Western Star Church St Jude Ride

   

Western Star church had their 8th annual St Jude Ride at the Ogle Ranch in Jacksboro Texas.

This would be my 6th ride with them and it was just as fun as the first one. The ride committee came out to the ranch on Wednesday to get everything in order for the riders on Saturday. They had a big projects to tackle and they got the job done. The gathering area was mowed and raked for the trailers, campers smokers and all the tables. They had the trails and break spots marked so riders could have cold water along the trail and the horses and one mule (Rooster) had a good water tank for a resting spot.

I was able to go out Friday night and enjoy hamburgers  and  dutch oven cobblers ( I knew to take some back to my trailer for a midnight snack with some Blue Bell ice cream), great campfire stories and some guitar picking. One of the highlights of my evening was talking to Joe Cox. His ancestor are native americans Comanche and Navajo. What got my ear was when he was talking about Crazy Horse and Pine Ridge in South Dakota since I just came back from there this summer. Boy did I learn some great history about Crazy Horse and Quannah Parker and Mackenzie.

Saturday we rode out about 9:00 am Jo and Kevin Burrus was our trail bosses and Tye Kinnibrugh rode safety drag with his dog Dally.  We had about 40 riders on the 1700 acre Ogle Ranch this year and we were honored to have Terry Ogle ride with us. This ranch has a lot of good terrain. All the creek crossing are solid rock bottoms, up and downs and good big old oak trees to ride through.  We rode about 3 and half hours under the cloudy over cast and cooler weather.

When we came back we had a lunch that would have fed an army. Smoked brisket, pork loin, baked beans potato salad, devil eggs, mashed potatoes, pasta salad and the list could keep going. The deserts - brownies, pound cake, cookies and the famous cobblers made by Gerald Elliott. In case you did not get any Friday night, you had a second chance. I think Gerald made about 12 cobblers this weekend. One even sold in the auction for over $100.00.

After we filled up on lunch, we had the auction and it was a good one. Over 100 items and all the money went to St Jude. Kevin was our auctioneer and he keep the crowd going and spending money. There was a couple of ladies that were burning up their bidding paddles on some great leather pillows. I will not mention names but the gal that did not get the pillows did get a great custom made turquoise and silver necklace. I think that made up for the pillows. Bryan did not make it this year but I did get him a great custom knife made by Tye.  Everyone walked away with some great items and gift certificates but the best part all the money went to St. Jude Childrens Hospital.

                                           Bryan loved his knife

All together, the auction brought over $2,200 dollars and the saddle they raffled brought in over $4,000 That is not even counting the money they raised from the riders entry fees and the Old Henry rifle and t-shirt sales. Way to go Western Star Church you rock! 

I can not wait for next years ride. It is always the last weekend in September so mark your calendars. I promise you will not be disappointed and it is ride for a good cause.