Hi there!
My last week in Wyoming has just begun and I'm very excited to go back home (well, let's say Europe:)).
Last week was pretty eventfull: on Monday afternoon Sarah and I drove about 2 hours to reach the NOLS ranch. After dinner we packed our lunch for the following day and we went quickly to bed because our alarm was set at 5 am. The following day we were expected to bring the re-rations to the field where a course was waiting for us. At 6.30 the wranglers had caught 11 horses from the arena (there are 67 horses in the ranch) and all boxes were ready on the horse trucks.
Sarah, the manager of the ranch Pee Bee, and I were packing one big horse when he jumped over getting loose from the truck and falling on his back like completely fool. We were all a kind of scared about that but PeeBee took immediately the situation under control and everything was safe a
gain.
11 horses, 5 people. 4 horses were for us,wranglers, and the rest of them were loaded carefully so that the weight is well balanced.
We rode through the mountains on very narrow paths, rocky sections, rivers, and also a kind of jungle where you have to pay attention to plants and branches. As I got more confident with my horse, Tex, I started trotting along in the easier sections and I could prevent him strongly to use "the salad bar" (as the ranch people call the grass) on our way.
It took us about 7 hours ride to go in and out of the field. In the picture below you can see how the guys split the re-ration and issued it to the cookgroups.
The ride back was so much fun. We had to stop a couple of times because Sarah's horse kept on loosing his shoe and for the horses to drink from the rivers. The lesson of the day was much more than a riding one: if there's an obstacle on your way, you are expected to look forward; always try keeping the balance on your horse and show him who has the power as he tries to do something he's not supposed to. The view was great specially having a higher perspective from the back of a horse!
Sarah and I were very tired after our ride. PeeBee offered us a delicious milkshake (my first one) who woke us up, so that after helping with the unloading of the trucks at the ranch, we were able to get back home. The last part of the drive was pretty difficult for us as dears and antelopes kept on crossing the highway... but we did it! If you wanna read more about that/look at more pictures, check out the blog of NOLS: the title of the post is "Three Peaks Ranch Re-rations ROC 7-26!" and the address is: http://nols.blogs.com/nols_news/
On Thursday Claudia, Jane, Matt and myself had a wellness day. Basically, in winter and in summer every department has the possibility to have a day off paid by the company. In the morning we were hiking in the mountains and in the afternoon, after a delicious bagel (that's some American food that I really like) we were on the road to Pinedale. Taking a cut off we ended up in an impressive area where we could even see a nest of ospreys. For dinner we got to Atlantic City: entering the town the sign says "population: about 57"! In fact, the only beeings we met getting to the restaurant were cows!
The cowboy restaurant was pretty ful
l, though. I had a great well done steak with onion rings, a salad and a beans soup and a Corona. Man, it was delicious!
After that I was done for the day:)
On Friday night we had the biggest and greatest NOLS Rocky Mountain Barbecue at Glenda's, who is the main manager of the Rocky Mountain's department. There was a band playing, a lottery, and good food and wine. I also tried to teach line dance to Matt, Dave and Mitch! It was cool!
On Saturday night Walt, Martin and 2 friends of Florian came here and thanks to Walt's dad, who's a hunter, we had elk for dinner and we watched a very good movie called "Zodiac"about a serial killer.
On Sunday after the Mass I started cooking for about 15 people for the Italian dinner which we had at Claudia's house. I cooked white lasagne and parmigiana di melanzane which is made of layers of fried eggplants, cheese and tomato sauce .
Florian let me drive the huge truck of his company to get there which was another kind of Wyoming experience considering that here everybody drives those busses.
I was very happy to see Erin coming from the ranch where she's been working since she's left from Lander. It was our last occasion to say to eachother goodbye...:)
... And this brings me to good night greetings. Next Monday is my last day in Lander, hence I'm 'na write my last post from USA...
have a great one!
Antonella
