Show irnym iwwiwpi X day Dear Dunham Land and Livestock Company - of Green River Utah: My heartfelt thanks for the good western hospitality you offered me when 1 needed it It makes me proud to be a part of rural Utah when 1 see such customs continued into this old-fashion- ed second - half of the twentieth century Since you may at this point be a bit puzzled as to how you offered me this hospitality perhaps I had better tell it like it happened then you and others will know how you acted the part of a west- ern host1 following long-sin- ce cust-om- s dead in most of the more “civilized’ parts of this nation And perhaps others will be inspired by your ex- ample to bring back into common use this and other fine old pioneer traditions My adventure began on a recent Sunday morning With only four weekends left to show trail leaders the remaining intricate trail routes to be used for Moab’s First Annual Four Wheeler Campout I was to ride with trail leader Ed Gough in his four wheel drive truck showing him his two-da- y route the campsite and various natural and his- toric highlights along the way Ed his wife Dorothy and I headed for the place were to meet the othwho were to go with us one as the second leader on the same trail the others just for the’ fun of exploring an area they had not seen We took only a lunch and cold drinks expecting to be back by sunset at the lawe ers test At the rendezvous point waited but no one showed One had phoned to say he couldn’t make it but the others? Ed called them Nope couldn’t make it So with time we '--so very limited before--th- e Labor Day event we’ set out one vehicle to travel and mark a two-- : dav trail in one very long wheel dancing a stylized ballet on the worn foot nd lay pedals and throwing gear ahead of us "levers back and forth Now my wife and I do struggling to keep the lathis all the time in a low boring machine on the mileage Toyota Land broken sandy trail Cruiser but Ed’s truck and I pitched was a retiree from many andDorothy bounced with every strenuous years with bump and talked about Tetovision with maybe scat belts for the JS22T1ofa nentHIui°I ncxt trip and we all three admired the beautiful it As we rolled out of scenery and lovely we joked about weather It where we might have to was a cool 80 or degrees spend the night especial- - go ly after Ed stopped and Beyond the cautiously picked' up a wash the heavy third spare tire truck almost made it up The trip went smooth- a long sandy hill but not ly in a manner of speak- - quite So Dorothy and I ing penetrating far into piled out to the the open country to the load and Ed lighten backed up northwest of Moab far for a second run at the beyond the Monitor and soft ' rade far beyond He made it easily this Dubinky Well and other time so on we went with such familiar landmarks a casual from me We climbed then de- that he warning had one more scended from a high pla- lower Sand - hill ahead teau passing the silent soon picturesque windmill We came to it A steep along the way but firm drop down into We woundT among the a narrow a foot- low hills and craggy bluffs high rock gully about ledge or miles of painted de- - twelve feet of level slick-sert past a flowing arti- - rock then immediately a sian well several old steep sand hill No way ' corrals in remote can- - to get a nm Confident Ed eased ua yons then across abroad down into the car-wiexpanse of salmon-hue- d sand dunes held in place gully then gunned it We only here and there by almost made it but the sparse vegetation engine lugged (town and of Occasionally we spot- - died about ted cattle back a ways the way up Start her up from the tortuous and try again No restrail we were Iimm-m-following They watched ponse from the ignition us warily as we bounced starter Ed casually and growled by fighting stepped out like this had the sand and trying to happened many times bekeep track of a trail ob- fore and shorted out the scured by drifts and tum- starter solenoid with a bleweeds and deeply metal tool The engine slashed by gullies from turned over once or twice the recent rains but didn’t start We passed a broad He next rolled the truck down the sand-hi- ll back where seeping it springs wet the sandy bot- trying to gear-sta- rt tom and bright green cot- No luck not even a sputtonwoods grew attesting ter Short her out again to the fact that these Still nothing Let it cool springs were perennial a while Try again Another linear oasis Nothing could be seen to the north Try again Ed at the where still another some throttle me shorting the time stream wound starter Not even a click through a seemingly bone - from the starter solen- id or a growl from the dry desert canyon' ' w— — And all the while our valiant old truck per formed faithfolly with Ed tore over 90 the sky riniiHiPsa nvrftnt nvor tha wreatl driving through country de-Mo- ab sert-momi- ng seep-wat-er- ed de two-thir- ds m distant Book Cliffs For the next two hours Ed covered himself with grease and sand removing the starter taking apart the solenoid cleaning and replacing all el- ectrical connections Couldn’t be the battery was almost new Try it something else The time was 12:30 in ptn theI temperature aniiv amiinH lift 95r verJ I also knew that if worse came to worst there was some kind of a litle cabin near the spring that might furnish us shelter if we blowing open led into the cabin from the porch And a little sign was tacked to the wall by the door It didn’t spell out “PRIVATE KEEP OUT" “NO Tit ESP AS-fSING" or any other such modern admonition 1 had nothing with me for taking notes nor even the cam ThucXlt to it eras 1 usually carry but quietly in seif as I recall the sign said: A few another corner items of food graced “PRIVATE PROPER- - its shelves and two cans TV RESPECT of beer stood forelornly T Dunham Land and In the freezer compartLivestock Company ment chilled but far from Green Kvcr Utah" frozen According to a The inner ddor stood little thermometer tacked ope" blocked that way by to one wall it was well a chair Nothing stood over 100 in the cabin too betWL‘en nie and the cab- much for a gas refrigerin's dark interior but a ator to handle screen door hooked on 1 Gratefully placed my the outside - and a sign warm can of beer beside asking me to "respect’’ the other two dusted off the place not “keep a 1970 READERS DIGEST out" took a chair out onto the Here was a scene typ- - shaded porch and settled leal of a hundred or ev- - down for a long and inen fifty years ago when afternoon of trospective such infrequent cabins and thinking reading were all that stood beAn hour before suntween a lonely traveler down I replaced everyand the dangerous in- thing glanced again at hospitable desert the bed and food I might 1 No still need if lwked around help didn't foot or wheel had to spend the night waiting to bo missed and a search party to find us But Ed and Doromy had children at home with a baby-sittand no ants to be n?otheIr 8franded overnight in that (Minos -- So after a discusslo° of and means' the tm set out wakln8 - thiL to out one and t Uf tck aon8 the blitering desert trali i" mid‘af’ terooon carrying all the had were I"81?11 it waspessimis- - to drink their They fill then refill the jug at the spring back a shirt distance and again at the artesian well some five miles farther fnr had my head un on lie STJ if tht bcCTtoo loose forborne Ume could get loJI eSite2 PmLilvJdrS! fU8ton)ed hiking But her V0r0U8 gail w°uld a Pace le t0 b® “angereus in where S” “ W desert heat rains wanTci Afte iSI Int0 to Rfarei K S - in few noon and evening with my absentee host I climbed down my my lofty vantage point and trudged toward the two cars already joined together by the twin umbilicals of battery : jumper cables Friends greeted me Eft gave me a fast summary of the uncomfortable but Sr v uneventful hike out and the truck started with thd first try its hungry battery fed by (he healthier arrive before morning one in the rescue vehicle silently thanked my host Ed and his game wife and headed back toward had been lucky or the ' the stranded truck return trip would have’ Following the western been long after dark over tradition set for me by a trail far from easy to' I left the cabin follow even example by daylight exactly as I found it And They had been picked up' I should yet be forced to use some of is store shortly after reaching the :v county road that goes to’ of food I would certain the thus cutting: leave a “thank you’’ milesairport ly of off their hike note and payment of some OUt x : cool some-sourc- e ’ ar-ro- yo - ® half-mi- uier’ anther ail back to JSL 1faro10Ls? ZSJ below the several drips ening and “ pieces of sheet met- After so stating mj - M-1-- J ' " "1 Fien -- near s? ed n latfievuiftciuuuB welcome mile lUSturo coun- - luJue9 taeVcke? ft's w or! or °n the six miles of the Our location could hardly be more remote from help I counseled against such a hike in any direction in the heat of toe day especially for Ed alone I was willing to wait even overnight if necessary' We had a little food a little water some soda pop and beer But beat of all I flvo hike le tree-shad- by ’ -- A1C3I1V away dripping porch and slowly from a rock wall little sign high above a you but I may need your knew there was plenty of water both behind ua a mile or so and ahead at another spring which dripped from a canyon wall into a man-macatchment de ss w rwrai-rs- notmaeonup weathered mmS stood beside an equally ancient corral A battered old Jeep maybe World War II vintage stood beside the cabin The shutters over twQ screened windows were propped open A tiny liz- ard clung to one screen waiting for unwary insects As I walked around the cabin toward its front door I saw that it had a rock - slab front porch shaded now from the hot afternoon sun by the bulk of the cabin A screen door hooked on the outside to keep it from old-we- st uninniroH s tradition that the anH nu jmdmusove'rtae warm R?122i bytbrt was lived Cabin door and the in and seemed very re- - sign beside of cently occupied A box crackers and other ' re- little it: mains of a solitary meal stood on the table Cana and boxes of foods and : staples filled the shelves of crude cabinets on one wall A bed stood in one corner covered to pro- tect it from dust Other shelves contained tools clothes and the kind of things usefol at a recattle-ranc- h mote line ren®t Lour 11 that: gjyg 8-tra- v- - electric: COMPANY va 'f SERVICE REPAIR & " COMMERCIAL : - cabin i Ron Steele-259-7- 273 sound J ruTume WWn battery rechargec ' ' S—Mtt Ml wftclar: 1 PMC to wsftm arf Ctoaato tow 4towliilhtoKtoMiito “ miaKitoto— iH iwtoM ftw fjutoiato OtttoMl Inly maActtmil I chUa lPtotoamniHiiwilifciwltttoiiMcB terndiiUlmttw WiUftiUrniilwwInii aap- aw toww MW Cldseout Specials OilLVA Few STORK ':? RESIDENTIAL There was a heater and a gas cook stove against (me wall and a big old gas refrigerator stood from buSt-i- n AMFM stereo radio I!1 V stereo ck A Sincerely Fran Barnes VALUES Mate you' own a deserve: men little COME IN AND CHECK THESE GREAT ROCKWELL ' precious drops of sweet water on my sunburned face and down sort maybe cash maybe Now to my dry throat some beer from the truck Land you know Dunham: and Livestock Com- -: A little patch of poi- -' son oak grew in the drip- nitad thnwHi Hu ‘“J" --S' 1 bottom oI toI: n ca-th- “r Sf SSr l the hot but shady porch and sought out the path 1 knew must go to the Once toerc a faucet tarred into a hole in the bottom of the big bucket let me splash a gare of afternoon I left a note on the truck seat te ling "5ere I1was grabbed my little jug of fdrv the iced tea and remaining A nearby cottonwood for- - headed up the trail to- ushed sparse shade for ward the spring and is break but it must bin I also stuck a can w‘ --“"L 8 beer in my pock- °f V®' e( I wanted SyWef 0f tracks anysince the last the last sunlight fa- Almost reluctantly still savoring the absolute silence of the desert sun4: set and the lingering mood of sharing the long after? -- der the hood watching and I felt better about two seeking some shade for going would Dorothy my sunburned hatless doubtlcss get sunburned beftd’ !hougt h® shielding herself with wa? a jacket and too WI nd with sore and lt and we went on try- - feet “P from the legs unac- But Aa ded I heard the erratic growl of a vehicle laboring over the nearby traij Then' headlights bobbed into view Help was here and I was rescued “ v3 lenglhy wasnhlMmXfft mrth? dicil ftffnru hn't ''ll ? or er itua£lon- -- ‘ rover aaaBaaraa Regular-159v- ntony 'vJ ' |