End of an awesome vacation

Sorry I have been so slow about sitting down to write-- seems like all week has been a rush to catch up. I'd like to say I have accomplished that, but actually that hasn't happened yet.

As I am sure you have all figured out we really had a great time over the past 2 1/2 weeks playing at being pioneers. We learned several things on this trip 1) we can both sit in the saddle for 15-20 miles of horseback riding and survive, day after day; 2) we have pretty good horses, lots of folks had lots of problems with their rides; 3) there are a lot of nice people out there who like to drive wagons or ride horses from all over the country.

Was not the usual lay back and relax type of vacation. The days started about 5:30 AM with feeding and saddling horses, packing the noon lunch, grabbing a couple of slices of toast ( all we had time for for breakfast) and breaking down camp. All the vehicles and trailer, etc, were moved to the next nights stop at 7AM- a process that took from 2-3 hours. Dad usually moved the trailer and set up the pens and I stayed behind to babysit the horses during the move. Usually they were delighted to graze while we waited, but tended to wander or get in other horses areas. Was a good opportunity to visit with other souls also watching their horses. Nothing like a couple of hours to pass like that to find out the life history (and maybe more than you wanted to know) about your fellow travelers! Several buses brought the guys back-- your dad of course, always was on the very last bus!!

We usually started riding about 9:30AM and traveled through prairie, gravel roads, rivers, creeks, and hills both rolling and steep. Was a big contrast to travel from flat prairie at Ft. Pierre to the steep trails of the Black Hills. The weather also, went from 100+ the 1st two days to 60 the last two. We rode in tank tops and got totally sunburned, to bundled up in 3 layers of shirts plus sweatshirt and slicker for the rain.

Was quite a little confusion the first few days while wagon drivers, teams, riders, and mounts got used to traveling together. Was a runaway the first couple of days, resulting in a horse breaking it's leg and needing to be put down; one wagon driver didn't condition his team well, and after driving 3 days in the hottest weather lost on horse to heat stroke; and of course the stage coach wreck crossing the Cheyenne river (I have pictures). A number of people got bucked off- one who also got stepped on and later died! There were a few broken bones- one guy got air ambulanced off the banks of the Cheyenne ( he tried to stop the stagecoach team and got ran over). Our friends from Yankton wrecked their buggy on a steep Black Hills trail- no one hurt only kindling out of the buggy. We, luckily, survived nicely.

Susan Holter (you may remember her as Susan Porter) rode and camped with us as well. She roughed it a lot more as she slept in her horse trailer on a blowup mattress and used a water bucket as her sink to wash her hair. She's my new hero!

In the evenings after supper ( most evening stops had a local groups like 4-H, or Cattleman's Assoc, that sold a supper- we ate a lot of pork and beans) there was always a history given on the area we had ridden over that day. Lots of older folks from these areas shared stories of growing up and ranching or riding the trails we were following. These were always interesting , even though we all tended to nod off after a while. Some of the young bucks might have stayed up and enjoyed a little extra beer, but most of us hit the old sack about the same time the sun set.

Have lots of pictures, but will share them with you when we see you again. Was good to get home but hard to return to the real world. Would go again in a minute. As for the horses- we turned them out to the pasture and they have't shown up in the yard by the barn since. Can't say as I blame them much!!

Am frantically weeding and cleaning the yard as there is supposed to be a garden class here next Saturday. I am definately not planning on a weed free yard by that time!

Thanks for all the updates and postings. We always check for something new. (Your dad may check several times daily). Love you all Mom

PS: a sidenote for the Schwans employed- on the second day of wagon train, in 100+ temps at midafternoon, we pulled out of a pasture onto a gravel road just as the Schwans truck came to the intersection. He stopped, looked at the procession and kept right on truckin'. Do you know what a sales opportunity he missed? Man, we'd have paid $5 per bar for anything cold-- he could have emptied the truck. (Maybe we looked scarier than we realized!)