It Takes A Team

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7/3/10 & 7/4/10, Pagosa Junction, CO - Happy Independence Day! The team and I continue to rest here on Cat Creek. 

On the evening of 7/2, we had a nice barbecue with friends, Penny and her boyfriend Kim. In addition to steak and burgers, we had a nice 3 pound trout that just about filled the grill. At the urging of my host, I did a little rain dance just prior to the barbecue. A couple of hours later a squall line came marching up the valley.  What followed was a storm, complete with thunder and lightening, that dumped about an inch of rain on the ground. This was the first significant rainfall in over two months.  It was timed perfectly to coincide with the end of supper and an after dinner drink - a truly spectacular show.

Squall line marching up the valley.  Note the mission church for the ghost town of Pagosa Junction.

When we went to change irrigation water on the hayfield the next morning, I tried my hand at fishing again.  Unfortunately, the rain brought cooler water in the San Juan River, so the fish weren’t biting (oh well).

Yesterday afternoon, we hitched up LuAnn’s Haflinger “Haf” to a buggy and went for a ride. We drove through the ghost town of Pagosa Junction.  In the 1920’s this town was a major junction for the narrow gauge railway, and 750 people lived here.  In the mid 60’s the railway shut down and the town slowly died, until no one is left today.  Other than a mission church, the only remaining structures are a few broken down buildings and an old boxcar, parked on the remains of a rail siding.

The lads enjoying their morning oats.  On long journeys, it’s important that horses have periodic periods of rest.  They need it for physical and mental reasons. Even though they are in top physical condition, they need time to wander around, eat grass, sleep, and just be a horse.

I plan on resting the team for at least another two weeks. On the weekend of 7/17, I’m hitching up a unicorn to a large people-moving wagon, and driving 20 miles to the Jicarilla Apache town of Dulce, NM, where we are taking part in a parade.  Our little caravan will also consists of at least one other buggy and some outriders.

Having traveled nearly 3000 miles this trip, the lads need a pause to rest and heal some minor sores.  In the meantime, I’ll keep on blogging!

Always curious, the lads found it very interesting to see another horse being hitched for a change.

Some of the few dozen structures still standing in the ghost town of Pagosa Junction.

LuAnn, with her buggy in front of the old mission church,