I met Todd the summer before my freshman year at Maryville High School. We were both taking summer school to get gym class out of the way and Todd taught me how to play poker during our breaks. Three years later, our paths crossed again as Todd and I traveled to Florida with a crew of folks from the local Baptist Church. It was on that trip that Todd introduced me to Robby. Robby and Todd grew up together in church so I was the newcomer, but for some reason, they thought I was alright and so we became friends.
That spring, Todd and Robby both graduated High School and were both planning to head off to their respective universities. Before doing so, Todd had to make a run to New Mexico to see his Dad, and one night he called Robby and I to ask us if we would come along. I had never been out west myself and had never been on a unchaperoned adventure before. Needless to say, it took me about 5 seconds to decide what to do. I accepted the invite and we were off to Santa Fe.
When we arrived, we hit the ground running. We stopped by Todd’s Dad’s house (which was the palace, and I will say no more) and then we were on our first mission. The mission was to take a Porsche 911 turbo to Denver, CO to switch it out for another Porsche 911. Heck, I had never even seen a Porsche so I was thrilled. It was a long day trip for us, but it was well worth it. We drove through the mountains on our way up and Todd pointed out places like Los Alamos, the Rio Grande and various resorts like Angel Fire, that were popping up everywhere. On our way back, we were surprised by Todd’s Dad and were given the opportunity to drive Indy race cars in Pueblo….man oh man that was fun!
The next day, we explored the family ranch in a grey-blue Jeep Scrambler affectionately named Rosa (for the extremely vivacious woman who worked in Todd’s Dad’s insurance office). On our way back to Santa Fe, we stopped at the Bobcat Bite and had green chili cheeseburgers.
The rest of the trip was pretty-much planned out for us. A lady friend of Todd’s Dad (Gretta I believe was her name) had a farm about an hour outside of the city, and so we headed that way for some fishing and night at the ranch house. It was here that caught my first trout, and it was here that I had my first Elk steak. The house was very basic, but we had the essentials. We had Willie Nelson (Always on My Mind) and we had the soundtrack to The Big Chill. We were in heaven.
As I write this post, it boggles my mind that it has been 14 years since that week in New Mexico. What is even more amazing, however, is the fact that I remember it all like it was yesterday. The two porsches, racing cars in Pueblo, seeing the stars in that western sky, Rosa, the Lamplighter Inn, Lilly the bass, Gretta, the Bobcat Bite, the neighboring penitentiary, Mike, fishing for trout, Todd pulling up that boundary marker, cooking way too many elk steaks, listening to music and last but not least…that one bottle of Becks beer that none of us dared drink.
We had the time of our lives that week in the summer of 1994, and we vowed to make our next adventure even better. And we did!
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