Home Again

My eyes popped open this morning, and as I wiped the sleep from them, I read the alarm clock’s time, 5:39 a.m. I woke with a jolt realizing I was supposed to be at the barn over a half hour ago to help get a backcountry trip packed out before the mid-July heat pounded down from the sky. I pulled on my pants while brushing my teeth and putting my hair back in a ball cap, and I rushed out the door to the barn.

The sweet morning smell mixed of grass, dew and horse greeted my nose, and I heard the morning routine in full swing at the barn, the squeak of the corral gates, the horses and mules being...