Maxwell |
This GoogleMap shows the small town of Maxwell. The drive was from North Platte to Maxwell along Route 30, east, then south along Snell Canyon. The road straight south that barely shows up was a winding, narrow, barely maintained dirt and gravel road, just a notch above a two-track. The trip seemed to take forever and I always was car sick by the time we got there; I don't remember ever throwing up but every minute on that bumpy road I was sure I was going to! Nevertheless, a Sunday on that ranch was the best.
They had a son named Roger, and the baby Darlene. He and I ran around their corrals and the yard*, played in the huge barn** that had a hayloft on top with a lot of fresh hay, stalls for horses that had grain bins and hay racks, on the walls were ropes, bridles, horse blankets and places for saddles. It had a pleasant earthy smell of hay and manure. Sometimes there were horses in the stalls, but mostly they roamed the pastures with the herds of cattle.
Approx location and terrain of Dempsey ranch |
During one of these Dempsey weekends I met Jack Harwick who was a city kid like me. He lived with his family in Curtis, where I eventually went to high school. Jack's diction was never very good and he called the horse Shuga'. It wasn't until I was in school at the University of Nebraska School of Agriculture (UNSA), I learned that my kids dad (to be), Galen Corlett and Jack had been friends. They remained so for life.
*The large area of land surrounding the house and all the out-buildings
**..shaped like a real barn, (not positive if theirs was white but it seems like it) unlike ours in Wellfleet, which was a rectangular building with a pointed roof and a lean-to on one the side.(similar to this photo)
First Draft Summer 2010. First Revision May 2020.
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