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Show i CaLenar April Golden Age Center Dances, 155 S. 100 W. B1 Wednesday, April 2, 2008 By Mary Bernard " 1 Express Writer Vernal. Every Friday night 8 to 10 p.m. Kays Band, all are welcome. Winter Kundalini Yoga classes. Wednesdays 12-12:45 12-12:45 p.m. & 6-7:30 p.m. Call Margaret 781-8711 for more information. TOPS club meets in W." I Vernal City offices, 447 East Main, on Thursday E ver hear the from 11 a.m. to 12:30 expression "living history" and wonder what it meant? I did, until I saw Wayne Gardiner driving a stagecoach with a matched team of gray mares through Naples. It dawned on me that the "living" part was not about actors or historians - it was about keeping western tradition alive. "I love this stuff," explains Gardiner. "I was raised driving a team, whether it was haying or hauling, that's how it was done then when I was a kid." I caught up with Gardiner and his family when they stopped at the 7-11 store on U.S. Highway 40 to grab a cool drink. It was a Saturday like any other except this was a day in March 2008, not an early spring day 100 years ago. Gardiner sits in the driver's . seat of his stagecoach waiting for his family. His son Darren, daughter-in-law Liz and twin grandsons Clint and Caylan are visiting Vernal and out for a stagecoach ride on a cool spring day, the first day to hitch up the team. "You can't hitch up the coach unless you go get a slur-pee," slur-pee," says Gardiner: "Every time the family comes out from Salt Lake, we have to hitch up the team and, of course, that means a run to 7-11." I make a quick date-check of my cellphone. Yeah, it's still the 21st century. Gardiner smiles, perhaps used to my momentary uncertainty. Gardiner offers to run me home to see the other wagons in his shop. Slowly, we make our way across Highway 40, never moving faster than 8 mph. Family vehicles pass cautiously cau-tiously with kids faces pressed to the glass. . Every passing car and neighbor is met with Gardin-" er's grandkids waving from the coach. It's like a parade of one. The team never wavers, never spooks and never drives astray. Okay, maybe they move a little faster when they turn toward home, but then, it is the first trip of the season. "I raised them and trained them myself," says Gardiner as the girls push a little harder in the direction of home. "It took about a summer to break them as a team. I want two more so I can have a four horse wagon team." Gardiner says he got the stagecoach from "folks in My-ton My-ton who had painted the wagon red and yellow. It looked like a circus wagon." Once in his possession, the stagecoach was repainted a proper color, brown. Remnants of red paint can still be found in the carriage box on the back of the coach. This was not the first wagon in Garner's stable, who has built two sleighs, a buckboard and an open carriage all by himself. But his pride and joy is a sheepwagon completely redone by his own hand. The sheepwagon has been outfitted with homey comforts like a woodstove, cabinets, carpet and rubber tires rather than iron wheels. His grand-kids, grand-kids, who had spent the night in the wagon, quickly tidy the interior so I can get a better look. "One of these days, I'm going go-ing to hitch up the team to the sheepwagon and take off for the hills," says Garner, a recent retiree from running cattle on the mountain. Gardiner has spent most of his life in ranching and farming. farm-ing. He grew up working on the family farm in the original origi-nal Vernal homestead of his grandfather, Arthur Gardiner. They ran livestock and farmed hay fields on the rolling ground that is now the Vernal Regional Airport. "By the time I was five or Each office is independently owned and operated. Churns ;Kif A portion t if 1 rt "f of every sale is donated to the 1820 West 1 Children's Miracle f Vernal, Utah Hwy. 40, Ste F Network. 1 435-781-2500 Outstanding Agents. Outstanding Results Magee and Dolly, entering onto under Gardiner's reins. six, I was driving a sled to bring in the hay. We'd stack it in the yard using a hay derrick. That was before we started baling hay back in the 1950s," Gardiner explains. Gardiner's ranch sits on family land he bought from his uncle. Here, the sheds and corrals of yesteryear still stand along with the old hay derrick. Among them is a shed where he keeps covered a three-seat carriage painted blue. Built for . a comfortable ride, the carriage seats consist of recycled bench seats from a Chevy Suburban. Gardiner says he drove the carriage car-riage chauffeuring four couples to the junior prom, picking up each girl at the door for a special ride. "Dad was definitely born 100 years too late, building and rebuilding his wagons," says son Darren. "No doubt, he'll head for the hills driving that sheepwagon someday." Offering one last ride of the day, Gardiner tells me to "climb on," as he steps into the driver's seat. In short order we pull onto to the road head north to Vernal. Magee and Dolly pick up a rhythm past new homes and businesses. But none of that matters to us as we talk about a time when Vernal was little slower-paced. That's all changing chang-ing now, but for one Saturday afternoon we were alive in the past. Gardiner's passion has brought this sheepwagon back to life. His 'modern' touch has added a woodstove, shelves and comfy bedding for his grand-kids. grand-kids. "I put on the tongue pull so, I can add my team and drive the wagon," he says. ( Ci i:.'y Krcmin 790 4330 . ,: v . f . . v.; h-'s ; -' "Ssn .y '.',3 , ; r v ..v X .WK v m ' . 500 East, fresh off winter feed the The sheepwagon, Gardiner's someday get-away vehicle fit- ted with a tongue pull to hitch up the team. , . " " ; . C3 S3 ' i '' ' "i . . .... , . . ' fc , V t. I " 1 1 ;-- " I ' ; Gardiner's first wagon is a buckboard he completely refurbished. "Now, it looks like a real wagon," he claims. The old hay derrick stands behind the sheds ready for use. .j: P- p " ' . - ' ' I i n""-f" i .-"--i-nnri r -iWrnir i' iwriw rmtv 4. This beautiful 3 bedroom, 3 bath home sits on almost 10 acres in Dry Fork. MLS 782456 girls were reluctant to head out Magee patiently awaits Gardiner to finish a tour of the ranch, wagons and sleighs. The "girls" are trained to be patient as Gardiner explains, "I don't want to scare other horses, but you can hear the dogs barking in the neighborhood." Wayne and Darren with matched team drive of the year. v Great location, great features and a great PRICE!!! Exclusive Office Listing! Call me today to show you the greatness. for another trip but soon relaxed ? ; 4 , 1 I' Gardiner head east on 2500 South and stagecoach on the first spring Becky Daniels 790-5955 f ...... . -V ,- yj v ' 1 p.m.. Ten Star All Star Basketball Camp. Call (704) 373-0873 for brochure or visit www. tenstarcamp.com. 6th Annual American Indian Art Show, Western Heritage Museum, 328 E. 200 S., April 6-30. Call 789-7399. 12-Step Recovery Program, meets Thursday, 7 to 8 p.m. at 2100W.Hwy 40. Open and anonymous. Call 790-7917. April 2 Creating A Family History in Passage Express-Part 1 Sign-up Required-Vernal Required-Vernal Family History Center, 7 p.m.' Call 789-3618. 789-3618. Kick Butts Day, Tricounty Health Department in conjunction with a national initiative to fight against tobacco. Don't smoke or chew. April 3 Pipeline Safety Awareness Training, Western Park. Contractors program at 7 a.m. (breakfast served) and Emergency responders at 11:30 a.m. (lunch served). Sponsored by pipeline companies throughout the region. USU-Uintah Basin Open House, 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 207, Vernal Campus. Visit uintahbasin.usu.edu. or call 722-2294. Tot and Mom Story Time: 10:30 & 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Uintah County Library, 155 E Main in Vernal. April 7 Dinaland Golf Course MEN'S ELECTION TOURNAMENT at 675 S. 2000 E., Vernal. Call 781.1428 for information. Movie and Popcorn: The Bee Movie, Uintah County Library, 155 E Main in Vernal at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. MSEA Safety Seminar, Western Park, 302 E. 200 S., Vernal registration at 8 a.m. seminar to run through 11:30 a.m. Call 888-333-6620 by April 3. April 8 Preparing for a New Family Search - Vernal Family History Center, 7 p.m. Call 789-3618. Hazel Bentley, instructor. April 9 Golden Age Book Club at 1 p.m. "Jubilee Trail." Creating A Family History in Passage Express-Part 2 Sign-up Required-Vernal Required-Vernal Family History Center, 7 p.m. Call 789-3618. 789-3618. April 11-12 KVELKLCY Home and Garden Show at Western Park, 302 E. 200 S., Vernal." SEE CALENDAR on B2 Hosting an event? Post it for free on our community calendar at .1 J-.. Boautiful home with an open floor pljri mi lorn o( loom lo qiow. Master bodraom has ae to Ihp larqf dok wilh lighting; perlfct for witertaininq with your family and friends. Front yard has cement cutbmq around all the qorqeous rosebushes and rose trees. Partially finished basement lhat could have a theater room, qame room or even a kitchenette ... If you can imaqine it ... build it in the basementi MLSI78.MM Bnnq an otleri Owner Aqent. Call Becky lor more information 4 !5 790 59S |