Meeting Old Friends and Making New Ones Too!

Hi Fans!!!

Mom wanted me to let everyone know that I arrived safely at my new home in Connecticut. We brought the sixty-five degree weather with us from California. The grass tasted pretty great, but the bugs were annoying on Sunday, so Mom had me wear my fly mask.



Back in Pennsylvania I asked Mom if I could stay there a bit longer because my cow fans had lined up along the fence line to get a look at me. That's me wearing the heavy blanket Donovan gave me as a good-bye gift. He knew the fall mornings would be cold in the East. I sure do miss him.



Mom said I had to get back on the trailer for another day of travel. Guess where we landed? At the New Jersey home of friends who put me up two years ago during my Walk Across America! I saw my old pals Chippy and Jewels and they introduced me to their new pasture-mate, Trixie, the pony.



Mom and Mister Albino got to chat with our host, Mary Ann, before we left the next morning.



On the last day of my journey, we stopped at the first and only toll gate encountered on our trip. Can you believe it? This crossing marks the third time I've rolled across the Hudson River in New York State!



When we got to our final destination in Ellington, CT, Flossie and the WinnieLiner got stuck in the mud! Luckily I was done traveling anyway.

Thank you, dearest fans, for your prayers and good wishes during my 22-day Trailer Trip Across America. Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving with lots of good grub. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping for a dozen Stud Muffins for dessert!

Love,
Winnie

Oh Hi O! Deja Vu

Hi Fans!

On Thursday night we camped in familiar territory—at Wyandot County Equine Rescue in Carey, Ohio. I saw some of the horsie friends I met two years ago on my Walk Across America. I also saw the Director, Dave Balz, who helped me get to the vet after I had problems with my stifles. That's him on the big tractor!



While Mom and Mister Albino had dinner with Dave and his wife, Lynda, I caught up on barn gossip with the horses in the next paddock. They told me that Blake, who injured his leg when I was here before, recovered completely. Some very nice folks adopted him!



In the morning, some donkey fans came to watch me eat breakfast. Yes, guys, even though I'm a bit of a celebrity, I eat hay like all the other horses.



Mom said that Dave and his wife, Lynda and their staff of volunteers are working harder than ever to save animals from abuse and neglect. At the Wyandot County Humane Society in Upper Sandusky, many cats and dogs are cared for, along with other creatures—everything from goats to geese!



Friday morning we started out early for Pennsylvania. We stopped at Shetler’s Amish Shop in New Wilmington so I could get measured for a new harness. Tonight we are camping in Renoldsville, PA, and tomorrow we will head for New Jersey to visit another host from my walk across America!



In a couple of days I'll report on the final leg of my journey back to New England and tell you how I like my new home in Connecticut.

Love,
Winnie

Old Friends and Kentucky Horse Park

Hi Winnie Fans!

Yesterday we braved the rain and ventured out to see Old Friends, a Race Horse Retirement and Rescue Farm founded by Michael Blowen.



We happened to catch him there, carrying in a bag of carrots donated by a local restaurant.



Thanks to our guide, Charlie Brown, we met several famous race horses, including Tinners Way, Gulch, Bull Inthe Heather, Leave Seattle, Max A Million, Ogygian, Siphonizer, Creator, and others.



Mister Albino shared a laugh with Popcorn Deelites, one of the horses that played Seabiscuit in the movie (left).



We also paused for a moment of silence at the grave sites of the greats that have passed since the farm opened.



Today Mister Albino and I visited the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. We met more great retired race horses--Go for Gin, Cigar, Da Hoss--and that's Funny Cide in the picture below!



We enjoyed the museum exhibits and the Arabian Gallery . . .



and found out that famous TV star and Talking Horse "Mister Ed" was a Saddlebred.



Before we left, Mister Albino posed in front of the statue of Secretariat



and that's me in front of Man-O-War's grave site.



We also drove to Cincinnati during our stay here, and had a lovely dinner with Mister Albino's Aunt Pat and her oldest son, Chris, at the Sky Galley at Lunken Airport.

Tomorrow we're on the road again!

Ann

Feeling at Home in Old Kentucky

Hi Fans!



Yesterday I crossed the Ohio River and caught a glimpse of Louisville out the side window of the WinnieLiner. That's when I knew we were going to be camping in Kentucky!



I couldn't wait to sample the Kentucky Bluegrass at the Eagle Creek Horse Motel in Sadieville.



This morning Mom got me up early for a ride across the creek.



We climbed up higher to the Dry Bones Trail. Then we took the Poison Ivy Trail. I didn't want to forage on that route!



Later Mom and Mister Albino told me they were going to Versailles to see the Woodford Reserve Distillery.



They said I couldn't go because I'm under 21, so I invited my new friends, Pancho and Gaucho, to lunch with me.



Mister Albino came back and showed me pictures of corn mash in big barrels. He said Kentucky Whiskey has to have at least 51% corn mash to qualify as Bourbon. I told him I'd like it, because I like corn, but he said I'm too young for Bourbon.



Then he showed me photos of the Ashford Stud Farm which is near the Distillery. I was hoping he had brought me a barrel of Stud Muffins, but nope.



I didn't get anything except a Kentucky magnet souvenir.



Now it has started to rain here, so I'm staying in the barn with three ducks. They waddle and quack, quack, quack. No sleep tonight!

Love,
Winnie

I Met a Missouri Mule and an Illinois Cop!

Hi Fans!

On Thursday, we trucked from Paola, Kansas, to Bourbon, Missouri in the Ozarks and I met my first Missouri Mule! Mom said he was gaited, like his Meramec Farm fox-trotting relatives.



Rumor has it the Missouri gaited horses can amble, trot, fox-trot, pace, canter and gallop. Personally I prefer eating and sleeping to all that running around.



While we were in Bourbon, Mom arranged for Mister Albino to ride a Tennessee Walker because he misses Donovan so much.



I got to go along on the ride with five Missouri Fox Trotters plus Beauty, the black mare from Tennessee who likes to go at a running-walk. I don't get that either. Why the heck would anyone try to run at the same time they're walking?



We stopped at the Meramec River for a drink and I wanted to show the others how I learned to swim last summer in Quincy, California. Those trotters didn't seem impressed but Mom said that's because they don't know how a horse from the Nevada desert feels about seeing a big pond for the first time.



When I got back from our ride, I took a roll in the grass and asked Mom if rolling could be considered a gait. She rolled her eyes at me and didn't answer so I guess that means "No."



This morning I said Good-Bye to my friend the Mule, and Mister Albino said Good-bye to Beauty, who came up from the pasture to find him.



We got on the road early and crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois on I-64. Before we got out of the prairie state, a Trooper pulled over the WinnieLiner. He said we were going 42 MPH in a 45 MPH minimum zone. I told him it's a little hard for Flossie to speed up hill with me in the back and I'd be willing to get out and help pull. He wanted to know if I had a license to pull and I said, "No, but I have health papers."



He didn't want to see those, but he checked out Mom's California driver's license, then asked for Mister Albino's Connecticut driver's license, plus their marriage license, our car registration, our trailer registration, our insurance papers and my Certificate of Title from the BLM. We waited a long time by the road before he decided the truck wasn't stolen, the trailer wasn't stolen, I wasn't stolen, and that Mom and Mister Albino were married even though their names and addresses aren't the same.



Mom pulled off the Interstate at the next exit and headed for the Indiana line, where they don't seem to have any minimum speed rules at all. We decided we like Indiana and are staying at the Running Waters Ranch in Holland tonight!

Love,
Winnie

We Revisit Former Host in Wellsville, Kansas!

Hi Winnie Fans!



After a windy, rainy drive from Russell, Kansas, on Tuesday, Winnie settled in at the S&S Stables in Paola. Paola turned out to be near the farm of a host family we met in 2009, so Mister Albino and I stopped by to say "Hello." Kristie was away at a work-related conference, but we managed to catch husband Randy at home in Wellsville on Wednesday.



Kristie and Randy raise Kiger Mustangs and have rescued several other burros and horses to bring their current herd up to twelve. One mare had a serious abscess when we last visited. We were happy to learn that Isabella has completely recovered, due to their dedicated and loving care. Randy has studied hoof trimming and saved several horses and burros that farriers wouldn't touch and veterinarians suggested putting down. These were animals whose feet were neglected.



Bug, the Palomino, amused us with his efforts to reach the greener grass on the other side of the pasture.



Winnie and I enjoyed a ride to a nearby lake. Meanwhile, Mister Albino visited the old graveyard next to Winnie's camp. We camped near the Santa Fe Trail, which my Grandma took from Kansas to Estancia Valley, New Mexico, in the late 1800s. Most of the gravestones dated around 1875--the year she was born.



Tomorrow we will tell you about our exciting stay in the Show Me State!

Love,
Ann

Mister Albino Tows the WinnieLiner

Hi Fans!

Today Mom insisted Mister Albino learn how to drive the truck with my WinnieLiner horse trailer hooked up behind. What more could I wish for than a STUDENT DRIVER up front when YOURS TRULY is loaded in the back?!



First he can barely get out of the driveway without getting stuck in the mud.



After he gets the rig up to 45 miles per hour on Route 30, he decides the right side mirror needs a bit of adjusting. As if that weren't scary enough, he decides to practice stopping when there are two big rigs on my tail!



Mom decides he better pull over and let her drive before the signs for the interstate appear, but he couldn't find the perfect spot. Before you could say "Giddyup," we were heading down the on-ramp for I-80 with Mister Albino at the wheel. Now I'm the one breathing into a paper bag!



After 50 miles of weaving down I-80 with him trying to find the weather report on the radio, Mister Albino runs out of gas and has to let our rig roll off the interstate into a Flying-J. Mom takes over the controls after he bumps the curb at the pump.



Somehow or other we made it to Russell, Kansas. I'm a wreck.

Love,
Winnie