A little of this, a little of that....

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

We've settled into our site here at Conestoga Campground, enjoying the gorgeous views and chatting with the locals. Yesterday was a chore and nap day (don't you just love that combination)....I'm still fighting a cold.

Last night I had a hankering for a good buffalo burger and we headed over to the office to check out the local menus. The one spot that offered them was already closed. So we jumped on the bike and headed to a little cafe that I frequented when I workamped here. The name and owners had changed but the food was as good as ever.

Today we had originally planned to take a scenic 111 mile bike loop that had been recommended to us (and that would be mostly new scenery for us) but the weather forecast called for thunderstorms with possible hail.

So we settled for lunch at the restaurant with the buffalo burgers (yummy) and then took a short ride to check out the condition of a barn we had admired two summers ago. Before we could reach the barn we had a little excitement.

As he slowed, Stu pointed out something large on the side of the road ahead. Too large for a person or even a deer we both wondered if it were an elk or the ever elusive moose. As we got closer we quickly realized it was a horse...and the horse was outside the fence. Now this isn't open range...this is on a major highway with highway speeds.

We noticed that the gate was open as we passed so at the first spot we could, we turned around and headed back. A passing truck going the opposite direction had stopped as well. By the time we got there the lady driver had gotten a lead out of the truck and was heading towards the horse. Things looked good....

Then horse number two came out the gate...we quickly jumped off the bike and headed to help the her out. Stu worked to keep both off the road, she had the first horse turned around and heading back into the pasture and I worked on convincing the other horse that they really didn't want to be out here. Needless to say, I think we must have looked like bobble-head aliens to the horses...we never took off our helmets. LOL!

Finally both horses were back in where they belonged and we tried to fasten the gate. For whatever reason the chain wasn't long enough to wrap around and latch. The suspicion was that the folks doing the underground utility marking (we had seen them just up the road) had somehow inadvertently taken off with part of the chain &/or lock. Stu grabbed a couple of tie wraps off the bike and we got it fastened. The woman was local and hoped to find out who the owners were so she could let them know.

We continued on to our destination, snapped a couple of quick pics of the barn before heading back to the campground. The sky was getting darker and the wind was picking up. We just made it back....phew!


Tomorrow we hope to take our loop ride...weather permitting....LOL!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Here are some photos taken during my workamping assignment in 2008:

7 comments:

  1. Nice job on getting the horses back in inside the fence. Could have been a huge catastrophe for someone and the horses had it not been for your kindness and help.

    ReplyDelete
  2. To bad you didn't get a picture of you all trying to persuade the horses to return to their pasture. It is so nice to hear of these random acts of kindness and for you all....better yet, to be a part of them.

    I like the barn pic! I love old barns. I found one recently and put it on our blog. Yours is neater though. :)

    Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
    http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great barn photo. It could illustrate a portion of the book DANDELION WINE by Ray Bradbury wherein he describes the relationship of a town and it's people with nature in their struggles to remain "afloat" on the grassy sea of the prairies. If you have never read that book I recommend it highly. I read it every year starting on my birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Boy if the wind blows a little too hard, you can go back and take a picture of the pile of lumber! Nice work on the stray horses. Wonder what the utilities folks were thinking?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounded like Al of the Bayfield Bunch and his donkeys!! Nice work on the "round up"...and fabulous barn photo!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good job on rounding up the horses--horses on the road could have been tragic.

    It seems you are traveling our route in reverse. We came up from Garryowen to White Sulphur Springs to Hungry Horse and then over into Washington.

    ReplyDelete
  7. An exiciting day indeed!!! How wonderful you happened along that stretch of road when you did. I am sure the owners will be forever grateful to you, Stu and the lady in the truck for taking action. Love the barn!!!

    ReplyDelete

Love to hear from you - drop a few words and we'll reply!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Sharing is Caring...