ed mcfarkle

when i got to azl there was a heck of a crew already working there. only a couple were cowboys, the rest were wanna be s. bud and dude were real top hands, jerry was my age and single and as i was and we rode together, a good hand. then there was ed. , ed was in his 60 s, a heavy smoker and drinker. he had been a top rodeo hand in the 40 s and 50 s. he wasnt very big maybe  5 4. and if he weighed 110 pounds ill eat my hat. he had been a race horses trainer in the northwest . his health wouldnt let him stay in that wet country so he came back to arizona to get his lungs dried out. except those unfiltered cigarrets were wreaking havock on him. i dont know if he had ever been married , he didnt say. he still liked to rope and was after some one every week to go rope with him at a jackpot. problem was he was drunk before the ropin was over, and if you were in his truck, he wouldnt let you drive. i only went with him one time like that, that was enough!! he would be driven along, suckin on a beer, smokin a cigarette , and get to caughin. when that happened there was no tellin where his little truck would go!! how we got back with out gettin killed ill never know. because of that hackin cough every one got to callin him mcfarkle.  he drove a datsun pickup with a two horse trailer. his rope horse called leo was a trailer fighter, wonder why. when he got to hackin almost immediatly ole leo would go to scramblin in the trailer with ed  sayin "wa  wa wa stand up leo!" 
      we had been to a ropin one night and started home when ed decided we needed to stop at a bar on south mountain.  you had to drive up a steep drive way  to get  to the bar. we started up that grade pullin two horses with a datsum pick up with a four cylander moter!! after down shifting 3 times we stalled about a third of the way up. we started to roll backward slowly with ed hacking, leo scrambling and me tryin to figgure out how i would explain my presence in a hospital to my new boss and my folks!! but thanks to the drunk gods we coasted into a empty parking lot, jacknifing the trailer to a stop.  ed sat there in a stupor and finaly looked up and said he needed a new  truck because this one wouldnt get him to the bar!! i was  about ready to unload my horse and ride home!! but ed was done for the nite so i got to drive. that was never going to happen again!! from then on if ed wanted to go he went in my truck with me driven!! then he bought a new full size dodge pickup. when behind the wheel you just saw eds hat. he got stopped a few times for that!! ed left there the next year and we never knew where he ended it up, but he left a legacy that went on for a while!!