07.03.2020
Seeing things that we may never see again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again.
Thank you, Mr. Nelson.
In 2015 we had had enough of living at Grindstone Ranch. The Ranch, as the owners called it, was located in a remote, dry and desolate area in the Stony Valley of California on the eastern flank of the Mendocino National Forest near Elk Creek.
It was a beautiful place but the fun part of our job, which was the cattle work, had disappeared because Marty didn’t get along with the guy who held the cattle lease. Marty thought he was a buffoon, a poser and the guy didn’t appreciate getting the obvious disrespect. There came the day when the guy’s wife called and told me they were letting us go. Then they hired someone who Marty thought was his friend. He felt betrayed and it stung. We had to see them all the time. We still had the other half of the job with the property owners but that wasn’t the fun part of the job.
And furthermore, even though the owners loved us they didn’t pay us well and we had had no raise in 4 years. It was getting so very old.
So, we decided to leave and buy a place of our own and after we looked around we found this place in Madera. It was a beat-up fixer but it was the right price and had all the horse infrastructure that we wanted. We would fix it up and in two years we would move on.
Marty said, “We’ll be gone in two years.” I thought, “Maybe.” Then I said it out loud, “Maybe!” A year came and went and it was obvious that the 2 year time frame was not going to happen. It took Marty having to get a job at Tractor Supply in year three, which he detested but needed, to light a fire under his butt to make him feel the urgency of completing the renovations, sell, and go on the road as we’d dreamed about.
So, we did it and we’re now working on preparations to go at the end of July. We have the trailer. We sold the house. The horses are safely pastured against the time we settle again and can come get them. The 2 dogs and the one cat are coming with us.
On the road again…
R L Benoit - Writer/Artist 