Day 102

Tuesday 02/06/12  Day 102  216 miles    3,135 total

Broke camp and said good bye to the coyotes and started walking east.  Went little over a mile and was setting by the side of the road eating a granola bar and watching a nice herd of yearling cattle.  About a hundred yards away a truck and trailer pull into the field these cattle were in and two cowboys unload their horses and go to check the cattle.  After a while I watched one of these cowboys rope a six hundred pound steer and put him on the ground to doctor him.  Blew me away.  I had worked with cattle as a  kid and for him to lay this big guy down with only the aid of his horse was impressive.  After watching these men work for close to hour they head back to their rig.  I needed to talk to these guys and met them at their truck.  Steve and Troy turned out to be the nicest guys.  We talked and they politely answered all my dumb questions and then they ended up giving me a ride into Chilton. They had another herd in a different location to work and invited me to me to meet them at a little cafe a few miles down the road for lunch.  I ended up getting a ride from Michelle and her son Russell.  Squeezed my cart into their rig and they took me all the way to Marlin.  It was nice to meet both of them.  I found out later that when I wasn't at the little cafe to meet Steve and Troy, they ordered a meal to go and went looking for me.  I felt real bad that I missed them. Was walking through Marlin  when a guy pulls up who had seen me and turn around a came back to offer me ride.  His name is Scott, but his friends call him Redwood. He is going to Hemphill, which is only a few miles from the Louisiana border.  What a great ride.  This man is a retired marine/army infantry vet who has did five tours in combat zone.  We get to Hemphill and the first thing he does is take me to the Hemphill BBQ and I had the best bbq sandwich I have ever had.  Big John was running the place and it was great and they wouldn't let Redwood pay for it, not because of me, but because of him and who he is.  Redwood left the waitress a $15 tip in return.  Redwood takes me to meet his friends who were at a shop rearranging ever thing to prepare for a big project they are going to be doing.  Redwood is the Sargent-of-arms for the Brotherhood of Bikers and James is the local President and Larry is the Chaplin and vp. I have so much to write about this group of people on how they treated me and what they do for kids, but this is a blog that has already gotten long.  You are going to have to get book 2 to read their story. Because of Larry I have a nice, very comfortable, bunkhouse to sleep in to night. Thank you to a great bunch of people I got to meet today. Pic. one, Troy, Angie, Larry, Transient, Dustin & Breanna, who are getting married this weekend, and James.  Pic. 2, twilight from my bed roll last night.