Walking amongst the Tuesday morning commuter crowd at BWI wearing a cowboy hat is an odd feeling to say the least. Usually I’m the one in business attire headed off to the northeast or Florida for a trade show or to teach a course, so a flight to Albuquerque with a checked sleeping bag, headlamp and Grandpa’s pipe is odd to say the least.
Durango CO is far from anywhere. So while I could have flown straight there, I’d be getting in late after long layovers and the costs were prohibitive. Instead, I’m renting a car and making the three hour drive up from the largest city in New Mexico and returning it at the Durango airport to catch a shuttle to the hotel where I’ll meet up with John, Fritz and Daryl this afternoon.
Tonight is the welcome dinner and kick off for the annual Durango Mountain Caballeros horseback ride. Its been a 30 plus year tradition touring the San Juan mountains south of Telluride. The men only ride has a rich history of members of all walks of life and founders including John Denver.
It departs Electra Lake each Wednesday following Labor Day and establishes a base camp nearing 11,000 feet. Each day we will be guided on separate day trips of 4 -6 hours each with a lunch stop along the way. The base camp is a small tent city that houses the 30 ish riders from around the country plus a support team of wranglers, cooks and even a bar tender. John Fritz and Daryl have each done the ride several times (John having done around 12 of them) so I’ll be leaning on them for guidance along the way. I’m certainly no stranger to high country… but the horse aspect throws a curve ball my way. With the exception of one practice ride this summer, I have not been on a horse since I was 12. I rode occasionally when I was a kid on Rocky, my next door neighbors’s horse so hopefully some of those experiences will come back (yeah right).
I’m freshly equipped with a cowboy hat, boots and a saddle bag, so I feel a bit like this is a dress rehearsal for Halloween, sans candy. The wranglers and seasoned horsemen of the group are going to enjoy watching this green Annapolitan figure out how to sail a horse through the winding trails of Colorado.