Pack Trip (3 page)

“Well, you know what I mean.”

“What she means is that in fifteen minutes, we’ll be
getting into a car pulling a horse trailer and beginning a two-hour Saddle Club meeting,” Carole said.

“Haven’t you just had a three-and-a-half-hour Saddle Club meeting?” Frank asked. “The three of you have talked about nothing but horses since we left Washington.”

“That’s not true,” Stevie said. “We also talked about my boyfriend, Phil.”

“Who rides horses,” Frank added.

The four of them laughed. It was true, but it always seemed that there could never be too much time to talk about horses.

Frank received his final clearance from the tower at the airport and brought the plane down for a smooth landing. The girls clapped, and he smiled in acknowledgment.

“My pleasure,” he said. “It’s always fun to ferry you three around. Otherwise, how else am I going to keep up on the gossip around Pine Hollow?”

Following the directions of a man wearing earphones and holding yellow flashlights, Frank drew the plane to a gentle halt. The engine slowed and then silenced. They had arrived. The pack trip was about to begin.

It took a while to unload all of the gear from the plane. As usual Lisa’s mother had packed Lisa’s bags as if
she were going around the world, instead of just around a mountain. Lisa had managed to talk her out of packing her off-the-shoulder cotton evening dress, panty hose, and high-heeled sandals. She hadn’t been able to talk her mother out of packing what her mother called an après sun robe. Lisa had, however, managed to remove it and hide it under a chair in her room before she left for the airport. Even her best friends might not have understood that one!

“I can’t believe it! We’re almost on our way!” Stevie shouted, dropping her duffel bag so she could hug Kate and Christine at the same time.

Mel, Eli’s dog and Stevie’s old friend, wagged her tail briskly. She jumped up on the threesome, and willing hands brought her in on the hug, too. Lisa and Carole joined in.

“Are we going to hug, or are we going to ride?” Eli asked pointedly after a moment.

“Both!” several voices answered simultaneously.

“But let’s get moving first,” Carole suggested.

I
T TOOK A
while to finish unloading the luggage, stow it in the van with the horse gear, confirm meeting points, say good-bye to Frank, and reassure everybody about emergency phone numbers.

“Now remember, be careful out there, Eli,” Frank said. “That’s real wilderness.”

Kate turned to her father and put her hands on her hips. “When you start reminding Eli about things he already knows, it’s definitely time to go, Dad,” Kate said.

He gave her a final hug. “Have fun,” he said.

“That’s more like it,” she said, returning his hug.

The first thing they did after the luggage was packed was to make sure the horses were comfortable. The trailers had enough horses for all the Saddle Club girls. Eli, Jeannie, and the other riders would use local horses. The packhorses were going to be local mounts, too.

The girls had each been assigned a horse from the Bar None’s herd on their first day at the ranch. Eli had done the assigning, and each of the girls thought she’d gotten a perfect horse.

Carole greeted her strawberry roan, named Berry, with a big hug. She gave him a lump of sugar.

“This came all the way from the coffee shop in the airport in Washington!” she told the horse. He seemed unimpressed by that but pleased to see her nevertheless.

Lisa’s horse was a bay mare named Chocolate. Seeing Chocolate made Lisa recall all the good times they’d had together. They had gone on a roundup and on a sunrise
ride. They had even competed in a rodeo. She wished she’d brought Chocolate some sugar the way Carole had remembered to do for Berry. Chocolate didn’t seem to be jealous, though.

Stevie stepped into the little stall on the trailer holding her horse. He was a brown-and-white pinto—a coloration usually called skewbald. His name was Stewball, and it suited him perfectly. The color blotches made him look very odd, but that wasn’t the reason. It was because he was the fastest, cleverest horse Stevie had ever known. When Stevie had had a race against Eli, it was Stewball, not Stevie, who had figured out how to take a shortcut and win.

Stevie flung her arms around the horse’s neck and buried her face in his soft mane.

“Together again at last!” she announced. The horse regarded her skeptically. She laughed. One of the reasons she really loved Stewball was that she thought he was as funny as she was. She patted him affectionately. Then she checked his water and hay. When she was satisfied that he’d be fine until they reached their rendezvous point, she joined her friends in the back of the station wagon.

“Well, what shall we talk about?” Stevie asked, settling in.

“Horses!” came four replies, simultaneously.

“Tell us about how you all saved Veronica’s horse from horsenappers,” Christine said. “What happened?”

There was so much to tell! When they’d finished that story, the girls started in on the latest happenings at the Bar None. The last time they’d visited, the dude ranch had been suffering from a drop in customers. Kate assured the eastern visitors that the ranch was now thriving, thanks in part to their help. The five girls had participated in the local rodeo, drawing a lot of good attention to the ranch.

“We’ve been full now almost all summer. Isn’t it wonderful?” Kate asked.

“Sure, as long as there’s room for us when we want to come visit,” Lisa said.

“Anytime,” Kate assured her.

Although two hours had sounded like a long drive, there was so much to talk about that the time flew. When they finished catching up on what had happened, they talked about what was going to happen.

“You know, I said yes so fast for this trip that I forgot to ask where we’re going,” Stevie said.

“We’re going round a mountain,” Christine said.

“No, we’re going
up
a mountain,” Kate told her. “We’re going to start out in a pass between some mountains—”

She rifled through some papers in an envelope and pulled out a map.

“Here we go,” she said, pointing out the route. “We’ll be here in this pass, which is like a valley—”

“Look! Lakes,” Stevie said.

“And they’re all named after you,” Christine quipped.

“I’ve heard it before,” Stevie told her.

“I’m sorry,” Christine said. “Nobody whose last name is Lonetree should make jokes about someone whose last name is Lake.”

“Deal,” Stevie said.

“Anyway,” Kate continued. “We’ll be spending two days and two nights in the mountain pass before we take the trail up around the mountain. Eli said we have to make it the full way up and down the mountain before nightfall, because it’s too cold up there—and we will go above the timberline—to spend the night with a bunch of, and I quote here, ‘greenhorn dudes.’ ”

The girls giggled. Calling them greenhorn dudes sounded just like Eli, even though they knew he respected their knowledge of horses and their riding ability.

“The whole trip will take five days. Eli says we’ll be in all different kinds of terrain, everything from lush prairie to rocky trails.”

“It’s going to be wonderful!” Lisa declared, sighing contentedly in anticipation.

“What do we know about the other kids who are coming on the trip?” Carole asked.

Kate shrugged.

“Not much,” Christine said. “Two boys and a girl. One of the boys is the girl’s brother. They’re about our age. They live north of here.”

Lisa thought that could be interesting. She wondered what the boys would be like. Stevie had a boyfriend, but Carole and Lisa didn’t. It didn’t bother Lisa, since she had never been particularly interested in anybody. Now, however, she found herself intrigued by the idea that there would be two boys along. What if one of them was really cute and fun? Her mind filled with images of riding side by side on mountain trails edged with lush ponderosa pines. She could see the breathtaking mountain scenery and smell the fresh, cool air. She could almost feel the joy of sharing it all with someone special.

“
Won’t
you, Lisa?” Carole said pointedly. Carole was obviously repeating the question, but Lisa had been daydreaming and had no idea what the question was.

“Huh?” She blushed a little.

“I said you’re so smart, you’ll figure out how to follow the instructions to pitch our tents.”

“Not if she’s daydreaming like that!” Stevie joked.

“Sorry. I was just daydreaming about how beautiful the scenery is going to be.”

“That’s funny,” Stevie said. “I got the impression you started daydreaming when Christine told us there would be two boys along on the trip.”

“Like I care,” Lisa said, but she was beginning to get the feeling that she did.

T
HE VANS PULLED
to a halt next to a wooden cabin surrounded by corrals. It was Eli’s friend’s house, where they and the horses were to spend the night before their dawn departure the next day. It took only a few minutes to unload the horses and see to their needs.

“I bet they’re awfully happy to be on firm ground,” Lisa said.

The horses seemed to agree. They proceeded into the corral slowly, alert for anything that might be different about this new, if temporary, home. Lisa laughed watching Chocolate. The horse sniffed around, stepping cautiously, just the way Lisa’s dog did when he was in a new place. Stewball, on the other hand, bounded out of the trailer and into the corral. He circled it twice, checking
out every inch of it at near breakneck speed, and then drew to a sudden halt in front of the water.

“You knew what you were doing when you picked Stewball for me, didn’t you, Eli?” Stevie teased.

Eli ignored the question. “Fresh hay is in the barn,” he told the girls. “Grain is in the vans.”

“He’s just like Max,” Stevie said to Kate. “Whatever else is going on, the horses come first.”

Kate nodded in agreement. But there was no arguing. After all, horses
did
come first. “Let’s get a bale of hay,” she said. The two of them headed for the barn.

When they returned, they found that another car had pulled up next to the vans. The other riders had arrived. Stevie and Kate joined their friends for the introductions.

The brother and sister were named Seth and Amy. At first Stevie was struck by how much they looked alike, with their smooth dark brown hair and eyes to match. But very quickly she sensed their differences. Seth seemed to hold back, almost shyly, while Amy bounced around, shaking everybody’s hand. Her dark eyes flashed with excitement. “I can’t wait to start tomorrow!” she declared loudly. “It seems like we’ve had months of preparation for this, and all we’ve been doing is riding on the dumb old trail right near our barn. This is going to be
wild
!”

Stevie thought the girl’s words summed up her own thoughts exactly. Amy was going to be fun.

“Take it easy, Amy,” Seth said. “We don’t want it to be too wild, do we?”

“Says who?” Amy challenged.

Stevie laughed. Then she saw the third new arrival. “Hi, I’m Stevie,” she said, offering her hand.

“I’m John.” He shook her hand, but his eyes went beyond her to the corral. “Does anybody know which is my horse?” he asked.

“I do,” Carole said. “I’ll show you.” It was hard for Carole to understand somebody whose first thought of an overnight trail ride was that it was “wild,” but it was easy for her to understand somebody whose first thought was about his own horse. She had a feeling that she and John would get along just fine.

Lisa blushed when she realized that she’d been staring at Seth, and she hoped nobody had noticed. She thought she was safe. Everybody, including Seth, seemed to be watching Amy, who was doing a very good job of imitating a horse that didn’t want to get off a trailer.

“So I stood behind him and made a sound like a carrot!” she said. “Worked like a dream!” Everybody laughed, including Seth. Lisa laughed, too.

This was going to be a wonderful trip, she was sure.

W
HEN THE LAST
of the duffel bags were stowed on the pack saddles, it was time to go.

Eli had gotten the riders out of their sleeping bags before dawn. Now it was still early, and the morning fog clung to the hillsides, masking the trail.

“It’s so mysterious,” Lisa said to Carole. “Will the horses mind the fog?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Besides, it won’t be foggy for long. Within the hour the sun will be so bright, we’ll be peeling off our layers of clothes and wishing it would cool down.”

“Which it will. By tonight, higher up in the pass, it will be so cold, you won’t believe it!” Kate told her.
“Mountain trips are like that, with big temperature swings.”

“I know. I’m prepared. I just hope the horses are,” Lisa said.

“Mount up and let’s get moving!” Eli called out, interrupting the chatter. The riders were only too eager to obey.

Lisa patted Chocolate warmly on the neck, took the reins in her left hand, and hoisted herself into the saddle. Eli helped her adjust the stirrups. It always took her a few minutes to get used to the fact that the stirrups were lower in Western riding than in English. It was one of the few differences that she noticed at all. She soon felt right at home on board Chocolate, and she was excited about spending most of the next five days there.