03.06.2023 – Entering Oregon
After our rest at the first lake, we quickly made our way into Oregon. We were challenged by the first steep hill. It was short and not that bad after all. It made us quite nervous, because the breaks of our carriage are very limited. Just a wooden block that presses on the tire, when the carriage is fully loaded, that doesn’t stop the carriage, it can only slow it down to a certain degree. The rest of the work is passed on to the horses who don’t like that pressure from behind very much. It’s straining work for them. Entering Oregon, the green’s seem a little brighter. We enjoy the nature that passes by slowly huge pine trees and patches of beautiful wildflowers.
Our main mission at the moment: finding a clean spring, to fill up our drinking water. In the morning we didn’t find the spring we saw on the map, that we were aiming at. And the next spring was a daytrip away. There was plenty of water for the horses and dogs on the way, but none clean enough for us to dink without filtering or boiling. So we made it through the day with not much to drink, and when we reached the spring, we were exhausted, but happy! There were some people who camped there in an RV, who knew the spring and could show us the direction, but also warned us, that it has not been treated well by the ranchers and cows had messed it up pretty bad…
We found it and untacked the horses, a little worried about the water situation. We found the Well, a whole in the ground with a wooden lid. A couple of buckets next to it. We opened it and… o how lucky… clear water… with a dead rat in it… we removed the remains and took as much water out as we could to make the small waterhole fill up with fresh water… the surrounding looked a little nasty too… when the camp was setup and the thirst and the will to cook dinner grew, we looked at the well again and found that it had filled up with clear water again. The people in the RV didn’t think of offering any water although they knew about our problem, so we had to figure something out… we decided to flush it out more and when it cleared up, we took water, filtered it and drank it with a little bit of a weird feeling. Afterwards we only drank tea, just to be sure.
On the next day, we travel on we area all groved in pretty good, it’s the first day that Rosie actually naps on the carriage, she does great and that nap was needed, she slept for hours. So she didn’t even notice the trouble that we had with long, wining downhill roads. But we found out, that when one of us gets off, its already much better for the breaks and the horses. That way we manage to drive some steeper slopes. And at the end of the day, finally make it to the next lake. It’s Memorial day and many people are out in nature, so it’s a little harder to find a good spot for our camp. Usually, we like to stay away from people, but this time we find a beautiful meadow that has roads on both sides. But it’s a good view and plenty of feed for the horses. We are all tired, so we decide to stay.
We hoped for good rest for the horses who had done really hard work today. But unfortunately, there was something terrifying at this beautiful place. It made Allie shake and shiver and several times, she tried to save the whole herd by running off with them. Luckily we were able to catch them again, but this terrifying thing would not leave us alone: BOATS!!! They were moving slowly over the water and over all make strange noises and carry two legged persons… that was too much for Allie! I don’t know if she slept much that night, but I did! While Peer slept by her side talking to her all night ! And the next morning, she had accepted, that those strange boats would not hurt her.
