We made it! We have completed our cross-country trip west to east for the first leg of The Great American Cattle Drive (“GACD” has a distinctive ring to it, don’t you think?).
We start the film shoot with the American Milking Devon Cattle Association in New England today, but it was fitting that we began our run with a podcast recorded halfway across the country, in Monument, Colorado. We stopped for 24 hours to have a conversation with Rollie and Paula Johnson of Three Eagles Ranch, and to hunker down our new (used) trailer Bessie in their driveway. The socially-distanced hospitality didn’t end there, as they not only ran a cord for us to have power, but they thawed an amazing steak for us to experience on the back porch, overlooking the road that is now a modern one, but that many took in the early days of the expansion of this country.
The next day, Rollie and his hardworking ranch hand Dulce gathered the largest team of oxen I have ever seen at that close distance (the sheer mass was amazing), hitched it to an actual 1800’s wagon, and he, his wife Paula and Dulce donned their period costume and set out driving the oxen and wagon across across the back pastureland. All this, so we could get the real experience of what it was like on the cattle drives and pioneer movements of the old days. I was exhausted after 10 minutes in the heat and dust (and a shoe-full of burrs), and I was just holding a camera. My admiration for the fortitude of the people in the 1800’s increased with every moment, especially since Rollie said that in real life, the people walked. All the way.
The Milking Devons used as oxen were the perfect animal for this time, and Rollie will tell you why. Next week, we’ll bring you Part 2, where Rollie tells of the history of the people moving across the country, and how — whether it be the commonality of Indian attacks, the lack of oxen, or the riding in the wagon part — the movies didn’t always get the facts right. And he would know, as you can tell if you look for him in Netflix’s “Godless.”
Because in that day and age, whether you were Gus and Col on the arduous trek north, the pioneer filled with fortitute headed west, or the dirt farmer that stayed in place and fed both as they passed through, it’s all about the drive, baby.
Links:
www.flyingw.com
www.facebook.com/americanmilkingdevoncattleassociation
www.threeeaglesranch.com
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5516154/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105038/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/140963.O_Pioneers_