Gateway to England and a trans-America road trip with horses in tow

I have been extremely remiss about posting a new blog in recent weeks, but there are, dear readers, several good reasons. Simply put, there are not enough hours in the day, an old excuse, but one that becomes ever more true with age. Claiming most of my attention has been my new venture: Gateway to England. I have long wanted to link up the best of my beloved home country, all the people and companies I have encountered through my work at Country Life magazine and country pursuits across Britain, with the Anglophiles I have met on this side of the pond. Gateway to England is a way to do so, bringing together the finest companies offering tours of country houses, art galleries and gardens, plus sporting, equestrian and culinary opportunities, not to mention safaris, bespoke clothing and goods and Country Life itself. I held my first in what will be a series of exhibitions throughout California in mid May, at Arader Galleries in the Jackson Square Historic District in San Francisco, and hopefully it will grow exponentially, with the addition of my favourite product companies, producing everything from clothing to table mats.

The Riding Club London display, with paintings available from the Arader Galleries.

The central print is of riders on Rotten Row, the wide sand track in Hyde Park

that members of the RCL can still canter up today

A corner to rest and peruse the pages of Country Life

Arader Galleries with displays for Blackthorn & Brook, Boxwood Tours,

Lady Foley Grand Tour, Art History UK and New Georgian Opera

Aardvark Safaris and Charles Brownlow on display

Me!

A very English feast. Heartfelt thanks to Peirano Estates for the wine!

 

After Gateway to England, I filed an article for Horse & Hound and then set off on an epic journey: from San Francisco to South Carolina with two horses, two trucks, two trailers and three humans. Oh, and two cats. I'm going to cheat slightly and refer you all to my blog on the Chronicle of the Horse website for the full day-by-day account of the trip, complete with tornados, floods, thunderstorms, dead armadillos, far too much food and very little sleep. But here is the full pictorial record:

 

Day 1 (read the story here)

 

Final packing push the night before...

 

Loading up the first horse, Echo, an eventer owned by a friend

 

The gorgeous Eigen, 18hh Holsteiner and future showjumping star

That's what we like, straight on!

Eigen and Echo safely aboard at Premier Equine Center,

where he's been building up muscle while Maxine and Paul

were getting married in the Virgin Islands (see an earlier edition!)

 

Truck door panels, emblazoned with Maxine's training company,

V. I. Equestrian International

Izzy takes a look around

Taz checks out the view. Briefly, I assure you!

 

Concentrate, Mum!

Last glimpse of San Francisco!

The 99, our home for the next 183 miles

California's agricultural district, the bread bowl of America,

currently shockingly dry and dusty

 

First pit stop, all vehicles present and correct

Stylish T-shirts!

The beginning of the great I-40, following the route of the legendary Route 66

 

Agriculture in the 21st century

The foothills of the Sierra Nevadas

Train tunnel in the rock

 

A far-off aeroplane graveyard

Giant telescopes atop a distant ridge

 

Now we're in the desert! Cactus trees

 

Paul at the wheel of the U-Haul!

 

One of the miles-long goods trains that snake through the West

 

Arizona at last!

 

Into the desert

Sunset truck stop

 

Day 2 (read the full story here)

 

 

Brett, Paul, Sherry and Maxine. Heartfelt thanks to Brett and Sherry

for putting us up, feeding us and supplying us with delicious

homemade blueberry muffins for the journey!

Loading the trailer is down to a fine art

 Paul and his BMX, which he affirms is easier than a horse!

 

At MCS Stables, first and very comfortable equine hotel

Across the Arizona high desert

Yes, that is a dinosaur. And if you look closely, that is an

unfortunate Arizonan man in its jaws... 

The proud Native American nation reduced to worse than nothing

 

Two helicopters on a truck. Perfectly normal, nothing to see here

  

Into New Mexico! 

The glorious red rocks of the West

 

The Sandia Mountains rising above Albuquerque

 

 Neat roadside landscaping in Albuquerque

 The enticing billboards advertising the promised land of

Lunch, aka the one-room Flying J Ranch

 

Not quite the cosy local Mexican we were hoping for!

 

Real cattle country

 

Golden sunlight over New Mexico. We were singing along

to Chicago at this point, if I remember rightly

 

Storm over the grasslands

 This truck passed us twice on the first two days! Road buddy

 

Texas! Texas is big. But fortunately we were only

crossing the sticky-out bit at the top

Texas grain silo at dusk

 

Day 3 (read the full story here)

 

The Happy Tracks Horse Motel

Dusty, basic, but adequate

Brushing off Eigen in the early morning (albeit not as early as planned!)

A cathedral of the Midwest

 

The largest cross in the Northern Hemisphere, in Texas

A damp entry into Oklahoma

Bit more water than in California!

 

How did that get up there?

Floods!

Third state of the day!

Uh oh, tornados brewing...

 

Day 4 (read the full story here)

 

The gates of Shady Creek Ranch in Tennessee

 

Paso Fino training area

Ooh, that's the spot, Mum!

The noble Portuguese Paso Fino, at home among the buttercups

Paul on reversing duty by the beautiful Shady Creek barn

with its green shutters and shadowy cowboy

 

A proper American barn, somewhere in Tennessee.

The rather grand home of Nashville Electric Services

Bit of weather

The Knoxville Sunsphere, built for the 1982 World's Fair.

Or a random gold disco ball, whichever you like

Tennessee hospitality at Buddy's BBQ!

Echo enjoying a water stop

Leaving the I-40 after goodness knows how many miles

The distant Appalachians hove (hoving?) into view

Er, a giant guitar?

 

Virginia! At last - Tennessee is LONG.

Sunshine over the Virginian forests 

Ah yes, the green grass of the premier hunting state

 

Day 5 (for the full story click here)

 

Morningside Training Farm = horse heaven

Lake, surrounded by gallop track and cross-country course

Dressage arenas, times two

Maxine's truck looking right at home

A real English phone box adding a touch of style

Inside the main barn

Last day of travel wraps

Echo looking right at home

Eeww, Mum, that ulcer-preventative stuff tastes yucky

 

Maxine with a giraffe, oh, sorry, Eigen

Beautiful pair!

Me and Eigen, wondering where Echo is

 

All ready for the off

Green green grass of Virginia (and my notebook in the glass)

Penultimate state!

Typical Carolinean weather: clouds and sun together

Home state!

 

Nope, we don't know either

Hat world on the border of South Carolina... 

 

Uh..oh...

 

Er, rain!

Rainbows! A good omen, we feel

Trucks - our perennial friends

 

Yes, they are moving to Narnia! All this time I've been

knocking on wardrobe backs and it was right here

They literally built the road for us that day...

Eigen's new home!

A perfect little stableyard

Mmm...that's better

Happy horse and happy owner!

Paul and Maxine at their new home

Maxine and me