Tales of a Wyoming Cowboy
Memoir / Nonfiction
Date Published: October 16, 2006
Publisher: The Lowell Press
Camp Coffee is not just about a person-Grant Beck-and his stories, it's about a way of life-the cowboy way of life. Most people will never feel the warmth of a high mountain campfire or experience the eye-burning smoke wafting from the branding coals. Few will have any firsthand experience of what the American cowboy was all about. Lots of books have been penned about lots of cowboys, both fictitous and real. But few cowboys have touched as many people in the encouraging way that Grant Beck has through his chosen profession. This is a must-have volume for all that are drawn to the essence of the western experience.
About the Book
Bob Sullivan, Jr. of Kansas City dreamed of being a cowboy from his earliest years. Not until an abrupt disillusionment with college athletics in 1975 did he drop out of school and move to Wyoming to pursue his dream at age 19. There he met and worked for Grant Beck at the Two Bar Spear Ranch in Pinedale, WY which had a life-changing impact on the author's life. His experiences in Wyoming and subsequent relationship with Grant Beck over the next 30 years inspired Sullivan to share the remarkable story of Grant Beck with others.
Excerpt:
Camp Coffee is not just about a person – Grant
Beck – and his stories, it’s about a way of life – the cowboy way of life. Most
of our children, but especially their children, will never feel the warmth of a
high mountain camp fire or eye-burning smoke off the branding coals. The
twentieth century half-heartedly embraced the legacy of the American West. Few
born into this century will have any firsthand experience of what the American
cowboy was all about. Lots of books have been penned about lots of cowboys,
both fictitious and real. But few cowboys have touched as many people in the
encouraging way that Grant has through his chosen profession.
While destiny is a debatable notion, I certainly feel there
was some higher order leading me to Pinedale, Wyoming, the Two Bar Spear Ranch,
and Grant Beck. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a cowboy.
Heading west from Kansas City to Wyoming in a ’66 Mustang, I
was fully prepared to trade-in my fuel burner for a hay burner.
Throughout the course of scribing these stories, Willie
Nelson’s words ring as true for me now as they did the first time I heard his hit
song: “I grew up dreaming of being a cowboy, and lovin’ the cowboy way.
Pursuing the life of my high ridin’ heroes…”
Grant Beck is one of my high ridin’ heroes in much the same way
his older brother, Wells Beck, was for him. While I chose not to make a career
of cowboying, I am privileged to know the man and his life, and compelled to
share what I learned with anyone interested in saddling up.
So much of who we evolve to be is tied into those we know
and what we’ve done. If you’re blessed, you can thank your parents, as I can,
for providing a solid foundation. Hopefully, you all are lucky enough to have
met a number of people who’ve made a real difference in your life – like Grant
has for me and for so many others. The distinction in the West is that the
meaningful difference can come from both the two-legged and four-legged
variety. And with a cowboy you can rarely separate the two.
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