{"id":22019,"date":"2025-02-05T00:30:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T07:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=22019"},"modified":"2025-02-03T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T23:31:17","slug":"a-snails-pace-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/05\/a-snails-pace-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Snail\u2019s Pace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bryce Angell – The outdoors has always been a large part of my life. My father was an outfitter and guide for 35 years and I was there to shoe and care for the horses and help him do the cooking. We took many great trips into the Yellowstone area. Even now that I\u2019m older, we still ride into the Tetons, Yellowstone and surrounding areas. My poems are mostly of personal experience. I am now retired and enjoying life to the fullest. I plan to do more riding and writing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019d saddled up our horses at the trailhead in the Park. For a ride through Yellowstone in hopes of getting done \u2019fore dark.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We started at Old Faithful on a brisk October day and were aiming for the Ranger Station thirty miles away.<\/p>\n

I could hear the click as saddlebags were buckled in their places. I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever seen so many grinning faces.<\/p>\n

The horses\u2019 breaths were steaming in the cold October air.\u00a0 <\/span>An hour into daylight, not a minute\u2019s time to spare.<\/p>\n

With four new lady riders who\u2019d be bringing up the tail, our traveling would be slower than a ninety-year-old snail.<\/p>\n

The ladies were beginners. I\u2019m not saying they weren\u2019t smart. But they made the biggest blunder stopping at a Mini-Mart.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The gals tanked down on Diet Coke like there was no tomorrow. If only they\u2019d have realized no daylight time to borrow.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d barely left the trailhead, only rode a mile or so. When their Diet Coke would travel south. So then they had to \u201cGo.\u201d<\/p>\n

We helped the ladies climb on down. Into the woods they went. Then helped each one back on her horse, just like a proper gent.<\/p>\n

The snail brigade moved down the trail but stopped when (wouldn\u2019t you know?)\u00a0 <\/span>Another lady called out loud, \u201cI really gotta go!\u201d<\/p>\n

So once again we helped her down and then back on her steed. I warned them all, \u201cWe\u2019re running late! We should pick up the speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

We rode a few more miles, and then I heard a desperate plea, \u201cI know we\u2019re short of time, but please, I really gotta pee!\u201d<\/p>\n

How many times in one day can a person really go? I hesitated asking \u2018cuz I didn\u2019t want to know. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We stopped along the river\u2019s edge and wolfed down every bite. We\u2019d soon be riding in the dark and trust the horses\u2019 sight.<\/p>\n

Our day was done. The sun went down. The ride had gone too slow. But after dark I never heard, \u201cI really gotta go.\u201d<\/p>\n

We finally reached the station. Yes, our patience had been tried. My body was a total wreck. I\u2019d say completely fried.<\/p>\n

So next time when you ride with us, please take my sound advice. \u201cLeave all the soda pop at home! Next time we won\u2019t be nice!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019d saddled up our horses at the trailhead in the Park. For a ride through Yellowstone in hopes of getting done \u2019fore dark.\u00a0 \u00a0 We started at Old Faithful on a brisk October day and were aiming for the Ranger Station thirty miles away. I could hear the click as saddlebags were buckled in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cowboy-poetry","7":"category-commentary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22020,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22019\/revisions\/22020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}