Kidnapped!

Darren, Kathy and Floyd (Lee)

A few posts back I mentioned meeting packer Floyd Lee Morton and Kathy at cowboy church, and them offering to help coach me on packing. They came by the next evening with thier horses & mule, bringing a decker packsaddle to show me, and rode with me & Darren for about 10 miles out on the ranch. They left me a cared and said, please call with any questions.

Day before yesterday, worked with Butch mostly on the ground. He saddled up more quietly, but after a short ride was a stinker about standing still to be unsaddled, so we put him on the hot walker to ponder the strange ways of humans for a few hours.

When I went to take him off he tried to shove me and pull the lead away. He got backed up, tied to another post and left for a couple more hours.... I had concerns about this, and about Butch ponying another animal on the road, after the big spooks over oil rigs going by on the narrow dirt road. Also questions about the weight Butch is carrying.

So that night, I phoned Lee to ask his advice. After we talk a while Kathy gets on, says "Can we call you back in a few minutes?" 5 minutes later I pick up the phone and hear:

"We want you to come stay with us for a while. Lee knows every inch of that country along your route. We can get you and your mule pack-ready, go over your gear, and teach you what you need to know. He's gonna go over the details of the route with you, and help you plan stopovers. Then we'd like to do some overnight camping anyway, so we'll all go out to the grasslands before we send you on your way. So when do you want us to come pick you up?"

Dumbfounded, I stuttered out something about helping Darren the next morning before I leave. They said they'd come around noon next day. I hung up the phone, looking around for some kind of reality check - it seemed so unreal! I stepped outside the trailer in a state of cheerful shock. How could this be?

When Lee and Kathy came the next morning, we all - they and Darren, D's best friend who has been working on the ranch, and Charlie (the ranch owner)'s 2 sons who work there also - stood around telling stories for a bit. Then the boys (yes, I can call them that - they're all younger than me) all gave me goodbye hugs (cowboy hugs!) and wished me well. After we had delivered Butch to his new pen and gotten back to the house, I hesitated at the suggestion I unfold the sleeping couch.

"It's okay, I can sleep on the couch in my sleeping bag."

"Are you sure? The bed is a whole lot more comfortable. So are sheets."

"Well, it's just... I decamp so often, I've learned it's not wise to unpack and get all situated."

"Oh, heck, just settle in. You've been kidnapped. You're gonna be here a while!"

That night Lee grilled steaks, Kathy and I made salads, and we all sat around the dinner table howling over Lee's stories - from pack trip for vegetarian college dudettes to wax smuggling over the border - his life is a book in itself...

This morning Kathy and I did a timed ride on Butch to guage his trekking gait while Lee went to town. Tonight we're all decompressing from the work week. Tomorrow longer AM ride, groundwork, Lee goes over my tack and probably takes Butch for an evening ride.

I have given up on any semblance of a schedule. We'll start again when we're ready. We'll get there when we get there.

Life is meant to be savored as it is lived. Viva la vida!