this summer was having so much horse time with Kade, from chores to hauling out to trail ride or try cow sorting to just quiet nights grazing the horses together. If the truck hadn’t blown up I would seriously be looking for a lease horse for him, he’s grown so much over the course of the year and loves the barn and the horses. He willing woke up early every weekend morning to go take care of around 30 horses for two months straight. Tarma’s back at her home barn and Kade’s started high school, and the rain has shown signs of returning…just in time, as the air quality yesterday was far too chewy (smoky) for my taste.

I probably won’t make it to an endurance ride this year, so our Decade Team goal will reset next season. At least Tarma is healthy and happy, and Benny is his normal permamoist Labradork self. Oh, and Tom’s learned to make the best dang focaccia and homemade pizza!