The Mule Chronicles...Preparations Complete, We Are In Camp. 

Howdy y'all! So great news tonight in that we have internet service and have made some big changes. The Mule Chronicles has its own Facebook page now so be sure  give us a like and stay tuned in for the latest happenings. You can find us here. I will continue to share posts between both pages but will migrate to just The Mule Chronicles page soon. Go check it out if you haven't yet and watch our live videos.

So today was a big day as everyone has now arrived and we headed out for our camp and riding location. A busy morning of loading gear, mules, and all the associated support equipment had us ready to go and on the road by about 10:30 am. A quick stop at Mavericks resulted in a beverage , a breakfast burrito and my first Facebook Live Stream. Unfortunately that live stream was in part to announce some bad news...Stuart has been left behind this trip so our antihero won't be playing a central role in these episodes...something about concern for the rider...or maybe the Mule...I'm not sure. That said, please rest assured that there will be plenty of new stories because we have three first time riders, a never before ridden area (by any of our group), and we already have at least one great story...but more on that in a minute.

Apparently everyone was in a huge hurry to get into our camp for the night because "The Father" and I had a little trouble keeping up as the lead vehicles raced to Saint George...and we took a rather substantial hit to the fuel mileage on the RV averaging somewhere around 3 miles to the gallon. We arrived in Saint George in the early afternoon and found our host in short order. We're in an interesting part of Saint George in what looks like a post card from a bygone era. We're staying on part of a small ranch nestled amongst new track homes. While not the typically camping The Mule Chronicles experiences, it does have paddocks for the mules and we have internet service so taht's a plus.

After setting up the rigs we started working to unload the mules. The mules were definitely ready to get out and this resulted in some fancy footwork and battles of wits to see if we can get mules out of the trailers without them squashing us in the process. It got bad enough at one point that one of the mules kicked manure at Jay in disgust as he was taking too long to unload. We all stood and watched as the Mule proceeded to buck and kick and run crazy once they were loosed in the corral. I'm not sure what our new comers thought about this, but I'm pretty sure I saw some worried looks and wide eyes.

Wade, Donna, and "The Father" set out to scope out our Thursday night camping/Friday riding locale with the owner of the ranch, who also happens to be our guide. He is exactly what you'd want in a guide...weathered look, tanned skin with sun baked wrinkles, tough hands, and eyes honed sharp by the sun. Upon the group's return, I am informed of what is probably not the first, and certainly not the last story of this adventure. Seems our guide inquired if we had any single young men in our group because apparently he has a daughter that he's looking to marry off and is in search of suitors. He described his daughter as 28 years old and "real pretty, but she's got a bit of a limp." So there you go...truth in advertising still exists.

The whole group loaded up and headed into town in search of some grub and a quick stop to pick up some ointment for one of the mules.  While there, Jay found an exciting new product that could be put to good use on Stuart if he were here.

Jay purchased the calming cream and we are now all on high alert to make sure it doesn't seruptisiously end up in someone's beverage. There was also a battle over hand cream in the parking  lot of the Cal-Ranch store with one side admiring the lotion's ability to treat rough skin and the other arguing that man hands are supposed to have rough skin. I think some lotion was slung on the ground at one point as well. We returned to Chuck-A-Rama for a record setting fourth time. We're still loving the food and we now have the bonus ability to rate different locations as a service to our readers. So in preferred order there's the Lehi, Provo, and the. Saint George locations. Lehi Regina supreme both for food quality and the diorama of a real life chuck wagon in the restaurant. Saint George dropped the ball on the fried chicken, mash potatoes, and it lacked a diorama to add the points it would need to overcome the food. So there you have the Official Mule Chronicles recommendations for Chuck-A-Rama. We're hoping for some kind of sponsorship or at least a bulk discount in the future.

We returned to our camp and had a rousing came of Cover Your Assests, which is always a battle to the death...or 2000 points, whichever comes first. A quick powwow about tomorrow's plans followed before we all retired to our sleeping quarters for the night.

So now for the other bad news...looks like we're headed into a more remote camping location in the morning and updates my not be available as originally planned. I'll do my best to not keep you waiting, but will make sure to gather adequate documentation to be posted upon my return to the civilized world.

Happy trails, warm campfires, and toasty marshmallows.