Colorado Honeymoon



Me at Uncle Buell's ranch in Colorado



As you may have noticed in my earlier blog 'Teenage Marriage' we had not a cent left putting on a formal wedding let alone money for a honeymoon in 1950.  For our first anniversary we managed a down payment on a 1952 powder-blue Chevy coup right off the showroom floor.  Our wedding gift from Uncle Buell was a week's vacation on his ranch in Colorado up near Laramie, Wyoming.  And, drive we did, all day, all night and most of the next day only stopping for gas and something to eat.  That was a long, arduous drive from Pomona Valley, just south of Los Angeles to northern Colorado.  Needless to say the trip was well worth it, however the 'honeymoon' became JD's first hunting trip.

The ranch ranged for several square miles, more that 2,000 acres.  My Uncle, his wife and their two young sons had been out to California for our wedding so it was rather like a reunion.  The oldest son, Junior, was close to our age and still in college while Chuck, the younger, was in High School.  They lived in the old log cabin with a sod roof that my Great Aunt, Stella (on my mother's side), and her husband had homesteaded years before and had passed it on to their only son, Buell.  The only other building on the ranch was the original barn where hung the venison dressed and curing.  Although they ran cattle on the ranch, they never butchered beef because it was their sole income which was seasonal due to being snowed in during the winters.  When deer or elk was no longer in season they depended on rabbits, sage-hen, and other small table fare such as trout from the stream.

When we arrived, another couple was just finishing their week long stay.  Relatives of Buell's wife and they were marvelous cooks.  Buell's wife had just enjoyed a week out of her kitchen so it was a happy time for all.  Breakfast was a banquet with eggs, biscuits, rabbit, grouse, venison along with hot coffee and fresh milk from their one cow in the stall by the barn.  The biggest surprise was the fact that all the cooking was done on an old wood stove and this included a light and wonderful Angel Food cake for desert that night that first night baked in our honor.  All electricity was provided by a windmill and of course there was a double-seat outhouse just far enough that you had to plan well in advance your trip to and from.   
          
Of course, there were horses for Buell and the boys to ride fence and they were well mannered. However, Buell's was an old stallion that only allowed him in the saddle.  The horses had free range and Buell's stallion would wait for him at the kitchen window every morning and 'whiney' for him to come out and ride.  To my knowledge, Buell had established his morning ride routine that had created a mutual admiration between man and horse.

I should mention, that when we first drove onto the property, down the winding dirt road after opening and closing the gate. The ranch entrance was off the two lane road that headed on over to Coalmont, a ghost town at the time, named for the old coal mine that had started burning a long time ago and smoke continues to belch from that mine even today.  The first time we got a glimpse of that log cabin, I asked JD:  "Is that a deer or a dog on the roof?"  Sure enough, as we came closer, it was apparent it was indeed a yearling with budding horns.  He pranced over to the closest point to check us out before scampering down the side and jumping off to wander closer to see who we were.  He had been found by Junior after a hunter had shot the mother-doe (out of season and illegal) leaving her newborn a helpless orphan.  Junior brought the fawn home and nursed him until able to eat from his hand. In no time, the deer graduated to dining with the horses and frolicking on the sod roof.  Now Junior and the yearling were the best of buddies.

We were on the ranch for almost a week, the first paid vacation JD had ever had, and he spent every day hunting anything that moved which began to provoke my Uncle Buell.  I passed the word on to JD and he decided to spend the rest of his time just hiking and fishing for trout in the brook that meandered over the property.  I could join in the hiking.  Views were awesome, remember it was Spring, hazy lavender mountain ranges, rolling green hills and valleys, wild flowers everywhere not to mention the variety of birds, rabbits, deer and moose that could be spotted here and there among the Aspen trees.  You could actually see across the border into Wyoming from the far corner of the ranch.  JD said:  "If I had the money I would buy land here in a minute."  Apparently there was land for sale and at a very reasonable price, it's just that we hadn't yet reached that  reasonable income.

The days passed much too quickly. I did have the opportunity to ride Chuck's pinto as she was the most gentle of all.  I had a long talk with her before I climbed into the saddle so we had an agreement that my ride would always be fantastic, which it was.  While at the ranch, Junior and JD formed a true friendship that lasted throughout their lives.  JD's close friend Don also became the third member of this hunting posse that met at the ranch every deer season year after year, after year.  Both JD and Junior have since passed away and their ashes scattered over the ranch property as requested.  Buell and both sons gone, the ranch was cut up and sold.  I will always remember when it was possible for just plain folks to have a piece of nature such as that Colorado ranch.