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12/5/09, Irvington, IL - A relatively short travel day, but a really good time. We started the day at the Texico Ranch. We were a little late getting underway. I neglected to turn on the fan for the water tank compartment and I had a frozen water line to thaw out. We also had to visit with our wonderful hosts, Jim and Susan.
Jim has a nice herd or registered Charlet cattle and also breeds riding horses. He also has a fairly large hay business. Susan runs a large rescue for Cattle Dogs. Between the two of them, the critters keep them quite busy.
We only drove about nine miles this morning before stopping in a field of soybean stubble for lunch.
I’m trying to break Bob of his habit of laying back in the harness, so every once in while, I give him a little poke in the butt with a stick to remind him that he should be pulling his share. It seems to be working. After a few hours of this, a softly spoken word is now enough to get him up and on his collar.
It was a pretty uneventful day until we passed a mixed herd of horses and draft mules. Shortly after we went by, two mules and a saddle horse decided they wanted to join the wagon train. They hopped over the single electric wire, that was holding them in and started following behind the wagon. I pulled over, gave Denise the lines and went after the escapees. I didn’t get too close before they decided they like their pasture after all. They all jumped back over the wire and went on with their normal herd life. I pushed the Easy Button on that one!
Tonight, we’re camped on the west side of the town of Irvington. Our host tonight is Bill Windler. Bill was kind enough to turn his Belgian and saddle horse in the barn, leaving the paddock and round bales of hay for the three amigos.
We stopped early today, with about an hour and a half of daylight remaining. It was nice to leisurely unharness, setup camp and do chores. Then Dee and I walked about 100 yards down the road to a small cafe/grocery store and had a pizza dinner.
This was a really nice day!
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