Before starting our vacation we had made reservations to go horseback riding this day. Eric, wearing his cowboy hat, rode the mild mannered Smitty, Curt rode Beau, and Missy--the most experienced rider--had the tempermental Amigo. Our guide, Terry Boyt, rode ahead of us on Bucky. The ride was beautiful! The green, gold, yellow, orange, red, and purple of the foliage was glorious--even though peak colors were probably still a week away. We rode 1.5 hours to the top of a 4200' mountain on six miles of winding roads. The incline was not steep--we gained 1000 feet in altitude--though the drop-off beside the trail was dramatic. At the summit, we had a picnic lunch of soy cheese sandwiches and potato chips. Bucky kept nuzzling Eric and Curt for some of their food.

Eric loved horseback riding. He chatted a lot with Terry and told him he'd like the job of riding horses all day. The job was very attractive to Terry as well. Seven years ago he had traded his annual income of $200,000 (from two jewelry stores and a cattle ranch) to raise and ride horses at an annual income of $11,000. Eric is wondering if and when we will buy a horse but in the meantime he is interested in taking riding lessons locally.

Though he had fun, Curt also had pain. Beau would often lag behind the others munching on greenery than trot to catch up, bouncing Curt in the saddle. Terry pointed out that a rider is more comfortable when they put some of their weight on their feet in the stirrups. Curt did this then lost the bounce in his knees while protecting his testicles from being pushed into his intestines.

At one point in the ride up the mountain, Beau decided he wanted to pass Amigo (with Missy aboard). This was a wise decision. Amigo is not happy when he's closely followed and he has a tendency to kick. He'd give fair warning of his unhappiness by laying back his ears. When he did that and they were trailing, Curt pulled back on Beau. Once Curt and Beau were ahead of Missy and Amigo, it was less stressful. On the ride down the mountain, Amigo decided he wanted to get ahead of Beau again. We pretty much let the horses do what they wanted to do, after all they were doing us a favor by carrying us around. When Amigo started moving ahead of Beau, Beau picked up the pace which made Amigo's gait quicken, which sped up Beau, etc. Within a few seconds, the horses--which had lagged far behind Terry, Eric and their horses--broke into a fairly fast lope. Curt and Missy found themselves hanging on as their mounts rounded the bends overlooking the steep drops.

Before saying goodbye, Terry asked Eric to draw and send him a picture of Smitty. Eric happily agreed.

After three hours in the saddle, we were ready for a few hours on a bike seat. Well, not really but that's what we had planned next. About five miles from our cottage are the famous (for mountain bikers) Tsali trails.

Eric scooting along Tsali Trail

These trails are considered among the best in the country for mountain biking. The narrow, twisting, often sloping and bumpy trails (due to rocks, mounds, gulleys, and tree roots) roll along the side of hills overlooking Lake Fontana so there is little margin for error. If your bike drifts to one side you can bump your bike's pedal against the hillside and be thrown or you might ride into thornbushes. If you drift the other way, you can slide down the slope towards the water. Still, one is pulled to take one's eyes off the road to gaze on the incredibly gorgeous scenery.

There are four loops of Tsali trails. We chose to ride the right loop, not realizing that it was reserved for horseback riding this day. As there were no horses, we didn't see anyone else on our ride. That was fortunate as the narrow paths--only a foot wide in some places--complicate passing. During our ride we came across a four foot long black snake on the trail; that got Missy to come to a stop. Eric came to a stop on multiple occaisions as he struggled to make an incline. Curt stopped most often--about twenty times--as he is the least capable bike rider and he was trying to minimize falls. Still, he fell a few times including once partly down the hill. Eric also took a fall when he rode over some fallen branches. We fell well and were not hurt.

Even Missy had to focus when riding down a Tsali trail hill	Curt hangs on

We had intended to take a shortcut and reduce the length of the trail from 11 miles to four; however, we somehow took the shortcut incorrectly and ended up back on the same path. We decided to return the way we came for a total two hour ride of about five miles. Towards the end of the ride Eric was getting weary, yet when we reached the parking lot he caught a second wind. He wanted to horseback ride some more (that night). Eric rode his bike in the Tsali Trail parking lot then when we got back to our cottage he ran up and down the nearby grassy hill and rode his bike up and down the hilly cottage road at high speed. After dinner and a shower his energy remained high. He sang Indian Reservation and made-up songs and was doing gymnastics up to the time he went to bed.

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