This is a lovely campground, located Northeast of Kansas City, MO.
There is an RV dump at the park entrance, so we stopped to empty our tanks on the way in and out.
They sell ice and firewood at the entrance as well.
The horses had first class accommodations - covered stalls that were good-sized. We did put pellet bedding down for them here as the stalls were hard packed.
There were also some high lines available.
Our campsite had electric with water close by.
The first day we rode next to the bike path because we couldn't find any other trailheads and that was the trail shown on the campground map.
This was not a great choice because there were bicyclists on the trail next to us as well as tons of kids screaming "Horses! Horses!" who wanted to pet the horses and give them treats. I don't mind letting kids pet the horses and give them treats, but the screaming upsets the horses.
It was a stressful ride and we were five minutes from our trailer when I had an unscheduled dismount.
Mercy did a tight spin, I felt a puff as my vest inflated and I came out of the saddle. When the vest inflates, it tightens all around my chest. I landed on my back like a turtle on it's shell.
I looked around to see what happened. There was a woman on a bicycle who had come around a blind curve and spooked my horse.
No broken bones thanks to the Hit-Air Equestrian vest. I needed Ari to help me get up because the vest was so inflated.
I was bruised a bit. I think I bruised the muscles in my right rib cage, but I am happy nothing broke.
We had one spare cartridge left to replace the used one in the vest, so I ordered three more.
We should get them while we are staying at Diana's place in Missouri.
I posted on the HCTAA (Horse Trails and Camping Across America) Facebook group about my experience and several local riders wrote in that I had missed the correct trails entirely.
There is no signage, but the horse trails start on the road opposite the RV dump. You have to ride across the campground to locate the trailhead and get to those trails.
Now, this was more like what we wanted - about 31 miles of gorgeous equestrian trails, mostly flat, easy riding. Apparently, these trails are used for events at least once or twice a year.
We were flying our son, Isaiah, and his girlfriend, Deeba, into Kansas City for the next week, which is one reason we chose this campground.
We picked them up at the airport and brought them back to camp.
We got some firewood at the camp entrance and had a nice time around the campfire in the evening before taking them to the local motel for the night.
The next morning Ari wanted to take Isaiah on the trails before we headed down to Wheatland, so off they went. It has been a few years since Isaiah had been in the saddle but he did OK.
He said Mercy bucked once during the ride and he almost came off, but I had warned him to stay alert in the saddle during the ride as Mercy's head hasn't been right since our time in the Badlands. Mercy is slowly recovering, but I think it will take at least six more months before he stops spooking.
We stopped at a truck stop in Peculiar, Missouri on our way down to Wheatland. I took this picture in the Denny's. If you look closely, you will see the word 'Peculiar' right above Isaiah's head.
We had been served our milkshakes and had been waiting a good thirty minutes for our food, when they announced that there was a gas leak and we would have to evacuate the building.
So, we ended up having lunch in the trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment