Sunday morning and it is a day off. Whoohoo! This past week has been a challenge along with great fun, drama, and some trauma. All of which make for great stories - here are a few:
(Elwood KS to Kennekuk in Horton KS) You remember the saga of easy boot gluing? Well, day one minute one Scarlet lost a boot. I didn't realize it until we got out of camp about 200 yards as she was so much of a handful leaving. But then I did and got off to put on her backup boot. Well, she still wanted very badly to return to camp and ended up kicking me, sending me flying about 5 feet. She got me in the arm and not on any joint or bone, so I climbed on and we set off, 3 booted. About 6 miles later she was calm enough for me to get it on with the help of a boot guru. All was well until we hit lunch and a huge thunderstorm. We stayed for only a few minutes as the horses began to shiver and we couldn't let them stand. Riding with about 5 people, we got across the road in what was now clay muck, and saw two big white horses coming towards us from a farm. "They are behind a wire fence, no problem" says Karen, at which point they hit the road right behind us and we found one was a stallion. Scarlet helped by immediately throwing that easy boot and going into heat. I jumped off as the stallion tried to jump on. You try getting an easy boot on in mud you can't stand up in with your horse spinning as another tries to mount her and 4 riders try to shield us. I did finally get back on (Scarlet 3 booted still) and thinking we would be okay with the two back riders driving the horses off, when the tornado siren goes off. We quickly pooled our knowledge of what to do with an approaching tornado and came up with NOTHING. So we kept riding, kept keeping the stallion at bay, and began praying.
Eventually it stopped raining and two crew guys caught the loose horses and put them in the closest field; who knows whose it was and what happened. I then got the boot back on and we made it home.
Second day (Horton KS to Seneca KS): the forecast was for really violent weather with more thundershowers and hail. Only 20 or so set out. The morning was beautiful and Sage was fun to ride. I was with a different group of 5 after lunch when the storm hit. 8+ inches in four hours. The roads turned into rivers in places and the horses all carried at least a pound of mud on each foot. They kept trying to turn their backs to the storm but we pushed them on. At this point we were just behind the first two riders and following their hoof prints. At mile 40 or so we found Allan's wife and mother, there on a lonely muddy road, with horse food and water: a truely wonderful sight. Two of our group didn't even have jackets and Lauren gave Lyle her's. We continued, battling the mud and hail and lightening and thunder. At what we later found to be 3/4s of a mile from camp, Sage had a dramatic bucking fit and I hit the ground on the first solid patch we saw that afternoon. Wind knocked out of me, I couldn't move. Luckily I was numb with cold so I didn't hurt too badly. But we missed the turn there and went 6 miles out of our way, in that horrible storm. Ended up in last place of course. And still it rained.
That camp had a huge pond and the dogs loved it, swimming in the pouring rain, happy as the frogs that croaked all around us.
(Seneca KS to Cottonwood, or Hanover KS)Third day was Pema's turn - my least reliable horse. I took a lot of Aleve and a Vicodin with me, fearing the worst. But she was brilliant - easy and forward and we had a wonderful ride that did last 10 hours but was really really fun. At mile 39 we met crew, loaded the horses for a drive across Blue River, then road the last 10 miles in. The camp was beautiful - a field below a community center. Our camp looked like a Chinese laundry as Steve dried everything out.
Day 4 (Hanover to Big Sandy, NE). Scarlet again, and she was perfect (except for lunch when she was horrible about not being with her herd). We were on the Oregon/California/Pony Express trail the entire way, with signs to follow. We went 1 mile straight, then turned left for a mile, then right for a mile, then left for a mile, then r, well, you can do the math. Not as many rolling hills as Kansas but the same corn and wheat and barley fields, farms, little town with water towers. As so many rigs had gotten stuck in mud the day before, they parked along the road instead of in the field where we had planned to camp. I was tired, and so glad around 8:30 when I was headed off to bed. Then little David, our youngest rider at 13, sounded the alarm that the state police would ticket everyone on the road. I came close to crying, but we packed up again and moved to the field. Sure enough many were stuck the next morning as it was raining when dawn broke; the local tractors did a great busines.. Steve got out on his own, as he is the man!
Day 5 (Big Sandy to Oak NE). Fog and rain in the morning, and Sage and I set out faster than I usually go. Then we got hooked on a couple of riders and I was committed, unless I wanted to get off and walk until the riders disappeared. But she was strong and her heart rate low so we kept going. Lots of old trail markers to stop and see, and lots and LOTS of marijuana growing on the side of the road. After lunch we found a pig pen with some very happy pigs - one of the biggest plants I've ever seen growing in their midst. We rode all day with Tracy, a woman from San Jose who I didn't know until we met here. We stopped at a house that had been the Kiowa Pony Express station, the last one unburned by the Indians. Current owners had a table out with lemonade and water and buckets of water for our horses. They even let us hose the horses off (getting humid and warm now). The man had a silk screening business and had made some tshirts and bandanas with the Pony Express rider on them for us to purchase. We of course didn't carry any money, but he said take them and my card, and send me the money or call me with a credit card number. Filled my water bottles with lemonade and set off for the last 8 miles of the week. We rode into Oak, which is a dear little town with lots of abandoned houses - just a few folk still living here but there is one that mows all the public land (parks, side of the road, etc.) There is also a bar/restaurant, and they were happy and prepared for us - great food and karaoke into the night. We are parked in a field near the grainery. Horses have the big electric fence paddock and lots to eat (did I tell you that there is so much grass along the roads the horses eat their way through the day - they are all gaining weight!). We are here for two days and will spend it doing laundry (in the next bigger town), getting food for us and the horses, and catching up on sleep.
One more story: I bought enough contact lenses for the trip before I left, from Costco. I put one in last week in Elwood, and couldn't see a thing. Bad lens I thought, so I tried another. Still couldn't see. With glasses on I found the prescription was exactly backwards -2.75 instead of +2.75. I called Costco in Santa Cruz, and they admitted that in fact it was their fault and I should come in for replacements. I explained the situation and asked them to send the new ones to General Delivery here in Oak. Can't do that she said, store policy. So I explained again that I was riding across the west and would not have an address, and she said let me see what I can do. When I rode into town today Steve had them: turns out the postmistress here in town and come to the RV park where some rigs were pulling in, asking if anyone knew Debbie Boscoe, she had a special delivery. Let's hear it for big box stores and small town post offices.
I don't have a cable now to download pictures - will borrow one and post some later today or tomorrow.
