Soggy Greetings From the Land of Marsh and Horses

Okay so in retrospect the "Land of Milk and Honey" doesnt exactly sound like the title of this post, but it was worth a shot.  So we finally made it to Assateague Island, the national park with all the wild horses!  I really should let Miriam update you on this one since this is more her "thing" than mine, but I do have to say we're having quite a good time despite the crumby weather.  Right now there is a passing thunderstorm that is pouring down on us quite relentlessly, hence my updating the blog since we're both stuck in our "camper" until the rain clears.  This is the first time we attempted to set up a tent as part of our campsite village and it is working splendidly.  All of our extraneous gear is accessible, and more importantly, dry!  Since we dont have to worry about bears on the island (just the horses), we are able to hide our cooler under the picnic table on site and dont have to sleep with it in the car with us, which is also a plus!

Weather aside, this park is great.  We havent gotten to go on any hikes yet, but are enjoying our stay in our little campsite area all the same.  For those interested, you can look up the site for Assateague Island National Seashore and find our campground on the map; we're in Bayside Campground, Loop A, site A14.  I would post a link here but it's kinda difficult to look it up, cut and paste all on the smartphone.   The site we chose is excellent, with an open view to the bay and a flat marsh that leads out to it where there are all kinds of waterfowl constantly coming and going.  We're also on an end site so we only have one neighbor, although we do get the lion's share of lookie-loos passing by since we are essentially the first campsite one finds on this side of the island.  We're a short walk from water and pit toilets/cold showers, and there is a nice constant breeze which keeps most of the bugs at bay.

Yesterday, shortly after our arrival we had a herd of five horses gallop into our camp loop, which was amazing, and a bit scary since like I said we're the first site off the road and it seemed like they were headed straight for us!  Fortunately though, it seems like they were just trying to get to their next grazing spot in haste and luckily picked our Loop to stay in, at least for the time being.  Miriam has taken to naming all of them, based on her observations, although she learned this morning from a park ranger that they already have names given by park  patrons as part of a fundraising plan hosted by the park.  "Our" herd consists of five horses; four mares and a stallion.  Miriam named the stallion Simba (park name Mohawk), and the mares Baby, Belly, Footsie, and Chin (park name Lori).  She seems to be soo happy to be here, especially since we have our own Loop A Herd that sort of just mills around the nearby campsites and grazes.

After returning from a run out to get some ice at the local rip-off-mart we were fortunate enough to have the heard come grazing right though our own campsite!  A few times they had to be shoo'd away from our campstove  and my bicycle which seemed to be equally delicious to them.  These equines are quite the curious bunch and are in no way shy!  There are warnings everywhere not to get too close to them, and pictures posted in the ranger stations and bathrooms of bites that park-goers received from being too friendly with these inquisitive equines.  We have been sure to keep the minimum 10 feet distance the park warnings demand although once or twice I managed to come pretty close in an effort to shoo one away from our campstove lighter.  I think it must be hard for Miriam to see these horses and not be able to really interact with them, especially since she says that one of our herd is exceptionally curious and friendly and seems to just want to make some new people-friends.  At least Mac will be waiting at home for her when we get back (although he has the opposite problem where its almost impossible to catch him).

We met another camping couple today with two of the biggest English bulldogs I have ever seen.  They were out on a short walk and seemed to be dying with panting that sounded like the exhaust from a diesel truck.  I imagined the boy dog to be probably 60lbs of solid squishy dog mush and the female to be maybe 5lbs lighter.  The boy reminded me of what Diesel would look like if he were put in a compactor face-up and came out with the same amount of skin but just half his length and no snout to speak of.  Oh, except these dogs were super happy despite their dying from exercise. I wonder if Diesel is even moreso the most pathetic and sad dog since we're both away "forever".

The rain seems to have cleared up now, so I'm going to take this opportunity to get some air and try to get a bike ride in before we get another round of the wet stuff.

Till next time!
RhodeKill Rob