Old Cowboy Movies

When I travel it is to broaden my understanding of the world but my journey to the Flying U Guest Ranch was to validate my notion that cowboys really do exist.  As a child I dreamed of cowgirls and horses, riding off into the sunset, cowbells rung to call everyone to meals and leisurely trail rides through sinuous mountain paths but, of course, that life was just a fantasy I garnered from cowboy movies.

The icons of the past, Gene Autry, William Boyd and Roy Rogers, are relics of a time long ago that allowed me to have this dream but ones that my daughter has no interest in watching.  The movies she watches are about teen rock stars.  She sees cowboys the same way that she sees computer programmers and accountants, as people, both good and bad and fun or boring.  I see cowboys as icons, adventurers, as heros from a past that is quietly disappearing.

I want her to feel the romance of the cowboy story, where good and evil are clearly defined and the good guys always win.  These stories didn't just entertain but they helped bring out the best, even if it was all fake.

The Flying U Guest Ranch in the southern Cariboo Region was built on the romantic notion of the cowboy.  The son of the original owners, Jack Boyd, was enamored with cowboy culture and had an actor friend, William Hart, who suggested that the ranch be called "The Flying U Guest Ranch" named after a popular series of books by B. M. Bower.  Since then there has always had an oblique reference to hollywood and cowboys. It has gone through a few hands since then but the original appeal has never changed.  Simple and direct.  Romantic and rugged.