Each year in the Fall, the members of the Southern Indiana Draft Horse and Mule Association get together for a week long wagon ride. The plan was to spend 3 days camping at the Southern Indiana Horseman's Club near Tell City, IN and to move over to Bristow, IN on the northwestern corner of Perry County for the remainder of the week. Both locations offered several different routes for the wagons to ride each day and we only had to move our camp one time during the week. Responsibility for the evening meal each day was shared amoung the members with one member taking each day of the week. We had cool, dry and sunny weather early in the week with some light rain during the nighttime toward the end of the week. We had between 4 and 8 wagons each day and had plenty of visitors who visited the camp or filled the wagons. We had been contacted via our Facebook group by some folks traveling together on their way home to both Wisconsin and to Indianapolis from a wagon ride they had been on in Tennessee. They stopped by on Saturday evening and drove their wagons with us on Sunday. The family that was heading home to Indianapolis, stayed to ride with us again on Monday.

During the week, we hadn't had any runoffs or other mishaps until we stopped to eat lunch on Friday. As we were lining up to leave the field where we had stopped to eat, Luke Schmitt's team of mules decided to leave the group behind and run off with his wagon. When last seen, Luke was on the ground and the team was headed back up the gravel road that we had come in on. They were at a dead run and looked like they were getting ready to enter a chuckwagon race. This caused us to cancel our planned route and to backtrack along the same route we had taken before lunch. It was hoped we would find the team and Luke's orange wagon somewhere down the road. That, however, didn't happen and we wound up returning all the way back to camp. The next step in the search was undertaken by 3 different pickup trucks searching the various gravel backroads in hopes the team could be spotted. Finally, Luke's team and undamaged wagon were found about 1/4 mile from where they had run off. They were standing peacefully up someones driveway just far enough off the road that we hadn't seen them as we drove by. Luke was able to drive the wagon back to camp with no problem.

By Saturday, everyone was tired or had other things to do, so Friday was our final day of riding. Overall, it was a really great week. Congratulations go out to the planners and all of the members for making this such a fun adventure. A special thanks to those who allowed me to share their company and ride in the wagon with them.

P.S. Your photographer wound up spending two more days in the area while he waited for the failed alternator on his truck to be replaced!