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| HOWARD and BELLE TRAVIS
and their mule team |
Brenda and I have almost completed our first full season
as Camp Host at Wranglers Horse Camp in Land Between the
Lakes
in Western Kentucky. This is my first full year in
retirement and I could not think of a better place to spend
it. Our job at Wranglers is in the camp's General Store.
This means we get to meet and chat with most everyone that
comes here to camp and ride.
The camp got off to a slow start this year with three
storms that swept thru in March and April . The camp was
closed for three weeks while the forest service personnel
cleared the trails and campground. Four of the rental cabins
were damaged, as well. This was a budget buster for the camp
but the manager and assistant manager did a fantastic job of
getting everything up and running in record time.
The best part of being in camp all year was the wonderful
people we have met, not to mention all the outstanding mules
and horses we have seen, and the lifelong friends we have
made.
I know that our mules, Molly Shakespear and Libby, have
enjoyed it as much as we have since they have a 15 acre
pasture to run on while we are working.
There is not room in this magazine to tell you about all
the wonderful mules and people we have met, but two of the
old timers stand out.
Mr. Howard Travis is a fixture here at Wranglers. He has
been coming here since 1977, long before it was managed by
the US Forest Service. at that time he rode horses and says
the campground was just an open field with one well for
water for the stock. In 1984 Travis made the switch to a
team of mules and a wagon.
In 1947 he went to work as a coal miner for the Wickliffe
Coal Company near his home town of Browder, Ky. During
his early years in the mine, small mules were used for
hauling the coal out of the mine. They pulled trolley cars
loaded with coal and each miner was assigned a mule that
worked their same schedule.
Over
the years Travis has been driving his team on the wagon
trails here at Wranglers and keeping the trails clean for
all of us to enjoy. Travis along with his wife Belle empty
the trash cans in the more remote areas and pick up debris
along the trails. After a few years of doing this the
Travis’ were given a permanent site at camp. They go out
almost daily to make their rounds. Travis is a real asset to
the campground and has many stories of the mule teams he has
had over the years. If you get a chance to camp and ride at
Wranglers Horse Camp, look him up, you will enjoy your visit
with him and will defiantly come away with some great advice
on life and mules.
Doyle and Carolyn Suiter of Woodlawn, Tenn., have been
camping and riding in LBL since 1971, shortly after Doyle
finished his four year hitch in the US Air Force. Doyle and
Carolyn started camping here with their young family riding
horses, and as their kids grew up and started their own
lives Doyle and Carolyn made the switch to mule teams.
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| DOYLE and CAROLYN SUITER and their mule
team at Wranglers Horse Camp |
Doyle buys and trains four to five teams each
year. Starting in January and February, Doyle will hit the
mule auctions looking for this years teams to train. He
starts his mules on his farm pulling a ground slide. Once he
has a good handle on them he and Carolyn will head to
Wranglers Campground with a team and finish them out on the
many wagon trails that make up part of the trail system.
Doyle and Carolyn will stay here 21 days at a time
several times a year with one of their teams. By the end of
their stay they have a team that has a lot of miles on them
and have pretty much seen it all.
Doyle figures he has bought, trained and sold at least 70
teams over the last 20-25 years and is thinking of settling
down with just one team to camp with and drive. Carolyn just
rolls her eyes when Doyle says this, and says, “No way Doyle
will stop buying training and selling teams.”
I asked Doyle if the economy had hurt the price of mule
teams. His answer was, “A good team of mules will still
bring a good price...You get what you pay for."
We hope to see you here sometime! Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year from the Ammons. See you all in 2012 with an
update on Starr Doe. --Safe & Happy Trails, Bob, Brenda,
Molly Shakespear, Libby, and now Starr Doe
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