Yellowstone: Love and Cowboys

An Unwelcome Reality

The power came back on at three, but Katie was asleep and didn't notice until she woke up at four. She got up and turned off the lights, then contemplated going up to her room. But the couch was too comfortable, and heat still emanated from the fireplace, so she pulled the quilt over her and went back to sleep.

Travis and Coralee came downstairs at six and Coralee shook her shoulder, saying, "Wake up, sleepyhead."

Katie opened her eyes and shook her blond hair out of her face. She looked at the clock on the mantle and groaned, "Why are you up so early, it's only six!"

"Not so early for us, Elena will be here any time now and start cooking breakfast. Travis and I are checking to see if any of the roads washed out. If they have, they'll need to be repaired, and it's a lot of work. I also want to retrieve my dog from the bunkhouse. Do you want to come with us, or do you prefer to stay here? We'll probably be back by the time Elena has breakfast ready."

"No, thank you, I'm going to stay here where it's nice and cozy, and warm. I'll see you when you return and you can fill me in on the possible disasters."

"Let's go, babe," said Travis and opened the door for her. They headed to the garage, noticing that the ground was soggy but hoping that things were not too bad. Travis preferred to not have to rebuild the road if he could avoid it, but heavy rainstorms like the one they'd had tended to wash out roads.

There were puddles on the ground, but in places, the ground had sucked up the water. The air was warm and steaming, but as the sun rose higher and temperatures warmed, that would disappear.

Travis headed to the road that led to the ranch, his main concern. As they grew closer, his worst fears were realized, a section of the road had washed out. "Son of a bitch!" he swore, but no culvert had been placed there. He wanted to see how those had fared, possibly they were washed out, along with the road.

"Let's see if your experiment worked, babe," he said to her, "Let's see how the rain affected those culverts. I like to see if they diverted the flood water."

"Me too," Coralee responded, "I hope my idea worked, but we won't know until we see them."

They roared off on the ATV and came to the first culvert. The flow from the groundwater had dislodged it, water trickled through it, but it would have to be replaced. The second, however, had held up despite the rain, and water that might have caused a washout flowed through it instead.

"This one worked," exclaimed Coralee as she watched the water flow through it, "I can't believe it, I know I hoped it would, but I didn't know for sure."

"Well," Travis said, "Let's check the others."

Two culverts had been sturdy enough to withstand the pressure of the flood, only one had been dislodged.

She thumped Travis's back, "It worked, my idea worked! A part of the road washed out, but two culverts diverted the flood waters. I felt so foolish making that suggestion, but it worked!"

"Don't be embarrassed, if you have an idea about something I want to hear it. This ranch is half yours now, you have a say in what's going on. You've got a good head on your shoulders, don't be afraid to share your ideas with me. You grew up on a ranch, maybe in a different climate, but you know how things work. Let's get breakfast, I'm starving, Elena must be putting it on the table by now."

They went to the bunk house and retrieved the puppy. She showed how glad she was to see them by wiggling and wagging her tail. She jumped onto the ATV and rode with them as they went back to the house.

Katie was sitting at the table eating. She looked up and asked, "Well, how did it go, any disasters?"

"Very funny," said Coralee "but only half a disaster. Travis is going to have to work on the road, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. You know what it's like when the snow starts melting in Montana, things get washed out, too."