October 9th -- 5:30 pm
We stopped by the horses to tell them that we couldn't find a place to stay at and they had a couple of juicy stories. Before I tell them, I want to clarify: we do natural horsemanship, using Pat Parelli's tecniques.
Kid, being arabian, was being his normal, spooked out self. It's dangerous to have a spooked out horse right beside a highway, so Martha was trying to get him to calm down. She was hitting his side (not hard) with one of the stirrups and swinging the rope. Twice, someone driving by started screaming (really screaming) and hollering at her to stop abusing her horse... “Stop hitting the horse! You don't deserve that horse!!! It's sickening to see how you're treating that poor animal!”
If you know Martha, you would know that she would never abuse anything, let alone her horse (whom she adores and never wants to sell). One gal kept following and turning around again to see if they were still abusing Kid!
One place, they were barely on the edge of someone's lawn, staying away from traffic, and the owner stepped out of her house and was screaming (yes, literally screaming!) at them to get off her lawn “...right now!!!”
This is urban Kalispell.
This is the 5th farm we've stopped at to ask and finally, someone said that we could camp here. I am glad because it's going to be dark soon.
I am so glad we're all feeling well. :-)
October 9th, 2008
By the time our host kindly agreed to allow us to camp in his yard last night, I was realizing what Joseph and Mary felt like when there was no room in the inn.
House #1: An older lady, “I have no idea where you might camp... there's the park, though I'm thinking they close at 5pm...” (it was past that)
House #2: A younger gal, “I don't own this place so I couldn't let you do that. Go try the Rebekah farm.”
House #3: An old man, “I have no idea... I just live here....”
House #4: A young man, “Well, this is private property.”
House #5: “Sure! Why not?”
Mom had a smile on her face when she turned from the doorway to give me a thumbs up. :-) We were beginning to wonder what was going to happen. But God provided a thoughtful man, a place to camp and a pasture for the horses.
We were just getting set up when a camper van drove in. The driver of the van jumped out and came over to us. He said was the owner of house #4 and his friend was renting it from him. He was so very sorry that we had been turned away and wanted to find and tell us that it was fine if we camped there... but he was glad that we had found a place.
“He's a good man,” he said, gesturing towards the house.
He told us his name was Bill and that he was a barber by trade. “Barber Bill,” he called himself.
It made me feel better. :-) It's funny to go from feeling like people are going to call the cops on you to a man like our host last night. He kept asking if we needed anything and even offered his shower to us. After such a poor reception, this man was an incredible blessing. Thank you!
Last night, Dad decided to run back into Kalispell to get some air mattresses (we have lost a few due to wind, cold and a few good ol' puctures) and a couple of other things. I begged to go along because I had been pretty chilly the night before and figured it would be even colder this night. I bought myself a new sleeping bag. :-)
This morning, we were all very reluctant to get out of bed so got on the road a half hour later than usual. The riders were walking when we last saw them and they plan to continue to walk for awhile. We're sitting in the Schwan's parking lot beside highway #2 waiting for them to come up. It's beautiful country here and not much traffic on the road they are traveling. It's narrow so less traffic is nice.
Connecting to the internet was interesting yesterday. I got on while we were driving... then it disconnected. So I got my post ready for posting and waited for another few seconds of another connection. It came about a half an hour later. :-)
I keep wanting to mention this but I never remember when I have time to do so!
Even on the days when Ruth was feeling the worst and was crying and throwing up, there was one thing that never failed to make her smile or laugh. It was Gordon Stobbe's song “Tye Manuchuck”. If no one has ever thanked you for composing that song, I am now. There has to be something special in a song that would bring a smile to the face of a three year old who has the stomach flu. :-) Thanks, Gord!
I see horses! :-)
--Naomi
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