Down Memory Lane with Debbie Miller, Treasurer

Board Member Profile: Down Memory Lane with Debbie Miller, Treasurer

I grew up riding horses starting at age six.  My family with seven kids were members

of the Donnellson Saddle Club so we'd enjoyed camp outs and trail riding at Shimek. We had a lot of fun growing up in the saddle club and made many good memories at Shimek. I can remember when there wasn't a lower campground and there was a single road in the upper campground with no loop. Where the day parking is now used to be a corral built similar to our hitching rails. We kids thought that it was cool to balance and walk around the top pole. It was an accomplishment to make it around without falling! That's where we tied our horses instead at the campsites. There was another hitching rail that was just a straight line about where the stalls are now. I don't remember designated camping spots with gravel and fire pits like we have now. No daytime parking; and there weren't any toilet pits either. The saddle club had a traveling porta potty we'd bring to the campground and for which they'd dig a hole. We also had a traveling chuck wagon we used to put our food to serve at our potlucks, which I loved. Probably why I suggested one in the Fall.

 

The Donnellson Saddle Club is the reason we now have water in the campgrounds. I think they used to haul water so when Rathbun Water was coming through, they came up with the funds to bring in the water. 

 

  Times have changed. I remember we hauled horses in pickup trucks and backed in the ditch in the upper campground to unload. There used to be card playing under the awning, especially if it rained. We also used to meet motor bike riders. I remember one time the club was on a ride and one of the members asked them to shut off their bikes until we rode through. I was thankful because my pony, as well as others, was spooked.

Debbie and Sonny at Shimek

The time I remembered the most was when the saddle club members got lost on the trails and we were supposed to be out on a short ride because the ladies were planning on making pizza and dessert pizzas over the fire. Then it got dark....nobody had a flashlight and people were using their matches to try to find the trail. My dad put me in front of him because I had a white pony that he could kinda see otherwise you couldn't really see your own horse's ears. If there was a low limb, everyone would holler back to the person behind them "low limb" because you couldn't see it. We didn't have to worry about it after one of the big guys couldn't get low enough and took it out.

We ended up coming out at a place that to this day

I think I know where it's at on the gravel road but I sure wouldn't know how to get there by horse. We rode the gravel road and came out by the curve before you enter the border of Shimek on the East side of Shimek on highway 2. We then rode all the way down highway 2 in the ditch to get to the entrance of Shimek and then rode another three miles up the gravel to the campground. To this day, I'll still say that was the longest ride of my life and if I'm riding towards evening, I always carry a flashlight.

 

I met Ann Bennett when a coworker, Diane Holmes, suggested I meet Lori Field and Ann because she thought we'd get along. Diane had her horse Buddy in training with Ann and suggested I take my problem child horse Sonny to Ann so I first met Ann when I took Sonny for some training. Ann then introduced me to Lori Field.

 

I remember the first time I met Marsha Achenbach was on a warm January /February day when Lori Field and I went riding. We started a fire and cooked hamburger brats and had some hot chocolate. Marsha was the only other rider out there and Lori knew Marsha and introduced me and I remember not promising to remember her last name of Achenbach. We invited Marsha to join us and there's been many times since when Marsha's trailer is the only other one there.

 

Neal Hartman and his sister Lala O'Hara I met through Marilyn Harris who was also in the Donnellson Saddle Club so I've known Marilyn all my life. Marilyn and Don Harris' dad Joe Harris and his friend Arnie Mitchell were responsible for a lot of the trails we have today.

Debbie and Neal heading back to clear trails after a lunch break during a Volunteer Work Day.

I first talked with John Byrd over the phone when one of his co-workers gave me his number. I was thanking his co-worker for all the good work they'd been doing and he thought I should call John because he said John wasn't used to hearing that. When I did call John, he said he wasn't used to hearing they're doing a good job, usually more in the complaining line. So when Ann called to see if I'd consider being Treasurer, I gave her John's name and number to call.

 Lora Conrad I met by a campfire at Shimek about six years ago. Ringo and Brenda Covert I first met at a volunteer work day at Shimek.

We are truly blessed with having Shimek so close to home and I'm blessed with 

all the good people I meet along the way...including on our Volunteer Work days.

WANTED: Information and photos on the history of the Equestrian Trails at Shimek State Forest

Debbie Miller, Neal Hartman and Don Harris have added a lot to the knowledge of your Editor and others about the history of the equestrian trails at Shimek. We would like to do one or more feature stories on the way the Shimek Trails were developed and used in the “good old days.” If you can share photos made during the early days of the trails as well as stories about your experiences in developing and/or using those trails, please send an e-mail to lpconrad@wildblue.net describing those experiences. You can send the photos via e-mail or mail them to me to be copied and returned. Thanks for your help---I've only been in Iowa since 2000 so do not have any personal knowledge of the history of the trails.