A Visit to the Ranch

'M' Hanging off 'T' - our brand top left
BBQ under the Cottonwood Tree

Those of you who have been following my blog may recall that for the past 2 years we have called in on friends Amanda & Clint, and their 4 daughters, and parked our RV in the front yard of their ranch. Well this year they have moved to another ranch and we had arranged another visit. Amanda gave me the new address, and I entered it into our GPS, with the benefit of knowing we could just ring her if our GPS led us astray. All was going well, and we passed through the little town she mentioned that came just before our turn off. So far so good...She warned us there would be 8 miles of gravel road. Spot on. Everything going like clockwork. We turned onto the gravel road, and Murray slowed down to reduce the amount of dust and to save undue vibration of the RV. Before long we came to a fork in the road - the main gravel road continued around to the left, but the GPS was insisting we take the 'road' directly ahead. I figured this would be a good time to ring Amanda and confirm our route. No signal on our phone. As the street the GPS was taking us on was actually the street the ranch was on, I suggested we continue straight ahead. The road didn't look as though it was used very much, but then again, I considered that as most of these ranches were several hundred acres each, there wouldn't be too many people that actually use this road.

Like good Christian soldiers, on we marched - well, drove. As we approached a rise I hoped (& silently prayed) that the 'road' ahead would become more like a country road, and not like a single lane throughway. There were bales of hay neatly rolled in the field beside the road - and there was a fence on either side of the 'road' - only the distance between the two fences wasn't much wider than our RV. Hmmm. Where are we? As we topped the rise, we faced water to one side, and what looked like marsh on the other. The tracks on the 'road' were hardly discernable. Our vehicle weighs 8 tons - what if the ground is soft and we get bogged? We have no phone reception...Aha, there in the distance we spied a sizeable ranch on our left, and thankfully, I had one bar of service on my mobile phone. I thought, we're right now - houses, phone reception - too easy. I rang the ranch and told them that we were in their street, and our GPS said we were 4 miles away. Clint answered the phone and said they would keep a lookout for us. Little did he know we were coming in on a different route than what he was expecting. It turned out we were using what is called a 'section line' road over here. I guess it is an access road between ranches or farms. Certainly not meant for 32' RVs! If a rancher had been out inspecting his fields and looked over and seen us driving along like Miss Daisy, he would have had conniptions!

The road got rougher & rougher, and we were grateful that every inch was getting us nearer to our destination. Finally, we saw a pond with some cows around it, and a ranch house nearby. Then we saw a well used gravel road ahead. Darn. I think we were meant to be on that road all along. At that point, Clint rang to ask where we were. I described the view and he was amazed as we were only one ranch away from his property. He had been looking to the south where we should have been coming from, but not us - we had taken the short cut, through the North Dakota hay fields, and arrived from the north. We have never been so happy to see a familiar face - or should I say 6 familiar faces. Clint, Amanda, Taylor, Hayley, Emily & Macey were all there as our RV sailed into the ranch.

Clint showed us an area alongside a row of trees where we could park the RV for the night, and then it got down to serious socialising. Our first stop was to see the ranch house that Clint & Amanda are remodelling. Even before we entered the house, Clint asked us to come up with an idea for a family 'brand'. I thought he was designing a new brand for their new ranch (to brand their cattle), and that he was asking all their visitors to make suggestions. Between the dining room, lounge & kitchen they have erected a huge wooden log that they are 'branding' with their friends brands. When they figured they have them all there, they will varnish the log and preserve them forever. Well, obviously most of their friends own ranches so they already have a legitimate brand, but Murray & I don't have one. I had a look at the others on the pole, and usually the brands included an initial from the owner's name. So, I drew a few options for Murray to choose one, and he decided on what they call here, a 'M' hanging off a 'T'. The picture makes it all clear! Our 'brand' has been immortalised in North Dakotan history! After a tour of the renovations, it was time to get down to some serious socialising.

While Amanda had two huge, homegrown briskets roasting in the BBQ, we spread ourselves out in chairs underneath the largest Cottonwood tree I have ever seen. I can't wait to see it decked out in Christmas lights. We were joined by 3 other rancher couples and their children, and Murray & I spent several hours eating an array of food while listening to their ranching stories. They work hard these folks, but they play hard too, and seem to have a lot of fun. How they have the energy to come up with their practical jokes after the long, hard hours they work, beats me. It was school for the kids, and ranch work for the adults the next morning, so by 10pm we broke up the gathering and the visitors headed home. Murray & I said goodnight and agreed that we would say goodbye to Amanda and the girls before they left for work/school at 7-7.15am. At 6.30am Clint had to load 10 cows with their calves from a barn next to where we parked our RV onto a truck, so Murray agreed to give him a hand, and set his alarm for 6am. We thought our night was coming to an end…see the next installment!