June 2, 2009

We awoke to another cloudy threatening sky and cool temperatures. We all donned warm clothes and rain gear and headed toward Corner Rocks, the last major landmark on the Santa Fe Trail before Wagon Mound. A local rancher, Lenore Jeffers, guided us across open ranch land toward tonight's campsite. It was one of our best days in the saddle. The rain held off and we rode across the prairie and saw several intriguing old building sites.
When we finished the day's ride I joined Del Shields, our cowboy singer, poet, and preacher and we both headed for our respective homes. Who says old men don't get homesick? We drove to Fred and Claudia Harland's ranch near Texhoma, TX and spent the night there. The next morning I rode with Del to Wichita and met up with Bonnie, my wife, and rode home with her to Liberty, MO. She had been in the Dallas, TX area visiting our daughters who live in that area.
Ali stayed at the Harland ranch and will be cared for by Fred and Claudia.
I will be returning to the border to border ride on Wednesday next.



June 1, 2009

We rode out of Springer under threatening skies. We rode along the wide shoulder of U.S. Highway 56 eastward for nearly 17 miles.Most of the shoulder area has very loose dirt and has many mole and gopher holes. It was very taxing on the horses. We mostly rode closer to the pavement because it was smoother, however, traffic was more of an issue then. Riding along a highway is far more stressful then going across ranch land. A looming thunderstorm cut our ride short by a couple of miles and we set up camp near a cattle waterhole and some catch pens. If it rains very much we may be stuck in the morning?!

We rode 19 miles today

May 30 & 31, 2009
Saturday and Sunday were rest days for the riders and horses. We all busied ourselves with shopping and laundry duties on Saturday. On Sunday four of us, James Brown, Richard Lupardus, Micheal Marcus, and I went on a sight seeing trip up into the mountains and to Taos, NM. We stopped in route at the Westphall Vietnam War Memorial. It was a very emotional experience for all of us. It was a special visit for Richard as he is a Vietnam veteran. Taos is an artsy community and didn't really have much of interest to us. We did have a very good lunch there, though. The mountains and the rock formations were beautiful and awesome.


May 29, 2009
We stayed last night at Colmor, NM, a ghost town. There are several interesting old buildings in the town. We were reluctant to go into any of the buildings because they looked like there would be snakes in them. Some people did venture inside, but not many. We rode into the Springer, NM fair grounds. It was a short day, just eleven miles, all along the side of a road. We set up camp and then went looking for a local farmer who has alfalfa hay for sale. We found him and bought several bales. It appears that hay may be scarce as we go through Colorado. They have been in a drought and many large dairies have been using up most of the hay supply.
A dozen of us went to dinner together at the Brown Hotel in Springer to give Gene Klosterman and his daughter, Annie Boswell, a send off as they will return home tomorrow morning to South Carolina. They have been riding with us the past two weeks.