Trail Riding is an outdoor activity for people who like equines and the "old way of travelling". People with horses, mules, wagons get together and spend weekends in camps from where they ride out on a trail. The rides are mostly hosted by ranchers or associations (like TETRA here in Texas). Some time ago trail riders were looked at as outcasts, but eventually trail riding turned into family fun.

I was introduced to this activity in the beginning of this year 1999, and my very first experience was not very pleasant - weatherwise. The weather had been rather nice until that weekend, but who could know that we would get another freeze...

At that time we only had a little dome tent to sleep in, and it was wet, windy and freezing cold when we arrived in Palestine (Texas). Fortunately the hosts of the ride had a heated club house where we spent most of the time. That weekend nobody even thought about riding out, but I got to meet a bunch of very nice people of all age groups. I would definitely give it another try!
By now I had the chance to attend a few rides throughout Central Texas. Although I don't own a horse I got the opportunity to ride a few times. And there is always a spot in a wagon to ride on.
I never realized how beautiful Texas was until I got to see it from the trail rider's view!
We eventually replaced the tent with a van, then a small motor home, but since we really don't travel enough to justify a big rig we replaced all that burden with a camper top for the pickup. No extra tags, tires or engine to worry about....