Getting to the Ranch – Road Trip to Montana

1030km. 8.5hrs on Saturday. 3.5hrs on Sunday. Nice weather. CBC Podcasts. Dance-in-my-seat-music. No problems!

I should back track & give a Coles’ notes of what this trip is about for those of you who aren’t familiar with my trips to The Ranch. I first came here in 2013; it was going to be a one time thing to put a checkmark on that bucket list – ‘be a cowboy for a week’. I did, ✔️ but it couldn’t stop there. I’ve been coming back ever since. This is my 6th time in the last 7yrs. Needless to say, I LOVE it. McGinniss is a working guest ranch. They teach a specific type of riding and people come from all over the world to learn …… I’m really just here to ride in the mountains and chase cattle for a week. shhhhh. they don’t need to know.

The drive was actually quite nice and went faster than I thought. ….. once I got out of Vancouver traffic (in Hope). It’s a gorgeous time of year for the drive, the South Okanagan valley was so colourful with the fruits ready to be picked. I stopped at one fruit stand in Osoyoos and was drooling at all the produce but didn’t get anything as I couldn’t take it across the border. I’ll stop on my way home for sure. I also stopped at an exit off the highway to take pictures of the apples and grapes on the vines – after seeing the ‘Beware of Snakes’ sign, i didn’t hang around there much longer! Those of you who know me will no I don’t do well with snakes. Or any creepy crawlies, or rodents for that matter.

Every time I drive here, I stay somewhere different. This year was Trail, BC and I got some funny looks about my choice but it was strategic- I was hoping to meet up with an old colleague from my BC Children’s Hospital days. Unfortunately, the meeting didn’t work out, but I had a lovely stay in Trail. Maybe it was the gorgeous sunshine and quiet morning, but I didn’t think it was all that bad….. as long as you ignore the unsightly plant (zinc & lead smelting and refinery – didn’t know that til today) in the middle of town. I did manage a lovely loop along the river and met a nice chatty couple who were proud to tell me about their controversial new pedestrian / bikes bridge.

Got to the ranch just in time to unpack the car, bring in my stuff and then it was ‘orientation’ where we were reminded of a few tips, the schedule for the week (horses come in a 7am, no sleeping in on this vacation!). Given that we are at VIP week, all the guests are returning guests so it was an abbreviated orientation. It is also a small group, just 10 of us which is really nice. And quite a few older folks too – hard to believe I’m one of the younger ones this year (who would have thunk!) I know 2 people from previous times here, I think Gill and I have the same ideas for the week so I’ll likely be hanging out with her quite a bit. They did ask us what our ‘ideal week’ would be – I want to ride on the mountain as much as possible, do some cattle drives and maybe spend a day closer to the ranch for some ‘cutting and weighing….. and I added “all that with Quick or Badger”, two of my favorite horses from previous years. There was a giggle around the room, I think everyone else was too polite to ask for a specific horse! Badger is off due to injury and i’m not sure if I’ll get Quick but if I definitely won’t if I don’t ask! Stay tuned!

8pm and everyone is GONE to bed or at least to their cabin! Because I’m by myself this year, I don’t have a cabin, I have a room in the main lodge so here I am, dining room to myself, looking out at the deer eating in the meadows just outside. …… that’s likely where I’ll be every night to bring you my daily updates.

The data available here is quite limited therefore I will limit my pics to a couple per day and will save them for the horses / cattle. So just one tonight of a south okanagan orchard.

PS. I’m not 100% sure where on my blog page this will post once I hit ‘publish’ but we’re about to find out! #workinprogress

•