Caney Mountain Day 2 The School House

I got up around 6:30 am. I went out to take care of Li' such a horrid owner and quickly got some hay to her. I cleaned her stall and then headed back to the room to finish dressing. Breakfast was at 8:00 am. We had a wonderful breakfast of all you can eat biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, ham and sausage. After Breakfast, Amy went up to Anthony's camp to see who he wanted her to ride. I went to the Cowboy church service that followed breakfast at the dining hall. Then went and got Lily ready to ride. I hauled her tack tote over to her pen as well as her bucket of feed. Then I lugged her saddle over as it was easier to just leave her in her stall to get her tacked up. The tote and feed bucket  I could leave at her pen for the week as well as one bale bag with hay. It was a cool morning in the low 40's. Lily was excited but behaved pretty well. We all met in front of the dining hall where the guides each called out where they were riding to and we could choose what guide to go with. JoJo's favorite guide is John as he is slightly more conservative in the trails he chooses. We decided to ride with him for our first day. We rode out to the Buffalo River in hopes of crossing it. But, the water was too high so John had to come up with a new plan. Anthony made an attempt to cross it but didn't make it even half way before it got too deep.

We rode down to a 2nd spot where John sometimes crosses the river. He knew we would not be able to cross there either but thought we'd enjoy the scenery at that spot.

We rode up on top of a bluff and stopped to have lunch. And then rode to the Cold Spring school house. Very neat place. We stopped there to look around.

On the way back to camp we rode up to a rim with a real pretty view. The terrain here is challenging for sure. The climbs and descents were quite steep, long and sometimes rocky. Lily handled them well.

When we got back to camp, I untacked Lily and let her roll. I hated to let her get so dirty but could not deny her the pleasure of doing her favorite thing after giving me such a good ride. I settled Lily in her pen with plenty of hay. Amy had ridden Mattie Ross and we walked her back to Anthony's camp. We chatted with him a while. Jim and Angie Lee came by to turn their mules out in the same paddock and we all chatted for a bit. Amy and I decided to walk around the camp. Anthony told us to take his truck as it is quite a long way around. We declined the offer as we wanted the walk. But, Anthony was right, it was a long way around. There are some very cool permanent camps down "below".

Tonight for supper was pork roast, mashed potatoes with gravy and so much more. When Amy and I got to the dining hall for supper, we sat an empty table in the back left corner from the door. The dining room slowly filled and no one came and sat at our table. We decided we must be too nerdy for everyone. Then, finally two men came over and asked if they could sit with us. We told them of course they could, but warned them that it might be the nerd table. We eventually had 4 men at the table that were willing to associate with nerds. I think it was Amy's Maine accent. They were absolutely fascinated with it and kept asking her to say certain words. Wal-M(ah)t being one of their favorites. I went out and took care of Lily after supper. Tonight I hung a 2nd hay bag for her hoping that would get her thorough the night. I took a shower after supper and we headed for bed.