Girl and horse missing
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May 26, 1986 |
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By Rick Pohlers
We got the call at the usual time, just when we're starting to fall a-sleep. This being a holiday weekend the probability was high that somebody would get lost or hurt. Sure enough, a little twelve year old girl was missing out of Mountain Center, along with her horse. She had probably been thrown by her steed and lay hurt and helpless, in the dark, surrounded by blood thirsty coyotes and venomous reptiles! This sounds like a job for the Riverside Rural Rescue Unit (RRRU). Hi Ho and away!
The usual gang of hombres, such as, Jim "Admiral Horn Blower" Fairchild, Glenn "Snake-gets-in-your-eyes" Henderson, Joe "Lt. Ludicrous" Erickson, Ray "Dr. Ghoul" Hussey, Rob "Sgt. Squeaker" Gardner, FNG's Jay Pion and Henry Negrete, gathered at the Keenwild Fire Station. They were quickly organized into teams by the head honcho, Kevin "Col. Klutz" Walker. Teams were assigned to cover some of the uncountable horse trails that crisscross the search area, to look for tracks or fresh road apples. The teams soon found plenty of each but it was hard to tell if the signs belonged to the missing horsy.
Seems this
little filly had gone riding that afternoon after
her Ma had mentioned selling the beloved little
pony. Our "Den Mother," Mary Bowman,
having two daughters of her own, figured the girl
probably was hiding out at a friend's house. That
sounded like a possibility, 
so after searching and yelling our
lungs out calling for the girl all night we put
Mary and the trusted Sheriff on pursuing Mary's
theory, come sun up.
Sun up came after Rob "Sgt. Squeaker" Gardner got twenty minutes of shut eye. That's plenty. With the sun came the new fangled flying machine, piloted by Don Landells in person, to aid in the search. It sounded like an eagle in the clear mountain air. A couple of hours of this soaring found nothing but millions of tracks going in all directions and tons of road apples.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Sheriff confronted one of the little girl's friends at school. Sure enough, the friend spilled the beans and our subject was quickly rounded up at the girlfriend's house, along with the wayward pony. She was in a heap of trouble with her Ma.
So ended another thrilling adventure off to for the RRRU, as they rode to the chuck wagon for breakfast. Hi Ho and away!