Parsons Ponies

One of our most fun jobs at the Missoula KOA has been to help out every Friday evening with the pony rides provided by Parsons Ponies and the KOA. We've had a crowd of kids and their proud parents lined up each time, eagerly awaiting their turn to ride. Suzi brings 3 ponies and the kids are allowed to choose which one to ride. This is Dave, leading a thrilled little boy on Frosty. Mr. Keith is the photographer.  http://www.parsonsponies.com/

Suzi is very careful to make sure each child is properly seated on the pony. She instructs them about the saddle, how to hold on, where to put feet, and then walks beside them calmly explaining about the pony and about riding horseback.

A hot day for riding, but no less exciting for the young ones! The pony rides take place in one of the KOA's fenced dog enclosures and are provided free of charge for the registered campers.

Our granddaughter Natalie, age 13, is spending 2 weeks with us. I believe the most happy times for her have been helping out with the pony rides. She's had some experience with riding at her other grandma's ranch, and she possesses a calm and careful way with children. Suzi has encouraged her and taught her the process of giving children these memorable times during their camping experience at the KOA.

We were thrilled to be invited out to Suzi and Dave's ranch south of Missoula to see all the ponies and some of the bigger horses. Suzi brought out the biggest horse, Henry, for Natalie to ride. Once again, she carefully instructed her rider in every aspect of saddling up and preparing Henry to be ridden. She even showed Nat how to clean out Henry's hooves prior to fitting him with special shoes for the ride.

A happy cowgirl out in the beautiful Montana pine forest at the ranch!

This photo is a priceless one of Natalie, back at the KOA getting ready to lead out one of the ponies for the waiting young campers. We have made plans to go back to Parsons Ponies, the ranch, for one last ride on Natalie's final day with us before returning home. I know she will long remember the awesome experience given to her by this wonderful couple and their equine friends in gorgeous Montana!

I Meant To Do It!

 Yes, I meant to write a blog post every day of our trip from Cheyenne to Wenatchee, but I didn't quite make it. I did post about Casper WY and about Custer's Last Stand, but I hardly even took any photos after that. We spent 6 days out and traveled just over 1200 miles. After Hardin MT our next stop was in Bozeman MT. We were particularly excited about this stay because we have a job here at the KOA for next summer. We met the managers and paid special attention to the facilities and the beauty of this park. We will love it here! The downtown is beautiful and picturesque and the surrounding mountains are awesome!

 One of our favorite parks is the KOA at Missoula MT. We worked here for 2 summers in 2009-2010. The park itself is big and beautiful, but an added perk to being here is that we still know and stay in touch with some of the folks who work here. It was a joy to see them and to go out to dinner at Applebee's with some of them.

Our 5th night out was spent at the Spokane KOA. I failed to take a photo of our rig in this very nice park. We met an interesting couple here when they brought their little boy over to see our kitties outside in their kitty tent. It turns out the man is a writer and a pastor, and they are living simply in their RV while he writes another book. We bought his latest published book and are enjoying it very much. It is "Keys to Your Future" by Dan Hayne.

 Sometimes when we come across Washington we stay a night in Ephrata so we can visit my sister and bro-in-law. This time we left our rig in the church parking lot next door to their apartment building and spent a couple of hours with them, including lunch. My sister is a health food aficionado. She put together this gorgeous salad with flowers and other more unusual greens from her garden. Yum! We really did enjoy this meal!

 Home at last! After we set up we grabbed a granddaughter and took her out to our park for a few hours. Here is Natalie by the Wenatchee River. We had not seen the kids and grandkids for 14 months, so they were sights for sore eyes.

 Love!

We've stayed in many, many RV parks in our 8 years as workampers, but we can truthfully say the Wenatchee River County Park is the most beautiful. Of course, it always helps that we seem to be here in September or October when we get to see the gorgeous poplars, locusts and other trees in full autumn glory, with the Wenatchee River flowing serenely by. The layout of this park is unique, too. The RV spaces are in a circle going out like spokes in a wheel. It makes each space seem farther away from the next one while still getting maximum use of the available ground. We love it here!

Well, we have a few more days to visit and share our love with our family and friends. We're also getting some much needed RV repairs, then when that's completed we're off again. We'll be crossing the Cascade Mountains over Snoqualmie Pass and journeying on to Lost Lake RV Resort near Olympia WA for our winter work. I'll post again soon!