I was digging around in the loft of my shop looking for a part when I saw something. It brought back a memory ‒ a good one.
Train wrecks and tranquility.
Two of my best friends were my dad and a man named Jerry Hays. My dad and Jerry were almost connected at the hip. They were totally different but exactly the same ‒ if that makes any sense. They could be some of the smartest men in the world. Then there were times when I wondered how they got their shoes on the right feet without help.
They both loved being on horseback, riding through the mountains. The money they spent on their horses could sustain a third world country for several years, I am sure.
When there was any kind of a long weekend, they’d have a plan to be going somewhere. Now me being a farmer it was always hard for me to get away and go, but I went from time to time.
I’ve always had a bad back, and there’s just something therapeutic about the rocking motion and of a long trail ride straddle of a horse that would help my ole tractor back.
I remember one particular occasion when we had a plan to go elk hunting. We were going to meet at the Safeway store at 5pm. So I had all my gear ready to go and I went by my Dad’s place to get him loaded up. Now, mind you, we had been planning this for a while, so there was just no excuse for not having your stuff ready.
And Dad wasn’t ready.
So we set in and gathered all his stuff up and loaded his horses. Then mom gets a call (before cell phones) and hollers out of the house that Jerry is running late anyways. But we finally all meet at Safeway ‒ and it’s now 8pm.
We still have to buy groceries and get fuel. We then get to the corrals, where we unload our stuff, and now it’s 2am! We got all our stock settled and fed. Then we rolled out a tarp and threw our bedrolls on it. I was dog tired, and I crawled into my sack and fell fast asleep.
I was suddenly awakened by the clanging and banging of breakfast pans. They told me to go back to sleep and they’d wake me when they had the horses saddled, the mules packed, and breakfast ready. So I did.
Only, I was awakened again by pans banging and clanging!
So I get up and get dressed, get me a cup of coffee, and I started eating my breakfast. Suddenly, I see from the corner of my eye my 1,000 pound mule trying to kick what was left of the moon outta the sky. This mule was named big Moe, and he was pitching a fit! He was swapping ends and acting like his legs were made out of springs. He bucked like I’ve never seen before. He bucked the panniers empty, and then he bucked them off the packsaddle! Then he bucked the packsaddle completely off, and he started stomping the campfire out until it was buried.
And then he started heading right for me!
But luckily he hit the end of his lead rope, which gave him a jerk that brought him back to his senses. He finally stopped. When the dust and smoke all settled, I could see what a mess Big More had made. And there was a crowd of about 20 folks that came outta the campground to watch the train wreck we had going. One guy even said “I’d pay $100 to see that again!”
I told him it would take more than that, because that dang mule just mashed $100 worth of groceries into the dirt. The man laughed, but I didn’t.
We all stood there, viewing the carnage, and assessing the damages. We lost all our eggs, all our bread, and three cans of peaches – busted up and leaking. But, surprisingly, everything else was in pretty good shape.
I finally realized what I had happened. See, I had told those two guys I was with, when they got ready to put the lash tarp on Big Moe, that he was skittish, and they needed to ease it over him. But, of course, they didn’t listen me, because they were know it alls.
That was day 1 of our 7 day trip. We were packed into the wilderness – 16 miles from the pickup. And for the next 5 days and nights it rained, without a break. But at least it was quiet and peaceful for the most part otherwise.
We didn’t get much time to hunt, and we come home empty. But we had a good show, and good laugh, and great memory.
Make those memories and have some fun. Memories will last your lifetime because, unfortunately, friends and loved ones may not.
