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| Anthony and Cathy McAllister |
Friday and Saturday
The 2016 McAllister and Friends Shawnee mule gathering in
Southern Illinois had arrived. Another great adventure for 3 Maine ladies.
Barbara Luce, Amy Beem and I were venturing south to this exciting event. We
were using Amy’s truck and trailer so Amy picked up Barbara and then picked me and
Lily up at Joanie’s where I have been boarding Lily at about noon. It was a
busy morning for me as I am in the middle of moving out of my friend’s home
that I’ve been renting and into the rooms above my brother’s garage. I was
taking a few totes of items down with me that I would no longer be needing in
Maine. My dog Bubba was going with us and would be staying in Illinois with
Fred. I packed so much stuff into my car that I had to leave Bubba at the house
to be picked up on the way out. I got to the barn a bit early and had time to
groom Lily then turned her out while I got the things I needed out of my
trailer. Lily went right out and rolled in the dirt of course so was filthy
again when Amy and Barbara arrived. But, Maybee and Annabelle looked about the
same so she was in good company. Lily was happy to see the other mules and loaded
right on to Amy’s trailer. Ignorance is bliss I guess. We had decided to try to
drive straight though and managed to do so. Amy took the first shift driving. I
took night shift and Amy finished with Barbara keeping us on track. We took the
NY turnpike as that is such an easy drive, if a bit expensive in tolls. We had
no problems and the mules traveled well. They were all relaxed, eating and
drinking well at each stop. This was Maybee’s first big trip and I think she
was the most relaxed of the four and acted like she was starving the whole way!
She was very happy about the all you can eat traveling hay buffet. The fourth mule was Misfire. One of Anthony’s
mules that Amy was using for a while. We brought food with us to eat along the
way and grabbed snacks at fuel stops. Bubba traveled well also though he would
have been happier if we didn’t keep switching seats so that he had to often sit
beside strangers. We stopped at Walmart in Carmi, IL to pick up some groceries
and also looked for shavings but found none. I had called one of my Illinois
neighbors, Delbert, to see if they had room for our mules for one night. That
would give us some time to rest before setting up fencing at my house. He said
he did have stalls and we arrived at his place around 2:00 PM. Delbert was
working but his wife Ruth was home. I had not met her yet. We were greeted
warmly and made to feel right at home. Delbert and Ruth’s place was perfect for
the mules with stalls, a run in area behind the stalls and a nice big paddock. We
turned the mules out together and they were beyond happy to stretch their legs
and of course roll many times. They got
along well with just some minor ear pinning to establish some pecking order. As
soon as we had them turned out, we headed straight over to High Knob to drop
off Misfire who Angie Mayfield was taking. When we came back we took the trailer
to my house to unload all our junk. I was so happy to see Fred. And Bubba was
as happy as I was. Bubba has always favored Fred. We went back to check on the mules to make
sure they were ok and they were doing fine. There was a hog roast at High Knob
this evening so Amy and Barbara both whipped up something to contribute to the
meal and we all went over including Fred. We were so tired from the long drive
but glad to be at the mule gathering. There were so many people in camp. JoJo,
the camp owner, said there were 300 or so mule in camp and people from 24
states and 3 countries, New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada. It was great to see old friends I’ve met at
other mule gatherings. Donna Bryant from
TX had come but had broken her ankle when her mule sunk in mud where some water
line work had been done in camp. So she left before I got a chance to see her. I
did get the chance to talk with Bill and Gail Dillon, Ival, Kathy L. and quite
a few others. There was a DJ coming and
a dance following the meal but we were too tired to stay that late. We went to
the barn and took care of mules. They weren’t sure of what we wanted so we had
to do a little bit of chasing and sorting to get the mules in the stalls we
wanted them in. Well, we didn’t have to chase Lily, she is extremely friendly
to the point of being a pest. But sometimes that is good. Once back to the house, we headed to bed.
Sunday
We got up fairly early this morning so we could get the
mules fed and have breakfast ourselves and still get over to High Knob in time
to go out with one of the guided rides. We walked over to the barn through the woods
to feed. The fastest way to walk from my house to the Jones’ barn was through
my neighbor Sally’s yard. But, I had not met Sally yet and didn’t want to go
walking through her yard without permission so we did a bit of bush whacking
and crawling though fences. The mules
were doing great together and even sharing the run in with no issues. It took a
bit to get Maybee and Annabelle into stalls again this morning. Lily the attention
bug was right there to come in though. We went back home for breakfast and
packed our lunches for the trail while the girls ate. Then hooked up the
trailer and went over to pick up the girls. We saddled the girls at the barn
before loading them. But, we got a slower start than intended and missed all
the group rides going out. So, we just struck out on our own. All three of our
mules were eager to go. Lily and Maybee were both excited and walking out fast
but being good. We weren’t out long when we caught up with Anthony’s group that
was heading to Double M Campground. We stopped for a break at Black’s Cabin
which is very close to my new home. It was the first time Barbara had ever put
Maybee on a highline. She kept a close eye on her but Maybee was very good
about it. Lily and Annabelle have both been on highlines before so neither of
us were worried about our girls. From Black’s cabin we rode to Double M Camp
and had lunch there. Double M Camp has a restaurant but we’d brought our own
lunches so just bought drinks and ice cream and sat on the porch to relax. The
girls were again all good on the highline. Though the flies were tormenting
Lily. Big flies that were landing between her back legs and chewing her up. So,
she kept doing these big round house kick to try to shake them off that we all
had to be careful about. I worked on letting her know that she had to be
careful of us when we were around her. I was delighted to finally meet Anita
Gallion was having lunch at Double M. Maybee didn’t like walking under the highlines
so Barbara worked with her a bit on this after we ate. I helped by riding Lily
by her and going under first. It did encourage Maybee to finally try and she
did it several times, very carefully. Then Lily had a bit of a snit when I
asked her to leave her buddies and she refused to go through a shallow ditch
and we had to have a talk about that. After
lunch, we rode to the spillway at Pounds hollow, crossed the dam and rode along
the lake and out to Black Ridge Rd. by Karber’s ridge. We went left on Black
Ridge then a right into a field and back onto trail that took us to Initial
tree where we stopped for another beak and highlined the mules. Two men came
though on bikes here. Bikes are not allowed on theses trails but they were
courteous and careful of the mules so caused no problem. From there we rode back
to High Knob. Maybee lost a shoe somewhere on the trail. We still needed
shaving and JoJo let us buy 3 bags from her. Amy had to pay as she was the only
one with cash. Barb arranged with the farrier to have Maybee’s shoe replaced at
9:00 am the next morning. It was pretty late when we got back to the barn. We
didn’t need to unhook the trailer so Delbert told us to leave it at his place
and had us take his 4x4 home. The mules were now getting used to our routine so
getting them into stalls was getting easier. By the time we got the mules taken
care of we were sooooooo tired that we just did a quick supper of Kraman
noodles (a Beem invention) and then went to bed.
Day 2 Garden of the Gods
Monday
We got up fairly early again and took the 4 wheeler over to
feed the mules, went home for breakfast then back over to the barn, loaded the
girls up and headed to High Knob. We were there a bit before 9:00 and Maybee
got two new front shoes. The farrier didn’t have any shoes small enough to put
on Maybee’s back feet. By the time Maybee was done and we were all tacked up,
all the group rides had left again. So, we struck out on our own and headed for
Garden of the Gods. We did a bit of rock hopping at Cathedral Rock. Annabelle
and Lily had both been here before and been up and down these particular rocks.
Maybee was not so sure of the rock hopping thing. She really did not see the
sense in it. Barbara did convince her to give it a try. We got off trail right
as we got there and ended up sneaking through the parking lot to get to the
equine tie rail area. We had lunch at the picnic table in the tie area then
went out on the rocks. Amy and I climbed down to explore a cave and on the way
back up I hiked off on a “squirrel” moment that got Amy and Barbara a bit
worried about me. Oops….. The flies were
just eating up poor Lily’s belly so I had tied her away from the other two
mules just to make sure she didn’t accidently kick one of them in her fussing
over the flies. As the three of us were walking back into the tie area from
exploring around the rocks, Amy suddenly says, “oh no, there is no white mule!”
She was joking but it scared the poop out of me as I’d been worried Lily would
get loose in her fussing over the flies. On the way back, we decided to do the
Buzzard’s roost … something or other trail.
Just a short side trip, HA. We got lost in Rice Hollow. I kept telling
Amy we needed to keep taking rights but she was not convinced. Barbara was just
trusting we would figure it out as she had never been here before. And here I
will mention that my brand new $500 GPS would not work. We stopped at a
highline area by a stream and discussed which way we should go. We heard some
riders coming down the trail and waited for them. But, they never did come to
where we were. We later learned it was Kathy Lawless’ group. They saw us but
didn’t know we were lost so rode on by. Amy came up with the theory of following
the water downstream, which was a left. She convinced me even though I had been
trying to keep taking rights. We headed off down the creek. I sunk poor Lily in a mud hole coming out of
the creek in one spot. She got out and I was still on top when she did
thankfully. So much for the trusting relationship we were building. We
eventually ran out of trail and came to a fence. We could see a water tower so
decided we’d better try calling Anthony. Calling him was a bit of a challenge.
I got through to him but he could not hear me though I could hear him. “Anthony,
LOST, WATERTOWER”……. After several calls we finally got in enough words for him
to know where we were and he told us we were near the road. We saw a tractor on
the road and easily rode out to it. We rode most of the way back along the
road, and even got directions and a bit of a peep show from a gentleman who was
out in his yard. We were close to High Knob when Susanna drove by us and
pointed us to a trail that would take us right back into camp. We took it so we
could ride back into camp by the trail and pretend we never got lost so we
could preserve a bit of dignity. As if the story of our misadventure had not
already gotten around camp. So much for a short ride. When we got back to camp
and had the mules taken care of with hay in front of them, Amy and I walked
down to Wayne and Anna Moore’s camp to visit with them. Barbara stayed with our
mules though we visited so long she did come in search of us. She must have
looked very weary wandering though camp in her search for us as Max Bishop
stopped and offered her a ride. Once
home, we took care of the mules. Ruth had gotten out some saddle racks and
lined them up in the barn aisle so we could get our saddles and blankets out of
the trailer. Such a nice thing to do and we really appreciated it. This evening we cooked rice, carrots and
chicken for supper and then soon headed for bed. The cot we’d given Barbara to
sleep on broke. It was old cot so we dug out cot #2 for her. I also had an air
mattress but Barbara decided to go with the cot as the air mattress would have
taken up most of the available floor space in her room.
Tuesday
We decided to rest mules today. And we needed a bit of rest
ourselves. We slept in a bit later then we had been then eventually wandered over
to feed the mules. We had permission to use the path behind Sally’s now house
to get over to the barn which is really convenient. The mule are getting down
the feeding routine and go right into their stalls with no fuss. After taking
care of the mules we went home and I had breakfast. Amy and Barbara had eaten
something before I got up. I called the fencing company and they said they
would come over in the morning to take a look at our place to give me a quote
on putting up a fence. They said they would call in the morning when they were
on the way. We drove into Harrisburg stopping at Walmart first so Barbara could
pick up some sneakers. I also picked up a water cooler and some water as I hate
the tap water at our house. There is so much chlorine in it that it tastes like
pool water! Yuck! We stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Then it was on
to Rural King, Tractor Supply and finally Krogers to pick up a few more
grocries.
After going home and putting
the groceries away, we headed over to High Knob to just visit with friends and
were offered supper with the gang over at Kathy Lawless’ trailer. When we left
High Knob that evening it was the usual routine of taking care of the mules
then home and chilling out for a while and heading to bed.
I think the mule enjoyed their day off. They
are really content at Delbert and Ruth’s place. Cot #2 didn’t work out so well
for Barbara. It made so much noise every time she moved on it that she couldn’t
sleep on it. I would not have been able to either. I’d never used the cot
before so didn’t know. She had come out and slept on the couch in the living
room.
Wednesday
We waited around this morning after taking care of the mules
for the call from the fence company. By 10:00 they still hadn’t called so I
called them. The owner had needed to take his wife to the hospital and had
forgotten all about our appointment. He apologized many times and said he’d do
his best to get over to my house before I left. It was too late by then to
trailer over to High Knob to ride with any of the group trail rides so we rode
from the barn. We saddled up and decided to ride over to Double M Camp to get a
trail map and then we’d decide from there where to go. We found the trail from
the barn to Black’s Cabin and from there knew where to go to get to Double M.
It was a lovely ride to Double M and I was pleased to see how nice the trails
were. It was hilly but there are long switchback trails with nice smooth
footing that will be great for moving at a faster pace to condition for
endurance riding on. When we got to Double M, Heath, the camp owner, gave us a
mad and let us buy some ice cream though the restaurant was not open. We tied
the mulse on the high line and had lunch on the front porch of the restaurant.
We looked over the map and made a plan to ride south to the River to River
trail and then return home via Sparks Hill/Black Ridge Rd. We managed to miss a
turn and when we came out on a road and realized where we were, we decided it
was too late to go back and take the planned trail. At one spot on the trail,
Annabelle was startled by a deer when she was in the middle of jumping over a
log and bolted off with Amy. I was in the lead at the time and I heard Amy yell
and quickly turned Lily around. Thankfully, Amy was able to stop Annabelle
before she got to me so it was just a minor exciting moment in our ride. We
retraced our route back to Pounds Hollow and rode along the lake but took a
slightly different trail out to Black Ridge Rd. than we’d ridden on Sunday that
came out near the Blacks Cabin trail. We
got back to the barn just as it started to rain. Good timing! Barn time was so
enjoyable all week. Ruth and/or Delbert would often come out to visit with us
while we were there. And the mules were so content. Things had just worked out
so wonderful. Barbara made us some
delicious omelets for supper that night.
Riding towards Double M Campground from my home
Thursday
It was the usual routine this morning of taking care of the
mules then back home for breakfast. Deb from Crest Ridge Saddles was at camp
and Barbara wanted to have a saddle fitting done with her own saddle for
Maybee. We trailered over to camp and Barbara talked with Deb who gave her a
few pointers for making her saddle fit better though strongly suggested one of
her Crest Ridge saddles would be much better option. Tony Lusch went by on his
golf cart and stopped to talk with us and we asked if he might take us out for
a guided ride He said he’d be happy to. We drove the truck and trailer over to
his camp and saddle up there and headed out with a small group. We rode around
Hurrican Bluff and then he took us through Rice Hollow were we’d gotten lost on
Monday. He told us when he showed us the trail out, we’d never forget it. He
was right! It was a very long steep climb up out of the hollow. VERY steep!
Towards the top, Lily was losing steam and I had to start doing some side hill
switchbacks to get to the top. Amy’s Annabelle is more experience and got up
all the way in a straight shot. Barbara and Maybee didn’t make it up all in one
shot but they did make it and they both learned how to handle a long steep
climb like that. Once again we got back Just as it started to rain. Amy was
bringing two Aussie puppies back to Maine and they were delivered to High Knob
in the afternoon. We took the mules back to the barn then returned to High Knob
to visit again. We spent some time with Wayne and Anna. Then went over to
Anthony’s camp and stayed a while there. We got to try some rattlesnake they
cooked over the campfire. It was pretty good. The group broke up when it
started raining really hard with thunder. There were plans in the making to
trailer over to Jackson Falls to ride in the morning. We definitely wanted to
get in on that ride. Barbara had noticed that Maybee had a slightly sore back
so didn’t want to ride her again. Wayne offered to let Barbara ride his mule
Grace. Barbara happily accepted so we were good to go for the ride. We went
home and cleaned up some left overs. Fred had dug our dog crate out of the
garage for Amy so she could put the puppies in it in her room at night.
Hurricane Bluff
Rice Hollow
Friday
We made sure to get up early enough to take care of mules
and puppies and ourselves and be at High Knob in time to not miss the ride this
morning. There were quite a few people going on the ride. Tony Lusch and Wayne
were our leaders. Amy needed some fuel and Max gave her some from a tank he had
on his truck so she wouldn’t have to go searching for a gas station on the way
to Jackson Falls. We parked at Jack Davis Camps and got the mules saddled up.
Max joined us for this ride so there was quite a different atmosphere for this
ride than for any other. We started out riding down a dirt road and Lily was
quite excited but she was not hard to hold. When we headed into the woods, she
continued to be pretty fired up. There were a bunch of guys cowboying around,
going off trail and crashing around through the brush looking for obstacles and
rocks to jump on, or off, or over, or squeeze through…. As well as multiple
dogs along with us running around. At one spot as one of the guys came crashing
through the brush towards Lily and me, I had to pull her around in a few tight
circles to settle her down. She got her head back together after a bit. All
good training experience as I need her to get used to that kind of thing. We
rode under the rail road tracks and did some trails going by a lake I’d never
done before. Then we were into the pretty scenery with all the rocks and due to
the rain the previous night, there were many little waterfalls. We got to
Jackson Falls and stopped there for lunch. We tied our mules to trees. It was
here that my helmet came to my rescue. I managed to trip over a rock and plant
my head into a tree really hard. Duh……. Max rode behind the waterfall here and
stood up on his mule Casper. Then several other guys had to do it also. It did
make for some cool pictures. We rode out from the falls and came to an
intersection where Tony said we could ride back to the trailers or take another
loop along the bottom of the bluffs. He didn’t recommend this trail as he said
it was very rocky and muddy though very pretty. Well, the vote ended up being
to ride the bottom of the bluffs and so we did. It was very, very beautiful but
some of the most rugged riding I’ve done. Steep climbs and descents often
squeezing through tight rock formations. I would have enjoyed it had it not
been so muddy. Well, I did enjoy it but would have enjoyed it more without the
mud. Lily was good and didn’t hesitate
at anything. I was very pleased with her and how she handled everything.
Barbara was very glad to be riding Wayne’s very experienced trail mule who took
good care of her. We were all tired from the ride and decided to stop at
Harbison’s for supper on the way home. Harbison’s is a little convenience store
that serves some food also. A popular hang out spot for the locals. The food
was good and typical southern fried fare. Catfish, hush puppies, fries etc. Back
at the barn Maybee was happy to see her two friends return. Barbara had been so
relieved to have a place that was safe when leaving Maybee behind this morning.
She had pushed on the corral panels a bit but they are solid and no harm was
done. By the time we got home after taking care of the mules, we were very
happy to not have to cook supper and headed to bed. I had quite a headache from
my head butt into the tree.
Saturday
I slept in kind of late today. Barbara and Amy had been up
early with the puppies. They noticed my deck had a gate on it and it became the
perfect puppy pen. The two puppies were happy as clams out there with some
sticks to chew on and room to run around and play with each other. The mules
were all taken care of by the time I got up. Barbara had an appointment for a
saddle fitting for Maybee with Deb. Amy
and Barbara headed over to High Knob with their mules and I stayed home. My
neck was sore and I still had a bit of a headache from my encounter with the
tree at Jackson’s Falls. I did some laundry and a bit of house cleaning while
they were gone. Barbara and Amy decided not to ride after the saddle fitting
and we gave the mules another well deserved day off. I was planning to leave
Lily in Illinois with Anthony. Delbert proposed that I leave Lily with him and
Ruth in trade for Fred helping them with some chores around the farm. Fred
agreed to this and I was happy to be able to leave Lily with them as she seemed
to be very happy there. There was
another hog roast tonight and Amy made a potato salad to bring. The meal was at
6:00. Delbert went over with us. It was another great meal and then there was a
band and dancing following the meal. It was a fun evening though we did not
stay all that late.
Sunday
It was our last day to ride. It was the usual routine of
taking care of the mules and then we got over to High Knob a bit early this morning. We were
going to ride Dead Horse Canyon with Anthony’s group but we were ready way
before his group so Wayne took us out for a quick loop. Barbara was trying one
of Wayne’s saddles on Maybee. It was slipping forward a bit. We got back to
camp and Anthony’s group was about ready and we headed out again. I have not
been to Dead Horse Canyon. It was a nice ride. We did some rock hopping at No
No rock. Lily balked just at first but after the first hop, she was great about
it. Barbara got Maybee to hop also. Again, Maybee did not see the sense in it
but Barbara was able to convince her to go anyway. Maybee was more than willing
to climb the rocks when the rocks were on the trail. But to jump on and off
rock for no apparent reason just seemed foolish to her. She’s a smart girl. We
even got to do a little bank slide which our mules handled with ease. It was a
fun ride and a good end to a week of wonderful riding. Once back home, we
packed up as much as we could and loaded up the trailer. Ruth made a spot on
their tack room for Lily’s saddle and a tote of stuff for Lily. I am really
going to miss her. She was just so good all week and I am so pleased with her.
But, I know she is in good care so I have nothing to worry about there.
Monday
Our plan was to be on the road by 10:00 am. We were pretty
close to that. It was hard to say goodbye to Fred, Lily, Bubba as well as
Delbert and Ruth who I already feel like I’ve known for a long time, though it’s
only been for a week. It was an uneventful drive home until we arrived in Maine….
To a nasty snow storm!!! Welcome back to Maine! It was really bad when we got
to Topsham and I did not want Amy to have to drive her truck and trailer
through the back roads to where I was living so I called my friend Kerry and
had her come pick me up at the Topsham Fair Mall.
