It Doesn’t Do to Ride Off on a Too-Freshly Eaten Meal

I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.

I try to get my traveling in each day while it’s still cool. In theory I rise with the sun, feed Woody, break camp and hit the road an hour after sunrise.

It rarely works out that way.

Still, I kid myself the morning dew will keep the deer flies grounded long enough for us to get down the road a fair stretch before their incessant buzzing commences.

By about lunchtime though we’re ready for a break. 

I try to find a patch of grass somewhere within rope’s length of a good tying tree. I carry a sixty-foot piece of rope on my saddle. It used to be longer but I’ve had to cut it too many times to undo the doozy of a knot I’ve been known to tie.

Anyway, I tie Woody to the tree, pull off the old McClellan cavalry saddle and tent and saddlebags and grain bag and let him wander off.

Me, I lean up against the tree for a late breakfast. I don’t like to eat breakfast before I get under way. I figure it’s better to make tracks while it’s cool. 

Lunchtime in the shade is a good time to make up for a missed breakfast. I carry a pound of rolled oats in my pommel bag. I put some of that into a cup and then pour water onto that. That’s good for mules and hungry travelers too. After I’ve had my bite of oatmeal, I usually check my map to make sure I’m still headed down the right road.

Then, if the shade is good and time permits, I take a nap.

Not a long one mind you. Just ten or fifteen minutes. It doesn’t do to ride off on too-freshly an eaten meal.

After waking up from a nap outside Arabia, I saw Woody grazing on the other side of some weeds I’d taken residence behind. It was still spring enough that the stalks of last year where poking up through the new growth. He just looked so peaceful picking away at the new grass.

I like it so much I took this photo and rolled over for a few more minutes of shut-eye. 

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