Wagons Ho!

A two-wagon wagon train makes its way through the hills south of McCook Monday, en route from Dodge City, Kan., to Ogallala, Neb. Concessions to safety include flashing slow-moving-vehicle signs and waving warning-orange flags.

Led by a team of very unusual Norwegian Fjord horses, a wagon train lumbered through the hills south of McCook Monday, tracing the old cattle-drive trail from Dodge City, Kan., to Ogallala, Neb.

"We may make it to Canada in another couple summers," 70-year-old Bob Green of San Antonio, Texas, chuckled.

Wagon Master Kelly Boesen of Austin, Texas, said that last fall the wagons joined the Great Western Cattle Trail Drive from Bandera, Texas, to Dodge City. That drive covered 675 miles in seven weeks.

From Dodge City, they headed north June 8. The crew expects to reach Ogallala Monday.

"We shoot for 18 to 20 miles a day," Green said. They spent a day's rest and Sunday evening at the Harlow Wilhelm farm south of McCook, and by late afternoon Monday had reached a corner of land owned by Russ Schaffert south of Culbertson on Highway 17. They spent the night there by the windmill.

Kelly said the wagon train has five permanent riders -- Trail Boss "Mustang Bob" Green and his 14-year-old granddaughter Brittany Key; Ray Kurtz of Neenah, Wis.; and Kelly and his seven-year-old grandson, Gavin.

"Others join us from time to time," Kelly said. Brittany encouraged anyone interested in riding with them for a spell to call Kelly's cell phone, (512) 288-3353.

The wagons ae pulled by Comet and Dude, and the Norwegian Fjords, dun-colored Champ and Reece. "The Fjords are the oldest breed of horses," Brittany said. "Some think Arabians were the first breed of horses, but they weren't -- the Fjords were. The Vikings rode these horses."

"They're short and wide," she said, "built to pull heavy weights."

The most striking feature about the Fjords, she said, is the black stripe of hair down the middle of their soft-white mohawk-cut manes.

The wagon train also has three American Mustangs on the ride -- Pepper, Brittany's "Malibu" and Bob's "Buck."

From Culbertson, the wagon trail will make its way toward Imperial, taking breaks west of Culbertson at a highway monument honoring the cattle trails and east of Trenton at the Massacre Canyon Monument.

The wagons will camp Wednesday night at Blaine Stinson's near Palisade.