Journey America Part 3

Ram River Campground

The morning after Smokey gave us the scare of our lives he awoke as if nothing had ever happened.

“Sorry buddy, no feed for you this morning,” I said to the grey when he saw me and whinnied with excitement like he did every morning before I gave him his grain. 

Due to the colic, I decided to cut his feed for a couple days to be safe. 

He was alert, happy, hungry and showed no sign of pain. I thought about letting the boys rest that day but finally concluded that walking would do Smokey the most good. I saddled Mac, ponied Smokey and headed south. 

As soon as we started the ride the heavy rain that would accompany us for days began to fall. It made life in the saddle miserable!

That afternoon, while we rested the horses on the side of the gravel road, I realized I lost one of the GoPro cameras the prior night. 

“It must have fallen out of my jacket pocket while I walked Smokey around last night,” I told Clara who drove back to our previous camp to search for the small camera. She returned two hours later empty handed.

“I searched everywhere… nothing,” she said disappointed. 

Luckily we had a second GoPro, but the card that was inside the lost camera contained a lot of footage from the past few days. It was a sad loss.

After two more rainy days on the road we rode into Ram River Falls Campground. With a herd of about 30 rams curiously watching us, I untacked the boys and offered them water. 

Both stared at the rams with wide eyes as if they were the devil!

The next day the boys rested at the campground while I drove back to Nordegg to do live interviews with Canada and Brazil and teach my monthly class for Brazilian school kids via Cisco’s Webex teleconference tool. That week we were discussing Canada’s national parks, recycling, and sustainability. 

You know the saying, “there’s no rest for the wicked?” Well, out here rest is reserved for my horses and my horses only. I just can’t find enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do. 

Luckily, Clara was able to stay with the horses while I drove the 60 kilometers there and back as I searched for the internet.