“Eleanor, do you and Ralph want to ring in the New Year with us?” It was the 31st of December, 1957, and Amy had called Eleanor first thing that morning to make plans. She was just a year older than Eleanor, and they had always been good friends as well as sisters.
“No,’ Eleanor answered in a put out sort of voice. “Ralph and his dad are going camping, so I have to stay home with the kids. It’s too cold for them to sleep in a tent.”
“Camping? On New Year’s Eve? You’re kidding!”
“I wish I was,” sighed Eleanor. “Ralph says it’s the only chance he’ll have to go looking for land, since school starts again as soon as the holidays are over. He and his dad drove through a promising area last week and they want to explore it better. You know we’re trying to find a place in the mountains to build a cabin. I just wish they had chosen some other time to go looking. Spending New Year’s Eve alone with the kids isn’t my idea of a good time!”
Amy was sympathetic. “Why don’t you come over and go with us anyway,” she suggested. “You’ll be miserable staying home and I’m getting a babysitter. I bet she wouldn’t mind watching Keith and Gale, too.”
“No,” Eleanor decided after thinking about it for a minute. “I wouldn’t have much fun without Ralph.”
“Right,” Amy sympathized. “And if you did have a good time, you couldn’t be mad at him for leaving you home alone. If you stay home with the kids, maybe he’ll feel bad for making you have a miserable holiday.”
“You know what,” Eleanor sighed grudgingly, “you know me too well.”
“Only because I’ve been through it myself,” laughed Amy. “Come on, go out with us. It really won’t help if you stay home and are miserable.”
“No, I really don’t feel like going out. But I have an idea. Why don’t you bring your kids over here,” Eleanor suggested. “They could keep me company, and we could have our own New Year’s Eve party, and play games and stuff. Then I wouldn’t have to be alone, and you wouldn’t have to get a babysitter.”
So that’s how the year 1958 was ushered in by the Russell family. Dad and Grandpa camped up in the mountains, under the Mogollon Rim, and mom stayed home with me; I was one-and-a-half; my big brother Keith who was almost three; and her nieces and nephews; playing games and eating goodies.
When dad and grandpa got home the next day they were excited. The area they had explored was beautiful. They camped on a rough forest road called the Chamberlain Trail. It stretched between a little town named Young and the main highway up on top of the Mogollon Rim. Their camping spot was close to the Bar-X Ranch, where they stopped to get water in the morning. After visiting with the owner, Mr. Clark, they asked if he knew of any property for sale. He said he had the perfect place, and drove them to a spot where the road ran along Haigler Creek for a few miles. It was beautiful country covered with tall ponderosa pines, with sycamore and black walnut trees growing along the creek.
A mile or so south of where Chaimberlain Trail crossed Haigler Creek was a hill that bent the stream to the west. The road climbed over the lower west end of the hill, where it was covered with wild grape vines. There was a pretty little meadow nestled below the hill, between the road and the creek. Mr. Clark owned this property, and although he wasn’t interested in selling, he offered to lease it to dad and grandpa for 40 years, which is how we obtained the property where we built our cabin, and my heart still resides.
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