The War on Wildlife is free for everyone, but donations are always welcome! The War on Wildlife is the third in the wildlife series with these characters. If you enjoy this novel, the prequels, Spirit of the Wolf and Thundering Hooves are available in paperback! Click here to see all the episodes plus background information and the introduction! If you’ve joined the novel late, please click here to start with Episode One!
Episode Five - The Sand Wash Basin
Angie was the first to awaken, and quietly slipped out of the room in the dark to go to the lobby for the complimentary continental breakfast and coffee. The hostess saw her struggling to load up with pastries and three cups of coffee, and offered to help, saying “Do you need a platter to carry all that up to your room?”
“Oh, that would be amazing!”
Soon Angie slipped back into the room with all the goods, and was greeted by Jessica who was sitting at the little round table in the soft glow of a small lamp, wearing just her sheer nightie.
Angie whispered, “What are you doing in your underwear! What if Caleb wakes up?”
“What, why? He has seen me in lingerie plenty of times shooting our shows, and he will again now that we are in business.”
“Well, that’s a good point, but it seems different here in the hotel room. Wait, are we going to sell lingerie in our shop?” Angie wondered out loud.
“I don’t know.” answered Jessica. “I don’t see why not!”
“I guess we just need to find a supplier. We could make a sales room in our online shop for it.”
Soon Caleb was stirring and Jessica threw a long sweatshirt over her nightie. Caleb struggled to open his eyes and stumbled over to the table to join the women.
“So what are we talking about so early this morning?” he asked.
Angie answered, “Oh, we are just discussing whether we want to include lingerie in our shop.”
“Well, I don’t know why not. Inventory is inventory, and sales are sales.”
Jessica replied, “Well, when you put it that way.”
“Oh, you have coffee!” exclaimed Caleb.
“Yup, and we have cream and sugar if you want.”
Angie laughed and said, “Caleb likes his coffee black. Not only that, but you are probably about to hear his story about his favorite little barista that said “He likes his medicine straight!””
“Well I’m not going to tell it now. You already gave up the punch line!”
Angie smiled and said, “I know, I’ve heard it a hundred times.”
Caleb responded, “Well maybe not a hundred.”
Angie asked, “Are we in a hurry to get to the Sand Wash today?”
Caleb answered, “Not a big hurry. We just need to get there in time to make it to get up to the north side in time to check on the horses and do a late afternoon photoshoot while the light is still nice.”
“So leave here by lunch time? Jessie and I want to go downtown and look at clothes.”
“That should work, checkout isn’t until 11:00. I’ll get out my laptop and work on yesterday’s pictures. Maybe I can get some of them posted before we head out.”
Jessica asked, “Can you put some of them on our phones?”
“Sure, just make sure you are back around 10:00 so I have time before we check out.”
Caleb didn’t notice that 10:00 had come and gone, as he worked diligently on the previous day’s pictures. Finally at about 10:45 the two women knocked on the door and Caleb got up from his chair to let them in. He was surprised to see a variety of bags and boxes, almost too much for the girls to carry.
With a big smile, Angie said “ We found a few things for our photoshoot later today!”
Caleb laughed and said, “I see that! Hey I have some pictures ready to save on your phones, and then we’d better hit the road.”
Jessica exclaimed, “I can’t wait to see them!”
“Can we get some lunch before we leave town? I’m hungry.”
Caleb answered, “I don’t see why not. I guess we aren’t on any kind of hard schedule. Why don’t you two get packed up while I download the pictures to your phones. Then maybe you can look the brochures over for a nice lunch place while I lug our stuff out to the car.”
Filled with anticipation and a good lunch, the trio was soon rolling west on Highway 40 to Craig. Caleb’s mind was focused on the state of the wild mustangs, and what pictures he might be able to capture, while the two models were still discussing their own agenda.
Jessica asked, “Caleb, do you think you could do a launch story for us, with links to our Instapix accounts?”
“I’m sure that would be no problem. Perhaps we can find a hill to set up our camp where there is a phone signal. I can get out the laptop and write something up.”
“That would be awesome Caleb!” added Angie.
Jessica exclaimed, “Angie, look at this one of us together! We should use this as a banner for our Facetime page!”
“Oh, that’s a good one! Caleb, you did such a nice job on these!”
“Thank you Angie! I’m sure I’ll have many more for you soon. Hey, there’s a Shopmart in Craig. Do we need to stop for any more supplies, or use the restroom before we head into no man’s land?”
“That would probably be a good idea,” answered Angie. “Maybe we should pick up a couple of umbrellas for shade and for props in the pictures.”
“That’s a great idea,” replied Caleb. The afternoon Colorado sun can get pretty harsh for portrait lighting.”
Soon the trio was finished in Craig and on their way west to the Sand Wash Basin.
“Where’s the turnoff for the Sand Wash Caleb?” asked Angie.
“We’re looking for the town of Maybell. We will turn off of 40 there and head northwest on 318 past Sunbeam and into the countryside.”
“Okay, I’ll GPS it while we still have a signal.”
Jessica added, “Wow, this is some seriously desolate terrain. I don’t see how horses can even live here.”
“There are a few watering holes, but it’s a pretty harsh existence. It doesn’t help that the BLM allows sheep herders to turn their livestock loose in the Horse Management Area.”
Angie said with great excitement, “Caleb, we are almost there! It’s only a quarter of an inch on my phone. How far is that?”
Caleb laughed and said, “I don’t know, but I think we are less than 20 minutes to the turn.”
Eventually the sign for the Sand Wash came into view, and Caleb turned into the refuge.
Jessica spotted a big welcome sign and said, “There’s an information sign, should we go look at it?”
Caleb replied, “I don’t think we need to unless you really want to see it.”
“No I’m good. How much further to see the horses?”
“We could see a few at any time now, but I imagine the main herd is up on the northeast side. It’s probably another couple of hours up to there, but we’ll stop and take a break at about 3:00 to shoot some pictures.”
“Okay, cool.”
Angie exclaimed, “Caleb look, there’s a couple of mustangs just ahead!”
“Good eye! It looks like they are on a mission. Maybe there’s a watering hole near here.”
Caleb slowly negotiated the rough dirt road, dodging rocks and holes and looking for a good location for a photoshoot. Eventually the sun made it’s way across the blazing blue Colorado sky, and shadows began to form on the east side of rocks and bluffs.
Angie was scanning the landscape ahead of them, when she saw something unusual and said, “What’s that, it looks like some kind of corral or something.”
Caleb answered, “I wonder if that’s the live bait trap?”
“What’s that?” asked Jessica.
“Well I guess they finally got enough pressure to end the helicopter round ups, so now they are just trapping a few at a time by putting food and water inside a locking corral.”
“That’s just mean.”
“I agree, and a lot of other people think so too. Let’s go up there and see what’s going on.”
As they drew closer, Angie asked “Is that Stormy?”
Caleb answered, “I don’t know, it’s been so long since we’ve seen him.”
Jessica chimed in, “Look, there’s nobody around. What if the food runs out, or if one of them gets hurt?”
“That’s the BLM for you. They talk a big story, but in the end they really don’t give a crap about the welfare of the horses. Now if it was the ranchers and their stupid sheep, you can believe they’d be right on it.”
Angie exclaimed, “Hey, there’s a dust cloud approaching from the south. What if it’s the government, we’d better get going!”
Caleb replied, “I have half a notion to come back in the night and turn them loose. Take the wheel, I’m going to set a way point on my GPS trail tracker.”
“I’ve got it.”
“Okay, way point set. Let’s go on ahead a mile or two and set up camp. I might sneak back in when it gets dark, and open the gate.”
Angie exclaimed, “Caleb, seriously?”
“Well, we got away with it last time.”
“I suppose we did didn’t we.”
Caleb continued driving north until he spotted a faint path leading off to the west, to a rocky bluff a quarter mile off the main road.
“That looks like a good place to do a photoshoot, doesn’t it?”
Angie answered, “Yeah, we can pose on those rocks and you can see the Bear Ears in the background. It looks perfect!”
“Plus we will be off the main road in case the feds drive out this way.”
Caleb turned the four wheel drive off the main road and pulled back behind the bluff, and out of sight of the main road. Angie and Jessica began shuffling through their new packages as Caleb parked the vehicle. Caleb went around to the rear and opened the hatch to get out his photography gear, including his camera and a couple of battery powered off camera lights.
He was about to suggest emptying out the back in order to make a dressing room, when he noticed Jessica already out of her top and halfway into another one.
“Jeez Jessie, you are almost naked!”
“So what, there’s nobody out here to see us!”
“Well Caleb,” she started to say. “Oh never mind,” she laughed. “I guess this whole place is our dressing room today.”
Caleb set up his key and fill lights and pointed towards the rocks saying, “I have the lights set up for this area here. As long as you pose in the general area we should have good exposures.”
Angie went first, wearing a red leather skirt and matching fringed vest.
“That’s pretty cool!” commented Caleb. “Did you get that today?”
“Yeah, we got some really cool western wear in town.”
Jessica was next, also sporting a fringed vest, with matching hat and leather boots.
With about two hours of good light behind them the photoshoot was coming to an end, and Caleb commented “It’s getting a little dark, I guess we should probably get the tent set up before the bugs get too bad.”
Jessica replied, “This was so much fun, thank you Caleb!”
“You are certainly welcome. You two are a blast to photograph. I can’t wait for your little business to take off!”
Soon the tent was erected and air mattresses inflated. Caleb set up the battery power inside the tent and extended out some cables.
“You two can both recharge your phones at the same time. I’m going to quick copy the pictures to your phones so you can have something to do tonight when I go over to the holding corral.
Jessica responded, “You are going to walk over there in the dark? Won’t you get lost?”
“No worries, I’ll have my GPS and a fully charged LED flashlight. I’ll set a way point for here, and I’ve already got one for the corral. The worst I should have to worry about is a coyote or two, and they aren’t going to bother me.”
“Are you sure Caleb?” asked Angie. “This seems like a dumb idea.”
Caleb laughed and replied, “I’ve done much dumber things than this.”
Angie couldn’t mask the worry in her voice when she said, “I suppose. You were always getting in trouble in Montana. If I remember right, we even had to bail you out of jail.”
“Yeah, and I’d break that trap again if I had the chance.”
“I know, it was the right thing to do.”
Caleb put on his thermal hiking gear and a black hat to hide his blond hair. With water bottles in his side pouches, some snacks and a bolt cutter in his pack and trail tracker in hand, Caleb slipped off into the darkness.
Angie yelled after him, “When will you be back?”
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours, maybe three.”
“Good luck!” shouted Jessica.
“Thanks, don’t worry!”
Jessica asked worriedly, “Is he going to be alright?”
“Knowing Caleb, he will be just fine. A few years ago up in Montana some hunters ambushed him from behind and took him out into the snow with nothing and left him for dead.”
“Seriously, how did he survive?”
“Well had had his survival knife with matches in the handle. He managed to make a fire to survive the night. When it got light in the morning he figured out where he was and hiked out.”
“Wow, that’s amazing! I hope he has his knife with him tonight.”
“I’m sure he does. It also has a compass in case his trail tracker fails.”
“Well, should we get to work posting our pictures?” asked Jessica.
“Might as well. I’m not going to be able to get any sleep with him out there in the dark.”
Episide Four - Road Trip ←- —> Episode Six - Daring Rescue
