Plans A, B, and on-the-fly C

Since there's no time like the present to make good on "resolutions" (goals, really), Kate and I made a date to ride at the beach today. Actually, we were going to make it a three-some (six-some?) with Kate's daughter and Breezy. But when we checked on the weather forecast yesterday, it didn't look promising. It wasn't supposed to start raining inland until later, though, and after talking to someone at our Christian trail-riding club meeting last night, we decided to head to McIver State Park instead.

So this morning I loaded up Lance and Breezy and drove to Kate's to add Dinah to the trailer-load and Kate and her daughter to the truck-load. Only Dinah decided she didn't want to join the party and refused to load. Of course, trailer-loading is NOT optional, and after working with her for over an hour, she came to see that – but not without protest. Thankfully, the kick she delivered to my right knee only bruised it.  :-/

Once underway, Kate proceeded to pull up directions on her iPhone, only to see that McIver Park was closed. Ack! I pulled over so we could regroup. I decided to call another friend who does a lot of trail-riding to see if she had any ideas, and she mentioned that Willamette Mission State Park – where Kate and I had wanted to ride on New Year's Day – was open again, as was the ferry which provides the most direct access. So I braved the ferry with truck and trailer for the first time (not a problem, since the water is still relatively high), and we got a nice ride in after all.

The light was lousy so most of my photos were, too – until we got back to the rig at the end of our ride. Some guys had arrived to play Frisbee golf, and since it was misting a little by then, they had several BIG umbrellas.

I'm just glad we didn't meet them on the trail!