King's Corner: Chasing the Dream Adventure
King's Corner column for March 7, 2025
The Wild West used to appeal to most every young boy, even if they lived in a crowded city. Each of us are called to discover the adventure of our lives, to stretch ourselves and find out who we’re capable of being. For some that includes dreams of gold and silver, cowboys and Indians, horses and the wild open spaces of nature.
My dad, Mark King, was living with his mother in a rough part of New Jersey on his 13th birthday. When they’d get into arguments he’d often ‘leave home’ with great fanfare, only to quietly return a few hours later. On his birthday they locked horns, he packed his bag and walked out the front door. He was already calming down and thinking of turning around and coming back in when his mom came out and kissed him goodbye, confidently saing, “You’ll be back.” That made up his mind to go.
He went down to the Greyhound Bus Station with $23 in his pocket. He decided to spend more than half on a ticket so he couldn’t easily change his mind and come back. Where could $12 take him? They rattled off a list of names, and Fargo, North Dakota, sounded like it was way out west – and it was at that time.
When he got off in Fargo, he put his luggage into a locker and went down the street to a movie theatre showing three cowboy movies, including the newly released “Stagecoach” starring John Wayne. He watched while wondering what to do next. Three boys came in and sat in the front row talking with each other, and he struck up a conversation. They asked where he lived, and he replied he’d just got into town and was looking for a job. “Have you ever shocked wheat? My father is hiring and paying $5/day with room, board and laundry” said one. Mark went back with them and started the next day.
“Shocking” wheat was what they did after the horse and sickle cut the wheat and tied it into small bundles. They’d then pick those up to create large piles of wheat which a wagon would come and pick up. Combines were a new thing then, and they needed the boys to do this initial work until one could arrive. This harvesting work was only for a short time, but the guy running the combine then hired Mark as he had more work.
After harvest there were a couple of dude ranches that were hiring. About 30-35 miles out of Cody toward Yellowstone was both a cattle ranch and a dude ranch at Wapiti valley. They told Mark that at one time President Theodore Roosevelt stopped there. They were only open for dudes about 4-5 months of the year, and you needed reservations to get in there. He was soon taking dudes around, camping out overnight while taking them on a several night tour.
A guy came to buy a prized bull and 20 head of cattle that he wanted delivered to his property. Would anyone volunteer? Young Mark’s hand went up. The next morning several trucks began to transport them to a shipyard in Seattle, and they got on board a tramp steamer to Australia.
It took about 2-3 weeks to get to Perth in Western Australia. Mark’s job was hauling 18-20 bucket loads of manure morning and evening and throwing them over the side. The buckets started getting encrusted with manure, so he thought he’d wash them out. He tied a rope to one bucket and tossed it into the water. It began to pull him to the back of the ship. Just before going overboard several other guys helped pull it up. The captain said “If that rope had caught in the propeller we’d be dead in the water. Do that again and I’ll make sure you’ll go overboard”.
They delivered the cattle to a property in the hills surrounding Perth, and Mark received a very generous paycheck. Then he discovered there were no boats going back. What would become WWII had already started in Europe and Asia, and a German submarine was outside the Perth harbor to sink any boats leaving.
The USA was two years away from entering the war, and could not be seen to be openly helping Britain. They were flying large shipments of supplies to Australia which then traveled onward to the UK. Americans were helping quietly.
Mark ate at the counter of a café every day, and a concerned waitress made sure he got extra large pieces of pie as he talked about his dilemma. She introduced him to some of the American Air Force pilots and crew. Their 7-man crew was a man short for the return flight, and he talked his way into the role. They flew from Perth, Australia to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he could head west again.
And he was still 13 years old. What did you do when you were that age? What did you dream of doing? And what do you dream of now? Do you dare chase your dream?
