This was a trip I had anticipated for months.  I love churches, old churches, new churchs, churches of all faiths. I had made this trip twice before but this time it was going to be different; this time I was spending the night in Perry County so I could get a good start. I knew it would take all of the time alloted over the two days to cover the 33 churches.

But my start was not a great one, before I even left St. Louis, I had a flat tire.  I called AAA, thank God for AAA, for he came and put on my spare tire.  But that also meant that I was driving 50 mph on the interstate between St. Louis and Perry Counties.  Fifty slow, anxious miles per hour on a misty day when the speed limit is seventy.

That flat and the slow drive caused a late start on the first day of the tour. While I wanted to see at least sixteen out of the thirty-three churches the first evening, I could not find the sixteenth church in the dark.  Driving back to the bed and breakfast on the oh so dark and foggy night along long stretches of deserted country roads, every slasher movie that I could even envision was popping into my head.  Perhaps I should not binge watch Criminal Minds on Netflix as I work.

I am ever so grateful to have a room at the bed and breakfast.  I had discovered Eggers and Company in 2017 when on the tour.  The owners had been gracious enough then to allow us to check out the facilities and even snap a few pictures of this quaint country establishment. Once a general store, now turned bed and breakfast with lunches served in the store with the guest rooms over the store.  Christmas was the theme down to the room where Santa gets ready and decorations and even books in the rooms.

The hot bath in the claw-footed tub with frankincense and lavender was decandent and much needed.  Then to climb into the comfy king size bed was a perfect ending to a day that had a less-than-perfect start.

Some 17 months ago, I was first introduced to the wild horses of Missouri in a photography workshop.  They were beautiful and majestic and yes, wild with their tangled manes and their penchant for retreating into the woods. I became instantly and totally enamored with these beautiful beasts.  But there is more, having irresponsibly (as a photographer) left my extra camera battery in my car and even more irresponsibly (as a human being) lost track of my bearings when I tried to return to the woods where the horses and the rest of my party were.  As I was wandering around the field trying to figure out where I should rejoin the workshop, two horses came from the woods and stood on a small rise, as if to draw my attention to their presence. They guided me back to the herd, theirs and mine! On the Sunday morning of that workshop weekend, I was sitting at the edge of the field, when a horse approached me.  I was not frightened, I spoke quietly and gently to this creature as it approached.  While I could have reached my hand out at one point and touched its muzzle, I did not. What a spiritual moment.

December 2018

We left on a Sunday morning, I first drove to Washington and left my car in a Lowes parking lot.  My friend drove us from there because she has a four-wheel drive.  We drove first to Broadfoot, this time I wrote down the directions.  We drove around the south side of the field; the horses at high alert. We quietly took our cameras and started shooting.  Two of the horses were frisky, biting, rearing, and chasing each other.  It made for some great shots.  We could hear hunting dogs in the woods baying. The beagles appeared, noses to the ground, following some unseen prey.  The horses do not react to these interlopers.  The herd is mostly white, a few greys, the colts are darker, deep grey to black.  An old mare with protruding hips is with the herd. She is thin with a slow, stiff gait.

We left the herd at Broadfoot and went to see if we could find the Shawnee herd.  There were cows in the same field as the Shawnee herd.  The cows left when the farmer appeared with a truck with hay in the corner of the field. Here too were a couple of dark colts. No colts survived in 2017 due to heavy spring flooding.  One deer ran through the field as we stood there followed after a short time by another. Graceful bucks with long bounding leaps seemingly ready to take flight. We stayed there while the sun set, providing its golden light behind the horses, at times, their manes seemingly on fire.

Monday morning, we were up before dawn and caught the morning light just before the sun cleared the eastern hills.  There was fog that morning and it created these marvelous layers to the dawn-brushed hills, all shades of lavender and rose.

We visited the Broadfoot herd once again.  Ground frost kissed the grass and made some dead leaves come to life once again with lacy designs.

We left the Broadfoot herd for Alley Mill.  The grist mill stands near a fresh water spring. The hoarfrost made spider webs into lovely lace and ground frost made the islands in the stream look like a fairyland.

We decided to visit the Shawnee herd once again before heading out of town.  They herd went into to woods and went to the river to drink.  A mare with wide flanks makes me hopeful for more colts next spring.  There golden manes are matted and tangled with burrs.  The horses generally stand close together, in the summer it is to fight the biting flies, in the winter, for warmth or companionship, I am not wise enough to know.

I leave knowing I will return again for I am drawn to these magnificent horses that haunt the waterways of the Ozarks.

 

 

 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton