MtRider is not seen on Roan this morning....has anyone seen her? Roan is tied to the back of their wagon with the donkey. ....Yes, she was at the women's bathroom briefly this morning.....
MtRider sticks her head out of their wagon and lurches with no grace to sit beside Mr.MtR .....displacing BigDog in the process. Dog is willing to retreat to the bed made of deep foam pads just behind the wagon seat. "Ugh!" is her only comment. Mr.MtR doesn't even try to hide a grin. She whaps him on the shoulder and digs into a bag for an energy bar and a water bottle. .....this day does not bode well. And where ARE we?
A bit more awake and functional after protein, I am trying to figure out if I can ride up to have a talk with MrSmith&MrJones. Yeah, in a minute. This had not been a good morning. Not surprising results of nearly 2 full nights of not sleeping....and running my head off for a week to get things done before leaving ....AND the first full day on the trail AND a lovely discussion around the fire last nite....
So the MS said ENOUGH! I simply could not function this morning. So I staggered out the the tent and to the restrooms...and then crawled into the wagon bedding nest to sleep again. Oh sheeesh, it's been 3 hours since that ...um, "rooster" crowed. Leave it to Micheal to bring along a fake rooster. [mumbled something about giving him his triangle back....
]
Good thing DH does know how to milk my goat...tho neither he nor she are too pleased about it. She's nearly going dry anyway and will need to be freshened at the end of the trail. I don't want her too full with pregnancy when we reach the final climb over the mountain pass tho.
..dang! I need a potty break...of course. Involves crawling OVER Bigdog [and she feels that she's SO comfortable that she doesn't want to move over
] and into the center of the wagon where the potty chair is situated. Better than finding a wide tree...
After putting myself a bit more together, I am finally able to hop off the wagon and unhook Roan from the wagon. DH already saddled her but I pull her out of the way of the slowly rolling wagons to put the bridle on and clamor aboard. [still exibiting lack of grace here
]
Meander slowly up towards the head of the first group. After some discussion with the Benefactors, I turn back to spread the word. There is a large town coming up and the city police will have to escort us. There seems to be no route except on the residential streets on the outer rim of the town. The police chief was agreeable enough but the officer assigned has been showing attitude. He's not happy about the extra bother and seems to think our animals will be unmanageable.
.....UM.....
He may be right. Lets call a halt here and try to secure any animal that can be. Lets get EVERYone out and walking that is able so that the livestock herds have as much supervision/protection as possible. Ah, Mother'sMother is going to drive their oxen with Mr.Mother close at their heads. That's the idea. Steph's clan and CeeGee's is spreading out to help.
I'm very worried about neighborhood dogs coming out to "have fun" or fight with our herd dogs. Secure any problem dog [like mine]
inside your wagons! Also small children. I'm leashing my 4 dwarf goats and need someone to walk them so they don't spook and bolt. Oh Thank you! I've got be on Roan cuz she may bolt....stupid horse doesn't like strange dogs. And I've no idea how donkey-dear will react.
Let's make a corridor with the animals/wagons between the lines of folks walking on either side of the street. At least they blocked the traffic till we go thru. They used to drive cattle thru the streets....a VERY long time ago. Folks are not used to such a thing now.
What else can we do? Anyone? I think we'd be safer going thu Main street. Do TRY not to run over any children who are too curious! Sheeeeeesh!
Everyone ready? ...OK lets move thru slowly.
The first block was uneventful...and then word spread that there was a parade or something to watch. People poured out into the sidewalks and streets. The children were not all supervised...tho we heard a couple screeches for children to return to the yard. One large woman thundered out, "William James Micheal Hancock, get back in this yard immediately! A boy of about 10 ran to answer that summons without delay.
Well the street got narrow due to the onlookers. A dog ran out barking but was retrieved quickly. The sheep strayed into a flower bed...and also were retrieved quickly but not before setting off a loud protest by the flower's owner. I'm next to a wagon. Annarchy! Do you have a jar of homemade jam or something quick that I can ride back and hand that lady in compensation? Whew, thanks! She was well, ....astonished when I thrust the jar into her hands from up upon Roan.
Just as I was wheeling back to monitor this right side of the street, a large dog ran out into the goat herd and CHAOS ensued. The Pyrs and Anatolians surrounded the strange dog who had indeed grabbed an unfortunate doe. At that point all hellatious hooey broke loose. Someone fired a shot ...in the ground, as it turned out. No one ever found out if it came from our train or an escorting officer or an onlooker.
But the screaming mothers ran for their children and sirens began and .... Our animal herders were quite remarkable. The wagons came to a stop while many rushed to untangle the herds and dogs. The strange dog had high-tailed outta there and the 2 LGD's that had pursued a ways, had all returned to guard stance. It was quite remarkable to see how the animals crowded around those dogs, knowing where their safety would lie. A cow kicked someone...who is that? Looks like a leg injury. DH and Quilty are heading for the person on the ground.
Some idiot in the crowd is shouting that the person was shot. I holler back that the COW KICKED HIM AND WILL YOU PLEASE KEEP THE DOGS AND CHILDREN BACK OFF THE STREET? I did see that one happen. OW!
A man I recognize [Mr.Hughs, head of 'security' for the Benefactors group] is riding back to our group. His message is to wait right here until their group passes through. Then they will send folks back to help safely herd our group thru. This is the first real interaction between these two groups. I know that MrS & MrJ hired many folks to assist with herding their livestock and for security purposes. Now they are sharing that to get us out of this mess. We've got many blocks to go.
With the calming of the animals, most of the crowd has quieted. But it's plain that we are troublemakers and aren't their lives hard enough these days without having this riffraff wild and loose in their neighborhood? And WHO is going to clean up all this animal poo. [not exactly the words used, mind you....
] OK, on the manure issue they have a point. Mr. Hughs and I discuss sending a team with shovels and cart to clean up....and we begin to spread that word thru the crowd. It's not helping the temper much.
And then one man, bless him, hauls out a large wheelbarrow and rakes and shovels. His two sons and one teen daughter are with him. "Never mind that," he says. "If you're going to feed a family from a garden these days, you need fertilizer. I never had it delivered to my door before. C'mon kids. Lets collect this black gold."
Maybe we should ask that family to join us!
....and we still have 7 miles to go?
Camp tonite is scheduled to be in a farmer's pasture...rented for the night by the benefactors. We're allowed to fill up the water wagon with the hose at his well. The little green porta-pottys are also rented. No hot/cold running water tonite.
But most of us have the black bags with shower hose. We'll get a few of them up and ready for showers anyway. We'll need it.
At least we'll be a looong way from this town.
So where were YOU when the CHAOS hit today? I know there were many acts of heroism & quick thinking. And who got kicked and how is s/he? And how is the goat...tho I saw her up and running after the dog let go of her. Any other casualties?
MtRider [I'm going to sleep for two days after this... ]
Edited by Mt_Rider, 03 November 2009 - 04:11 PM.
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Did you all hear it? 
