Getting ready to take two kids, 4 horses, and one dog to the mountains (with fishing gear) feels like preparing for a National Geographic-scale expedition. We are prepared for anything. Rain. Hail. Bears. Getting stuck up there. (My survival plan includes Vienna Sausages. You'll eat anything if you're hungry enough.) I wasn't able to find a seat pad to fit 8-year-old C.'s little Australian saddle, so I took the sheepskin pad off of my Stuebben cross-country saddle and innovated. Now he won't be complaining of a sore behind.

I'm getting up at four o'clock in the morning.