The Stay Put Mule Rain Blues

I rode in to La Plata, Missouri, ahead of the storm. The plan was to buy sardines and ramen and then ride out the other side toward Idaho. But the rumblng clouds shattered and poured down on me in pieces. It’s rained over an inch and I’ve eaten most of the sardines and some of the ramen and the damn wet stuff keeps falling. And I’m still in La Plata.

When it’s rainy monsooning like this, it’s just best to stay put. Be patient. Put your gotta-get-there-by-next-week ambitions on hold. Traveling up the highway with mules in the rain is just too dangerous.

There’s more to this rain than making for miserable travel. The constant rain softens the skin on the mules’ backs, increasing the risk of saddle sores. It also softens their feet. This leads to increased wear. Yes, I use hoof boots on my mules. But the rain softens their heels. If you’re not careful, the hoof boots can cause heel sores. So far, we’ve been lucky. No heel or saddle sores.

So we’re waiting in La Plata for the rain to end.

Great big thanks to Greg Love for letting mules Brick and Cracker camp in his pasture. Camping in wet clover beats the bejesus out of leading 2 mules up a stormy highway.

Folks in La Plata have been super understanding about my delay. Here are some photos of my favorite home in town.

The man on the radio is forecasting 2 to 3 more inches of the wet stuff in the next 2 days. Brick and Cracker are pondering water wings.

More thanks:

Thanks to the Santa Fe Cafe for sheltering me from the rain. There’s only so much time a man can stay hunkered down inside his tent. I’d stop by the Cafe any time for more coffee, apple pie and grilled chicken salad. Whatever the weather.

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