Wild Burros

As usual, God was not finished giving.  As we come out of the Black Mountains into the valley flat lands, we finally see a group of the wild burro that we've heard so much about - and the road signs "advertised!"

I'll take the black one, thank you!  You do know that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) gives away wild horses and wild burros?  

An Act of Congress

"Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; (and) that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people..."  --Public Law 92-195, Dec, 1971 

https://www.blm.gov/adoptahorse/  

We have one like the one in the center.  His name is Mordacai, and he is adorable!!  He came as a bonus with our Thoroughbred, July, and he keeps the coyotes out of the pasture - and anything else that's silly enough to cross his fence line - but he loves his people-family.  

So, I'm comfortable around these critters.  I got out of the car, crossed the road and paralleled these burros as they moseyed along about twenty feet from me.  We moseyed together for about a mile and then they began to move away.  I took, oh, about fifty pictures.  Wanna see 'em all??

The miners of the 1800's managed to lose, set free, or abandon burros, and they multiplied.  I mean, really, it only takes a Jenny (female) and a Jack (male) to be left alone and pretty soon you have hundreds of thousands!  

But God wasn't through yet.  Yesterday I got in touch with the folks we met in Oatman and they shared these photos:

Cleo and Junette Phelps live in California, so they headed in the opposite direction from us.  Just after we left and they turned around to head west, these guys appeared.  Junette says that they hung out for about five minutes before moving away.  It was such a blessing to meet folks nice enough to want to stay in touch and willing to share these special moments.

Cleo researches outlaws of the 1800's and goes on horseback-quests to follow their get-away trails.  He also like to crawl into abandoned mines that he finds on his cross-country trips.  He said that when he and a friend crawled into one mine they found a pair of Levi's still wrapped in the store wrappings.  It was sold online for tens of thousands of dollars!!  He also finds old coins like double eagles.  One that he found didn't have the weight of the other and a numismatist (a coin specialist) showed him how to open the coin and inside was a photo!  It was worth more than the real coin because of its historic significance.

I asked if he ever gave tours of places he's ridden.  Cleo said that he's thought about it.  I told him to give me a call when he was ready to start doing that!

Junette buys and sells old books - and has some worth tens of thousands.  What a cool couple!  Thank you, Lord, for making our paths cross!

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