Hey, Where’d My Pot O’ Beans Go?

by: Tom Sorenson

I was visiting with a friend of ours, and he told me a great story that an old real estate client of his had told him. I’ll try and relay the story from memory as best I can!

This client had been hunting up in Northern Idaho. After a long hunt, he was packing out with his string of mules – all the gear, animals, and everything. The country up there is heavily timbered and the trail they followed was narrow. When they rounded a bend in the trail, they saw a tent pitched with tendrils of smoke coming up from the chimney. This guy thought that someone must have been there because of the smoke, so he went over to say, “Hi.” However, when they reached the tent, it was obvious that no one was home. Well, it just so happens that one of the mules in this man’s pack string was green – and you may know where this is headed now! Something, who knows what it takes for some of these mules, caused this mule to start pulling on his lead ropes and he reared back and busted loose from the pack string! During the fracas, this mule had become attached to some of the lines holding the tent up. So, off down this narrow trail goes this mule with a tent in hot pursuit! The tent chased the crazy mule and this guy was racing down the trail after him trying to cut his mule off before too much damage was done, but the narrow trail prevented him from being able to get around and in front of his runaway mule. Finally, the mule ran out of steam and this man came up to his now quivering mule and some strangers’ mangled tent. Inside the tent and strewn along the trail was sleeping bags, food, and miscellaneous gear. Apparently they had been cooking beans while they hunted and the embers from the stove were obviously still hot – and all over in the tent and sleeping bags and whatever else was in the tent. The man didn’t take the time to see if there were holes in the tent, bags, or anything else – he gathered together everything he could find, brought it all back to the camp site, put the tent back up as best he could, took all the food he had been packing out and set it in the strangers’ tent, and dusted his heels out of there!

I can only imagine there were some people that came back to camp that night wondering what in the sam hill happened to their cozy camp – and their pot of beans!