The Wagonteamster Channel has it’s first video production - Journey To the Valley Of the Wild Horses

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9/18/12, Susanville, CA - Coord. N. 40 deg, 25.203 min.; W120 deg., 38.575 min.  - NOTE - this is the furthest western point I will make on Trip #4.  Everywhere else will be at a point east of here!

This was a great day for travel and meeting people.  Leaving Litchfield, my goal was the Eagle Lake Senior Home in Susanville. I opted to take a back road for a change so while there was still a fair amount of traffic, I wasn’t on the highway.

A few miles into my trek, I met Linda, whom I briefly met yesterday while stopping at the small store in Litchfield. As I passed in front of her ranch, she was kind enough to invite me to pull in so she could give me a gift of some hay and grain - Thank you very much. Linda’s gift was a real blessing, as the grain store in town didn’t appear to have much that I needed.

Linda posing by the lads at her ranch. It’s good people like this that ease the burden of my travels.

After stopping for lunch a few miles east of town, I finally pulled into Susanville. My first stop was at the grocery store where I stocked up on a few victuals. While I was there, the lads attracted quite a crowd, to include a few youngsters that wanted to meet the horses.

I think these three girls had a good time sitting on Bill.

It was only a little over a mile from the grocery store to the Senior Home, but I stopped no less that five times to talk to people and let them feed the horses.  It’s a good thing I was running ahead of schedule!

I had quite an enthusiastic crowd of folks at the Senior Home. The mood was quite cheerful a people went up to the lads to give them some pets and treats.  Like always, I was amazed at how careful the guys move when they have old folks with walkers and wheelchairs around.

Don, giving Doc some treats. Don retired as a Los Angeles Firefighter in 1970, after serving with them for 30 years.  He said that his generation was the first to live full lives in retirement, as they introduced breathing apparatuses just after he joined the department. Before that, firefighters had to breath the smoke as they fought the fire and as a result had few years left to them after they quit the department.

This is Lil, who is 101 years old. Even though she is a city girl from Chicago, she really like the guys, especially Doc.  She commented that her and Doc were practically twins, as they had the same colored hair!

Senior homes, one of my favorite places to visit!

Tonight, I camped right in front of the senior home. There is a fenced in acre of ground with some fairly good grass on it.  I took a look back, and somehow or another, the guys have had good grazing on four of the past ten evenings.  With 99% of the grass burnt up in a country that has had a dry summer and fall, this is pretty remarkable.

It’s been a fun and rewarding day. Before leaving town tomorrow, I’m going to pick up a few things, then set my sight on Reno, NV, which I should reach in under a week.