On Friday night, Cindy and Gus and I decided to make a quick trip to Medora, for the annual poetry gathering. So we got up and ate a quick breakfast on Saturday morning and were out of the house before 7 am. I set up in the saddle and nudged White Lightning (Cindy’s little Ford Ranger) and he grabbed the bit and tried to run away for quite a spell! Sure was a good thing we didn’t see any cops around as I am afraid they wouldn’t have been mounted well enough to catch us and slow down the run away! Finally, quite a ways north White Lightning ran the edge off and we could slow him down a bit. He was frothing a little but still running steady. We got him stopped in Hettinger long enough to give him a good feed and we were off again and headed towards Bowman. Got there and spurred him in the left shoulder so he would turn and head north. At the turn off for the Burning Coalvein road, I covered his right eye with my hat and got him to turn down that gravel road. He spooked and shy’d at all the new scenery in them breaks of the Little Missouri River , but we managed to get into Medora and tie him up to think about it.
We strolled into the gathering headquarters and started seeing people we hadn’t seen for a long time. And most of them had got old on me! Not sure when that happened, but it was still good to see them and get to visit a little. About noon we headed over to the Cowboy cafe and took on a bait of feed. Saw a young man I had met before and set next to him and his young lady friend and had a good meal and chat.
After lunch we headed back to the central area and they had put me and Gus in the first session. We tuned up and when it was time, Gus did a great job on a song and I told an old story about branding with my Dad, many years before. The crowd seemed to like it and we sat down and listened to the rest of the performers. I eventually got DW Grothe of Bainville, sorted off and we had a great visit and caught up on all the news. Then the lovely Jeri Dobrowski showed up and we had some more fresh conversation, which eventually lead to the ice cream shop across the street. ( My diet got all blowed to hell!)
We decided White Lightning had gotten enough rest, so saddled back up and headed for home. We took a slightly different route as we thought somebody might be laying in wait to catch us on our back trail. It was threatening to rain on us all the way and when we turned south of Bison on the Bixby road, by golly it did! We drove in rain and wet road the rest of the way home and when I checked there was 70 hundreds in the gauge that was from the past 24 hours. Great!
So I guess we had a good time. Got to listen to music Gus picked out on the way home. I even handed him the reins for a little spell until the lighting started crashing and White Lightning starts spooking a little so he handed me the reins back and I swatted him on the butt and settled him down. You got to ride with a pretty firm hand as he is still young and in training. White Lightning that is, tho’ come to think of it, that fits Gus who is 16, big and stout, himself!
Sure was good to see some old pals and I hope to get back another year. Anyone who wants to take a short vacation should go check that part of the world out. Right now everything is green and most of the waterholes are full and things just look great.
Other than that, life is good. Oh, by the way, we seem to have an over abundance of little grasshoppers, so if anyone is needing any, just let me know and we can loan you some of ours!