I had heard about this ride, "Best of America by Horseback", sometime during the winter from someone on the MulesOnly internet list. I didn't really give it any serious consideration as I thought of this type of ride as likely to be quite boring. Then sometime in early summer, this ride was once again mentioned by a list member and I looked into it. It was being held at the Rocking S Ranch in Fort Fairfield, ME. This is a 5 hour drive north of where I live. But, once I read over the information on the ride, it actually sounded like it might be kind of fun. It was a part of Maine I've never been to. And the ride was held the same time as Fort Fairfields annual Potato Blossom Festival. I called my friend Barbara and asked if she would be interested in going. She said she would love to go so we signed up for the ride.
We headed out just a little after 9:00 AM on Thursday morning. I had worked that night so it was going to be a long day for me. It was a very nice day, sunny and in the low 80's with low humidity. Barbara brought her dog, Maggie. She is a very sweet Jack Russell. So, I brought my dog, Zephyr who was thrilled at being able to go. The drive was very easy and we arrived at the ranch at 2:30 PM. We registered, and were given a nice tote bag with Lots of "goodies" in it. We were shown where to park the trailer and how much room we had to set up our pen for Marie and Louie. As we drove to our campsite, we spotted a pen with 3 mules and a second pen with 1 mule. I was so excited to see other mules here! We unloaded Louie and Marie first and tied them to the trailer with hay to keep the occupied. We tied out the dogs and then set up the pen for Louie and Marie and got them settled with hay and water. Of course all they cared about was the nice green grass. Barbara and I set up camp. I had bought a "First Up" canopy as I know we'd be camping in an open field and would welcome the shade it would offer. It was easy to set up and I was very pleased with it.
Barbara and I then went to find someone who could tell us where everything was such as water, shower house, place to dump manure etc. In our quest for information we came across Ellen Ross and Ann Roy. They are friends taht I hadn't seen in quite a while. I was thrilled to see them at the ride. Ellen showed us some tricks that she had trained her horse to do and it was fun to watch. We only talked for a short time as we knew we had all weekend to catch up with each other.
The Rocking S Ranch is lovely. The countryside is rolling hills and farmland where the main crops are broccoli and potato. There is a lovely view from the ranch and it borders the Aroostook River. The owners, Steve and Sarah Ulman, are wonderful people and made everyone feel so welcome. A big tent had been set up where meals would be served and we were thrilled to find out that meals would be available to buy there all weekend! So, Barbara and I had supper both ordering chop suey. We fed Louie and Marie and walked the dogs so we would be ready for the first ride which was at 7:00 PM.
We headed out just a little after 9:00 AM on Thursday morning. I had worked that night so it was going to be a long day for me. It was a very nice day, sunny and in the low 80's with low humidity. Barbara brought her dog, Maggie. She is a very sweet Jack Russell. So, I brought my dog, Zephyr who was thrilled at being able to go. The drive was very easy and we arrived at the ranch at 2:30 PM. We registered, and were given a nice tote bag with Lots of "goodies" in it. We were shown where to park the trailer and how much room we had to set up our pen for Marie and Louie. As we drove to our campsite, we spotted a pen with 3 mules and a second pen with 1 mule. I was so excited to see other mules here! We unloaded Louie and Marie first and tied them to the trailer with hay to keep the occupied. We tied out the dogs and then set up the pen for Louie and Marie and got them settled with hay and water. Of course all they cared about was the nice green grass. Barbara and I set up camp. I had bought a "First Up" canopy as I know we'd be camping in an open field and would welcome the shade it would offer. It was easy to set up and I was very pleased with it.
Barbara and I then went to find someone who could tell us where everything was such as water, shower house, place to dump manure etc. In our quest for information we came across Ellen Ross and Ann Roy. They are friends taht I hadn't seen in quite a while. I was thrilled to see them at the ride. Ellen showed us some tricks that she had trained her horse to do and it was fun to watch. We only talked for a short time as we knew we had all weekend to catch up with each other.
The Rocking S Ranch is lovely. The countryside is rolling hills and farmland where the main crops are broccoli and potato. There is a lovely view from the ranch and it borders the Aroostook River. The owners, Steve and Sarah Ulman, are wonderful people and made everyone feel so welcome. A big tent had been set up where meals would be served and we were thrilled to find out that meals would be available to buy there all weekend! So, Barbara and I had supper both ordering chop suey. We fed Louie and Marie and walked the dogs so we would be ready for the first ride which was at 7:00 PM.
Barbara and I were tacked up and ready to go at 7:00 PM. Louie was a little excited. I'm sure he thought we were at a competition. The ride started pretty much on time and there was quite a large group of riders. Louie was definitely confused right at first at the slower pace but within 15 or 20 minutes figured out this was not a competition and switched gears into trail mule mode and was very good. The ride started out along the Aroostook River for a few miles. We crossed a road, went through a farm yard and up a hill and onto a ridge. It was here that Marie suddenly got very excited and started calling and pulling on Barbara wanting to speed up. My friend Susie had borrowed Marie two weeks ago when she and her husband had come to this same place to camp and ride. I am quite sure that Marie was looking for Susie's horse, Spark, remembering him being here from two weeks ago. She only stayed excited for 10 or 15 minutes then settled down again. We rode along the ridge beside the potato fields for several miles and the views were lovely with green, rolling hills and fields every where you looked. Most of the potato's were blossomed which added to the beauty of the ride. We got back to the ranch at 8:45 PM.
As we were riding across the grounds towards our trailer, we came across Ellen Ross but didn't see Ann. We asked Ellen where Ann was and she told us that Ann had gotten hurt on the ride. Just after crossing the road, Ann's horse had bucked and Annie came off. She remounted her horse and for unknown reasons, the horse reared and went over backwards on her landing on her upper body and head. Annie was taken to the hospital. She had 5 broken ribs. Thankfully she was wearing a helmet as her helmet was destroyed but not her head. Everyone was very worried and concerned about her.
Each evening there was a big campfire, music and cowboy poetry read. The musician was Del Shields and he was wonderful. Now I have to say that poetry is not something I have any great interest in and I was not all that excited when I heard there would be poetry reading at the nightly campfires. But, after hearing readings of "cowboy poetry" I have a whole new appreciation of poetry. It was great, funny, so true and I looked forward to it each night thereafter. Barbara was going to sit at the campfire for a while and brought Maggie with her. Poor Maggie was terrified of the popping sounds from the fire and Barbara had to take her back to the trailer. I sent Zephyr back with her. Barbara isn't a night owl like me anyway and decided to go to bed. Just before the campfire broke up for the night, I asked Del if I could use his guitar and play a song. He graciously said yes and I played and sang "Berkeley Woman". Back at camp I checked Marie and Louie, filling their water and made sure they had enough hay for the night. They were both quiet and relaxed. I went into my trailer to go to bed and found Barbara asleep on her cot with Maggie curled up near her head and Zephyr curled up sleeping on her feet. It was so cute! I roused Zephyr and put him up in the gooseneck to sleep with me and he was happy with that too. It was a chilly evening and I was glad I had extra blankets in the trailer. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep!
Friday morning I was up around 7:00 AM. It was to be another lovely day. Sunny but not uncomfortably warm. I fed the Louie and Marie and picked their pen. Manure as well as trash was picked up several times a day right at each campsite which was so nice. I had to run a line down the middle of the pen to separate Louie and Marie as Louie takes such a long time to eat. He tends to pick, especially since I have added soaked beet pulp to his rations which he is not thrilled about. I went and had breakfast at the tent. After breakfast I made a quick run to town, which is only 2 1/2 miles away, to get ice while Barbara walked the dogs. We then got ready for the morning ride that was at 9:30 AM. We were warned that this trail was a bit tougher and for intermediate level riders and horses. Barbara and I were not worried. Turned out there was good reason for this warning. There was a section of trail that was a bit rough. It was very narrow and a bit slick with mud. The trail dropped off steeply on the left side into a stream and had a steep banking on the right. I was behind Barbara on Marie on this section of trail. The rider in front of Barbara had some trouble when her horse became scared and tried to turn around. There was no room for the horse to turn. Marie, trying to keep out of this horses way and had one back foot slip off the trail over the bank. Thankfully, she did not panic and managed to get her foot back up on the trail. Barbara dismounted at this point to see if she could help the woman in front of her. The woman had stayed quiet and calm and managed to get her horse under control and moving down the trail. Of course Barbara now wanted to get back on Marie and was looking for a safe spot to mount. Barbara is not very tall and Marie's barrel shaped body leads to the saddle rolling around her quite easily. Barbara really didn't want to mount from the "wrong" (right) side as that is awkward. She led Marie down the trail a short distance and finally came to a spot just wide enough to turn Marie around putting Barbara on the uphill side of the trail to mount comfortably. The rider behind me got very anxious thinking Barbara was the one that was having trouble with her horse and that she was trying to turn around and come back past everyone. I had to assure this rider that all was well and Barbara was only turning around to mount and that was all. As we were riding back into camp, we realized we had only been out for about 1 hr. and 45 minutes so Barbara and I decided to continue riding on our own. We rode the ridge trail that we'd ridden the previous evening and had a wonderful ride taking some pictures along the way. Both Louie and Marie were a bit sulky about heading away from camp and leaving all the other horses and mules but after just a few miles they both perked up and were great.
Once back in camp, we untacked Louie and Marie, hosed them off and settled them into their pen with plenty of hay and water. I had brought a broccoli salad I made at home and we settled down under the canopy and had that along with some cheese and crackers that Barbara brought for lunch. I was sure glad I'd bought the canopy for this ride as we were in an open field and it was the only shade we had. Though it was not too hot on this day, shade was still appreciated. I went and took a shower and Barbara napped for a while. We went out with the group for another ride at 2:30 PM. We spent time riding with Christine Wells, the woman that had brought the other mules that were at the ride. She had driven up from South GA. Her mules were wonderful and she is an absolutely fascinating woman and was so much fun to ride with and talk to. Louie was behaving absolutely perfectly and I was having such a nice relaxing time so far. Marie was wonderful also but she continued to have spells where she seemed to be looking for Spark (my best guess) and would get a bit excited and rammy. The spells never lasted long though much to Barbara's relief. Marie was also starting to get kind of protective of ALL the mules in camp. She would look for them and wanted to keep them all in sight which was kind of funny. There was one point on the ride where we were riding a short stretch on the paved road and we came to a home where a couple men were washing their car in their driveway with a pressure washer. One of the woman ahead of us had a horse that was spooked by the pressure washer and she started yelling and swearing at the men. It was quite embarrassing as the men were doing nothing wrong and hadn't even heard us coming. A few of us apologized to them as we rode by. The last thing needed is bad feelings created towards horseback riders. One of the men made the comment that "there are pills for that kind of attitude". Sigh. Once back at camp, we settled Louie and Marie in for the night. I separated them for a while so Louie could eat in peace. This night steak was being served for supper. It was absolutely delicious steak. Local grown and the best I've had in ages. Tender, juicy and cooked exactly as ordered. There was also garden salad, a potato salad and rolls with strawberry shortcake for desert. After supper Barbara and I walked the dogs down by the river then Barbara headed for bed around 9:00 PM. I went to the campfire for the evening. Tonight along with Del's music and more cowboy poetry, cowboy Bob played the harmonica. It was all great.
Barbara with Marie
Louie.....licking my trailer fender.....???
There was a bit of confusion on Saturday morning. Today there was a pancake breakfast in town that we could ride to and a parade after for those that wanted to ride in it. The brochure said those riding to the breakfast would ride out at 7:30 AM then meet up with anyone riding in the parade that didn't ride to breakfast at 10:30 AM. So, Barbara and I were up early, fed Marie and Louie and took the dogs for a walk. Then we came back to camp and got Marie and Louie ready for the parade. Barbara had bought some silk flowers to decorate Marie with. We put them in her mane and tail and on her bridle. It looked so pretty. Today was going to be a very hot day. There were concerns about the horses being in town for so long with no water. So, the decision was made to not ride to the pancake breakfast and to drive into town instead, then come back and ride into town just for the parade. Barbara and I didn't find this all out until after we had tacked up and decorated Marie with the flowers. But, we were flexible and it was a sensible decision so we untacked and put Louie and Marie back in their pen and just kept them separated hoping Marie's flower decorations didn't get wrecked. Barbara and I drove into town and we had a very nice breakfast. The breakfast was put on by some club for the Potato Blossom Festival. It was well run and everyone was so friendly. When we got back to camp we were relieved to see Marie's decorations still in place. I had put a couple flowers on Louie but he had rubbed them out and ruined them. Naughty boy. I put what was left of them together and mounted them on his bridle right between his ears. It looked silly but was funny.
We rode along the side of road into town. The trail along the river has some muddy spots and with everyone dressed up for the parade, we decided to avoid the trail. There were a lot of riders for the parade and it was a slow ride into town. The woman who's horse spooked at the pressure washer had decided to ride in the parade and I had concerns about her horses ability to handle this. This horse also seemed to be very lame in all four feet to me which might explain this horses behavior. Barbara and I were riding with the lead group and we had to wait in a park on the edge of town for everyone to catch up. It was indeed getting hot so we were gathering under what shade we could find. Barbara and I were staying with Christine and Jan who were riding mules. Marie was getting even more protective of her mules then ever. If we got separated at all she would keep looking around and when any of the mules brayed she would immediately answer. She was behaving quite well though. Once we were all together, we rode across the bridge into town. The bridge is a long one spanning the Aroostook River. Louie didn't mind this at all though was quite concerned about the metal expansion strips. Silly mules, he's seen them before on the highway overpass bridges we cross near my house. He didn't make a big fuss though, just hesitated and once Marie went over he went quietly. We all rode up to the High School where the gathering spot and start of the parade was. It was the usual hurry up and wait that goes with any parade. It was getting very hot and there was a lot of waiting. Louie was SOOOOOOO good about it and didn't fuss at all. Marie got a little bit fussy but mostly due to worrying about keeping her mule herd together. Eventually, the parade got underway and we were lined up three abreast behind a big wagon being pulled by draft horses. I have to say we didn't do very well keeping in formation but we had fun. The parade route was 2 1/2 to 3 miles long I'd guess and it was slow HOT going. Louie did GREAT! He only danced sideways past some flower planters in a median strip but didn't give anything else a second look. It took him a few minutes to figure out that a parade walk was slow but he did get it. Marie continued to worry about her herd but was not bad. The benefit was she looked so nice as her head was up and arched rather then her usual "I'm about to fall asleep" look. We rode with Christine and she was great in the parade. She has perfected the parade wave and was telling everyone how she had come all the way from South Georgia to be in this parade and how proud she was to be in Maine with her mules. When we were stopped she would talk to people near us telling them all about mules. The woman who's horse I thought looked very lame did have trouble with her horse and ended up dismounting and leaving the parade. Once through town, there is a gravel road between the back of the main street buildings and the river that we rode back to the bridge on. A woman that was riding one of Christine's mule dropped her cigarettes and had to dismount to get them. Then she had trouble mounting up as the mule was anxious about getting separated from it's herd mates. I had to hop off and hold the mule so she could mount. I was so proud of Louie that he was so calm and quiet that I was able to help someone else. The ride back to camp was quicker as we didn't have to wait for anyone. One horse was really fussing though and dancing around all over the side of the road as we were passing one of the broccoli fields. The ranch owner rode up and told the horse owner that he needed to get the horse under control or get off and lead the horses as horses are not allowed near the broccoli fields. There is some law about this and if a horse is seen within so many feet of a broccoli field, the whole field will be rejected and can't be harvested, which will make one very angry farmer.
When we got back, we un-tacked, un-decorated and hosed off Louie and Marie. Then Barbara and I sacked out under the canopy to just relax and rest. It had been a long, hot, but fun ride. We ate the rest of the broccoli salad I'd made along with cheese and crackers. Barbara headed for the showers while I snoozed. Christine came over to visit with me for a while and we had a lovely time chatting. Later Barbara and I walked the dogs before supper. Tonight's supper was a chicken BBQ complete with corn on the cob, potato salad and rolls. Desert was a brownie with whipped cream on top. It was very good. Tom and Del gave a talk after the supper that was nice and quite entertaining. That evening I went to the campfire. Barbara said she was going to walk Maggie and see how close she could get her to the fire. Not very close as it turned out. Though I have to say that both dogs were having as good a time camping out as Barbara and I were. Maggie is a very sweet little dog and so easy to have along. Maggie and Zephyr got along wonderfully and seemed to really enjoy each other's company which was nice for the time we were riding and had to leave them tied in camp.
Sunday morning a ploy breakfast was served and it was very good. As well as the ploy,there was bacon, sausage, corn bread, biscuits and scrambled eggs. All you could eat for $5. WOW! Can you spell o v e r e a t! Then there was Cowboy church at 10:30 AM. Del Shields held the service and it was very nice. Today was to be the ride to the Canadian border. This was going to be a longer ride said to be 5 hrs. There were a lot of people leaving camp this day so many did not want to do a long ride. So, plans were changed and the border ride was replaced with a shorter ride that would be a combination of two trails we'd already done and would only be 2 hrs. at the most. I had called Susie to see what she thought of the border ride as she'd done it two weeks ago. She said it was nice but not a 5 hr. ride if you moved along. But, it was an "up and back" ride. The ranch owner Steve told those of us that were staying the night that he would trailer anyone out that afternoon for a second ride. He would drop us off at a location 8 miles from camp and we would ride back. Steve said it was a pretty ride. So, this is what we decided to do. Then, at the last minutes, Steve had a small group of riders that still wanted to do the border ride and wanted to ride at a faster pace. So, we ended up joining this group. It was a good choice. It was another hot day but mostly overcast keeping it from being too uncomfortable. Most of the ride was along the Aroostook river and there was a nice breeze coming off the river. We had to ride back through town to get to the border. The 5 of us moved right along with Steve and his friend moseying along behind us. We waited for them at the bridge and crossed together. Then we rode along the top of the berm beside the river and behind the main street building of town with Steve doing pooper scooper duty. Then we were an old rail road bed for the rest of the ride to the border. We were able to move along pretty fast on this and it was fun. Barbara led some of it with Marie and would pick up a nice steady trot. Then the others would get ahead and they would gallop along fast for short stretches then walk for a bit. Louie was getting a little bit excited about the speed so I held him back a little so he could learn he didn't have to keep up and race with them. Marie didn't care what we did and was very good this day. When we reached the border there was a rode block stating the road was closed. But, no other indication that it was the Canadian border. There was a house right there at the border and the home owner came out to talk with us. Soon Steve and his friend caught up with us. He told us to not try crossing the border under any circumstance. There is a BIG fine if you get caught doing this. We took some pictures at the border. Another home owner told us we could ride up a trail by her home that went right along the border. She said the trail went up a hill into some potato fields and the view was really nice. So, we did this. There were white concrete pillers along this trail marking the border. We explained to the horses and mule that if they spooked at anything, they could only spook to the right as if they spooked to the left we would cross the border and get in trouble. Steve said before 9-11, crossing the border was no big deal but since then, it's taken very seriously. The view from the top of the hill was indeed lovely and we came to a gravel road (or driveway) that looped us back down to the road. We rode along the road for a mile or so when Sally said it would be fun if we just had an old time saloon to ride to. Steve then told us we could stop at a saloon in town if we wanted to. None of us had any money so Steve lent us $30 and told us to go on ahead of him and have fun. So, we got back on the railroad bed and boogied back to town. There is an Amish community in Fairfield so there are hitching rails in town. Being Sunday, the saloon was closed of course. We hadn't thought of that. But, the Potato Blossom Festival was still going in full swing. There was only one short hitching rail at the end of town where we were and not all the horse in our group were getting along well. So, 3 horses were hitched. Barbara and I kept Louie and Marie with us and led them into town to the Festival's food concession stands that were all in one parking lot. Of course Marie had to drop a big pile of poop here and Barbara had to scramble around for a way to remove it. She found some cardboard to scoop it up with and managed the clean up. We each bough a fried dough and then went back across the street behind the buildings to avoid having to pick up any more piles of horse poo. The others I think hit every food concession there. Fried dough, onion rings, hot dogs, slushies were bought and shared. Steve and his friend caught up with us in town. We shared our Dough boys with him and they continued on to camp. We hung out in town a little longer then headed back to camp also. Along the river trail, the other really took off at a fast gallop. Poor Louie got a little frustrated with me. I wanted to follow them that fast and Louie was more then willing but I was having some flash back to my wreck with him last summer and was telling him to go, then pulling him back, then telling him to go, then pulling him back. Louie got really frustrated as he just didn't understand what I wanted. I felt bad. He didn't do anything bad though but I could feel his confusion and frustration. This was only for a mile or so though and then we took a short cut back to camp and beat the others back. I hate that I still have these moments of fear but they do happen less and less and I know they will go away with a little more time. Louie has proved time and again that though he is green, he is a sensible good minded mule and I need to trust him just a little bit more.
Once back to camp, we hosed Louie and Marie down and I quickly headed for a shower. On the way to the shower I noticed the sky in the distance looked a bit dark but nothing that really made me worry. As I was in the shower, I suddenly heard this huge clap of thunder!!! ACK! I rinsed as quickly as I could to get out of the water! When I opened the bathroom door, rain was comming down in torrents. I made a mad dash to the indoor arena that was close by. I stayed in there a few mintues and the wind picked up and blew something fierce! I decided to try to make a run for our campsite but it was quite a distance across the open field. I felt bad that Barbara was alone holding down the camp. I started to make a run for it but I no sooner left the shelter of the indoor arena when there were multiple lightening strikes too close for comfort and I ran under the nearest shelter I could find which was Tom Shea's awning on his trailer. He was parked right alongside the indoor arena so had some protection from the wind. He must have seen me duck under his awning as he opened his camper door and invited me in to wait out the storm with him and his wife. At this point I'd abandoned any thoughts of making it to my campsite and gratefully took up Tom's invitation. They offered me something to drink and I had some water and we chatted until the storm blew over which was wasn't long. I thanked them for their hospitality and went to see how Barbara had faired at the campsite. Well, she had gotten all the windows closed in the truck and trailer but unfortunately could do nothing to save my brand new canopy shelter. It was bent and broken beyond repair. And it was certainly not the only one as most all the other in the campsite suffered the same fate. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Barbara's dog Maggie is scared of thunder storms and was panting and shaking for quite a while. Barbara said that Louie and Marie had just turned their butts to the wind and rain and seemed unconcerned even with the canopy shelters flying around. Soon the sun was back out like nothing had happened. A couple people came over to help me get the twisted broken frame of my canopy shelter folded up so I could put it in the back of my truck.
Barbara and I walked the dogs then headed to town to get some supper. There wasn't much to be found open but a little corner store that served food and ice cream so we ate there. Barbara had Beer Poutin and I had fish and chips. It filled the void. When we got back to camp, our neighbor Sally got after us for going out to eat as she said she had cooked plenty of food and was hoping that we would join them for supper. Darn, what they had sounded better then what we had. Oh well. We did sit and visit with them for quite a while. We then headed to bed fairly early as there was no campfire tonight. I was quite pleased with myself for chatting with Barbara after we went to bed and keeping her up until nearly 10:00 PM. I'll make a night owl out of her yet.....ok, maybe not.
We were up Monday morning sometime just after 7:00 AM. I got Louie and Marie fed and cleaned their pen. It didn't take long to pack up as mother nature had given us a head start yesterday by packing up the canopy shelter for me. We were on the road by 8:45 AM and had an uneventful drive home arriving at 1:50 PM. Louie and Marie seemed to enjoy their outing but were sure glad to be home, I didn't even manage to get Louie's halter off before he dropped to roll in home dirt. It was a great weekend and I'm so glad that I went and that Barbara was able to go with me.
As we were riding across the grounds towards our trailer, we came across Ellen Ross but didn't see Ann. We asked Ellen where Ann was and she told us that Ann had gotten hurt on the ride. Just after crossing the road, Ann's horse had bucked and Annie came off. She remounted her horse and for unknown reasons, the horse reared and went over backwards on her landing on her upper body and head. Annie was taken to the hospital. She had 5 broken ribs. Thankfully she was wearing a helmet as her helmet was destroyed but not her head. Everyone was very worried and concerned about her.
Each evening there was a big campfire, music and cowboy poetry read. The musician was Del Shields and he was wonderful. Now I have to say that poetry is not something I have any great interest in and I was not all that excited when I heard there would be poetry reading at the nightly campfires. But, after hearing readings of "cowboy poetry" I have a whole new appreciation of poetry. It was great, funny, so true and I looked forward to it each night thereafter. Barbara was going to sit at the campfire for a while and brought Maggie with her. Poor Maggie was terrified of the popping sounds from the fire and Barbara had to take her back to the trailer. I sent Zephyr back with her. Barbara isn't a night owl like me anyway and decided to go to bed. Just before the campfire broke up for the night, I asked Del if I could use his guitar and play a song. He graciously said yes and I played and sang "Berkeley Woman". Back at camp I checked Marie and Louie, filling their water and made sure they had enough hay for the night. They were both quiet and relaxed. I went into my trailer to go to bed and found Barbara asleep on her cot with Maggie curled up near her head and Zephyr curled up sleeping on her feet. It was so cute! I roused Zephyr and put him up in the gooseneck to sleep with me and he was happy with that too. It was a chilly evening and I was glad I had extra blankets in the trailer. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep!
Friday morning I was up around 7:00 AM. It was to be another lovely day. Sunny but not uncomfortably warm. I fed the Louie and Marie and picked their pen. Manure as well as trash was picked up several times a day right at each campsite which was so nice. I had to run a line down the middle of the pen to separate Louie and Marie as Louie takes such a long time to eat. He tends to pick, especially since I have added soaked beet pulp to his rations which he is not thrilled about. I went and had breakfast at the tent. After breakfast I made a quick run to town, which is only 2 1/2 miles away, to get ice while Barbara walked the dogs. We then got ready for the morning ride that was at 9:30 AM. We were warned that this trail was a bit tougher and for intermediate level riders and horses. Barbara and I were not worried. Turned out there was good reason for this warning. There was a section of trail that was a bit rough. It was very narrow and a bit slick with mud. The trail dropped off steeply on the left side into a stream and had a steep banking on the right. I was behind Barbara on Marie on this section of trail. The rider in front of Barbara had some trouble when her horse became scared and tried to turn around. There was no room for the horse to turn. Marie, trying to keep out of this horses way and had one back foot slip off the trail over the bank. Thankfully, she did not panic and managed to get her foot back up on the trail. Barbara dismounted at this point to see if she could help the woman in front of her. The woman had stayed quiet and calm and managed to get her horse under control and moving down the trail. Of course Barbara now wanted to get back on Marie and was looking for a safe spot to mount. Barbara is not very tall and Marie's barrel shaped body leads to the saddle rolling around her quite easily. Barbara really didn't want to mount from the "wrong" (right) side as that is awkward. She led Marie down the trail a short distance and finally came to a spot just wide enough to turn Marie around putting Barbara on the uphill side of the trail to mount comfortably. The rider behind me got very anxious thinking Barbara was the one that was having trouble with her horse and that she was trying to turn around and come back past everyone. I had to assure this rider that all was well and Barbara was only turning around to mount and that was all. As we were riding back into camp, we realized we had only been out for about 1 hr. and 45 minutes so Barbara and I decided to continue riding on our own. We rode the ridge trail that we'd ridden the previous evening and had a wonderful ride taking some pictures along the way. Both Louie and Marie were a bit sulky about heading away from camp and leaving all the other horses and mules but after just a few miles they both perked up and were great.
Once back in camp, we untacked Louie and Marie, hosed them off and settled them into their pen with plenty of hay and water. I had brought a broccoli salad I made at home and we settled down under the canopy and had that along with some cheese and crackers that Barbara brought for lunch. I was sure glad I'd bought the canopy for this ride as we were in an open field and it was the only shade we had. Though it was not too hot on this day, shade was still appreciated. I went and took a shower and Barbara napped for a while. We went out with the group for another ride at 2:30 PM. We spent time riding with Christine Wells, the woman that had brought the other mules that were at the ride. She had driven up from South GA. Her mules were wonderful and she is an absolutely fascinating woman and was so much fun to ride with and talk to. Louie was behaving absolutely perfectly and I was having such a nice relaxing time so far. Marie was wonderful also but she continued to have spells where she seemed to be looking for Spark (my best guess) and would get a bit excited and rammy. The spells never lasted long though much to Barbara's relief. Marie was also starting to get kind of protective of ALL the mules in camp. She would look for them and wanted to keep them all in sight which was kind of funny. There was one point on the ride where we were riding a short stretch on the paved road and we came to a home where a couple men were washing their car in their driveway with a pressure washer. One of the woman ahead of us had a horse that was spooked by the pressure washer and she started yelling and swearing at the men. It was quite embarrassing as the men were doing nothing wrong and hadn't even heard us coming. A few of us apologized to them as we rode by. The last thing needed is bad feelings created towards horseback riders. One of the men made the comment that "there are pills for that kind of attitude". Sigh. Once back at camp, we settled Louie and Marie in for the night. I separated them for a while so Louie could eat in peace. This night steak was being served for supper. It was absolutely delicious steak. Local grown and the best I've had in ages. Tender, juicy and cooked exactly as ordered. There was also garden salad, a potato salad and rolls with strawberry shortcake for desert. After supper Barbara and I walked the dogs down by the river then Barbara headed for bed around 9:00 PM. I went to the campfire for the evening. Tonight along with Del's music and more cowboy poetry, cowboy Bob played the harmonica. It was all great.
Barbara with Marie
Louie.....licking my trailer fender.....???
There was a bit of confusion on Saturday morning. Today there was a pancake breakfast in town that we could ride to and a parade after for those that wanted to ride in it. The brochure said those riding to the breakfast would ride out at 7:30 AM then meet up with anyone riding in the parade that didn't ride to breakfast at 10:30 AM. So, Barbara and I were up early, fed Marie and Louie and took the dogs for a walk. Then we came back to camp and got Marie and Louie ready for the parade. Barbara had bought some silk flowers to decorate Marie with. We put them in her mane and tail and on her bridle. It looked so pretty. Today was going to be a very hot day. There were concerns about the horses being in town for so long with no water. So, the decision was made to not ride to the pancake breakfast and to drive into town instead, then come back and ride into town just for the parade. Barbara and I didn't find this all out until after we had tacked up and decorated Marie with the flowers. But, we were flexible and it was a sensible decision so we untacked and put Louie and Marie back in their pen and just kept them separated hoping Marie's flower decorations didn't get wrecked. Barbara and I drove into town and we had a very nice breakfast. The breakfast was put on by some club for the Potato Blossom Festival. It was well run and everyone was so friendly. When we got back to camp we were relieved to see Marie's decorations still in place. I had put a couple flowers on Louie but he had rubbed them out and ruined them. Naughty boy. I put what was left of them together and mounted them on his bridle right between his ears. It looked silly but was funny.
We rode along the side of road into town. The trail along the river has some muddy spots and with everyone dressed up for the parade, we decided to avoid the trail. There were a lot of riders for the parade and it was a slow ride into town. The woman who's horse spooked at the pressure washer had decided to ride in the parade and I had concerns about her horses ability to handle this. This horse also seemed to be very lame in all four feet to me which might explain this horses behavior. Barbara and I were riding with the lead group and we had to wait in a park on the edge of town for everyone to catch up. It was indeed getting hot so we were gathering under what shade we could find. Barbara and I were staying with Christine and Jan who were riding mules. Marie was getting even more protective of her mules then ever. If we got separated at all she would keep looking around and when any of the mules brayed she would immediately answer. She was behaving quite well though. Once we were all together, we rode across the bridge into town. The bridge is a long one spanning the Aroostook River. Louie didn't mind this at all though was quite concerned about the metal expansion strips. Silly mules, he's seen them before on the highway overpass bridges we cross near my house. He didn't make a big fuss though, just hesitated and once Marie went over he went quietly. We all rode up to the High School where the gathering spot and start of the parade was. It was the usual hurry up and wait that goes with any parade. It was getting very hot and there was a lot of waiting. Louie was SOOOOOOO good about it and didn't fuss at all. Marie got a little bit fussy but mostly due to worrying about keeping her mule herd together. Eventually, the parade got underway and we were lined up three abreast behind a big wagon being pulled by draft horses. I have to say we didn't do very well keeping in formation but we had fun. The parade route was 2 1/2 to 3 miles long I'd guess and it was slow HOT going. Louie did GREAT! He only danced sideways past some flower planters in a median strip but didn't give anything else a second look. It took him a few minutes to figure out that a parade walk was slow but he did get it. Marie continued to worry about her herd but was not bad. The benefit was she looked so nice as her head was up and arched rather then her usual "I'm about to fall asleep" look. We rode with Christine and she was great in the parade. She has perfected the parade wave and was telling everyone how she had come all the way from South Georgia to be in this parade and how proud she was to be in Maine with her mules. When we were stopped she would talk to people near us telling them all about mules. The woman who's horse I thought looked very lame did have trouble with her horse and ended up dismounting and leaving the parade. Once through town, there is a gravel road between the back of the main street buildings and the river that we rode back to the bridge on. A woman that was riding one of Christine's mule dropped her cigarettes and had to dismount to get them. Then she had trouble mounting up as the mule was anxious about getting separated from it's herd mates. I had to hop off and hold the mule so she could mount. I was so proud of Louie that he was so calm and quiet that I was able to help someone else. The ride back to camp was quicker as we didn't have to wait for anyone. One horse was really fussing though and dancing around all over the side of the road as we were passing one of the broccoli fields. The ranch owner rode up and told the horse owner that he needed to get the horse under control or get off and lead the horses as horses are not allowed near the broccoli fields. There is some law about this and if a horse is seen within so many feet of a broccoli field, the whole field will be rejected and can't be harvested, which will make one very angry farmer.
When we got back, we un-tacked, un-decorated and hosed off Louie and Marie. Then Barbara and I sacked out under the canopy to just relax and rest. It had been a long, hot, but fun ride. We ate the rest of the broccoli salad I'd made along with cheese and crackers. Barbara headed for the showers while I snoozed. Christine came over to visit with me for a while and we had a lovely time chatting. Later Barbara and I walked the dogs before supper. Tonight's supper was a chicken BBQ complete with corn on the cob, potato salad and rolls. Desert was a brownie with whipped cream on top. It was very good. Tom and Del gave a talk after the supper that was nice and quite entertaining. That evening I went to the campfire. Barbara said she was going to walk Maggie and see how close she could get her to the fire. Not very close as it turned out. Though I have to say that both dogs were having as good a time camping out as Barbara and I were. Maggie is a very sweet little dog and so easy to have along. Maggie and Zephyr got along wonderfully and seemed to really enjoy each other's company which was nice for the time we were riding and had to leave them tied in camp.
Sunday morning a ploy breakfast was served and it was very good. As well as the ploy,there was bacon, sausage, corn bread, biscuits and scrambled eggs. All you could eat for $5. WOW! Can you spell o v e r e a t! Then there was Cowboy church at 10:30 AM. Del Shields held the service and it was very nice. Today was to be the ride to the Canadian border. This was going to be a longer ride said to be 5 hrs. There were a lot of people leaving camp this day so many did not want to do a long ride. So, plans were changed and the border ride was replaced with a shorter ride that would be a combination of two trails we'd already done and would only be 2 hrs. at the most. I had called Susie to see what she thought of the border ride as she'd done it two weeks ago. She said it was nice but not a 5 hr. ride if you moved along. But, it was an "up and back" ride. The ranch owner Steve told those of us that were staying the night that he would trailer anyone out that afternoon for a second ride. He would drop us off at a location 8 miles from camp and we would ride back. Steve said it was a pretty ride. So, this is what we decided to do. Then, at the last minutes, Steve had a small group of riders that still wanted to do the border ride and wanted to ride at a faster pace. So, we ended up joining this group. It was a good choice. It was another hot day but mostly overcast keeping it from being too uncomfortable. Most of the ride was along the Aroostook river and there was a nice breeze coming off the river. We had to ride back through town to get to the border. The 5 of us moved right along with Steve and his friend moseying along behind us. We waited for them at the bridge and crossed together. Then we rode along the top of the berm beside the river and behind the main street building of town with Steve doing pooper scooper duty. Then we were an old rail road bed for the rest of the ride to the border. We were able to move along pretty fast on this and it was fun. Barbara led some of it with Marie and would pick up a nice steady trot. Then the others would get ahead and they would gallop along fast for short stretches then walk for a bit. Louie was getting a little bit excited about the speed so I held him back a little so he could learn he didn't have to keep up and race with them. Marie didn't care what we did and was very good this day. When we reached the border there was a rode block stating the road was closed. But, no other indication that it was the Canadian border. There was a house right there at the border and the home owner came out to talk with us. Soon Steve and his friend caught up with us. He told us to not try crossing the border under any circumstance. There is a BIG fine if you get caught doing this. We took some pictures at the border. Another home owner told us we could ride up a trail by her home that went right along the border. She said the trail went up a hill into some potato fields and the view was really nice. So, we did this. There were white concrete pillers along this trail marking the border. We explained to the horses and mule that if they spooked at anything, they could only spook to the right as if they spooked to the left we would cross the border and get in trouble. Steve said before 9-11, crossing the border was no big deal but since then, it's taken very seriously. The view from the top of the hill was indeed lovely and we came to a gravel road (or driveway) that looped us back down to the road. We rode along the road for a mile or so when Sally said it would be fun if we just had an old time saloon to ride to. Steve then told us we could stop at a saloon in town if we wanted to. None of us had any money so Steve lent us $30 and told us to go on ahead of him and have fun. So, we got back on the railroad bed and boogied back to town. There is an Amish community in Fairfield so there are hitching rails in town. Being Sunday, the saloon was closed of course. We hadn't thought of that. But, the Potato Blossom Festival was still going in full swing. There was only one short hitching rail at the end of town where we were and not all the horse in our group were getting along well. So, 3 horses were hitched. Barbara and I kept Louie and Marie with us and led them into town to the Festival's food concession stands that were all in one parking lot. Of course Marie had to drop a big pile of poop here and Barbara had to scramble around for a way to remove it. She found some cardboard to scoop it up with and managed the clean up. We each bough a fried dough and then went back across the street behind the buildings to avoid having to pick up any more piles of horse poo. The others I think hit every food concession there. Fried dough, onion rings, hot dogs, slushies were bought and shared. Steve and his friend caught up with us in town. We shared our Dough boys with him and they continued on to camp. We hung out in town a little longer then headed back to camp also. Along the river trail, the other really took off at a fast gallop. Poor Louie got a little frustrated with me. I wanted to follow them that fast and Louie was more then willing but I was having some flash back to my wreck with him last summer and was telling him to go, then pulling him back, then telling him to go, then pulling him back. Louie got really frustrated as he just didn't understand what I wanted. I felt bad. He didn't do anything bad though but I could feel his confusion and frustration. This was only for a mile or so though and then we took a short cut back to camp and beat the others back. I hate that I still have these moments of fear but they do happen less and less and I know they will go away with a little more time. Louie has proved time and again that though he is green, he is a sensible good minded mule and I need to trust him just a little bit more.
Once back to camp, we hosed Louie and Marie down and I quickly headed for a shower. On the way to the shower I noticed the sky in the distance looked a bit dark but nothing that really made me worry. As I was in the shower, I suddenly heard this huge clap of thunder!!! ACK! I rinsed as quickly as I could to get out of the water! When I opened the bathroom door, rain was comming down in torrents. I made a mad dash to the indoor arena that was close by. I stayed in there a few mintues and the wind picked up and blew something fierce! I decided to try to make a run for our campsite but it was quite a distance across the open field. I felt bad that Barbara was alone holding down the camp. I started to make a run for it but I no sooner left the shelter of the indoor arena when there were multiple lightening strikes too close for comfort and I ran under the nearest shelter I could find which was Tom Shea's awning on his trailer. He was parked right alongside the indoor arena so had some protection from the wind. He must have seen me duck under his awning as he opened his camper door and invited me in to wait out the storm with him and his wife. At this point I'd abandoned any thoughts of making it to my campsite and gratefully took up Tom's invitation. They offered me something to drink and I had some water and we chatted until the storm blew over which was wasn't long. I thanked them for their hospitality and went to see how Barbara had faired at the campsite. Well, she had gotten all the windows closed in the truck and trailer but unfortunately could do nothing to save my brand new canopy shelter. It was bent and broken beyond repair. And it was certainly not the only one as most all the other in the campsite suffered the same fate. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Barbara's dog Maggie is scared of thunder storms and was panting and shaking for quite a while. Barbara said that Louie and Marie had just turned their butts to the wind and rain and seemed unconcerned even with the canopy shelters flying around. Soon the sun was back out like nothing had happened. A couple people came over to help me get the twisted broken frame of my canopy shelter folded up so I could put it in the back of my truck.
Barbara and I walked the dogs then headed to town to get some supper. There wasn't much to be found open but a little corner store that served food and ice cream so we ate there. Barbara had Beer Poutin and I had fish and chips. It filled the void. When we got back to camp, our neighbor Sally got after us for going out to eat as she said she had cooked plenty of food and was hoping that we would join them for supper. Darn, what they had sounded better then what we had. Oh well. We did sit and visit with them for quite a while. We then headed to bed fairly early as there was no campfire tonight. I was quite pleased with myself for chatting with Barbara after we went to bed and keeping her up until nearly 10:00 PM. I'll make a night owl out of her yet.....ok, maybe not.
We were up Monday morning sometime just after 7:00 AM. I got Louie and Marie fed and cleaned their pen. It didn't take long to pack up as mother nature had given us a head start yesterday by packing up the canopy shelter for me. We were on the road by 8:45 AM and had an uneventful drive home arriving at 1:50 PM. Louie and Marie seemed to enjoy their outing but were sure glad to be home, I didn't even manage to get Louie's halter off before he dropped to roll in home dirt. It was a great weekend and I'm so glad that I went and that Barbara was able to go with me.
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