I never expected this!

     This is going to be the story of my ride across Washington State on the Pacific Crest Trail. That's a bold statement and I hope that it comes true! I need to give some background first though. Bear with me as this trip will take over a year to come true anyway.
     I grew up on a farm outside of Portland Oregon, long ago, in a galaxy far away it seems now. I rode horses, I fished, I rode horses, I hunted, I rode horses, I turned 16. I sold my last horse, a retired Thoroughbred race horse to buy a scooter and I've owned something with two wheels ever since. I graduated from high school, went to college, got a job, got married, raised a family. I kept riding motorcycles but always thought fondly of horses... in the abstract. I didn't have the land. Five acres on San Juan Island, five wet, marshy acres! I didn't have the time but I would occasionally ask acquaintances to take me for rides if they had extra horses. It rarely worked. In the 45 years since i left the farm I can count the number of times I've ridden on one hand. Still, I kept a lookout for a chance.
     Last fall I was in the local hardware store and was being waited on by a young woman who worked there. I noticed that she had a horse tattoo. Well, a lot of young women are horse lovers but then i noticed that she had "barn arms"! She had incredible muscle definition for someone who simply shifted store stock around so I asked my usual question, the same ones that had never worked before.
"Do you have a horse?"
"Yes." she said.
"Do you have more than one horse?"
She laughed, "Yes, I have three."
"Would you like to trade a horseback ride for a motorcycle ride?"
She laughed again, "No, I'm not interested in a motorcycle ride."
Damn, there went my last best hope!
"But I'll take you for a ride if you know how."
     I couldn't believe it, success after all those attempts in years past! I got her name and gave her mine and my phone number and I went home and waited... and waited,,, and waited. I figured that she had reconsidered, remembered what her Mom had said about not talking to strangers, seen my picture up on the Post Office wall. Nothing that dramatic though. I ran in to her at the local American  Legion Hall and she said that she still had my number but that she was still trying to get things sorted out with the horse that she wanted to put me on. A week later she called and we met at her pasture.
     OK at this point all I'm hoping for is a ride, maybe two. She puts the horses in a trailer and we drive a few miles away to the Roche Harbor watershed. It's hunting season and the place she usually rides has many hunters and thick brush to disguise horses and riders as deer. a wise choice I agree! we get the horses unloaded and Jessica gets them saddled and bridled. We adjust the stirrups for me and away we go. I quickly realize that this first ride is really an interview. She trots. I post. She likes that because it's easier on the horse.
"It's how I learned." I explain.
We canter a bit. My horse is very rough and this surprises me because all other times I've cantered, it's been an easier gate than trotting. I comment on this and it turns out that the horse I'm on is noted for being rough as a cob in a canter. We finish a couple of hours later and I'm a little tired but not particularly stiff or sore. Once you really know how to move with a horse instead of just hanging on, you use fewer muscles and you use them more naturally. I was happy with how easily the ride came back to me and apparently, Jessica was too because I was invited back.
"A lot of people want to ride and say that they know how but what that really means is that they've sat on a horse following another horse at a walk on a trail. You really do know how to ride and you make the horse do what you want and don't let him do what he wants."
I ride again and then again. We start riding regularly. Winter interrupts some but we keep at it and my skills improve and one day Jessica says, "I like riding with you. I don't have to teach you or worry about you and I can relax and just ride for myself."
    She also liked having an extra person along in case something happened. We were riding in an area without cell service, or at least sporadic cell service and the trails were rough and steep. An accident here could have a serious ending! Along the way, we talked and shared ideas and jokes and had some good laughs every ride. I came to like her as a friend and was pleasantly surprised to feel that she felt the same way; a mutual admiration society. Trail buddies.
     We had talked about hiking and some of my hikes and hers so I knew that she liked a good adventure. my dream hike would be the Pacific Crest Trail on a full length though hike,  Mexico to Canada in one long summer. I have the time, I have the money... I'm also 65 years old. I did a hike across the Olympics last summer. 50 miles in 5 days with the last day being a 16 mile trek. The PCT requires 20 miles though and day after day after day to complete the hike. Still, I dreamed and bought books about the trail. My Fearless Wife gave me the Pacific Crest Reader for Christmas. In it was a story by a guy named Hawk Greenway who as a 16 year old boy decided to ride his horse from his home in Northern California to the Canadian border and then back to Wenatchee Washington to see his Mom. The book is called "The Trial North" and it's available from amazon and independent bookstores. To thank Jessica for all the rides, I bought her a copy. Inside I wrote, "To Jessica, to fuel a young girl's dreams!" I didn't just fuel them, I threw gasoline on them! Two days later she commented on my Face Book page, "Well, Greg Hertel, now you've done it! I've been up since 4:30 reading articles, blogs, sites about people who rode the Pacific Crest Trail......... Dammit."
Two days after that I'm included on the ride as her sidekick. Hoping for a couple of rides, I'm now looking at close to a 500 mile ride. Life is good:-)