Rained Out Again, Then Success

Sunday was another morning rain out for the horse ride so we sat tight until noon or so and decided to take the lower road around the park and to Sage Creek Rim Road. A good bit of it was dirt and the truck was a mess. We saw bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs and wild turkeys. It was a great ride. We decided to go on to Wall and have a bite to eat. We tried Wall's Drugs Cafe but it was chaotic so we went to Cactus Grill. I had the best chimichanga ever. It probably just tasted so good because I was hungry and hadn't had any Mexican food for two months!

Afterwards we visited the Museum of the Story of Wounded Knee where a massacre of Native American men, women and children took place at the hands of the 7th Calvary. This is the incident that Marlon Brando was trying to bring to everyone's attention when he sent an Indian woman in his place when he refused to accept his Oscar. Of particular interest to me was the panel on the newspaper and journalists of the time that wrote inflammatory and untrue things about the native people and how hostile and blood-thirsty they were. Never did anyone back East read about what the white man was doing to the Native Americans. It reminds me of the media today. They are biased and only tell one side of the story, the one they want the public to hear. Those who do not study history are destined to repeat it. Hold on to your hat! It seems to be happening again in a different vein.

We came home and played a game of Mexican Train. We only got to the 5's before quitting. We needed lanterns to see the tiles and the bugs got unbearable. I was winning with 80 points. Everyone else was over 200.

This morning we were all up bright and early for our ride. A family was joining us. Because the substitute wrangler just had a hip replacement, there was only his granddaughter to saddle all the horses. Ted went down early and helped her saddle them. I got on but my hip was feeling like it did when it would get all hung up before I had it replaced so we decided it wasn't a good idea for me to try to continue. Greg, who just had the hip replacement, got on with Ted's help. He told me his hip hurt but he was going. I told him he was braver or dumber than me, take his pick.




I came back and told Jacob I couldn't do it so he asked Dave to ride me up in the Polaris so I could see the overlook down to the valley where White River runs through the property. You can see where it got its name. It is suspended silt that gives it the white color.



It was gorgeous and two deer were running around. It was great. We saw all the riders and Dave said they were stopped in an unusual place for them. We saw them cinching a saddle and thought they had stopped because a saddle was loose. When they returned I learned a deer had run across the path and spooked the first horse. Rick's horse jerked to the right and he and his saddle went to the left. He landed on his arm and shoulder. He appears OK but I know he'll feel it tomorrow. I hope he didn't hurt something that shows up later.