MULE DAYS 2015 - ONE

We were off to Mule Days on Tuesday, May 19^th. We were on the road with coffee in hand by 0545. Why so early? We try to stay ahead of the morning commute and the possible bottlenecks where I-15 meets CA-60 and I-10. We succeeded but the traffic was heavy most of the way North to I-10, But the traffic Southbound was even worse!!

The drive along the Eastern Sierra corridor was much more pleasant. We were saddened by how dry it was with no evidence of snow until we reached Lone Pine. The encouraging thing was that there was a heavy layer of clouds from that point North on both the Sierras and the White Mountains. After checking into the Big Pine Motel where I have stayed for the past 15+ years, and chatting with the manager, Ligaya, we proceeded to Bishop and met up with Tina and Justin; and DawnMarie and VedaRose. 

WHITE MOUNTAINS BEING WHITE

LOOKING NORTHEAST

We enjoyed watching DawnMarie in driving classes for Donkeys. 

  A drive and ride class where the driver has to change tack and then ride his mule >>>

DRIVE AND RIDE CLASS, GETTING READY TO RIDE

DRIVE AND RIDE CLASS, RIDING

The weather was cool and stormy to the East as seen here. The day’s finale was a small rainbow in the foothills of the White Mountains.

STORM LIGHT

STORM RAYS

FINALE: A RAINBOW

 WEDNESDAY – 

 

Wednesday morning we started with a nice walk in the Big Pine area to look at the Eastern Sierras and a bit of the Big Pine Creek. 

LOOKING TO THE PALISADES

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

BIG PINE CREEK LOOKING TOWARD THE PALISADE

We then headed for Bishop as Tina was showing in the English saddle Dressage class. She placed in the class which she was  quite pleased with. 

TINA AND IMA

DRESSAGE 1

DRESSAGE 2

 

Before Tina’s next class, English Pleasure, I watched some team roping. It is always fun and full of action.

TEAM ROPING, RIDER IS 80 years young.

DawnMarie competed in several donkey classes, one was English Pleasure that included jumping a small hurdle. 

DONKEY JUMPING

 The weather continued to be cool and overcast a good part of the time which made it quite pleasant for all. It usually is in the mid-eighties or higher. Today it was in the low 70’s.

COLORFUL DONKEY

TINA'S MULE "DOTTIE"

THURSDAY –

George went off on a fishing rendezvous with our neighbor Kelly Z. They met at the Hot Springs east of Mammoth Lakes. He had a good time but the fishing was lousy due to very windy conditions, and the fish not biting anything.

While he was gone I enjoyed the day in Bishop. I did some reading until Tina showed in the Western Dressage Class. 

TINA AND IMA

WESTERN DRESSAGE

TINA'S MULE "IMA"

It was very windy in Bishop so I bundled up for the day. I went down town for some coffee and browsed a couple of stores, but did not find anything I wanted or needed. Again I watched and photographed some of the team roping.

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STORM CLOUD BREWING

In the afternoon Tina and I went browsing the booths on the Fairgrounds. I made a purchase of some older Navajo inlay bracelets, a matched three piece set. I also watched team Gambler's Choice class. 

DRIVING THE COURSE

MATCHED PAIR

In this class the driver can choose which obstacles to do while racing the clock. Points are awarded for the difficulty of the obstacles, such as driving a figure eight in a small area and not knocking over the cones or going outside of the area. The weather got colder and windier as the day progressed.  

WHITE MOUNTAINS WITH CLOUDS BUILDING