Long Road - 3. Lon Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"G' day, welcome to the Mullewa Muster and Rodeo, name of Competitors please" the bloke at the gate asked when we pulled up at the entry gate. "G' day, the name is…", "Harry Alpike, good to see ya mate," a loud voice said, from somewhere nearby, and I soon saw an old friend, Lance Atkinson approaching, who I hadn’t seen since high school.

“G’day Lance, what are you doing in this neck of the woods?” I asked as I stuck my hand out the window, and Lance shook it vigorously. “I live and work here mate. Well not in town, I work for my uncle, who owns a property 120 kilometres by the shortest road, or 140 kilometres staying on sealed roads, South East of here, it is also 80 kilometres South West of Yalgoo, and 60 kilometres North East of Morawa” Lance explained.

“So, you are a station hand then, how long you been here for?” I asked, “Since finishing high school, so what is this big rig for, do you have lots of horses, and what are you competing in?” Lance asked me.

“Just the two safer events, the steer wrestling plus the rope & tie, and it is just my horse. I am a qualified Farrier, and this is my workshop, travelling home and horse trailer” I responded.

"Hey Shep, can me mate Harrison here, set up camp in the locals area, he is a competitor, but I have a feeling once the word gets out, his Farrier services will be in big demand" Lance said to the man at the gate, who looked down at his clipboard, and we could see he was thinking about it.

“How about we put you in the best competitors camping area, down in the South East corner, where you will have plenty of shade” the man at the gate suggested.

“Fantastic, right, just turn left inside the gate, follow the fence line, see that row of trees down there, well there is more camping area behind it, that is the best spot, gives you a bit of tree shade, and privacy too" Lance said, as he jumped onto the side step of my vehicle and grabbed onto the top of the roof rack of my vehicle. Once we reached the end of the area, I stepped out of the vehicle and took a look around.

“I think, I will park alongside the line of trees leading away from the fence, so it gives us shade and room for Bonnie, and for the awning, and the vehicle, I can park on the other side of the trailer” I said, and within a few minutes, I had the trailer backed into place and unhitched.

With that done, I rolled out the awning, before getting Bonnie out and tying her to the side of the trailer, so she was under some shade. With that done, Jacob and the lads helped me to retrieve the portable yard panels, that create a small yarded area for Bonnie.

With a total of six panels, that are each 2.5 metres long, and 1.5 metres high, we quickly set up the yard area, with two panels from the boundary fence, to the rear corner of the trailer, which I parked two metres from the row of trees, another four panels were used from the boundary fence to the back of the vehicle and back to the other rear corner of the trailer, giving a five by six metre area for Bonnie.

Once it was all secured, with steel pickets driven into the ground, and capped with yellow safety caps, I let Bonnie into the yard, and gave her some more hay and filled up her water drum, which is half of a two hundred litre blue plastic drum.

Meanwhile, Logan and Thomas had set out the camper table and four camper chairs, of which two chairs were supplied by Gloria, and Jacob had placed his swag on the ground near the wheels of the trailer, ready to be rolled out when it is time to sleep.

I looked at the setup and smiled, before adjusting the location of the table a little, before unlocking a small door on the outside of the trailer, to reveal the outdoor camp kitchen and BBQ.

"We can use this if it is a nice night out, for cooking and eating," I said to our little group, with Lance standing nearby smiling. "Nice set up you have there Harrison, what else do you have in your trailer of tricks?" Lance commented.

“Well come over and check it out, and I will show you” I replied, as I walked around to the shady side of the trailer and unlocked the door, where the workshop and tools are located, just behind where the vehicle is parked.

“Wow, ripper set up, you have here mate” Lance commented as he looked inside, “Yep, I have everything that I need, including an anvil, portable forge plenty of spare shoes and every tool needed for the job” I commented.

“Very impressive, I heard that your old man had passed away, and I am sorry about that, so did he do most of this?” Lance asked me, “Yeah, he did, but I helped when I wasn’t busy with my studies and everything” I replied, “Studies? Have you done more since leaving school and doing your apprenticeship?” Lance asked me.

“Yeh, I am studying to be a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, just got a year and a bit to go” I replied, “What, so you are a qualified vet already?” Lance asked, “Yes I am, but the only vet work I have been doing is on the family farm, and with some of our neighbours, that’s all” I responded.

“Wow, my old school mate is a vet… you know, I use to watch that old UK TV show, A Country Practice” Lance said and I burst out laughing, which made Lance frown, “Mate, that is the name of the Australian TV show, about the country doctors, with one of the doctors marrying the vet” I said after calming down a little.

“Oh! Well, what was the name of the vet show in the UK then?” Lance responded, looking very embarrassed, “That would be All Creatures Great and Small, and the lead character name was James Harriet” I replied smiling.

“Yes, that is it, Mum made us watch it with her after dinner time when we were younger," Lance said, as he kicked an invisible stone on the ground, and blushed some more.

"I have all my vet gear with me too, but most of it is locked up, out of sight, on the other side of the trailer, under the awning" I replied. "I see, well I guess that you have to be careful and everything, like human doctors" Lance, stated, and I nodded my head in agreement.

Over a few soft drinks and some snacks that Jacob had made up, we sat down and chatted, as we watched more competitors arrive and set up camp.

Lance had disappeared for a short while, and I wondered why, until I saw a ute with a long box trailer, approach and pull up alongside the awning, and realised it was Lance.

As he was relocating his campsite so as to be closer to us, which I thought was great, as I hadn't seen Lance for a few years now, and we got along well back in high school.

"Oh, by the way, I bumped into the Rodeo vice president, and he wasn't looking too happy, and I soon learned, that the veterinarian who was supposed to be coming this weekend, will be delayed, because of a family emergency, and I happened to slip that I knew someone who is a qualified vet, who may be available to assist" Lance said, as he pulled out his swag from the back of his ute, and set it up in the back of his box trailer, which has a solid roof with racks on it, and rolled up canvas sides, on both sides, with the front and back ends also being solid.

"This is my out and about, trailer, eight by four feet, with the back two feet being enclosed for storage, which has my little portable BBQ, car fridge, small sink, supplies store, and utensils store. As you can see on the outside, I have two gas bottles, two water containers, and on the roof, I have two large solar panels, with an inverter inside, to supply power to the car fridge and small lights” Lance explained.

“Sounds like you have just as good a set up as we do” I commented smiling, “Yeah well, not as big as yours, but it is comfortable and has all I need” Lance replied. “Except we have our own bathroom and separate toilet” Logan said with a big grin. “Which you are welcome to use” I added, and Lance smiled and nodded his head in acceptance of the offer.

Soon after Lance has set up beside us, one more vehicle with a horse float, came through the gap in the trees and reversed in alongside Lance's vehicle. "G' day Lance, I see you and your friends have grabbed the best spot this year," the man said, after finishing reversing the vehicle and trailer back, about two metres from Lance's vehicle.

"Yes, sorry mate, but my mate Harrison here is a competitor and a volunteer, so he needs a good spot" Lance replied, "I thought you looked familiar, Harrison Alpike isn't it?" the man responded, as he approached and stuck out his hand and shook mine.

"That's right, but I am not sure about the volunteering part of the weekend, Lance here sort of volunteered me to help out before asking. Have we met before?" I replied. "Yes sorry, my name is Patterson, Myles Patterson, I was two years ahead of you in high school, I use to listen to you talking to your friends from a distance at lunchtimes when you talked about your apprenticeship with your dad," the man said to me.

"Oh ok," I said, not sure how to respond to that. "Anyway, I was jealous as hell, that you got to spend so much time with horses after school and on weekends. I was seventeen before I was able to have my own horse, and I have been hooked with horses ever since" Myles said.

Myles had six fence panels, three on each side of his horse float, and we got to work to help him to set up his small horse yard, for his five-year-old mare, Dolly, before letting dolly out, then unhitching his trailer, but pulling his ute forwards only by a few feet.

"That looks like quite a set up you have there, Harrison. What do you have in there?" Myles asked once everything was set up for his horse, including a water and feed bucket. "It is my Dad's set up, not just for carting the horses, but also his Farrier setup, which I have inherited since he has passed on" I replied sadly.

“Oh, sorry mate, I had no idea that he had died, how is your Mum coping?’ Myles responded, “She is good, she still has two son’s living at home, so that keeps her busy” I see grinning, as I walked around the front of Lance’s vehicle, with Lance and Myles following, and stopping at eh front corner of my truck, I pointed my thumb towards my brother.

"This is my little brother, Logan, and his mate Thomas, who has come up with me, along with Jacob, a friend of the family, and a neighbour of Thomas's in Moora," I said making the introductions, to the rest of the lads who had remained seated under the awning.

“Quite some set up you have here Harrison, and I see you have your basic camping trailer with you again Lance” Myles said smiling, “Yeah, I like to travel in style when away from the station” Lance responded, which has us laughing at his little bit of humour, just as a long-legged blond woman stepped around the corner, and wrapped her arms around Myles’ waist.

“This is my fiancée, Miranda Kendal, sweetheart, Lance and Harrison were in the same high school as me, but a few years behind, and the others are …” Myles said starting the introductions, and I finished it by introduced my brother, Thomas and Jacob.

“Yes, well we better finish setting up our camp, not quite as flash as yours mate, but we do ok, with an awning, popup gazebo, camp stretcher’s, camp table and chairs, and other bits and pieces, although I haven’t convinced Miranda how good it is camping outdoors yet” Myles commented, and we all smiled at this comment, as they waved and headed back to their vehicle.

Jacob headed inside and prepared a late lunch for us, and Lance was invited to join us. "So, what are you going to do after this all finishes on Sunday morning?" Lance asked me, "Well it is a long weekend, so I was going to look into taking a slow trip back to Moora and then home to Darling Downs because I didn’t have Lectures on Thursday, I have taken my time getting here over two half days” I commented.

"Well how about I ring my Uncle Vince, and see if it is ok for you to spend Sunday on the station, and you can set off the next morning if that is ok with you" Lance suggested, and I thought about this offer for a few moments before responding. "Let me think about it overnight, and I will let you know tomorrow" I replied, and Lance smiled happily.

By the time it was getting dark, the competitors camping ground was about two thirds full, while the general public camping ground was about three-quarters full. Jacob was busy cooking a BBQ dinner for us all, with Lance throwing in his supply of food, so he could join us, after enjoying the delicious lunch that we had earlier.

Straight after dinner, Thomas and Logan headed out to do some more exploring on their own, promising me to be good, and to come back in one hour, leaving Jacob, Lance and myself to sit back and relax and talk about the old days back in high school.

Before I knew it, the time had flown by, and I was shocked when I saw that it was nearly two hours since I had seen the lads, and I jumped up out of my chair, ready to go and find them. When Jacob saw the concern in my face, he too realised what was wrong.

"Sorry to break up this party Lance, but my brother and Thomas should have been back an hour ago, I need to go and look for them," I said as I grabbed a torch from just inside the door of the trailer's accommodation section.