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September 2006 Newsletter
Howdy folks and welcome to the latest Texas Camel Corps email update. September’s upon us and here’s what August looked like.
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On August 11th, Carolyn F. and her kids from Granbury, Texas came by to visit- wonderful children and Carolyn’s quite a motivated mom. It was a pleasure to welcome them here to the farm. The kids got to ride our 15-year old Bactrian camel (two humps) Gobi and helped brush some late-shedding hair from Arabian camels (one hump) Virgie and Ibrahim. Lately, I’ve been working on some new pad designs for saddles and Carolyn and the kids put in their two cents’ worth as I tried them on camels Cinco and Richard. It’s always fun when folks come visit. The time spent out at the barn is fun and really informal, but reminds me how unique the camels are. I guess I often take it for granted that I’ve got six of ‘em in my "back yard". Carolyn and her kids’ reactions helped to bring that point back home. Thanks for stopping by Carolyn.
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From the 16th through the 25th, I was in Elfrida, Arizona for my monthly ten-day trip to work for VisionQuest (www.vq.com). For those of you who are new to this newsletter, I’ve been working for this forward-thinking company for almost 9 years now. The technical term for their program is a "residential treatment facility for at-risk youth". The ranch I work on, in southeastern Arizona, has a dozen camels that I manage and are used, along with horses, mules and wagons, to teach kids responsibility. This is kind of a broad stroke, but you get the picture.
This month, I took a group of kids and taught them how to make simple Somali pack saddles. Each youth had to cut four mesquite limbs with a bow saw and I instructed them on how to put them together. I had been taught this a couple of years ago by my good friend Peter Grill who learned the skill while a missionary with the Mennonite Central Committee in Kenya. It’s ultra-simple and ultra-effective. The kids seemed to enjoy the construction and application of the "technology". Our planned day-hike took us to the Hotwell Dunes Recreation Area, just north of Bowie, Arizona.
When it came time to actually load up gear and head out into the desert with the camels, one youth really shined. Rogelio figured out quickly that you want to already have each saddlebag filled and ready before you get your camel to kneel down. The time it takes to secure each bag to the framework of poles is critical, because the camel can stand up in the process, forcing you to repack bags or even redo the entire saddle. Rogelio, a true manager-in-training, began organizing the kids and delegating duties to teams of two. I’d kneel the camel down and Rogelio would direct each pair of youth to bring the already-filled bags to either side of the camel and place them on the saddle. Once the camel was commanded to stand, Rogelio would assist in securing the bags by throwing a rope around the entire camel’s body from side to side and tying a slipknot to prevent things from shifting. What a great hand Rogelio was!
We headed out into the Dunes and, after a good hike, we came upon the largest dune in the area, maybe 150 feet high. I told the kids to go climb, run and play while another VQ staff, RJ, and I watched the camels. I didn’t hobble them, we just kind of herded them around for a few minutes while they nibbled on the various greenery that had bloomed as a result of recent monsoon rains. 6-year old Marianne spooked at something, got the other 3 camels running and over a gravel hill they all went. I knew the area, so I went around the hill they’d just gone up, intending to cut them off on the other side. Four stampeding camels and me standing in front of them! Smart move, Doug.
Nothing but camels’ backsides for the next 45 minutes. We’d see them, get near, and off they’d go again! Finally, I determined that the kids’ needs outweighed the need to recapture the camels and we moved back to the vehicles for lunch. We sent the kids back to the ranch with three other staff and I called my friend Eddie asking him to bring up two ATV’s. Visions of the Crocodile Hunter danced in my head: me racing up to the galloping camels and leaping to grab a lead rope...
Eddie couldn’t reach us, the nearby San Simon River was swollen by the recent rains. A visitor to the Dunes, though had his 4-wheeler out there and was nice enough to take me back out to look for the camels. Turns out this fella, John, was a tracker with the horse and hound team from the prison in nearby Safford, Arizona. His skills were put to use as we picked up the trail in the northwest corner of the Recreation Area. We followed the prints. The camels had 2000 acres to roam in and they had to find a hole in the fence that allowed them into an unfenced wilderness area 25 miles by 25 miles square!
Now this isn’t just sand dunes as far as the eye can see, there are also drainages and rocky outcroppings, which make it beautiful, but really hard to track when the camels go to cross these areas. John, though, was a masterful observer and I learned quite a bit just by watching him. We were not only able to tell which direction the camels had gone, I was also able to determine that something on a saddle had broken. A straight line was left in the sand along with the footprints. I figured this was a rope dangling from the saddle and hoped the awkwardness of a shifted pack might slow the camels down. After an hour’s search, John was low on fuel and had to get back. I got on top of a dune and called Eddie. He still couldn’t ford the San Simon. It was his hope that it might go down within an hour or two.
While I was out with John, the Law Enforcement Ranger for the Bureau of Land Management had come by our trailer, speaking with my pal RJ. Officer Martinez told RJ he’d drive north on the paved road to see if the camels had headed that way. Within an hour, we got the call from him that he’d seen them. RJ and I sped with the truck and trailer in hopes that we’d be able to corral them somehow.
We saw a thrown pack saddle that the Ranger had picked up and placed at the head of another path intersecting the road and followed the arrow he’d drawn in the dirt. When we got up to Officer Martinez, he was standing in the bed of his truck looking through binoculars trying to spot the camels among the mesquite brush. The camels were now out of the dunes and in a large, flat valley between two mountain ranges. I moved around on the ground and spotted the camels. All four camels’ noses were pointing straight toward us! I was so happy to see this view of the camels.
They began sauntering over toward the trailer from about 200 yards away and RJ and I threw some hay down thinking they’d be attracted to it. They’d had 6 hours to eat anything they wanted, yet they seemed interested in what we’d placed on the ground. As they came to the hay, I grabbed Chewy’s lead rope and began walking him to the trailer. The other three were still a bit suspicious and turned to walk away, but seeing Chewy, the alpha of the herd, heading south, they followed him. RJ slid in, taking Sam’s lead rope and we realized that Marianne’s lead rope had gotten tangled in Irenie’s saddle frame. That at least kept the two of them together.
The only real casualties of the day were Sam’s saddle and a couple of cheap blankets, which I’d fashioned into saddlebags. I’d picked up some other gear that had been thrown or had fallen out during their sojourn as I’d come upon it tracking them. I was actually quite proud that the saddles and gear had handled the galloping, brushing through barbed wire fences and thorny brush as well as it had. RJ suggested that we’d be having camel burgers for dinner and I might’ve agreed if they were my camels. We trailered up and headed home.
Throughout the ordeal, the most discouraging thought I had was not that we wouldn’t find the camels, but that someone else would. Camel rustling in the US Southwest isn’t much of a problem these days, but I couldn’t imagine what kind of treatment these four would encounter if happened upon by a local rancher or worse, illegals. Officer Martinez had already called some of the area landowners and I only half-jokingly asked him to please tell the folks not to shoot the camels if they found them.
I guess this was a rite of passage for me. All of my camel-heroes have lost and had to track their camels. Lawrence did. So did Robyn Davidson, author of "Tracks". Author/explorer Michael Asher ("Two Against the Sahara" and many more), too. After prolonged periods of grazing, my best bud Feisal, a Muzeina Bedu in Sinai, frequently goes village to village asking about his camel Shy-lan ("courier" in Arabic). After the frustration wore off, I actually enjoyed the tracking aspect of the chase. One footprint became immediately distinct: Marianne’s, because she’s the smallest. Noticing that a rope was dragging was a moment of enlightenment. The search almost became a game. The difference between me and the folks above, though, is that in most of their cases, their lives depended on regaining their camels. Nonetheless, it was an exhilarating feeling to pursue them and, ultimately, to be reunited- if only after 6 hours.
Next time, the kids don’t get to play in the dunes. I do. And they’ll baby sit the camels...
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On the 28th, former Big Bend trekkers Joan D. and Alison T. came to the farm. It’s been over three years since I’d seen these two intrepid travelers and it sure was good to visit with them. Joan has a love affair with Gobi, our Bactrian camel and didn’t mind that we were getting our first rain (light, though it was), spending the better part of the day brushing him. She and Alison brought a car’s backseat full of apples and carrots for the camels and made good friends with all the camels, the horse and one of our donkeys! Three years ago, after their trek, Joan, a university English professor, sent me a poem, which I put up on the web site for a while. I’d like to reprint it here:
Gobi
Creosote tastes good
to the hungry Bactrian
in The Texas Camel Corps.
He pulls the tough spines
from the gray branch,
guiding them through
the maze of rubbery papillae
that guard his tender throat.
Ruminating on exotic flavors
of the New World,
he reflects:
I am Gobi
on a rare journey
far from the desert
that bears my name;
far from the road
my ancestors travelled,
walking westward
laden with twisted skeins
of shimmering silk,
translucent porcelain
and spices more fragrant
than this rough creosote.
Strange I have come
further west than all my kind.
Walking here among
Chihuahuan scrub,
unburdened with such a load
of precious goods,
carrying only water
over the dry land
to fill the throats
of thirsty travellers
for whom the trek
itself is precious.
I am Gobi,
a twin-peaked giant
among Dromedaries
that take the lead
but only cast the shadow
of a single mountain
as they walk.
If I stretch my neck,
I can see above them
to the Rio Grande
and smell the lure of Mexico
where I dream of walking
on a night when cactus bloom.
Joan, Alison, great seeing y’all again. Summer’s always the death knell for trekking, but I’ve got two trips booked in October in the Big Bend area. I can’t wait to get the camels saddled up!
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You may remember from last month’s newsletter that my friend Adel, from Cairo, Egypt had been trying to obtain a US visitor’s visa, but was denied. I solicited advice from all of you and was heartened by the response. Mike S., a former Monahans trekker, brought great perspective. While a State Department Consular officer, Mike worked in Uganda conducting visa interviews. He said sometimes it boiled down to his gut feeling. Now this may sound scary, that one person’s fate could be held so tenuously in another’s "gut", but I figure the next time I’m in Egypt (this coming January), Adel and I will walk into the embassy together and try again. Maybe if I’m with him, we can get a little more action. Or perhaps we’ll both be thrown out into "zahma" (traffic).
I spoke with Adel recently on the phone. I told him that I’ve got a group of guests coming in January wanting a "local" Egyptian experience. No hotels, no luxury buses. A home-stay, more or less. Adel was incredulous, saying, "Douglas, why do you call and ask permission? You know you have a home here in Egypt!" I mentioned that I know I have a home, but I thought it’d be polite to ask before bringing others into the home.
"Douglas if you show up with fifty other people, they have a home!"
"Thank you, Adel."
"Douglas if you show up with all of America they, too, have a home!" Adel said.
"If I show up with George Bush, does he have a home?"
"If George Bush is with you, " Adel replied, "He has a home. If George Bush shows up by himself, I do not know him!"
I don’t make this stuff up, folks. Show up with me and you, too, can have a place to stay in Egypt. I’ve got trips going in January and March and would love to hear from others who are interested.
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My pal Jim Hale of the American Camel Company (www.americancamelcompany.com) is almost ready to ship ten camels to Jamaica. He’s got them sold to a resort that plans on using the camels in tourism on a 900-acre plantation on the island. Unfortunately, my September and October are really getting busy and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make the trip to the Caribbean to help train the animals!
The other international travel that I’ve been working on, between Spain and Colombia, for a similar tourism opportunity is yet delayed by August’s being the vacation month for the Spanish government. In the near future I hope to travel to Spain to assist Sr. Ernesto Arango in the selection of a dozen camels for his business in Cartagena, Colombia. Will update.
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Tomorrow, September 2nd, I’ll be in Bandera, Texas helping to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Cowboy Capital of Texas. This event really kicks off the fall living history season for the Texas Camel Corps. Presenting the camels in educational programs focusing on the US’s historic military use of camels is what first put me on the map and I still love doing it. Two or three camels and perhaps a donkey will look forward to meeting folks there.
It’s not all confirmed yet, but on Sunday the 10th, I hope to be a part of Austin Area Interreligious Ministries’ "Abraham Walk" in Austin, Texas. The event, held to highlight similarities among the three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), is right up my alley and I’m honored to be asked to be a part of the endeavor. Later in the month, on the 30th, AAIM is holding an arts and crafts fair and may have me present cultural programs with the camels throughout the day. For more info on this wonderful organization, log onto www.aaimaustin.org. Check with me before heading out to either of these events if you want to make sure the camels will be there.
From the 13-22, I’ll be back in Arizona with VisionQuest and on the 29th I’ll be on the campus of Schreiner College, in Kerrville, Texas for their annual Texas Music Heritage Festival. I get to play soldier again at this unique event as we share tales of the US Army Camel Experiment. Hope to see you at one of the events listed above!
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As always, thanks so much for your interest in my camels. I really appreciate it.
Doug
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