Things I Always Wanted to Do

This was Me in my plans, a woman on horseback, traveling the wide open places

Having given this prompt due consideration, I think I have already done most things I wanted to do, with the possible exception of riding horseback across the United States, and riding from the Mexican Border northward to the Border of Canada, through California, Oregon and Washington state. 


Since I am not physically able to even ride a horse any longer, that is more than a long shot, it's just plain impossible. It would not be the same to ride in a cart or a buggy, so I guess those dreams will have to remain inside my head and heart. 


I have always wanted to travel the outback of Australia, also on horseback, but that will not happen either. 


I also had wanted to ride horseback to Alaska, and return, which is no longer something I am physically able to do.  It isn't because I am too old, but with my neck injuries, and two neck surgeries, doctors have laid down the law, that I am no longer to ride horses.  The injury is not related to my riding, in any way, shaper or form, but horseback riding could mean landing in a wheelchair, or being a quadriplegic, or even death if my horse simply shied, and jumped sideways, jerking my head.


Still, these thing are in my head and heart, and if it were possible, I would still do it, even at the ripe ol' age of 67 years.
  

The sight of mountains beckons to me.
It has called me since I first ascended
them as a child.

 Then, there's the little item I have to add to this list. Another trail ride I never got to take. That is riding the mule train from the top to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You spend the night at the bottom of the canyon, and ride back to the top the next day. Once I attempted to get a reservation for this ride, but the waiting list was something like three years. I really did not have three years to spare, so I would have taken one of the other trails I mentioned. 


While time passes, we have a life to live, and a family to raise, and work that must be done in order to achieve the tasks at hand. I did enjoy the work I did, working with my late husband running our contracting business, running the office, and negotiating contracts with the Army Corp of Engineers, and working with other contractors who appreciated me as an equal, not only a little woman doing as her husband said. 


I was way ahead of my time in this industry, and now that I look back, I was really well involved in what was truly considered a man's domain.