Saddlebag Dispatches—Summer 2021

The pickup bounces like a rabbit over rutted ground.

Al hangs onto the steering wheel while ten-plies dig and pound blue grama grass that stipples golden hues across the hills.

The engine hums a diesel purr. The two-track winds and spills its way to cattle grazing at a lazy, laid back pace.

Al surveys through a bug-smeared windshield, sizing up his place.

He peers out from beneath a battered brim that shares his view and punches on the horn to redirect a stray or two.

The Johnsons and the Larsons left years back when out of luck.

Al’s cows graze Johnson’s pasture. He’s long gone. The name has stuck.

Al gets out of the truck to open up a stubborn gate.

He damns a gopher hole then steps aside to stand and wait and watch a scene that’s played out many times here on his spread.

This rerun soothes Al’s inner soul, confirms the life he’s led.

There’s honesty in what he does and how he makes his way.

This life has aged him like the horse corral that’s warped and gray.

It takes a desp’rate kind of stubborn to hang on this long.

This ranching with low cattle prices takes a man that’s strong.

Will Al’s life leave deep tracks that hold a ranching legacy, or will he be a pasture name with little else to see?