Stories from Just a Little Ways South

Not a lot of battlefield but a lot of longleaf pines.

Meh-nassas

I’m much more a French-Indian-, Revolutionary War-aficionado than a Civil War expert.  Still, it seemed fitting that our first ride headed South be on a Civil War battlefield.  I’d long heard that the riding at Manassas Battlefield Park is excellent; so, we charted a course there to kick off the trip.  Kurt did his research and, as we drove the crazy Metro-DC traffic, he gave me a little tutorial on the first of two battles fought at this location very shortly after the Civil War started with the Confederate attack of Fort Sumter.  Based on our riding experiences at Antietam and Gettysburg, I was excited to canter the horses just on the far side of the intricate buck-and-rail fences that line CW battlefields.  But …no, that was not to be.

Riding at Manassas Battlefield illustrates how two apparently incongruent things can be true at once.  You can ride an excellent bridle trail and be disappointed in that ride all the same.  True – Manassas offers miles of well-maintained, wide equestrian trails that wind through shady forest.  Also true – all of it will be overhung by the constant roar of Rt. 66 traffic and you’ll be hard pressed to see any evidence that this lovely, if noisy trail, is anywhere near an important piece of American history.  We did, however, get to ride in our first fragrant long leaf pine forest.

Get a Woman, or Two, to Do It

Pristine bed and barn in the middle of nowhere

If this isn’t already an accepted piece of wisdom, it should be – If you want something done right, get a woman to do it.  And, if you want it done to perfection, get two women to do it.  I offer Double Lee Farm in Hollister, North Carolina as proof.

Our meh experience at Manassas was followed by a 4-hour drive down 95 to just across the state line into North Carolina.  It isn’t a stretch to say there aren’t a lot of lodging options for two horses and their people in this area -- there’s exactly one.  The utter absence of basics– gas stations with working pumps, restaurants, cell service – once you get a few miles off the highway is also a little unnerving.  So, when we ultimately pulled into Sandra and Rebecca’s place, the immediate sense of immaculate professionalism went down like the ice-cold beer I cracked ten minutes after arrival.  Even the boys quickly made themselves at home.  The gate to their pristine, lush pasture rolled open soundlessly on well-oiled wheels.  Ducks greeted them happily from a poop free pen next to a lovely pond with just the right of amount of blue tinting and bubbles to keep it clear and inviting without making it look like it belongs on the Vegas strip.   I actually think the sand footing of their run-in was raked using one of those tiny Zen-garden hoes – it was that evenly distributed.

For the humans, much the same – a garage cleaner than my kitchen, a kitchen cleaner than most operating rooms, fluffy towels, a comfy bed, and perfect coffee and scones for breakfast.

Rebecca – a veterinarian – says it’s all about safety.  So, maybe it’s Sandra that takes it from safe to spotless.  Regardless, I have one question for these two impressive women who could give Marie Kondo a lesson in farm management – would you like to come Maryland to give me some tips?