…no really.

What a fucking weekend!!! I don’t even know where to begin really. We’ve been planning on kidnapping Jackie for a few months now. It’s hard to believe the day has come and gone already.

That afternoon was the start of a road trip sort of weekend. Something definitely worth Drive And A Half credit.

Bryce got out of work early and we quickly grabbed my bag and camera, heading out to Lot 6 in the beautiful weather to get in the car for an hour of bliss.

There is nothing like cruising down that highway, wind and music blending until you’re half-deaf from the ecstasy of it all, hair whipping your face until you see life in frames, like an old home movie on a projector in a dark basement. Now all that’s missing is the black and white. And even with that statement I have to say, life is best in color.

The windows down, the sun roof open, a smile you just can’t resist, until your face is aching from the beauty of it all.

The soft hum of the engine and the shocks as the bumps in the road disappear too fast to notice.

The sun on your face.

The mix of hot and cold as the February air beats your face and the heat in the car counters it, turned all the way up to keep your body from going any more numb than it already is.

If you ever get the chance to go road tripping without any sort of destination, I highly recommend it. There is nothing that can make you feel more alive.

Of course, no ride ever goes as smoothly as that, and it’s the little adventures that I so savor. Flirting with mortality and chance. An adrenaline rush so powerful that all you can do is take a deep breath and watch. There isn’t even time to move.

When I looked up the directions to Jackie’s house I actually called Bryce to let him know what awaited us. all the roads we took to get towards Canada were Mapquested for us. 95 South, 1 South, Penna-pike, 276, 476…

It was much easier this time and we managed not to fuck up on the way there. The Allentown exit now haunts my dreams.

Of course we nearly died on the way there. This time I really thought we wouldn’t make it. I downright froze. Bryce locked his eyes on the road, hand on the shifter, as the cars in front of us nearly destroyed everything.

We had been driving steadily behind a silver trail blazer, flowing at about 80 with the rest of traffic. Behind us and to the right was a dump truck and everywhere else was a sea of traffic. The trail blazer was alongside a silver station wagon. They had been going even for so long that we no longer even noticed the wagon.

Suddenly, the driver of the station wagon lost his brain. He shifted suddenly into our lane. I gasped as my mind worked in panic mode and I pictured the collision that would surely result. To my horror, I realized that the wagon STILL hadn’t realized that there was a car beside him. The trail blazer somehow dodged to the side, but was far from clear. I could just picture, in slow motion and no sound, the trail blazer slamming into the concrete barrier, pieces of metal flying back into us, car spiraling out of control.

There was nowhere for us to go. If the wagon hit the car we would get sucked into a three car pile up. If the blazer hit the barrier he’d take us out with him. If we braked we’d get slammed into from behind and sandwiched. If we veered left we’d ride the barrier. If we veered right… I didn’t even want to picture what Bryce, his car, and I would look like after getting mangled with the dump truck.

This was it.

And that driver in the trail blazer had someone thinking of him at that moment. Somehow, miraculously, he managed to dodge the whole scenario. Left, back, right… he was still driving.

Bryce had downshifted so hard that the car just screamed. I winced at the kick that resulted.

But we made it.

But who wants to have just ONE adventure on any given road trip? Our next thing was reversing up the turnpike. And I don’t mean the shoulder. Haha.

WHAT!?!?!?

Yeah, I know.

We got to a toll booth (we all know how I feel about toll booths). The middle chunk of islands was EZ Pass only (I have to agree with my dad, it’s a conspiracy) and the outside two were EZ Pass/tickets. All of them were purple so that didn’t really get anybody’s attention.

I was alert and watching any and all signs for everything though and I tried to point out to Bryce that the lane we were in was EZ Pass only.

“Ez pass, Bryce, EZ pass… do you have EZ Pass?”
“No, why?”
“Cuz you’re heading for…”
“O shit!!!”

By then it was too late. The hood of the car was between the booths. Bryce glanced over his shoulder, threw the car in reverse and BACKED UP THE TURNPIKE!!! Then, with a screech of tires, he pulled us into the far right lane. You could see people behind us drop back.

Paying the toll itself was also interesting. Bryce being the stereotypical Jew that he is paid in exact change. This meant counting out $2.50 in quarters, dimes, and nickels. I don’t think the dude in the toll booth trusted us.

So we pulled off of 476 onto 63, Summneytown Pike. We had the miles marked and the directions clear.

And then we missed Kriebal. It had been an overpass over the Pike, so we assumed it would at least have a stop light. Nope. Kriebal is a tiny little country road right past a dairy-looking farm. So we had to turn around on the next street. In the process we nearly hit a chocolate lab, a high school aged boy with a big frown on his face, and a bunch of little kids on pink bikes.

It was like a video game.

Called Jackie from Kriebal, went over the overpass and and onto Pheasant Hill.

“Hey, kids, do you know what street this is? Nevermind… just kidding.”

Now to find the house… we were looking for a white one with bricks. Guess what color 90% of the houses on the street were. Ooh, white.

But we found the house, complete with girl, puppy, and ten foot stick.

Parked across the street and left Bryce with Abner, the seeing eye puppy who would be staying with us all weekend. He nearly got dragged down the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, I went inside the house to meet Jackie’s parents. The very first thing her mom said to me was, “Abner will not be going with you today.”

I left absolutely ALL my information with them, right down to Bryce’s number and the address and website of the school. Apparently, her parents had been very reluctant to let her go, but as soon as they met us they decided we seemed like decent, trustworthy people.

Jackie’s dad went out to grab the dog and she flipped out. There was screaming. My parents would have killed me for making that sort of scene.

I waited for a pause and calmly wiggled my way into the conversation. I told her parents that I had cleared Abner’s stay with my school and that the only other places we’d be would be farms, with plenty of dogs anyway. His excitement wouldn’t be a problem and we were looking forward to having him. Jackie is responsible and knows how to care for him. The experience and exposure would be good for the puppy and this was one of his last chances to really get out there. I did that talking thing that I do and built up momentum as I saw their faces softening.

Finally, her mom turned and asked why they should let the puppy go. I saw Jackie bite her lip. “C’mon,” I thought, “go with it…”

Out loud I said, “You are THIS CLOSE to having Abner go…” A pleading tone.
“Yes, you are.”

In the end the dog went.

Of course.

Poor Bryce was going to have a heart attack about his seats.

So we packed into the car and took off.

Nothing like being on the road again.

On the way back to school we stopped at Bluestone. College Park had her foal!!! This one is my favorite thus far!!! A little colt with a friendly attitude and memorable face. He’s got a gigantic asymmetrical star and three white feet. We want to name him College Party.

From Bluestone we went to Taco Bell because Bryce and I were absolutely famished. Jackie gets real food on a daily basis so she did not yet have the urge to eat. At least Ab got to come in.

We got back to campus and let the dog get used to being on the floor. Playing with him in the hall was oodles of fun, and he was so incredibly obedient. I let him have that tennis ball I stole from the boys downstairs that night o so long ago. We were all in shock that he didn’t rip it to shreds.

Up, down, up, down, up, down, rest, rest, rest.. ok!!!

Better yet… back, back, back.

What an adorable wiggly dog….

…who shits in the hallway. God iams makes that stuff smell. So he peed twice over Krutch (who loved him btw) and once on Shawn’s head. Other than that, we were accident free.

We just sort of chilled on campus that night. We watched Boondock and just sort of chilled. That movie never ever gets old.

Damn mirror….

Fell asleep at last around 4:30am… despite the fact that my goal time was midnight.

When the alarm went off on Saturday, it was 6:30 am. We almost laughed and went back to bed. Who goes to sleep at 4:30 then gets up two hours later? We do. Wanna know why? Cuz we’re psychotic and uber dedicated.

Our goal was to leave campus at 7am to be at the barn by 8:30. of course, I had to go mess that up by leaving my camera in the dorm. You KNOW I can’t live without my camera. I had it all packed and everything.

So we went to lot 6, then Bryce dropped me off behind Cromwell. I ran up to get my camera and he drove around the Loop once to show Jackie the rest of campus. The timing on that maneuver was perfect too. Just as I came out of the back lot, Bryce pulled up. Could not have been any better.

The ride up to the farm was uneventful, but relaxing. God I would hope so!!! At 7am. ugh.

We made it there just on time too. Perfection is to be expected.

After all, Bryce is the master of all things driven.

Note to self: North Jersey is MUCH colder than central (not that central exists).

So we got to the barn and Bryce parked in my usual spot, instead of making us walk all the way across the stableyard.

We walked into the barn and I waited for Jackie to put horse faces with names. You would not believe how well the girl did!!! It was so damn impressive.

She instantly got Thunder, and Specks, and of course Midnight. She mixed CG up with Ozzy, but as soon as Ozzy stuck his head over the door she got that too. She stared at Flight for a good long time before guessing her too. I think she was surprised to get that one right. She didn’t get Jag and Gem, but since when do I have photos of them anyway? Of course she got Laag Shot. Haha.

So Abner was beyond excited to be at the barn. We theorized (ooh, more theories!) that he figured, “OOH!!! Really big dogs! Let’s play.”

Mike got there and was a bit surprised to see me. but I said I was there to see the horses not to necessarily work, so I can’t really get in trouble for how distracted I was. Right?

Exactly.

The first thing we did was put Jag, Thunder, and Cumin Go out in the paddock. Thunder was being a show off. Abner running behind him got him all excited and his tail went straight up in the air. He pranced lightly at the end of the lead, moving sideways and blowing as another horse raced along the fenceline behind him.

He showed off a little bit in the paddock too.

Apparently, getting blocked in during his race didn’t take anything out of him. And Lady got second so that’s good. CG got the eight hole (again?!?!?) so Mike didn’t go with him. I guess there’s only so much of that you can take before it gets really old.

There were two trainers that day. Specks and Flight. Not in that order. I was dying to take Specks, but he was going a fast trip, since he’s qualifying, and Mike wanted to do it himself.


The horse in front was one of the stranger colored standardbreds that i have seen. he was such a light bay that he was almost dun colored. makes me wonder if he’s clipped.

Flight was doing a double header, so we piled into the car and drove out to the back track, right by Debbie’s paddock. We parked the car by the gate and walked up to watch the workouts.


Abner was intrigued and excited by all the activity, but he was happy to settle and just watch after a while.


Horowitz had a yearling out on the track. Our presence scared the hell out of him. in the end we would back off each time he came by. all the same, i thought he was going to go through the fence the first time around.


Check out Troy on the left.


A cool pose, but i wish i hadn’t cut mike’s butt off.

Flight looked off to me. Seems that her knees are still bugging her and it takes her a good long while to warm out of it. Mike says that she did great her second trip though.


Bryce watched Abner. They’re a great pair.


No really, how beautiful is that?


This way, Jackie was able to take pictures.

We went back to the barn for a little while, then drove back to the track to watch Specks train. He was much faster, but also much spookier.

Let us keep in mind that Jo no longer loves me.

“Hey, Jo, you around here somewhere?”
“yeah, why?”
“cuz I’m at the barn, come see me”
“I can’t this horse is really wild and…”
“but bryce is here”
“I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Slick.

So Jo got to meet Jackie, and vice versa.

Jackie got a bit of contact with the horses directly too. When it came time to start putting them away, I handed her the brushes and tied Shotzy up for her. And he got a nice pampering-style grooming. He was so glossy and gorgeous when she was done and I did his feet. Of course, I had to try a running braid in his mane, so she had to do that twice. Somehow, I don’t think she was complaining though.

Then, I volunteered the three of us to go get the horses from the paddock.

“Ok, you guys do that. I’ll watch,” Jackie declared. “They won’t follow me.”
“She will, I promise.”

So I took CG, Bryce took Thunder, and Jackie took Jag. And shock of all shocks, Jag followed. So we got over that dilemma. Now, if Censi wouldn’t go nuts in his paddock and cause problems, that would be great. We even had a grand old time trotting our way back up the last bit of the walk. Nothing like watching a line of horses run. Sadly, Bryce’s legs are about as long as Thunder’s so they can rate to match strides. *sigh*

After the barn we went to lunch, because every last one of us was absolutely starved. Way to go Mc D’s. yeah, it was a variation on tradition, but it’s cool. There was even a toast in there. Nothing beats toasting with friends.

Getting Ab into the place wasn’t an issue either. The lady behind the counter has raised NINE pups and when I said he had his collar she was cool with it. Seems that I was the person to ask permission all weekend. That’s cool with me. love starting conversations, and it’s not like anybody said no.

I was going to stop at my house to get riding clothes. Mike was ok with me riding Oz as long as I DMSOed his knees afterwards and Alex wants me to get back on Troy. He claims that he has mellowed out since he got back in his routine. You never get anywhere without some degree of trust, right?

That or I’ll die.

On top of all that, my saddle was insanely clean. I could have sworn Mike was cleaning it or using it. Seems that it just stayed in condition this week.

But of course, plans don’t always work out, and while we were in Mc D’s it started to rain.

We weren’t much deterred however, and just continued on our merry way.

First we stopped to get towels in Chester. As soon as Bryce got out of sight, we put Abner in the driver’s seat.

Our next stop was USET. Of course, the gate was locked.

But Mike had mentioned a back way further down the street so we figured we’d find that, use it, and see the barn (read mansion) anyway. We took all the first lefts from there down. Saw a lot of interesting properties, barns, gravel roads, horses, and houses, but no back way to USET.

We came back to try the gate. I punched in the code for USET and got an answering machine telling us office hours.

Then Bryce had a brilliant idea. We could park “here” (behind the old schoolhouse) and walk to USET. Great idea. Too bad I had it first!!!

So we parked, Bryce cried over how muddy his gorgeous car was, and we walked.

There was a fence to climb through/over/around and then a big grassy hill, leading to the back of the dressage arena. Can somebody explain to me how I’ve never approached the barn from that angle? So we left our tracks in the arena then went up to the barn.


“That’s not a barn. That’s a friggin’ mansion.”

The door wasn’t rigged with an alarm, and it creaked open when I barely leaned against it, so we walked in, to show Jackie just how big the place is.

“Guys…” Bryce’s voice echoed in the massive building. “They know we’re here. Check main lobby,” he read off a silent motion detector.

So we slipped back out. Thankfully it was only on passive watch.

We thought the car would be towed by the time we got back.

So we got back in the car, stopped for gas, and then went to the breeding farm. All three mares in the back field were huddled together.

I left my camera in the car, but Jackie got a few pictures of the babies and Highlighter.

By the time we were halfway to Bryce’s, it was pouring so hard that we could barely see out the windows.

Decided to stop in for a brief visit. Met his parents at last. Totally cool.

On the way back to the school we randomly ended up behind a horse trailer. We did the logical thing and stalked them. Right to a gas station, when Bryce ran out into the rain to find out where they were from.

“Now, if you were them, what would you do?”
“Jump out and hug him probably.”
“Ok, if you were SANE and you were them, what would you do?”
“Call the cops.”

Turns out they were going to Jackson.

That night, Bryce had rush stuff to do. Jackie and I killed time by looking at and printing pictures.

Then we went to Dubs for dinner. Met up with Pundy there. He actually wasn’t afraid of Ab.

Also ran into Rindosh.

“It wouldn’t be the first illegal animal you’ve had.”

“Don’t make me laugh and drink or I’ll puke on you.”
It’s always amazing to watch Pundy disappear.

Out front of the towers was a large, photogenic, group of people. One girl was twirling baton thingies. It was mesmerizing. Apparently, she knows how to do that while they’re on fire. Now THAT is something I need to see.

That night we were up even longer. We watched the Saint and napped. Then we watched American Beauty.

Ended up going to sleep around 7am.

And then we woke up at 10am b/c my phone was ringing in the other room. Turns out it was Jackie’s parents, calling to find out what time dinner was. Would we be there more towards seven or more towards noon? Honestly, we hadn’t thought about it. We discussed everything really quick and then decided that six would be perfect.

It didn’t take us long to decide to go out to breakfast. We agreed on IHOP and I was damn proud of myself for remembering where it was. I’ve only been there once before, and that was back on the day that we ended up stopping and getting Slasher.

It was crowded, but we got a seat pretty quickly. If only they had cleaned the table off first. O well, we got extra creamer off of it. Nothing like doing a whole line of creamer shots. Reason number 19 why I’m psycho.

The service overall sucked. I think our waitress was tired out. That’s what I’m going to tell myself. Otherwise she just had a nasty attitude on her. She gave us dirty looks when we reminded her about our drinks. We were halfway through our meals by the time she got to them. That and she got the orders mixed up. It wasn’t just us either. While we were waiting for food, Nick and Caryn walked in. We dragged them over to sit by us. Caryn’s chocolate chip pancakes took three tries to actually get chocolate chips in them. Ugh.

We went straight from IHOP to Bluestone. Started off by seeing the mares.

Turns out Swiss Queen’s leg is really badly messed up. It’s not a new injury. She has been at Bluestone for six years. Four foals and everything. Her old trainer injected her with a dirty needled and her skin literally rotted off. Then, to add insult to injury he bought her first foal. If she gets that leg infected one more time, she’s done for. They’ll have to put her down. Anybody want a horse? Cuz they’re not breeding her anymore.


All the foals appeared to be passed out in their stalls. I believe this is Missy’s filly.


College Park’s colt was willing to get in my face and come say hello. Taking pics of him should be easy.


Ella’s filly sleeps in her stall.


College Park and her colt chillin’ in their stall.


The mares were being brought into the barn to be fed.


Ella lowers her head to investigate the weirdo with the camera.


Bryce on the phone. Photogenic, even then.

Sprocket was in a loving-Dom mood. I was scratching him and he straight up jumped into my arms. So I had an angry but adorable Jack Russell in my arms for a good long while. He was downright MEAN to Abner. And Ab backed down. He was good friends with Bo though (ha, Bo Though). And sprocket backs off when Bo approaches. Lol. Too cute.

We also went up to see the yearlings. They were damn cute, as always. Even followed me in a neat little line around their paddock.

… As I shock myself on the electric fence.


The view at the other end of the farm.


A summary of this weekend at a glance.


Oreo and Aviator were mimicing us, I swear. Bryce was being all normal and talking to the colts, while I stretched over his shoulder to try and shoot a picture. Do you see a resemblence?


The colts were pretending to be wild mustangs.

It wasn’t long before we got cold though.

It was getting late anyway. So we headed back to the dorm, packed up our stuff (and by our I mean Jackie’s) and neatened up Bryce’s room.

Then we went back to Lot 6 (I hadn’t even bothered to take my stuff out of the car that time) and drove all the way back to PA. Jackie and Abner dozed on and off back to Lansdale.


By the end of the weekend, Bryce was ready to get his own dog. The car felt empty without Abner resting his head on Bryce’s shoulder and co-piloting. Not to mention the ear-licking.

So we parked in the driveway. Jackie’s parents were waiting when we came into the house.

First thing I did was compliment Abner. They seemed surprised, but I was serious. He was a joy to have all weekend. It was certainly an animal fix I could use on a daily basis.

So we had dinner at Jackie’s. She left the room to start loading pictures and blogging.

We had conversations with her parents. They were really cool. If we could do that much traveling and have those sorts of connections…

…god what I would give to do that.

An inspiration for sure.

I hope they really did like us.

It was a shame to leave, but we really did have to get going. Seems that we’ll have to go back though. Stuff to pick up, information to exchange, a house in Florida to investigate.

Apparently Abner cried for a really long time after we left. And then he slept for an entire day. God that puppy was amazing.

So we left and started our drive home. We had to get all turned around on route one of course. Does that surprise anyone? By now we’re experts at it. Haha. Someday… not today.

And then we ended up missing the turn to 31 south. North it is! but that turned out for the best.

We stopped at Starbucks.

And by stopped I mean we had to drive sneakily through a construction site.

So we spent a nice long time sipping coffee and being comfortable in gigantic overstuffed chairs. Some days it’s nice to be typical college students. There’s nothing like sitting back and reflecting on the events of a long awaited day, or weekend, or trip. Nothing ever goes quite as planned, but we’ve both decided we’re loving life right now and wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

Before long, we were parked back in lot 6. and then Bryce turned around and asked, “Wanna procrastinate for a little longer?”
“Of course.”

So he threw the car back in drive and we spiraled our way all the way to the top of the parking deck. Bryce threw the car into neutral.

“Get in the driver’s seat.”
“WHAT!?!?!?! Why? I don’t drive stick…
“Well, you’re gonna learn.”

And I did. I drove the awesome car around in circles for like 20 minutes. I don’t think I’m coordinated enough to drive stick at anything more than 20mph, or third gear. *dies*

Then we crawled into my room so that I could write two papers before my 10am class.

Can we say no sleep again!?!?!