Where Eagles Fly
The Final Chapter
The year 2025
The stranger arrives in Moab on July 2, 2025.
He searches for a gas station. The stranger is running on empty, and besides that, it's raining and his windshield wipers are worn.
He's in luck. Another four hundred yards, and on his right.
It's the first time he had set foot in Moab, Utah, since 1967. some fifty-eight years ago. To get to the rest of the story, let's rewind a bit to December 26, 1966.
He was a young man then. He was twenty-one years old, with a young wife the same age and a two-year-old son. The family of three found a house to rent on Mill Creek Road. The house needed a coat of paint, but that would have to wait. The young man was scheduled to start work the very next day, and he needed to drive 21 miles to get there, specifically to the Canyonlands (CNY) Airport. He would grow accustomed to the short journey, as he would make that drive five days a week, every month, for the entire year of 1967.
The young man was a struggling writer back then, but he had to put such thoughts of a journalism career on the back burner. He had a family to raise and needed to latch on to real work. Frontier Airlines would provide that cover for the next twenty years.
So, if you haven't guessed it by now, the author of Where Eagles Fly and the new man in town on the day after Christmas/1966 is one in the same.
I, D.H. Price, better known as Danny, or Danno, or eventually Pigpen, a nickname I would come to answer to among all the teammates I would come into contact with, on one ballfield or another, for the next half century.
It didn't take me long before I walked into the Moab Independent and asked Editor Sam Taylor for a part-time job. Of course, it wasn't a big money-maker at ten cents an inch for all the copy I could muster. But it was good enough for me. It kept my fingers moving.
By early spring, Hollywood came to town to film a Western called Blue. The movie starred Terence Stamp, Ricardo Montalbán, Karl Malden, Joe Desantis, and Joanna Pettet -- just to name a few. A modern-day flick was being filmed on the side, called Fade In, starring Burt Reynolds and Barbara Loden.
On weekends, Hollywood would take on our men's fast-pitch softball team. See photo below. That's me, the skinny kid, third from the right in the back row. The tallest person in the back row was Karl Malden. Standing in front of him was our pitcher and the Moab High School football coach, Glen Richeson, now deceased. In fact, there's a pretty good chance everyone in the photo is deceased, except for me, Stamp, and Pettet, now 82.
I would transfer with my family back to Tucson with Frontier Airlines in 1968. But I left with a lot of memories — good memories about Moab, a sleepy, wonderful town back then, that is now a wild, crazy place during the spring, summer, and fall when the tourists invade the area to witness the Canyonlands and the Arches in person.
I did leave there with a fiction story locked in the back of my head. A story that now comes to light, so let's continue...
The stranger handed his charge card to the clerk and noticed a group of men having coffee and discussing, maybe, the world's problems or the local news of the day.
One man in particular seemed interested in the stranger who had just received his gas receipt and a pair of window wipers handed to him by a mechanic from the auto parts store next door.
'Have I seen you somewhere before?' said James Trumbo.
'No. I don't think so, the stranger said. Unless you are in that picture on the wall behind you.'
Trumbo quickly turned and eyed the picture. 'Are you?'
'Yes, that's me, the skinny kid in the back row.'
The three men at the table with Trumbo said their goodbyes and left. "Sit,' said Trumbo.
The stranger sat down and ordered a cup of coffee with two creams. I'm on my way to Grand Junction, well, actually Parachute, Colorado. My family is throwing me a party this afternoon. I turn 80 today.'
'Wow! said Jimmy. I just turned 77 recently. I'm not far behind you. So, is that really you in the picture?'
The stranger went on to explain...
'Well, I'll be. We have lives that parallel each other. I was at that game, sitting in the stands. Believe it or not.'
'Oh, I believe it!'
The stranger shook hands with Jimmy Trumbo and left the building.
*****
Trumbo hurried home. Rebecca was loading the trailer. Three of her students had reached the level of no return and were ready to compete. It was to be an exciting day. Once again, they would spend the weekend rodeoing. This time in Cortez, Colorado. Jimmy would tag along and cheer on the young cowgirls.
It was going to be a great weekend. His girls were hosting a seminar on horse schooling at the Events Center in Blanding. His employees had things covered at the station and the Outriggers store.
Jimmy will follow in his truck. He has some business to attend to in Monticello. Besides, it was a good time to spot an eagle or two in flight.
Thanks, Amelia.
It was a nice ride...
My favorite, Amelia...
Jimmy Trumbo would have loved it. I know I did!
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