Pre-roadie madness

Crazy couple of days. Weird weather, crazy horse, endless details, numerous small trials (which seemed much bigger in the moment they happened). Beyond the details of the trials, what I'd rather note are some of the people who saved me from them.

Pam. My best friend since I was 11 years old. She is a single mom of two teenaged boys with a gigantic job -- her own law practice -- and she picked up and left for four days. For me. She was doing multimillion dollar deals from my camper one minute, and helping me pack my truck in the next. And she froze in my camper, cheerfully. I tried to help. I piled every coat and towel I had on top of her. She didn't get warm until much later, but the cheer remained.

Mike. The father of Morning Sun Ranch. He helped me strategize my various conundrums. How to jack up my camper. How to get my camper stand on top of said camper, without harming myself or others (it involved his tractor. I am coming to appreciate the right tool for the job). Dry humor, even when I felt like crying my eyes out. He made me feel more competent than I am. And he made me laugh in the process.

Austyn. Mike and Gina's son, who just kept being competent while asking, politely with laughter, "you need some help?" Most of the time I tried to say "no." But he'd amble over anyway, and then I'd say, "well, yeah ... kinda." Today, when I went to hook up my super duper hitch that extended beyond my camper, I couldn't lift it. (Truly, it's heavy.) I've gotten better about just asking Austyn for help rather than put myself through the agony of trying to do it (the really guy-type stuff) on my own. He smiled and came over, and I jabbered on about how heavy it was, how we'd have to do it together, blah, blah, blah. Before I could barely get the jabber out, he'd already gotten it done. Cheerful, good-natured competence. He laughed at me, and I joined him.


Doug. Helped me back my truck into the razor thin margin under my camper. Then, later, reminded me to buy a jack and a lugnut wheel. Good call. I wouldn't have remembered. And that's one of those things that you don't think about until you need it.

Judith. She traveled with me on my maiden voyage to the Peter Campbell clinic in Washington state with Luna (my horse trailer) AND the super duper extended hitch. By the time she got there today, I was near tears because I couldn't remember how to hook the damn thing up. There's lots of chains and bars and hooks and clips. Really, way more than normal trailers. She showed up, reminded me of how it worked, and basically saved me from a complete meltdown.

Genae. The weather was nuts this past weekend. My horse was also nuts. I took him out for a hand walk, and he was rearing and tearing around like a madman. At one point, I yelled, "Hey, I could use some help here!" because Genae was nearby the scene of the crime. He fell at one point. Freaked me out. She came over and, being the good horseperson she is, stopped about 15 feet away from the madness rather than rushing into it.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"No. I need you to take him."

Which she did ... while I tried not to cry from the fear that came up when his front feet came within inches of my head. She talked to me. Led him on a short lead. Talked to me some more. He tried to rear. She shut it down. And talked to me. Once we got him to his stall, I left to cry in my camper for 30 minutes. But after that, I was OK. Genae has skill, talent, and a way of talking to me about what is going on with my horse. I woke up the next day ready to take it on. Quincy, partly because of Jack, has been a gentleman ever since.

Doug's horse, Jack. Jack gave Quincy someone else to push around. Jack pushes back. I turned them out together for the last few days, and watched them jab and dodge and rear and kick. It's what horses are meant to do. After time with Jack, Quincy was not only a little tired, but back to mellow. Surfer boy needs his friends.

Gina. Quiet, patient, steady. It almost doesn't matter what I talked to her about in the last couple days. I don't remember, anyway. All I know is that I feel calmer when I leave the conversation than when I started it.

These are only a few of the amazing people that surround me here.

Today's the day. Time to get up and get out and get on the road. Stay tuned.

Blast off.