Howdy Chuckwagon Friends
Monday morning on the Stampede grounds was hopping. The show was over and everyone was packing up and heading out. We are always so excited to arrive in Calgary, but yet so glad to be leaving as the 10 day show wears you down.
Blue Sky’s Above
Early morning blue sky’s were above us, as the loading began. The sun shone bright and things were good. The crew was busy as bee’s down at the barn loading all our belongings into the semi. I stayed up at the trailer, making a bite to eat for breakfast and prepared the Travelin Trailer for the journey north. Things got a little tense when the Freightliner keys went missing. Rick had them the night before as he moved the big rig onto the grounds. What he forgot, was he safely put them on the pick-up key chain for safe keeping. This ended up using precious travel time in a search party going through dirty laundry, coat pockets, and drawers. When Rick finally retraced his steps from the night before, the light-bulb finally went on as to where they were. Thank goodness, as there were thoughts of having to call to have a new ignition switch put in.
The last thing to load are the horses. No problem there as they are troopers when it comes to this. The numbers were counted, and we were up two and down one. Rick and I purchased 2 new outriding horses from Rae Croteau Jr. at his dispersal sale, and Zorba was sold to another driver. It’s always hard to say goodbye to ones we have had for a long time, but decisions are made based on how they are performing on the wagon. Sometimes they are getting up in age, and just don’t race like they used to. It was time to find him another home.
The Big Grey Wheeler
Our herd is forever changing. There are always new ones coming in, (usually in the fall) and some are sold or granted over to folks who would love to have a horse to just care for.
Fast Friendly
One particular horse we have had for some time now, was sold at the beginning of Calgary. He just wasn’t cutting it in our chuckwagon world. He went to a native friend of ours and quickly found his niche in the Pony Relay Race. He was very fast they said and very happy with his performance.
We departed the Big City Lights of Calgary around 1 pm, headed north to the small town of Bonnyville, in northern Alberta, a 7 hour drive, with a couople of rest stops included. To date, from the start of our travel season, we have driven 3296 kilometers. By the seasons end, we will have covered 5521 km driven mostly all over Alberta, and into Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
A Work of Art
Our Grandson Coy, is forever drawing this or that. Some day I’m sure he will have some wonderful masterpieces. Here is a signed piece that he did for us. Pretty good I must say!
The Bonnyville Show begins on Thursday. Looking forward to some fast and speedy runs.
From the Travelin Trailer
Sue, with Rick and Team 23.
P.S. Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.
Sue
Hi Sue and Rick! We are neighbors and friends of Maxine and Wayne Overacker and of course among your #1 fans! Our grandsons know all about you too and all weekend, on their 2 night sleepover, they played ranch and farm rather than super heroes! Yeah! It was special for them to stay up for the Chuckwagon races on Saturday night. I have waited until you are on the road with some “breathing time” to send an email to tell you how much we enjoy the Travelin’ Trailer news. We read it every day and Sue, your encouraging thoughts at the end are like a wake up call to take time in the day to appreciate all we do and have in our lives. Thank you for that. This Stampede I will always believe I saw a miracle in the making when Rick encountered that barrel with the following events. Wits, skill, preparedness and quick thinking and “perfect timing” all came together for a good outcome. We are all so very grateful for that and I know you are too. As my friend always says, “I’m not sitting on the shelf in this life” and thus onward we all go on to whatever will be. We wish you all the very best in Bonnyville. Thank you again for sharing the Western qualities of living and coping that are the soul of our country, particularly in the West. We come from a small town in Saskatchewan and appreciate those basic qualities of caring, sharing and gratefulness that always threads throughout your daily stories. Happy Trails, Dolores and Derryl Duncan
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