Edward Allen Thacker

My grandpa was the best grandpa anyone could ever ask for. He was a strong, hardworking cowboy. As a matter of fact he was still hauling hay up until a few years ago. Some of my best memories are of those hay hauling trips. We took a road trip together just about every weekend. If we weren't hauling a load of hay we were hauling a horse. Every weekend we went to a new little town somewhere in Colorado. Grandpa would have a story for every town and he always knew the best place to get lunch. We would always stop on our way out of town at some little hole in the wall café and have a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Those trips usually turned into quite the adventure. Like the time we went to Trinidad to pick up one of our race horses. I was about 15 years old and he promised me we would be back early so I could go hang out with my friends. We left before the sun came up just to be safe. We were down there and had the horse loaded by breakfast, things were looking good until grandpa decided to stop in Colorado City on our way home to see his brother. Wouldn't you just know all of his cattle were out! We spent the entire day rounding up cattle and fixing fence! He bought me a Mountain Dew and Snickers on the way home to make up for it. LOL!

Then there was the hay hauling trip from HELL!! Nothing could go right that day. I think we went to Keenesburg. To start the day off, we got a flat tire on the way there. When we got there the people were not there to help us load it, so we had to load half the load by ourselves before they showed up. Coming home we lost half the load and had to restack it on the side of the road! We were finally about 3 miles from the farm and we were laughing about what a bad day it was and we were so relieved we were almost home. Nothing else could go wrong at that point right?? WRONG!! Just about that time our hay trailer caught on fire!!! I was frantically searching for the fire extinguisher afraid the truck was going to blow up and grandpa was back there trying to save his hay! I will never forget that day as long as I live.

When we weren't off gallivanting around the state then Grandpa was hauling me to rodeo practice. My dad worked nights and I couldn't pull a horse trailer by myself, so he would pick me up three times a week and haul me all the way to Parker to get my horse and then almost to Elizabeth for practice! He finally taught me how to pull that 6 horse trailer and when I went to college and joined the rodeo team he let me take our brand new 6 horse trailer with me a few times! He was my biggest fan. Even if I threw my rope in the dirt every time I left the box, he was at the other end of the arena waiting to tell me how good I did.

Just about everything I need to know about life I learned from grandpa. He taught me you have to work hard and earn the things you want, you have to be tough no matter how hard things get, and most importantly he taught me how to enjoy a good bacon cheeseburger! I believe my grandpa is up in Heaven with all the nice green hay he can find, a Dodge truck, and his old horse Smokey. I know I will see him again someday. Until then I will miss him dearly. He will always be in my heart and my wonderful memories.

Rest In Peace Grandpa.
I love you! Sonja