Sweltering days

Wednesday September 16th and a horrid sweltering day, only made bearable by the stiff breeze which also unfortunately blew my Cutana hat brim away - I could tell by the hatbrimless shadows in the photos on my camera that it was quite a way back down the road - ...

 .....  Thankfully the wonderful Lorri drove down to my rescue with a replacement visor which was even more striking than the original...

 ...a Mexican sombrero style which was hardly the height of sartorial elegance, but hey who cares when the sun is off your face.
After trudging wearily across the hot plain for over twenty miles, I came across a field of horses, and in the circumstances decided to wait for the owners...

...who turned out to be the amiable Joos family: Ralph and Jenny Joos and four of their children, Paddy, Jamie, Anna and Jessica.

   

 Thanks for the couch, and the delicious pies!  Funnily it turned out that Ralph and Jenny were the parents of farrier Tyler, who Lorri had contacted to see if he could provide accommodation, but was away on holiday.
Another broiling day with a lunch stop at Casey's in Toulon on Thursday September 17th, though we had a welcome diversion when a local farmer showed the way down to a creek so a thirsty Lady could drink..

 ...and directed us on a short cut through his land...

 You can see that corn harvesting is in full swing.
The gravel roads may be quieter, but they have their disadvantages!.....

 Late in the afternoon I was stopped by a man in a pick-up truck near Centerville (so insignificant no-one has heard of it a mile away).  Ed Main offered me the use of a barn he owned down the road - just as well since thunderstorms were forecast, and in fact it poured down overnight.  But Lady and I were cosy and dry inside the barn by then.   Paul turned up again later with wife Tammy, who was worried I would starve to death and had brought enough food to feed the five thousand....

Ed is by his own admission, nuts - he is a nut tree freak and has ambitions to plant up parts of his land with walnuts and other nut trees.  As he said 'If you are going to plant a tree, it might as well be a useful one'.