The Cowgirl

I had a s-t-r-a-n-g-e day Saturday, November 28th.  The day started very well, me sippin' a mug of joe in my recliner knitting, The Man at the computer looking at local real estate for sale.  The man finds a 1930's cabin that has been re-located from Murphy's cabin's in Pinetop, to the Concho area.  The real estate ad said it had 23 acres, couple of barns and wood cook stove in the kitchen, WELL...........that fired up my lightbulbs.........I learned to can on an ol' wood cookstove.  So we decided that when a reasonable morning hour rolled around, we'd call a realtor and maybe go see this cabin.  In the interim, the man located some further properties we could look at.  So our morning consisted of  driving around our area looking at listings we were interested in.  The cabin............not EVEN worth the money they are asking, but they've only been on the market 30 days, we'll keep our eye on it and see how low it drops (which is really unfortunate for the people who own it, but it's a buyers dream!). 

We decided that since none of the houses we had seen were really good income property, we'd drive around in the Black Mesa area, just because it's pretty and we'd never been on the road.  We went past some very interesting places.  New Dawn Ranch.........that was defintely an interesting place.........several yurts, a single wide mobile, gorgeous backdrop and view and an es-guess-timate of close to $100,000K in fencing and barns for Alpacas.  I wanna be an Alpaca when I grow up............crazy the craze over Alpaca's.

We finished up with that lil' road and headed down Stirrup Road which ended up at the edge of a huge wash...........it was impassable with a four wheel drive vehicle.  However, when we turned around and headed back out to the highway, about a mile or so down, we ran across Stirrup Road. Guess that road's for 3 & 4 wheel drive ATV's. Certainly wasn't one we could take, and we're not weanies.

As we headed East on Concho highway, The Man says," there's a road that I wanna check out, how's that sound to you?"  Well hell, I'm captive in the car, going 70 mph down the road, "sounds good to me."  So we do, we turn onto a dirt road with a sign out on the highway that reads, "A to Z Well Drilling & Water Tanks," so it dawns on me The Man wants to inquire about the water storage tanks, but turns out I was dead wrong.  He really did just wanna take a drive down this road.  This is where my day turns strange...........we are heading South on this dirt road, we're approx. 4-5 miles back in (BTW-there is NO sign of any living creature, driveway nor home), when we happen upon a guy (in the middle of nowhere) in a Bobcat driving down the road........hmmmm.  Further down the road, say another 3-4 miles we run into a guy (looked like an old hippy from the 60's), driving a 1940's Ford tractor.......hmmm.  I ask The Man, "what in the world are these two guys doing?"  I can tell by his look I'm not gonna get an answer.  We are driving along, admiring the country (in the middle of nowhere), taking spur roads off spur roads and just driving.  We're hoping that one of these dirt roads will take us out to the highway in a very round about way......ya know, so we can see all this remote country!  We are in this huge rock outcropping of sandstone driving, when we come upon these piles of stacked rocks.........you know, the "new agey" type of stacked rocks you see in Sedona.........all over!  In the middle of nowhere...........hmmm.  We continue on, both thinking about the rocks when we spot a Border Collie/Aussie Shepherd with a bandana around his neck, running.  Seems he's with the cowgirl on the horse that rounds the corner about the same time we round the corner.  She stops, we stop..........the dog is running around trying to follow her commands and gettin' an ass chewin' by this cowgirl at the same time.  I roll down my window.........we talk, I ask her if we can get out to the highway on this lil' ol' dirt road.  She says, "used to, but the damn wash washed out and ya can't anymore."  O.K. well, can we head further South on this road and meet the highway South of here?  She says, " ya, ya can, but don't turn left up ahead, keep veering to the right and the ol' road turns kindly rough, but........well" she says as she pets her horse,  "I have 4-wheel drive so I can get through anything." About that time, she takes a long pull on a beer she's got with her in this cool beer holder that's part of her darn saddle!  "Yep," she says, "I figured I'd take ol' Wallace out today for a long ride cuz it's gonna snow tomorrow."  She looks up at the sky, sniffs the air, seems like in anticipation of a snow flurry at any moment.  The Man and I look up also....then she says, "Ya know I aint afraid to ride out her by myself, cuz I pack a gun and I know how to use it."  "Good, good," I say to her, "that's a smart thing to do riding this far out."  "Oh no" she says, I don't live that far away, see that mountain over yonder, well I just live up on the side of that damn thing......been living there for five years now, came from Chicago."  "Told myself I'd never live anywhur it snowed evur again after Chicago, but here I am."  Takes another long pull off her beer and gazes off. "See, the Mr. and me bought land out here, pulled in our travel trailer and an ol' bus, but hell it cost us so much to put the well in that we can't afford electricity or a home..........so I live in the travel trailer and he lives in the bus.........works just fine by me."  "Got me three horses." O.K...... I am thinking that we have warped backwards in time to the Twilight Zone.  She's tellin us stuff I don't NEED to know. She says, "What do you do?"  I tell her we have a small sheep ranch and she says, "well, how do you like that?"  I tell her we really love the sheep and it's just a hobby farm really.  "Where do you live?"  I give her a vague idea.........we all sit in silence for a bit AND just when I'm getting ready to tell her to enjoy the rest of her ride with Wallace, she begins talking again.........stuff, like........."ya know, I told the ol' man that we're gettin' to old to be livin' like this, what if he had a damn heart-attack on me, how am I supposed to get his ass loaded in our truck to meet the ambulance out on the county road?"  "My GOD, we're miles off the road on the side of a damn mountian!"  I tell her I can feel for her, "yep, getting to old for this kinda life style for sure."  She likes that I agree with her, like maybe I'd ride home with her and tell her ol' man that I agree with her! 

The cowgirls name is Deb.  She is a real cowgirl from Chicago, who lives off the grid, off the land and as far away from any establishment as she can be!  She rides her three horses everyday of the week cuz she loves them, they need excercise and she can drink her beer in peace.  I wish I'd have had the camera with me for a candid shot of this women on her horse...........Goldwater would have been proud of the shot.

We say "good-bye" and head down the road she suggested............it becomes evident to us right soon, that this road is indeed only passable with her kinda 4-wheel drive..........a horse named Wallace.  We turn around and head back the way we came..........I look to the North and wayyyyy up on the side of a mountain is this.......yellow bus, up near the clouds.  Can't tell if there's a travel trailer or not cuz it's so far up..........but I think it's where she lives.  We never see her, the horse, nor the dog again on our way out...........we drive in silence......................we come upon the man still on his 1940's tractor just driving around on the road................we scoot home once we hit the highway.........in silence. Been thinkin' about Deb the cowgirl all day......... while it's stormin and I'm sittin' by my ol' woodstove in my nice, lil' cozy home. God bless you Deb, the Cowgirl from Chicago!