Belvidere

After several e-mail‘s and a couple phone calls I was finally able to get in touch with one of my old friends from Greensburg, Eric. He told me how he’d lost everything he owned in a matter of thirty seconds, but considers himself lucky. His family came through it without a scratch. I asked him what I could do to help. He said to give him a few weeks to get settled into a house they’re renting in Haviland and when he’s ready, he wants us to come out for a road trip to Belvidere.
There’s no better place to get away to. There’s a pretty good chance most of you have never heard of Belvidere. It’s population ranges anywhere from eight to twenty people. Actually, Belvidere is the half way point in a fifty mile road trip through the gypsum hills around Medicine Lodge, and it’s some of the most beautiful country in the State.
Hop in, there‘s room for everyone. I hope you don’t mind riding in my old jeep with the top off. It’s all dirt roads and it’ll be hot and dusty. But the good news is that, at some of the low water crossings we have a good chance of getting soaked. It doesn’t take much to amuse an old guy.
Since we can’t leave from Greensburg, we’ll drop south at the Brenham elevator. Hey look, there’s that old wooden windmill, it’s got to be a hundred years old. Another few miles we’ll get to a place called Devil’s Corral. But first, check out those abandoned farm houses. I’ve been through most of them. My brother, Aaron and I used to get a kick of going through them in the middle of the night. Believe me, you haven’t lived till you’ve climbed into the attic or basement of one of these possibly, haunted houses at three in the morning with only your Bud Light, I mean flashlight. Okay, alcohol was usually involved. Why else would you do something that stupid. Yeah, I know it was a bad thing. But man, those were good times.
There it is. Devil’s Corral, about a quarter mile down this trail. It’s a bunch of rock formations shaped like a huge corral. People have been coming here to carve their names in the rocks for years. Some go back to the 1890’s. Hey look, there we are, July, 1985. Almost like coming home.
We’d better get going, it’s starting to rain. Hang on, these old cattle guards are really rough. We’ve just entered the “Anchor-D, Long Horn Ranch.” And just around this curve we’ll stop at the old abandoned school house. It was built in 1887. Be careful, some of the boards are rotten, but the frame of the old black board is still there. If you sit here long enough, you can almost hear the teacher yelling at poor little Johnny.
Sorry guys, it doesn’t look like this rain is going to let up. It’s another five miles to Belvidere, are you up to getting wet? Good, let’s do it. The ranch is split up into different camps. Everything on this side of the creek is called “Bean Camp.” and Belvidere is just on the other side. Once we get there we’ll stop at the “Trails End Junk Shop,” it’s part antique shop, and part general store.
Hi Tracy, Glad to see you, I thought for sure we were going to run out of gas. Oh, I see. Okay, I’ll let them know. Guys, Tracy’s out of gas too and won’t get anymore till next Friday. He said he’d put us up till then, it’s up to you. Personally, this old guy could use the rest.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net