Sunday, May 29, 2016

Three Great Rides

Thursday, May 26th,
 Kathie and Bonnie came over and rode with me from my house. We did the Tarr's Mill loop, crossed Lewis Hill and came home by way of Starbird Corner, and Dead River. It was a really nice day and the bugs weren't bad at all. I didn't bring my camera or phone so didn't get any photos.

Saturday, May 28th.
Linda picked me up and we went over to Triple J Farm to ride the Cody loop trail with Kathie and Bonnie. It was VERY hot today and super humid. We were in the woods for most all of the ride and we rode slow so it was not too bad. The bonus was there were really no bugs. We had a good time despite the heat. I had planned a birthday party for my mother and granddaughter for that afternoon. When I got home from riding, my parents were just leaving. My mom was taking my dad to the hospital. Dad had been very dizzy all day along with nausea and high blood pressure. Dad was going to help me prepare a spaghetti dinner for the party! Yikes, I was now on my own!!! Now, spaghetti is not hard to cook but I don't do much cooking and I was in an unfamiliar kitchen. The party was planned for 6 pm. Everyone ended up running late and that worked fine as everyone arrived about the time mom and dad got home. Dad was fine, he was just having a bout of vertigo. He's never had that before so it gave mom a scare and why she wanted to have him checked out. I managed to get the meal ready. A salad, spaghetti and meatballs in dads homemade sauce I managed to fine in the freezer, and garlic bread. Meghan made a fabulous chocolate cake and the party was a success.

Sunday, May 29th.
Today was a much nicer day. Cool, breezy and no humidity. Joanie and Nancy came over to ride with me. We rode the Adams Rd. Loop and had a great ride.




Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Shelter Is Up


I got Marie's shelter up today. Thanks to the help of my dad, mom and brother Dennis. I could not have done it without them. And it's a big weight off my mind to have this done. Marie wasn't sure if she approved of it our not but once I put food in there, she decided she would go in.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

On Our Own

I decided to ride out on my own later this afternoon. The weather had been a bit iffy, looking like it might rain but it didn't so Marie and I headed out. We went up Ledge Hill Rd. and at the corner went straight ahead on a trail that is not really used any longer. I didn't know if we would be able to get through. The blackflies and mosquitoes were absolutely horrible! At times it looked like Marie was wearing a blanket of mosquitoes, UGH! We came to a wet spot on the old trail that I just did not want to try to cross while I was out alone. It was here that I had my exciting wild life sighting.....


I had dismounted to test the wet spot on foot and Marie took the opportunity to grab something to eat. She never misses an opportunity. I turned around and rode back to the corner then took the trail that goes by Michaline's garden and the trail that come out across from the Letourneau's on Dead River Rd. and rode home down Dead River. Marie was wonderful as usual.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

West Bowdoin

Today Bonnie, Linda and Kathie were coming to ride with me since I am still not mobile with Marie yet. Bonnie and Linda were trailering together and Kathie was on her own. The plan was for them to park at the Shipley's place. The vacant lot across from my old place. There is just room enough for 2 trailers to park there. Then, it happened that Susie was able to join us so the plan was changed to go and ride in West Bowdoin as there is more room for trailer parking there.

I saddled up Marie before heading out and led her over the the Shipley's place to wait for Susie who was picking me up. Kathie was there as she had not been sure about the chance in plan. We chatted until Susie showed up. I loaded Marie up and we headed over to West Bowdoin. It was quite a nice day to ride. The blackflies were a bit obnoxious while everyone was tacking up but once we got moving the bugs weren't really an issue. The trails now has some obstacles to get around. Property owners have put large rocks or dropped trees around a lot of the trail entrances trying to keep ATV's out. They don't mind the horses but it makes for a bit of a challenge in places. Nothing our trusty trail steeds can't handle though. Marie doesn't have shoes yet nor did Kathie's horse Baxter. So, we stuck to the trails with the best footing for them.






The horses and mule were all good today and got along well. Susie kept Spark in the back quite a bit of the ride and the rest of us took turns leading. I was the only one that had an involuntary dismount today. We were all standing still talking and I noticed a tick crawling up Marie face. I was reaching way over to get it off and leaned too far. I felt the saddle slipping but could not stop it and didn't get my feet out of the stirrups quick enough to land on my feet so landed on my butt. Marie was quite unconcerned about the whole thing. There was just one hill in the old tire dump that I went down that caused a bit of concern for Kathie's Baxter. The old tire dump is a gravel pit now and the hill I went down was steep with soft sand. All the other horses have done this kind of thing before and knew to kind of slide down. Baxter had never done anything like that before. But, Kathie did a great job of getting him down and keeping him calm. They are a great team! It was a fun ride!









Saturday, May 14, 2016

Saying Hello to the Neighbor's Horses

Today I got out with Marie and did the Alpaca loop and came home down Dead River Rd. I stopped by and said hello to Kerry and Melissa's horses They were quite excited to see us. Marie was mostly interested in getting home to her hay. Marie was a good girl today and it was a nice ride.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Marie is Back!!

Now that Lily is settled in with our neighbor in Southern Illinois, I have brought Marie back to Maine to stay with me until I head down to Illinois next June. She has been with my friend Leesa for a while and I have missed her so much, though I knew she was in good care.




My friend Bonnie offered to pick Marie up for me since I am truckless at the moment. We headed down to get her and the trip was thankfully uneventful. It was a bit of a drizzly day but Marie brought to my parents house safe and sound. I had the fencing all up. And enough hay to get by though I've had to move the hay in my Ford Focus. 2 bales at a time.... in bale bags so there would be no mess in the car..... Marie did quite a bit of calling and was a bit unsettled though not bad. She didn't let it disturb her eating time. The next morning Marie was still calling quite a bit so I jumped on her bareback and rode her by my old place, which is right next door to my parents. She knows where she is and I figured she was wondering if any of her buddies were at the old farm. When we got to the edge of the pasture, she looked and looked and once she realized no horse buddies were there, she was fine and didn't do any more calling.
 


Friday, May 6, 2016

McAllister's and Friends 2106 Shawnee Mule Gathering


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.