Wagons Ho!

On the second day of the wagon train, we were joined by about 160 Norwegian young people on a tour of the U.S. They walked along and rode on the wagons from our camp to the town of Walcott, where we paraded through town and then back out to our camp.

Wagons Ho!

Here we are on the hot and dusty trail! We had a total of 6 covered wagons, counting the chuckwagon that was pulled by four mules, plus several out-riders (those on horseback) and a three smaller carts and carriages. The majority of the ride was on gravel road (as seen here), but other parts were through grassland (rough!) and on sandy minimum maintenance roads. It's hard for the teams to pull the load through sand. I swear I heard Jr. and Laddie swearing! ; )

Wagons Ho!

Here we are on the Walcott Wagon Train! This picture was taken at the end of the first day, after we had traveled about 11 miles, just coming into camp and 'circling the wagons'. That's Hank Jr. on the left and Ladd on the right -- they both did a stellar job all weekend! We had planned to take Hank and Budd and leave the old man at home, but Budd thought differently -- he absolutely *refused* to get in the trailer so we took Ladd instead. Now we have some work to do with Budd!