I had three very nice rides today. It’s a great place to straddle a horse, as long as you take care to avoid the prickly pear cactus and mesquite thorns. Bill even gave me a couple of little crow-hop bucks when I opened him up on straight stretch.

View from Bill-back

The Amigos aren’t the only ones who enjoy a day off. I enjoy a little down time too, especially if I don’t have to shoe any horses.  Most days when I’m on the road, I’m busy from and hour before sunrise, until about 10 pm at night. Driving a team of horses requires constant adjustment to the lines and verbal coaching and correcting.  With the continuous tension on the lines, horse care and setting and breaking camp, I’m usually a whipped puppy by the time I hit the sack.

Now that I’ve spent the previous paragraph crying on your shoulder; by no means should you feel sorry for me.  This is really a splendid lifestyle!

Clem and I out soaking up some sunshine

All in all, this was a very pleasant day off.  The horses are still is pretty good shape from their stay in Waco, but they needed some ‘mental’ time off to just be horses.

Tomorrow morning, we’re off on the journey again.  When we get a few miles down the road, U.S. Route 84 takes a bend to the north. So, sometime before lunch, we’ll reach a point where our journey will start heading north as well as west.  Hopefully, the seasons will follow our progress, and the hotter weather of summer won’t show up until we’re at the higher elevations out west.

“Free-Bob, grazing under the Mesquite tree.