Can I ask who the picture is of: A Treasured Life Spirit Tale encounter of the 4th ki
A Short Horse Story, of driving half way across N. America,
with stops including The Lazy E Arena, Los Alamitos,
Santa Anita, Golden Gate, etc...
I was supposed to be sleeping, after driving all the way from the
fuel stop in El Paso, TX. all night to sunrise in Indio, CA. Had not
slept a wink the night before either, after leaving The Red River
Ranch, cruising across south TX., west on that historic and hilly
I-10, (when he slept on the pretty fairly good I-10 West).
But I was so constantly awakened from a shallow burnt drowse,
and shaken, when he pulled the trailer brakes up I-95, and
then the whole rig was jumpin' and shakin to slow, and
still he angrily road raged repeatedly...
So... we took off from N/W ARK., in the beautiful clear early fall,
several years ago. Runnin' a 1 ton flatbed Ram, powerstroke 7.9
Cummins w/single sleeper up there atop the extra maybe 50 gal.
fuel tank, a crawlspace in between the cab, there was a place
(though I never crawled into it, can't sleep when just anyone
is supposed to awake at the wheel). We had the dual fuel
tanks, a pike pass, and were pulling a very nice 43'
custom aluminum trailer, w/living/storage area,
a top rack, etc. and drove on down I-44
to Tulsa, OK., Old Indian Territory.
There, we were supposed to pick up a horse, but someone dropped the hitch.
Co driver was on the phone, and customer said: "I'd have to drive an hour and
a half just to get to where the horse is at"; driver: "we're here in town now, and
were told to call you, for directions". Cusomer: "it's gonna' be awhile before I
can get to it, I won't be able to leave here for about an hour". Driver: "talked
to the boss, guess we'll have to postpone", customer: "ok, we'll call later.
Driver: "Well, that was a waste of time, so we'll head for The Lazy E, N.
of historic outlaw and lawman tales city, and original capitol of Territory,
Guthrie. By this time, it was getting kinda late afternoon, it would be
dark before we would get to load a very large good looking mare,
and her absolutely gorgeous and well marked Colt. The bill of laden
said: Steven Lucas: Sun City CA., and covered both horses, so we headed
on down I-35, to a nice ranch I believe was between Moore and Chickasha.
It was awful dark and in the middle of the night, when we quietly pulled
through the gate unannounced. We pulled up in front of what looked
like the office, in the dim lit spread out light. There wasn't a soul to
be found, and Hoss the driver, walked next door to the dark unlit
house, where he knocked on the door loud and repeatedly, with
no response. I smoked a Harley cigarette, as we walked back
over to the wide open office, and looked for the freight we
were supposed to pick up. Hmmn, dwelling in safety, I
remember I thought, as we looked through all of the
rooms, enjoyed the pics and trophies, and then as
we admired it all, realized there was not a horse
at all, to be found in the elaborate barn vicinity...
All of a sudden, there was the medium tone of
a gentle man, breaking the early morning still.
"What do you all need, he asked, speaking
noticeably patient like. Hi, sorry to wake you,
we are here to pick up a horse (calling name).
The blue eyes of the tall sandy haired sleepy,
but kind acting man, stared in deep thought,
then said, "OK, I'll have to go get him".
When he returned though, he softly said "The customer
hasn't paid for what she owes, I cannot release the horse
until she does, sorry. We could only say OK thanks, and sorry
to have woke you, then the man said OK, and we walked back
through the dim walkway across the grass lawn, and climbed
back in the still running truck. It was a fair night, maybe in
the cool 50's, not bad, the smell of diesel exhaust thick
in the air. As we pulled out I thought, strike two, and
we pulled back out onto the highway headed south
toward Tejas, next stop New Mexico, on we drove...
