Chapter 2 ~ Page 39
Packing the kitchen and pantry along with four other sets of equally heavy grain panniers, took the teamwork of everyone. Colette would lead a horse down the row of waiting panniers and top loads of books, tents, and horseshoes. These were hoisted up on the sawbucks, covered with a manty (pack cover) and cinched down with an old fashioned diamond hitch.
With minor changes this is the way a pack string has been loaded from the beginning of time. The Mongolian hordes might not have carried schoolbooks. Nor did Colonel Kearny's expedition, whose trail we were now following, have an eight-year old caragador (assistant packer) to help wrangle a horse. But, we were traveling, as they did, toward the far horizon, our home on a horses' back, following along. And, we finally were getting somewhere. Crossing a ridge looking down at Warner Springs, we passed our first 100 mile mark.
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Text and Photographs © Barry Murray 1971-2007 Mac&Murray Multimedia