Pictures

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Donna and Melody on top of Mount Scott in the Wichita Mountains

Talking to Wanda Jackson at the Gas Station in Roosevelt, Oklahoma

Monday June 2nd

I’d like to start by letting everybody know, obviously, I’m not managing to get this put down in the blog on the day is actually occurs. Several factors are included in this…dead tired at the end of the day, wi-fi accessibility, etc. I hope to get better at it. So, back to my entry for Monday!
It started out as a beautiful day. Horses and people alike seemed ready to go. I rode Patriota. Melody rode Little John and Marla rode Rocky. I gave Rocky lots of lovin’ before we started as I didn’t want him to think I didn’t love him because I wasn’t riding him. The arrangement worked well since we made better time than when Rocky and I teamed up. It was different riding Patriota because I was actually able to squeeze my legs around him. Patriota did try to do things his way a few times, but all in all, we worked well together. We met some more four-legged friends along the way. What a beautiful sight. It was apparent they all wanted to join us on our trip. Who wouldn’t?
Melody made a comment today referring to us as greenhorns. Marla said she lost that title when she got up to ride Rocky after Patriota had gone down the day before. They said I had lost the title after getting back up to finish the last leg of the journey the day I got sick. Still, I don’ think either of us is ready to compete yet! We didn’t eat heavy today, just snacked when we stopped to water the horses and let them graze. This happened about every five miles.
Some of our funniest stories today involve bridges. I thought Melody was nervous of the bridges just because she was riding Little John Little John is definitely a naturalist with little toleration of man-made objects. He shied one time when a double wide passed with lots of plastic flapping. If Melody had not reined him in time, he would have bolted. We weren’t even on a bridge yet. When we came to the first bridge that was causing some concern, we were making plans that Marla would ride across and come back for horses. She asked what I wanted to do and I told her I was going to ride. I didn’t realize at the time that this sounded like a challenge. We had just finished finalizing our plans to make it across the bridge…I would hold onto Melody’s horse while she walked across and Marla would come back, ride Melody’s horse across and I would ride across. Suddenly, Melody calls out, “If we’re going, now’s the time to do it!” And off she went! She lost her straw hat, but it was worth it to feel the victory of successfully crossing the bridge. She decided she didn’t need to backtrack on the bridge to get the hat back. I began to understand better her concerns over bridges when we came upon the last planned rest stop of our journey. It’s a bridge over the North Canadian River. We found out it was 6/10 of a mile long. That may not seem that far to most people, but on horseback…well…it was 6/10 of a mile. Originally we had planned to load the horses and remount on the other side. God sent us angels, though. The bridge was having some work done on it. Matt went to ask if they could assist us in getting across the bridge. The funniest question to me was when the guy asked, “How many horses?” Perhaps he feared a stampede before the day was over! He got on the radio and got the guy at the other end to help slow down traffic for us. All set, we took off. We didn’t run, but with my experience, it felt like we were flying. Any time I took a chance to sneak a glimpse to the side, it was pretty scary. That was a long way down! Matt followed behind. He said we were only going about 4 miles per hour. That’s really fast on a horse, isn’t it? At one time Patriota actually started to run. I could barely tell she was under me she was so smooth. Because of the speed I instinctively pulled on the reins. I felt some regret, but later I was glad we hadn’t run all the way. Angels indeed! We did made it across”! Marla started singing “We are the Champions…” She has a song for Everything. I think it was about a mile later that Patriota went down. I’ve never met a man that’s as much a gentleman as Patriota. He made sure not to roll. He just sat down. I jumped away. I was physically fine, but my heart cried out for Patriota. I wanted him to be o.k. so bad. He sat and grazed until we got him up. The vet said the nip on his back was the problem. The blanket and saddle were hitting a nerve. Bless Patriota’s big heart. He went on and on until he just couldn’t take anymore. Makes me feel guilty for all the moving around in the saddle because I was feeling a big saddle sore at the time. Patriota was finished for the journey. A vacation well deserved. Marla and Melody finished the last leg on Rocky and Little John. I still felt like crying for Patriota. My plan was to finish the trip pestering Matt to teach me about the technology we would be using for the rest of the journey. We stayed at Melody’s sister’s house. What a wonderful family! While Mary and I stayed to clean up after a delicious dinner of Mexican casserole, beans and cornbread, the others went riding. Melody wanted to ride with her nephew, Chisholm. He got to ride Rocky. He told me how big Rocky was. He couldn’t even bend his legs. More bad knews, though. Little John began limping. He had been travelling shower than usual, so perhaps he and Patriota were travelling more with the strength of big hearts than with their physical strength today. All the horses are going home tomorrow for a much needed rest. Matt, Melody and I will visit extra places we weren’t sure we had time for before we show up in Frederick. Marla and Steve will bring the horses down on Friday for the Crossroads reunion Saturday. They said they would bring Rocky and that Patriota should be well enough by then. Little John will have to stay home. He won’t be ridden for at least 45 days. I guess this could be likened to the East to West coast voyage of the Abernathy boys. They had 60 days to make their journey, but knew they would not make it. Regardless, they felt the need to finish what they had started. We plan to finish our trip at a later date. Donna

If there is a modern day Bud or Temple, one of the first kids that I think of would have to be Chisholm Kliewer. I know that he would love to go on a great adventure. I was glad to give him a book on Monday!
If anyone would like to know how long the Fay bridge is, it is 6 tenths of a mile long. I was riding Little John, Marla was on Rocky, and Patriota was good to go, so Donna was on him as we left Watonga. Since we knew where the vet clinic is in Watonga, and it is on the west side of town, we started our day from there. It is not at the very edge of town, so you know that made me a little nervous…the open road or field is my favorite, and civilization is a little (a lot) scary for me on the horse…but we left….another beautiful morning…Little John had a little more spirit than yesterday when I was riding him, and all of the business/oil field things made me nervous. Also, on that stretch of highway 33 there many semis, and not just the Wheeler Brother wheat trucks we have been seeing for a couple of days. At last we were out of town, and I relaxed a little, but what was ahead but a pretty big bridge. Well, for two days I have done pretty well because there hasn’t been a lot of traffic, and very few semis. This morning however was completely different--- the highway was pretty busy. I know Marla wanted to slap me and say get over it because I kept saying I don’t think I can cross that bridge, I don’t think I will cross that bridge on the horse…. I was too afraid that Little John would see a “booger” and I would be way to close to the traffic. So the wonderful wrangler that Marla is, she didn’t slap me, but instead said she would just pony Little John across, and I could walk across! What a friend…. So eventually we find our way to the east side of the bridge. Marla asks Donna “Do you want to walk across to?” and Donna replies “I can just ride across!” Well, at that point the west bound lane was clear for at least a ½ mile or more so I said, “if we are going, we better go!” and away we went….Although I do not wear spurs like Marla does, I did the best imitation I could with my boots and Little John and I flew across that bridge…me with one hand on the reins, and the usual white knuckle grip on the saddle horn…We had gotten about halfway across the bridge when a four-door type car zoomed past at about 70 miles an hour in the outside lane….Little John found a new speed…one I hadn’t felt before….SUPER FAST….and I felt myself lift out of the saddle…because of the swiftness of the ride and the wind whipping around, I realized my cheapy straw hat was lifting off my head…Remember earlier what I said about one hand on the reins and the other as a white knuckled grip on the saddle horn…well, what hand could I use to reach the hat to keep it on? So of course I made the decision to just let the hat fly off… I thought it was a wise choice---me? Or the hat? No contest right…. Because of the elevated speed and the wind the hat had no chance… So the other “eventful” moment was when we had turned southwest on HWY 33 toward Thomas, and we had gone about a mile past our second stop of the day…that was the place that Steve had all of the horse blankets drying on the fence looking like a tack peddler!! Anyway, the truck had gone ahead, and Matt had been by when we saw a truck go buy with a couple of flags attached…they were just flapping in the wind, and it startled Little John, but he did pretty well. I must have been in la la land because it was a truck for a wide load…I guess I thought it was wheat equipment (combines and trucks) BUT I WAS WRONG --- it was a double wide trailer zipping down the highway at about 75 miles per hour….the first part opened to the side of the road were we were riding…Remember when I said the two small flags whipping in the wind scared Little John. Well, just imagine how he reacted when the double wide wrapped in plastic that was flapping in the 25 mph wind……. He wanted to bolt!!!!!! Marla said she was so proud of me because I think I have a little self preservation…..I think I actually turned loose of the saddle horn (shocking!) so I could rein him in….we had gone from 2 miles an hour to 125 mph in 1 second!!! Okay, so I exaggerate, but he was moving fast….I didn’t end up in the highway or on the barbed wire fence—or the ground!! I was heading Steve Winterbottom’s advice---Don’t fall off!!! If you were trying to follow this blog down the map, I know I went out of order….Sorry---just wrote what came to mind first….
But sad news was just after the Fay Bridge…..about 1 mile after the bridge, Patriota collapsed again….He has a sore place on his back that was pressing on a nerve…He will be okay…. We walked a little after that, and Steve came to get us at the Weatherford turn….We were thankful to make it to Thomas. Thanks Justin for talking to the Thomas Newspaper….. Kendra was very accommodating to wait for Chisholm to come to town to take the picture. Sorry we disappointed Mary by not riding by the Wheeler Brothers so could see us…..
What hospitality we were given by the Kliewer family! Thank you Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, Chisholm, Darcey, Bailey, and Kalli! Thanks for coming out to see us Travis Wolf….hope you enjoy your new home in Thomas….good luck at pharmacy school….Chisholm loved the horses, and after a super dinner, I should say feast, of Mexican food, we headed up to the school farm to let Chisholm ride Rocky while I rode Little John…… Chisholm loved the horses so much, and definitely was able to ride Rocky better than Donna and I did! He wanted to ride to Custer with us on Tuesday. Aunt Mary (his mom) said no way to that! After I dismounted ever so gracefully ( just kidding) and Chisholm was still riding, I noticed that Little John sure seemed to limp on his right front leg… Although he will be okay, we had to make a very hard decision. The horse ride had to be over for a few days. This part of the trip had to come to an end…. The Hewitts headed east on 33 Tuesday morning with a very heartbroken Donna and Melody in Thomas….. Flexibility is necessary on a journey, and we are continuing on the next few days on a similar path, but just a little faster.. We will camp out, and spend a little longer in the Wichita Mountains and Frederick than we had planned…. The Hewitts will bring some horses back to us on Friday so we will have them on Saturday….. I know they were as sad as we are….. I know Marla wanted to ride as much as I did……
BUT WE RODE 80 MILES IN 3 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can’t forget that….We are proud of our accomplishments.
I will never forget these days…………………they were super! And Mary helped me remember, New York City is going to be great also! Our trip has just begun….even though the horseback riding was cut short a few days….our journey has just begun…………………………………
Melody

DAY 2 AND STILL GOING

Melody... Oh, what a beautiful morning is what Marla sang as we left the Kingfisher Rodeo Arena! We left about 6:45 ish or 7:00 ish….It was so beautiful! The west side of Kingfisher is lined with trees and the wheat fields were visible between the trees. It was overcast and cool as we headed out…..Patriota and Little John were ready to go, and we were in “the zone”…I was going along great and it was so much fun to just be out in the early morning…We saw 3 deer off in an alfalfa field. The first 6 miles went by in 1 hour and 20 minutes….Whew! We thought that we would be in Watonga by noon……..But a terrible thing happened. We had gone another 2 ½ miles when all of a sudden Patriota stopped, and he just buckled and went all the way to the ground. I was flabbergasted! Shocked, scared, petrified, nervous, upset, worried are all words that come to mind. I was so afraid that something was really wrong with Patriota, and so I was so thankful when he got right up. So of course Marla called Steve right away and he came back….we started walking down the road to meet them. Patriota did not want to drink, which was very disturbing. But, he would eat some grass. Marla thought that he was probably dehydrated…..and after a great man, David Wilczek, from Loyal, stopped to see if we were ok. He gave us some numbers for the vet in Watonga. He even brought a syringe back out to us when we needed to give Patriota a shot before he got to the vet…THANK YOU SO MUCH! Thanks seems so inadequate for your kindness. So that brought me to riding Rocky!!! I had a hard time doing that! So at the next stop, Marla and I switched horses, and I rode Little John…..and we got along famously! We only had to cross one “scary” bridge…. I know he has to be tired. He has gone the whole way…..The rest of the time was a lot slower than the first 8 miles….BUT, WE MADE IT! Marla says that she was really proud of me that I got back on a horse after Patriota fell…..Oh yes, Marla was right….the vet says that he was dehydrated…He is doing lots better….We think he might be ready to go tomorrow….We will see….Thank you very much to the Vet in Watonga….Justin



Donna... I slept in until 8:00 this morning. After so much sun and not feeling well, we thought it best if I took a day off. I felt like a failure to begin with, but as the day wore on, I realized I was learning about a lot of things. You know the old saying, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Patriota went down today after becoming fatigued. Melody started riding Rocky while Patriota finished taking the day off with me. She had already gotten used to riding Patriota, so it made her a little nervous to be riding Rocky. New horse, as well as one so BIG! Later she switched horses with Marla. I wondered how it would feel to ride Rocky after Marla "got him into shape." O.k. I know everyone is anxious to know what I learned today. I did get to go with Steve to the vet. It was interesting watching the whole check-over procedure. He felt his gums for wetness and color. He pinched his skin to check for elasticity. He even pinched his eyelids! I learned that even if a horse doesn't act lame it doesn't mean he's not feeling poorly. Patriota had a lot of twitching. She was given a muscle relaxer injection and some kind of oral stuff. I'll find out what the names are again. Horses have two sets of teeth. The front ones I understand do the ripping and the oodles of back ones do the grinding. They have something called floating, which I believe means they grind the back teeth down if they have become too pointy to chew. Horses give you a clue this needs to be done when they keep dropping their food. Another thing I learned is it is a very serious matter if a horse stops pooping. This requires a quick trip to the vet or it could be fatal. There is also a rub you can use on horses that also helps people with sore muscles. I understand it smells like fish and you can actually taste it after it has been rubbed down. Back to Patriota, we were advised to get some electrolytes and salt. He seemed to be back to his normal self by the end of the day. Yesterday we were talking about how surprised we were that only one person stopped to check on us at the side of the rode. Something you might expect in the city, not the country. Today we were reassured about our faith in people. When Patriota was fatigued, we realized we had no syringe to administer the muscle relaxer. One couple that had stopped earlier drove back to where we were and brought a syringe. Then when we went to see the vet, he agreed to meet us on his day off and he didn't charge a dime. He told the story of a man last summer knocking at his door. It was storming outside and the man asked if he had a place he and his horse could stay. The vet informed him he had a place for his horse. The man replied, "What's good enough for my horse is good enough for me", and proceeded to break open the hay and sleep with his horse. He was from Perkins and was heading to a ranching job in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I was reminded again today that it takes longer to get to places on horseback than a car. It only took a few minutes to drive ahead to the next stopping point. I immediately started watching for the riders. It was about 45 minutes later that they showed up. I also know I missed seeing all the little things you notice on horseback. When Melody dismounted, I noticed her shirt was missing a few buttons. This as a result of sliding off her horse. She asked if this was why cowboys wore snaps on their shirts. Before anyone could answer, she said, "Oh, wait, cowboys know how to get off a horse!" Marla said she didn't think Melody would get back on a horse again after Patriota buckled. She was really happy when Melody got right back on a horse. Melody has good reason to be proud of herself. Another interesting observation about riding horses. The trip takes a little longer and you have plenty of time to talk. We started laughing when Melody asked Marla at the end of the day, "Did I tell you about when I was five years old..." Patriota looks to be feeling more like himself. We all arrived in one piece. All in all, it's been another successful day! Can't wait for tomorrow!

The Best Part Is

Melody says Yes! We actually made it to Kingfisher. Although our time of arrival was not very accurate we arrived safely! It started as a very cool day, and rapidly became very hot! Patriota is the best...he just keeps trucking along...the scenery is so beautiful...so much wheat along the way that is turning a breathtaking golden color! There are so many Centennial Farms between Guthrie and Kingfisher...it is amazing that they have been in one family for at least 100 years..Marla took lots of pictures of the wildflowers as we went along...thanks matt for finding a cheapo camera...
At one point I actually rode at least 1/2 of a mile by myself when donna and marla looked for the cell phone Marla dropped!
And for that time there was a donkey that brayed and ran the fence line trying to intimidate Patriota, but he would not be intimidated...he just showed off and walked/loped really fast and kicked his feet in his wonderful gaited walk!!
Hey Gordon and Mike...hope you are enjoying the cool air conditioning... Super fun to see the Bunch family...thanks for coming all the way to see us and hanging out until we arrived...Christine Reed from the Kingfisher Times and Free Press was so super to talk to! Thank you for meeting with us to hear our story and for arranging for Emelia Turner ( what great comments and how cool that you have an Apache connection) to meet with us so we could give a copy of the story to the Kingfisher students....
Jim Savage thanks for hooking us up with the rodeo arena...that is a lifesaver.....also a shout out to Eric Gilbert for helping the PR man (aka Matt) get his tire fixed so he could roll again...and he even did it after hours...thanks so much...
When we arrived in Kingfisher we saw a young man named Nick Horton....he knew all about the Abernathy story because he is from Tipton...thanks for taking your time to come out and talk to us! (uncle justin was his ag teacher!)
What a super day...I can still walk...but we will see about tomorrow....Watonga and Roman Nose--here we come....

Hey, everybody! Yes, as Melody has already let you know, we are alive and well in Kingfisher The journey would have been a lot shorter, and we would have been less sore, if we had traveled by car, but ohhhh, the beautiful land that would have been ignored or barely gotten a glimpse of. Horseback is the way to go if you really want to take in your surroundings. Speaking of horses, Rocky and I are getting along fabulously. He has a lot of patience with me. I still haven't gotten the hang of riding at any kind of speed without hanging on for dear life, therefore, he is putting up with me learning how to rein him in...quickly! He doesn't really like to lead, so it's usually one of the other horses that gets him in the mood to pick up the pace. Melody and I were supposed to keep heading towards our destination when Marla needed to go back and find her cell phone that dropped out. Rocky had other ideas and wanted to stay with Little John. He got his way. After all, he does way several pounds more than I do! He's a BIG horse! We found the phone were Marla suspected it had fallen out, but still came close to it being stomped on.
It's a great feeling to accomplish our first day of travelling. We're tired. Slightly sore and wobbly. And I have a sunburn to show I wasn't thinking very brightly about taking care of myself. I'll be covered up tomorrow and drinking plenty of water. We have five days to go. We plan on making it all the way! We've met a few people today and hope to meet many more on our journey. Most people have been friendly. And the majority of motorists have been courteous.
Don't forget to keep in touch with us! Got to go. Sleep is calling our name!

Tomorow Is The Big Day

Wow!! Tomorrow we are leaving from Guthrie at 7:30 We will be staying the night in Kingfisher. I will tell more when we arrive.

Happy Trails

NEWS CHANNEL 4 INTERVIEW

Today Donna and I had the privilege of being interviewed by News Channel 4 reporter Galen Culver. He asked us many questions and seemed to know a little about the Abernathy brothers himself. The interview aired tonight during the 6:30 news program, on the"Is This a Great State, or What?" portion of the show. If you didn't have the chance to see the news tonight you can watch it online at http://www.kfor.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2543695&h1=Two%20teachers%20from%20Yale%20duplicate%20the%20Aberthany%27s%20first%20ride%20in%20%26quot%3BIs%20This%20a%20...&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=167533&LaunchPageAdTag=Search Results&activePane=info&playerVersion=9&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.kfor.com/Global/SearchResults.asp%3Fvendor%3Dwss%26qu%3Dabernathy&rnd=84614075 Results&activePane=info&playerVersion=9&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.kfor.com/Global/SearchResults.asp%3Fvendor%3Dwss%26qu%3Dabernathy&rnd=84614075 Thanks Galen and News Channel 4!!!!