Trail Ride Day 2: May peace be with you

I found myself wanting to disconnect today. I’m not entirely sure why.

Let’s look at the reality. I was in a field approximately 4 miles from home. In my neighborhood, that’s practically next door. We had many of the luxuries of home – it’s not like we were truly roughing it. My phone had plenty of service. There was a porta-potty with a sink in it for Pete's sake. I could have gone home if I needed anything.

But it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe I was too tired as I hadn’t slept well. My sister’s claims that  her bed roll was really thick and comfortable turned out to be a lie. So I slept  on a hard surface and I’m too old for that, it appears.

It was  so entirely peaceful in that field. The creek (ok: canal that sounded like a creek) bubbled in tune with the breeze that blew in from the hay field next door. At  night, the full moon lit the way from the campfire to my tent. Had I not known better, I would have thought I was 100s of miles from home on a range far, far away.

Day 2 meant heading through the desert to a local tourist spot. In the distance, I could see the power line that follows the highway, but I chose to ignore it. While the day before I had three cameras for recording the events, Wednesday morning I just rode in silence. The horses were interesting to watch.The wheels of our reformed Dodge-towing-porta-potty crunched over the lavas with Richard guiding the horses with only the slightest of motions.

I watched the riders on horseback – how they paired up, how they treated the horses, how they went off trail. It became clear which were the experienced horsemen and which were not.

As we rode through the desert I was able to just. “be here” – just as Richard had instructed his horses. Be here. Every so often I felt obligated to connect electronically. Part of my role here is help generate “buzz” for the event and the Lost –n-Lava Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering that follows. I’m also a Facebook junky and sometimes I need a fix.

For the most part, I’m proud to say, I was able to breathe in the sagebrush and fresh air. As a writer, I kept thinking I should be able to come up with a word more original than peace. I couldn’t. The day was peaceful.

We spent some time at Mammoth Caves, which is just off Highway 75 north of Shoshone. There is simply no way to describe this collection in the museum there – artifacts from nearly every era of recorded history. The cave is deep and fascinating on it’s own.

We took the long way home and came over the butte and steep hills. Again, it felt like we were a million miles from home, yet, in the distance I could see the dairy and knew I was really close to reality. It was hot – as we came through the last field and neared camp something happened that made all the heat and dirt worth while. The trail boss allowed my son to ride his horse.

He’d been asking all day, but a long trail ride is not the best place to start riding. Anything can spook a horse and the lava beds provide no soft place to land.The dirt of the canal bank offer a safer landing.

C.J.s smile could not have been any wider unless he had surgery. He sat up straight in the saddle and listened carefully to instructions from the cowboys riding next to him.

This little boy who usually won’t do much outside of playing video games had to coaxed off the horse.

“This is better than Disney World.”

We spent another night around the campfire with songs and stories from the performers in our group. My girls and husband joined us for dinner and roasted marshmallows in the moonlight. I sat with friends old and new and counted my blessings.

One of the musicians that joined us on the trip. Monlight Ride… is my favorite…

The moon was often covered with clouds as one of the musicians strummed a song called “Moonlight ride”.  The stars were out. The fire crackled and I snuggled with my kids and swayed to the music.

If ever there were peace in my life, this is it.