_I suspected things would pick up in 2012 and boy was I right! I don't think a day has gone by where we haven't been working on some element of the ride, making phone calls, or sending emails! It's good though -- and we're making lots of progress!

I want to send a huge thank you to Mark Terrell of Wild Horses of Nevada Photography. Mark has generously donated a 20 x 30 canvas print for us to raffle off. The beautiful artwork retails at trade shows for $400 so it is truly a prized piece to own. Here is the photo:

It's stunning right? So the plan is: people can make a blanket donation during the ride OR they can purchase raffle tickets for the print. Raffle tickets will be 1 for $5, 6 for $25, 12 for $50, or 24 for $100. We'll draw a winner when the ride is complete. I think offering the print is a great way to generate revenue for the ride and the Wild Horse Preservation League, so again, thank you to Mark!

And another big thank you to Mary Cioffi from Minden. Mary made the first monetary donation to the Nevada Discovery Ride, and her generosity will help us purchase some much needed supplies to get on the trail! Thank you so much Mary!

In other news, we are still working on the first half of the ride route. We've confirmed assistance with park rangers at Cave Lake and the Ward Charcoal Ovens. (Day 2 and 3 respectively). We're very lucky to have the sponsorship of the Nevada Division of Parks, especially since the ADT in Nevada goes through six state parks!

Lots of other planning and funding things in the works, so we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. We're finally expecting a little snow in Reno later this week, so maybe Sage and I will get some real winter riding in!

_After a completely unproductive holiday, 2012 is here and this is the year! 2 years of planning and dreaming, and now the ride is 8 months away! Well we are hitting the ground running -- spending hours pouring over maps and plotting on google earth to make our final route. We've had a preliminary route for the entire ride, now we're just going mile by mile and adjusting. Average day so far is 18 - 21 miles, and to say the terrain is varied is an understatement! Right now I have the whole ride taking 28 days, so a few days shorter than I'd originally thought. Once we get the whole route finalized, I will post the details on the website so everyone can see.

I'm afraid we haven't yet secured any funding to help pay the road crew for their time. That means we'll have to cut back on the frequency of their visits. The plan now is that the food and water drops will be made ahead of me, and I will rendezvous with the road crew every 6th rest day. That's a little scary because it means we just have to hope that the food and water will still be there at the end of each day! The good news is, most of the endpoints are fairly remote (yet accessible) so we should be able to hide supplies.

We will need some volunteers to help make those food and water drops happen! The drops in far eastern Nevada are taken care of, but we'll need help from Carvers to Reno. Volunteering would entail driving out to a very specific location (you'll need GPS) and setting out one small bin of cubes and a water barrel. Some of the drop off locations are easy (Fort Churchill, Gabbs, etc.), others are a little more remote. Please let us know if you can help by dropping off food and water for a day or two... It is very much needed!

Other than that, we still need some supplies. A small two-horse trailer is a must, as is a months worth of weed-free cubes! If you can help with any of those things, please let me know. Lots of smaller things still to buy, but that's what tax refunds are for :)

Since we've yet to see any snow here this winter, Sage and I are trying to take advantage by getting in some longer rides. This week we spotted a large herd of antelope! The snow is bound the fall eventually, and we'll keep riding... just really bundled up!