Exciting but Sad Ride

   We had planned a short ride today. We have had several good ones lately and there was so much to do at the house. Why does laundry always call my name?
   But then we got a call from a friend of ours. It seems that a man from our community has been missing for 6 days now and his car was found at Shelby Farms. This is a large park in Memphis that we have rode in before. She said the search and rescue was begging for horseback riders to ride the area. We ended up five ladies trailering there and riding. We got there and a news camera crew was filming. As I turned to lead Gracie from the trailer there he was filming me. It is hard to saddle with a camera rolling behind you. I was afraid I would put it on backwards. We did make the five o'clock news. Luckily I wasn't shown but my friend was climbing up. Sometimes we grunt and pull getting up but she did fine.

We rode for over 2 hours trying to go in places the 
walking group couldn't get to. The helicopter was circling over head.

We had come back to trailers and one of volunteers asked if we could search a wooded area across Walnut Grove. Now this is a 4 lane divided highway. Gracie will do great with traffic sometimes then others you can see her ears twitching and she works up a good spook and turns around. We decided to go the light and cross. No problems and a new experience in the books.

We did have one incident that was scary and humorous. We see a white van coming, stop, then a man got out. We realized he was with the sheriff dept. His first words--"Who are you?" Second sentence--"Get off your horses". No one argued. We had heard there was some friction between the police and the searchers.  The searchers thought they should be doing more, the police was afraid a crime scene could be tainted by innocent helpers. The search probably wasn't approved by the law but we didn't know it when we started out. He did make a call to his superior and was very nice after the call. He explained he had been there for 24 hours and was cranky. We had all dealt with cranky men before so we weren't bothered. We even kidded around that he could have had us be spread-eagle with our hands on our horses for a search. I am glad it went smooth. I don't look good in orange jumpsuits.

"Let's get out of Dodge"

  Another highway crossing and we were back at the trailer. One item was found belonging to the man by a walking volunteer but the man is still missing. I prayed as I rode for him and his family.