So I hitched up my ox, grabbed my pack and went out into the strong winds on foot. We left the boy and dog behind because they wouldn’t make the 10 mile hike to the post office traveling the various terrain and the howling winds. We set out in some untraveled territory to see what our full options would be. The river was running way to high for us to cross in the initial areas traveled so we needed to back track a bit to hit more solid ground.
After getting around the rushing river we traveled on into some open fields which led us to some dicey ravines that with one slip of a loose rock and we would be sliding the mountain side into the icy waters of the river. We made our way along and found that we had come upon a property line of some locals that we haven’t met as of yet. It is certainly no way to meet your neighbors carrying a rifle in hand and each of us with our pistols on our sides so we cautiously traveled thru the pines staying hidden until we made it clear of their property…
After 2 hours and 15 minutes of traveling on foot, seeing 7 deer and lots of elk sign we made it to the Post Office. We loaded up, had some friendly conversation and headed back to camp. The weather turned, it does that out here, in the matter of minutes the weather will shift without warning. We were heading back with the wind in our face and the snow hitting hard. With extreme weight my ox was having difficulties and so was I. Out here it is not common to pass many folk to hitch a ride.
We trudged on and made it back to camp before night fall. That too is a good thing out here with the lions and wolves on the prowl.
We were tired and the coffee tasted good. Upon open our packages, the vittles within tasted good too. THANKS!
The boy was excessively happy – his birthday was the 11th of December and 95% of those packages were for the boy. 
