It Takes A Team

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Wagonteamster

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3-10-10, Edge of Abilene - I awoke to a beautiful morning, already at least 60 degrees. There were a few clouds, and they faded quick. I decided to spend a half hour and re-plumb my hose reel to an outside location, under the shelf in the back of the wagon (this is where I had it before this trip - it was moved inside for freeze protection.)  Well, this job ended up taking an hour. Then B.O.B. needed his shoes tightened. Then I went to turn on the inverter and it fried.  With my meter, I found out there was a dead short somewhere in the wagon AC wiring.  So, the day didn’t start off too good. It had it’s ups and downs for the remainder of the day.

The wagon and team in front of the Ovalo Post Office.

I bought some ice at the local grocery store to keep the food cold and started up US 84. There were no shoulders and the traffic started to get crazy, so I punched in an alternate route on the GPS and headed for Buffalo Gap. That’s when my day started getting better.  It was great to be on the back roads. Our first stop was the small town of Ovalo, where we posed for some pictures in front of the post office.  A few miles further up the road, I pulled over for lunch before heading through some farm country.  Not long after we started off in the morning, the wind picked up and blew a steady 40 mph, all day long.  So, when we passed some large fields that were heavily plowed and disced, we ended up in some nice dust storms.

The lads, saying ‘hi’.

In spite of all the little pitfalls today, it really was a good one. We met some nice people, the roads were fairly flat, the weather was warm and the team pulled good.  So, when you put it in perspective, today’s trials and tribulations didn’t really rank up there with world hunger or nuclear proliferation.

The town of Buffalo Gap was really nice, with well kept homes and lofty oak trees. Due to the large number of Bed and Breakfast’s, I imagine that a lot of other people like it as well.  I nice feller stopped and gave me a couple copies of the local newspaper.

There’s something to be said for no-till farming.  Good thing it hasn’t been dry, or this guy would have lost all the soil on his field to the wind. Gee, I wonder how the dust bowl happened?

We drove about 6 miles north of Buffalo Gap, and are currently camped at a 7-11, right on the edge of Abilene.  Bob and Doc are swapping places as they’re tied to the trailer. That way, I avoid the chance of a ruckus causing the playpen to go down.  Also, it leaves me with a horse to chase the other ones with, if they get out.

Following a dust storm, there is a cure for a throat full of dirt.

Before supper, I troubleshot the wiring problem and found it in a receptacle that I have in my water tank compartment. I use this to hook up an electric heater on really cold nights.  Since spring is in the air, I disconnected it.  Tonight, I have power from the generator, but I’ll have to buy some ice tomorrow for the fridge. When I get a new inverter, I’ll be back in business. As an end note, I had some visitors tonight.  One guy was a teamster with some Belgians that was interesting to talk with.  Another was a stone mason that I had passed earlier in the day and he left me $20.  See, if you have a rainy day, the sun will eventually come out again!

Buffalo Gap is located in a gap between to mesas.  I imagine that the herds of bison use to migrate through the gap.

Tomorrow, we’re headed across Abilene. I’m not sure of the exact route, but it will be north.  I know there were plenty of people trying to track me down today, and I unintentionally gave them the slip.  If anyone wants to find me, follow the manure trail!