A tale of donkeys, frybread

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series chronicling one chapter delegate’s ride to the 2008 Navajo Council
Summer Session.

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

TOHAJIILEE — Pardon me if this isn’t glowing prose, but it’s now barely 6 a.m., I’m sitting on top of a cabinet with my legs crossed to prop up the laptop and missing my usual quart of Starbucks.

Camping out under the stars is not as romantic as it sounds. Last night, for example, was like being trapped in a “Shrek” movie from which there was no escape.

Tohajiilee Chapter comes with roaming donkeys, one in particular which was after a midnight snack. That wouldn’t have been so bad except that I was guardian of the hay wagon — stretched out across three bales in my sleeping bag.

Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, the hay wagon started rocking. Sure enough, there was a donkey. For the first few hours we compromised on him eating the flake surrounding the wagon.

Then there were the horses. About five of them. At first, I thought some of the ones with us got loose, but no, they were just passing through. It was like trying to sleep at an all-night diner.

When we arrived Sunday evening at Navajo Nation Council Delegate Lawrence Platero’s Chapter of Tohajiilee, there were several people on hand to greet us. They had whipped up a feast, for which we were very appreciative. I had two bowls of lamb stew and nearly two pieces of frybread before I came up for air — and I wasn’t by myself.

The one thing I noticed immediately is that the frybread here is different than in Window Rock. It was light and fluffy with three long slits — easier for tearing apart, I guess. Orlene Delgarito, who made it, said it cooks much better that way.

After four hours of riding in a horse trailer, Heide Little’s horse, Bud, appeared to be a little colicky, wouldn’t drink and wanted to lie down. Delegate Jerry Bodie, who is leading this ride, sent us on a search for Alka-Seltzer, which Lolita Largo just happened to have.

Bodie mixed it with water, and around 10 p.m., we were holding Bud’s head while Bodie forced him to drink the mixture. It seemed like Bodie liked the plop, plop, fizz, fizz. In the morning, he was fine.

We were 14 riders strong as we left Tohajiilee after a big breakfast served by Ruth and Donovan Secatero and Delgarito. They even gave us the leftover frybread, juice, water — all kinds of goodies for later.

Later is right now, as I stand here with the laptop on a hay bale in the middle of the parking lot trying to type real fast so I can get this to my editor.

O.J. Castillo, 12, of Crownpoint, is our youngest rider. He’s a pro, having ridden for most of his life. Like the rest of us, he’s starting to feel a little sore.

We will leave the parking lot here in a few minutes after four more riders from Window Rock join us and Bodie and his sons repair one of the trucks.

The rain is starting and it’s looking like a wet evening on Mount Taylor.

More later.