I've made a change of states, that's always a great feeling of accomplishment when on foot. I'm at Chemult, Oregon on U.S. 97 at the Featherbed Inn. That's right, I'm sleeping on a feather-bed. Something I haven't done since childhood visits to my grandparent's home in Southeastern Kentucky.

Well.... not far out of Susanville, California, a gentleman stopped his van, got out, walked up to me and introduced himself as His Highness, Hannimal Two Moons Gray. He told me that Hannimal in Hawaiian means, "Man who walks with God." and that the Two Moons was his Native American name. He was an interesting appearing individual, maybe 5' 8' and 160 lbs., dressed in a white pull-over shirt, black leather vest, black pants and black boots. On his head of shoulder length gray/brown hair was a very large  dark gray toboggan cap that came to a point . He had a snow white, well groomed full beard. And he had a wonderful smile that went along with the complete calmness and self confidence he displayed. I liked his eyes, I always look in the eyes. His self confidence was surprising in light of the fact, the things he started telling me were quite.... unbelievable!
    Hannimal told me he had been married nearly forty years to Her Highness, Likaleialani Lampura (Kukonu) Gray who was the rightful heir to the throne of Hawaii. I don't make judgment friends, I only listen. He went on to tell me his wife was born January, 1953 in Lahina, Maui to parents of  royal Hawaiian blood, her mother, Leilani Kaplani Ahila Kukoni,  and her father, Keith Koa Kamahaha Kukonu. (And people ask how I keep from getting bored out here.) 
    He told me his wife's parents were fourth cousins. (I'm used to that, I'm from Kentucky. My parents were fourth cousins as well.... no royalty though.)  He said that both parents and child were forced out of Hawaii by the U.S. government and escorted to the mainland U.S. aboard a U.S. Navy ship by the American C.I.A. (No, I have not been watching too many Discovery and History channel programs!) and  taken to Los Angeles, CA. His claim is that this was done in order to prevent the former country of Hawaii from re-establishing as a country with its royal heirs and then rejecting statehood. 
    Later, I recieved several calls from his wife, referring to  herself as, Her Highness, Likaleialani Lampura Kukonu Gray. She said she had until 2010 to reclaim her throne and that both Bush administrations had done all they could to prevent that from happening. She said she had been in exile since coming to the U.S. and had never been allowed to return to Hawaii. She explained that in the last few years they had been watched even more carefully and were living in poverty because of it. She said she felt the Obama administration could help her and she was trying to get in touch with the president but the C.I.A. would not permit it. She sincerely pleaded with me to get her story out, and so.......
    They said they would send me much more proof and copies of documents to verify their story... as soon as they come up with the money to mail out the package. I will share this information as I receive it. I don't judge folks, I only report! It is my duty as a guy walking the roads of America with the words LOVE LIFE over his head to bring you the stories shared with me as accurately as possible.
    Great! I walk 22,000 miles of the U.S. never having a hair on my head harmed and now.... I could be assassinated by the C.I.A. for divulging the existence of the rightful heirs to the throne of Hawaii! There has to be a better way to find out if this story is true or not.

    At the cafe at Old Station, Ca. I met a couple, Kay & Lee Clausen of Roseville, CA., the owners of Signs on Time. They kindly paid for my breakfast and told me to get in touch with them if I ever needed a new sign! In Weed, I stopped at the Bill Ackerman Tire Center and asked permission to charge my phone and laptop. Mark Rodgers stared at me a moment to see if I was real, said, "Sure." pointed to a socket in the office and then went on zooming around the shop getting things done. I stayed around for nearly two hours waiting to be sure everything recieved a full charge. When the secretary, Tammi Gonzoles came in, I talked with her some when she wasn't busy. She told me how her husband had lost his job and they were struggling. She said that one day the week prior, she was at work feeling particularly down because of their financial situation and a customer came in that changed her attitude very quickly. The lady was Hispanic, understood little English, and was mute! She had to write everything down and try to make the shop personnel understand her. Fortunately, Tami spoke some Spanish learned from her husband. She had a blowout on one of her bald tires on her very old car and had to be towed into their shop. She was moving to a new location with her four children, all under seven and one a toddler! Tami said that all four children were very polite and very well behaved. She said the mother never stopped smiling and never stopped thanking them. Tami simply said, "We helped her." She never went into detail, she only said, "I have been counting my blessings ever since and hope to keep her in mind so as to not get down again!" 

    And then... I had the absolute honor of meeting cowboy, Ben Struble! I crossed into Oregon just beyond Doris, CA., stopped at the only place I had seen for miles in which to dine. It was a cafe/bar and as I entered I was greeted with a smile and hearty hello's by the only other patrons in the place. The gentleman, dressed in a dust covered black and white, fancy, but old and dust covered western style shirt., and a dust filled black cowboy hat with a toothpick sticking out of it for emergency cleaning, introduced himself as Ben Struble and the lady to his right as Missy, his wife. They commented on what a beautiful day it was and I told them I was enjoying walking in such weather. Ben said "Walkin'?! And Missy said, "hey, you the guy with that "LOVE LIFE" sign over your head... I saw you yesterday walkin' into Doris!" And then Ben started asking me questions while Missy went looking for the waitress/bartender to give me some service. I liked Ben right off, he just had that air about him, you know, some people just seem to have a comfort zone around them. he asked meaningful things like the ages of both my children and how long ago had I lost them, and things like that. He introduced me to the barmaid and two biker friends who came in a little later, none had the same enthusiasm over meeting me as did Ben.
    Ben asked where I was going to spend the night, as it was already late afternoon. I told him I would find someplace, I aways did. He told me there were irrigation canals on both sides of the highway for the next few miles and he didn't see how I could possibly find a spot this late in the day. And then he said, "Hell, if dogs don't bother ya', you can pitch yer tent at my place and I'll run ya' back out here in the mornin' before we start brandin'. My place is on the California side but I'm helpin' a guy with his brandin' on the Oregon side tomorrow." He told me a friend of his had just butchered four buffalo and had given him plenty of meat and they were going to cook up buffalo burgers. And of course I accepted the offer!
    We walked out to Ben's old and very beat-up '84 GMC pickup truck with a dog pen containing seven Bloodhound/Walker Hound mix dogs all baying with excitement at Ben's appearance. Ben said, "I love dogs as good as anything and there are two more at home... so if ya' don't like 'em ya' need to speak up now." "I love dogs." I told him. So we drove back into California and then a few miles to the entrance of his ranch. He was pointing out the lines of his 7,000 acres by pointing to one ridge and then to another. He said his son had recently given up his job as a civil engineer in Washington to come back and run the ranch.and was now living on what Ben called, "the home place".  On the way to his ranch, at least two people called him and he invited each out to meet me and eat buffalo burgers. He called his wife Missy who had left the bar before us, and told her he was having me over for the night and some friends for buffalo burgers. This was all new  news to her, and all she said was "Okay, I guess I'll break out that bottle of fancy tequila we got and you better get some limes and some fresh lettuce and tomatoes for the burgers." I gotta' say, my ex-wife would have had a shit fit had I called her and announced to her what Ben did to his wife... at the last moment. She simply would not have done it! Damn, I'm glad I ain't married no more! Thank you Ben and Missy for the little reminder of how it can be. And then, Ben simply turned around and headed into the town of Doris to pick up some things to go along with the buffalo burgers and the fine bottle of Tequila. I waited outside the store and got acquainted with the seven friendly hound dogs.
    Once at Ben's place, a large mobile home wit a large porch running the length of the home. The railings had actual antique wagon wheels built into them and there was a saddle sitting on one section of rail. There were peacocks everywhere and hound dogs everywhere... and a huge ram of some exotic sheep species with huge horns. And they all follow Ben as he walks the property. Missy says it was even more fun to watch before they got rid of the turkey's and their 25-year-old mare was abducted by a wild stud that frequents the ranches stealing mares and building his harem. Several of Ben & Missy's friends showed up for buffalo burgers and to meet the strange guy walking around the country with a big "LOVE LIFE" sign over his head. Ben said, "Hell, we never get company, I had to go out an' get some guy off the road to get my neighbors to come visit with me!" One cowgirl had asked what kind of boots I preferred and after telling her I wore Danner's she referred to me from then on as the "Danner Dude". At least six of the people at the little gathering came up to me at different times and unbeknown to the others and said something like, "You know, you could not have run into a finer man today." or "You will never meet any finer and real people than the Ben Struble family." One gentlman named Larry, told me he considered Ben Struble one of the finest men in that part of the country. And all those things were said before that fine bottle of Tequila was opened! The fresh buffalo meat was wonderful and the Ben Struble stories were abundant....
    There was the  time in his much younger years when one of his hounds was tangling with a bear, the bear had the hound in his grasp and was crushing him. Ben got caught up in it and was trying to shoot the bear with his pistol without shooting his beloved dog and he wasn't able, he accidentally shot and killed his dog. On another occasion when one of his dogs was fighting with a mountain lion Ben, not wanting to make the same mistake twice and kill his dog, tried to get the pistol as close to the lion's head as possible. So close in fact, that the lion was able to grab the pistol and Ben's hand into his mouth. The situation stayed that way for several seconds as Ben was afraid the bullet would go through the lion and into his dog (did I mention, Ben loves his dogs?) Finally he pulled the trigger and this time it killed the intended and not his dog.
    And there was the time that a sheriff's deputy stopped Ben in front of a local bar and wanted to give him a sobriety test. Ben kept assuring the deputy he was not drunk. The deputy insisted he was drunk. A friend, Deb, who was there those many years ago said, "Hell, he may have let him go but Ben kept givin' 'im shit! Kept sayin' he wasn't even close to drunk and he didn't have the right to stop him." Deb said that at no time did Ben become upset or even raise his voice. She was laughing when she said, "that's jus' Ben... and that's what was pissin' off the cop!" The officer gave him a breathalizer test and took Ben to jail. Deb followed behind and got him out immediately. Ben decide to fight it and so it went to court. In the court room it was shown that the breathalizer test did not sufficiently show proof of enough alcohol in Ben to justify a drunk driving charge and so the judge said, "Dismissed!" But Ben said, "No sir, it is not over yet, it said in the paper that I was drunk... and I wasn't. I want that corrected." The judge told the stenographer to make a note of that and see to it that it was indeed corrected. After the article appeared in the local paper with the correction and apology to Ben, one of Ben's friends reprinted the article on fliers that proclaimed at the top, BEN STRUBLE WAS NOT DRUNK! and posted them at all the local bars.
    The next morning, after the little get together, Ben came out to the travel trailer he and Missy insisted I sleep in and treat as my own home.  With his chaps and spurs on, getting ready to go help his friend and neighbor rancher brand his calves, he said, "Steve, you are welcome to stay as long as you like, I really don't care, we have enjoyed having you here." I told him that if possible and they didn't think I would get in the way, I would love to watch them do the branding. It was decided that because Missy had already started fixin' me a huge breakfast, that she would drive me out a little later to watch the branding process and take some pictures.
    After  a truly wonderful breakfast, Missy and I set out for the corrals over on the Oregon side where Ben would be helping to rope the calves for branding. I was excited after arriving, seeing all the cowboys and cowgirls on their horses with lariats in hand taking turns to enter the corral to rope and brand the calves. My excitement was soon quieted as Ben's friends came up to Missy telling her they had been trying to reach her to let her know that Ben had been injured petty badly after his horse was spooked by the rope going up under his tail and had thrown Ben off. When we got across the corral to where Ben wa sitting with a bag of ice on his left shoulder, it was obvious he was hurt badly. He said he was okay as long as he didn't move around. We waited a few moments to let the nonprescription pain pills they had given him, take affect. I took some good pictures of the branding and then to my horror, I watched the same thing which had spooked Ben's horse happen to his grandson's horse! The horse panicked and made the situation even worse by causing the rope to drop down and wrap around his hind legs! Everyone was yelling instructions to the 15-year-old cowboy as his horse was panicked and head straight for the downed calf which was being branded. Several cowboys jumped in front of the calf and began waving their arms in the air and yelling to shoo the spooked horse away from the calf and the ropes connecting it to the two horses and their riders. And then, just as sudden as it happened, somehow, the horse just stepped out of the coiled rope.... I couldn't believe it! If that horse had fallen into that calf and those ropes.... I shudder to think! The young man stayed in total control, and at one point, I'm sure I saw a smile on his face!
    Missy and i walked Ben to the truck and Ben said, "Steve, I hate it that you didn't get to see the brandin', you are welcome to stay, someone will drive you back to my place later I' sure." I declined, I thought it would be rude not to make sure I was doing all I could to make sure my kind host was going to be okay. On the way to the hospital at Klamath Falls, Oregon Ben said to me, "ya know Steve, now that I'm a little older (Ben is 64) every time I fall now... sumpthin' breaks." I said, "Yeah, I guess when you were younger you were a lot stronger and stuff wouldn't have broke when you came off that hose?" Ben quite confidently replied, "When I was younger, I would have never come off that horse." Just as we were about to pull into the hospital parking lot Ben said, "Ya' know I'm starting to feel a lot better, I don't think I really need to go into the emergency room after all." Missy said, "Well Ben, we're already here so I think we should at least get a doctor's opinion." "Well, okay I guess... but I am feeling better." insisted Ben.
    Ben was making little jokes and and staying quite positive as they escorted him to one of the treatment rooms in the emergency room. He was telling the nurse how he didn't think anything was broken and she said they would check anyway. Missy came out after awhile and told me that he had landed so hard on his shoulder that the first and second ribs had cracked and that his left lung had literally popped upon impact putting a hole in it! Within about thirty minutes after entering the hospital, the lung had started to collapse. They had to insert a tube into the lung so he could breath properly. Each time Missy came out to update me, she would tell me how positive he was and of some quip he had made. Not long before we left she came out and didn't give me an update on his little quips and quick sense of humor. I asked, "Well, don't tell me his mood has changed?" "Completely, they just told him he will be in overnight!" she said.
    Back at the ranch, Missy told me a few more stories of Ben's escapades and told how Ben and his two brothers and one sister had been orphaned by a mother who, "Just went kinda' crazy, I guess." Is the way Missy described it. She said after his father found out about it and was able, he took his kids out of the orphanage and did the best he could to raise them. The boys were pretty much on their own by 14 or 15 Missy said. Ben stayed on the ranch where his father worked as a cowboy and took over as ranch foreman after his father retired. The owners of the ranch never had any children of their own and treated Ben as if he were. They both lived into their nineties and Ben continued to take care of them and their ranch. They deeded the entire 7,000 acres to Ben. Missy  showed me a framed newspaper article on the wall with the headlines:

                  " COWBOY'S CORPSE BURIED STANDING UP! CRIPPLED COWBOY WANTED TO WALK INTO HEAVEN." 
 
    "That's Ben's brother" she said. I asked if that was the one Ben had told me of which had been chosen as guide to take Robert Redford on a horseback tour of the remote lands in Colorado and Utah that Butch Cassidy and the "Sundance Kid" and their "Hole in the wall gang" had hid out in? She explained that indeed it was. Ben and I had discussed it as I remembered owning the November, 1976 issue of National Geographic which featured the ride by Redford and Jimmy Dale Struble. I told Ben I would send him the copy as he said he didn't have one. There was also a picture of Jimmy Dale on the wall which the National Geographic photographer had taken. I began reading the June,1992  newspaper article:

    Bull ropin', bronc bustin' cowboy Jimmy Dale Struble was buried with his boots on - standing tall in his grave.
The hard living, bighearted cowpoke hated to take anything laying down, least of all death. He wanted to enter the hereafter on his feet wearing his favorite cowboy hat... and his buddies didn't let him down.
    In a simple ceremony in a country cemetery, Jimmy was lowered feet first into his grave, so he could meet his Maker standing up - as a cowboy should. "He was a cowboy to the core." Said close buddy Eddie McEllery. "He was a dying breed. He was loud, boisterous, big-hearted, and the best horseshoer to ever set foot in this valley."
    Jimmy, 49, spent the last seven years of his cow-punching life in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down,. He died of lung problems after spelling out his burial wishes to his friends. His paralysis stemmed from a broken neck suffered in a fight in 1986 in Hanksville, Utah. Jimmy and another guy slugged it out over who was the better roper. "Jimmy owned a bulldog named Buster, when Jimmy got mad, Buster got mad." said Dan "Boon" Burns. "Buster jumped the other guy's dog and all hell broke loose.
"Jimmy was thumpin' the other guy real good when the guy's buddy picked up a baseball bat and bashed Jimmy on the head breaking his neck."
    "I loved him like a brother." Said Burns, who took care of Jimmy after his paralysis. "But even I could get a bellyfull of him in about 5 minutes. Jimmy was an off-the-wall individual. When there was nothing left to be said, Jimmy would say it."
Jimmy loved country music and lived a rough life drinking beer and trapping wild game. He never met a horse or a bull he couldn't ride.
    "And when the beer came out, you better get the hell out of there if you couldn't stand the heat." Glenn Younger said, "cause like it or not, there was gonna' be some fightin'." Friends say Jimmy made them promise not to bury him lying down. "he hated sittin' on his butt for seven years and he didn't want to be buried that way." Said Younger.
"He was used to roping steers, breaking and shoeing horses, hunting bear and trapping coyotes."
"He was a hard-headed country boy - make that heavy on the country boy."
Several dozen of Jimmy's neighbors, friends, two brothers, , two daughter's and other family members wadedthrough boot-top-high snow to carry out the crippled cowpuncher's last wishes.
    Before they closed the coffin, Jimmy's brother Clifford, put a pocket knife in the deceased man's hand. "In case he wants out of there, he's going to need a good knife," he said. Jimmy's saddle-draped casket was loaded into the back of his his best friends pickup truck and driven down the road to Glade Park Cemetery in Grand Junction, Colorado. A friend sang the last yippee-yi-ya, yippee-yi-yo of "Ghost riders in the sky" as tough talking cowboy's pushed their hats lower on their foreheads - to hide the tears in their eyes. Then they looped their lariats around his coffin and lowered it vertically into the grave. ~ Jack Alexander, Staff Writer Grand Junction newspaper

   Damn... it certainly ran in the family. I spent the night out in my little trailer home, took some pictures of some more peacocks and dogs, and a ram the next morning and then Missy and I headed out to see Ben before I got back on the road. Missy never went back to see Ben after she and I had left the day before, she kept saying, "Ah, he's gonna have lots of friends with 'im... he won't be alone at all, you can be assured of that." On the way to the hospital, she was a little more honest about her reasoning, "I can't stand to see 'im hurtin' like that and not being able to do what he wants and not bein' with his dogs." A tough cowboy needs a tough woman... Ben's got one. They're both just as big hearted as they are tough.
    In Ben's room, just as Missy had said, there were two visitors and there had been a staedy flow of them since he had entered the hospital. He thanked me for sticking around and staying with Missy and he also thanked me for helping him to get his neighbors to come visit him. I told 'im I didn't really think it was me at all.... it was the buffalo burgers.
    Ben got out of the hospital a couple days later after they felt it safe to take the tube out of his lung. I will miss those fine people back there on the California and Oregon border. Damn, what an experience it is... all I have to do is to continue to love life and I will continue to run right smack into those that also love life! Thanks Ben, thanks Missy, and by God... thank you Jimmy Dale Struble for refusing to lay down!!!

    Walking through Chiloquin, Oregon, I stopped in Melita's Restaurant and asked to charge up my laptop and phone while I was having coffee, I wasn't ordering food because it really had not been that long since I had eaten. The waitress, Maria, kept asking me if I wanted to order food, I kept saying no and explaining that I wasn't hungry. I finally heard her say to someone, "No, he says he's not hungry, but that's a long walk to the next place to eat and I'm going to make him eat... hungry or not!" Within minutes she plopped a menu down in front of me and said, "You have to eat, I'll be right back to take your order.... it's on us." I ate, the food was wonderful.