Mr McLaren, a heavy wagon trail stalwart, died in June last year, aged 61. This year's cavalcade, which finished in Tapanui on Saturday, was to have been his 20th.
So Mrs McLaren, from Woodside, on the Taieri Plains, harnessed up two of his horses - Hooch and Dock - and hit the trail with Stu's two brothers, Graeme and John, and a wooden box containing his ashes.
During an overnight stop at Kelso on Friday, a badge commemorating Stu's 20th cavalcade was presented and a speech made by fellow wagoner Dave Murdoch, an occasion his widow described as ''pretty bloody emotional''.
Describing her husband as ''one of those men everyone liked and respected'', Mrs McLaren said that after his death, his brothers Graeme, who lives in Australia, and John, from Blenheim, got talking about how they both wanted to join the trail, which meant Mrs McLaren had to bring the wagon.
While Mrs McLaren had ridden a horse on about 14 cavalcades, the only off-road wagon driving she had done before this year's trail was in a flat paddock with the horses pulling a plough.
Coming down a very steep hill on the first day was ''a bit of a baptism of fire'', she admitted, and she was grateful for help from Mr Murdoch.
The horses went well, although they got ''a bit over-enthusiastic'' at the end and broke some gear, which was hurriedly fixed up with some tape, wire and timber. They could have been a bit fitter, she said, but sadly her mother died a fortnight before the trail.
As Mrs McLaren drove into the parade at the Tapanui race-course, she admitted that rather than being emotional, she was more concerned about her ''gear getting around in one piece''.
She had no doubts that her husband was watching over her, and while some people thought it was ''a bit strange'' taking him along for the ride, ''nobody who knows the pair of us does'', she said.
Mrs McLaren met her husband on the cavalcade. They were on the same trail for several years but their paths did not cross until meeting briefly at the pub on the Ophir Cavalcade in 1999.
She ''thoroughly enjoyed'' the trip and while people had commented that her husband would have been proud of what she did, she reckoned he would be ''really annoyed'' as he spent 12 years trying to convince her to ride with him on the wagon, but she preferred to ride.
This week, Mrs McLaren will be with the Dunedin City Choir performing at Last Night of the Proms, although she was a little concerned she did not have much voice left, having used it up talking to the horses.
