My Partner and Pal

Once we met in a cow corral
Far on the great gray plains
Kind luck dealt me a red-haired pal
With desert sun in his veins.
Over the sand of the fenceless land
We rode in a world of two,
Loping and roping and swapping lies,
Damning each other with laughing eyes
Under the western blue.

- Charles Badger Clark, Jr.

A good number of years ago, on this historic day, through much travail and many tears, there was birthed into this world a wild-eyed, runt of a young’en. He grew tough and mean under a panhandle sun, chewin’ on leather and kickin’ scrub. Eventually this rough, ragged sprout would grow up to become one of my all time favorite cowhands, Chad Allen (C.A.). Now I’m not gonna go trottin’ out numbers. If you want to know how many journeys around the sun he’s made, you’ll have to ask him yourself. That is, if you can find him out in the South Texas no-man’s land he now calls home.

However, to this I can testify: I’ve personally seen him ride distances that would make a young buck slump in the saddle, rest peacefully in conditions that the devil himself would find unaccommodating, whip men half his age, and still have the energy to two-step till his partner broke from blisters. He’d tell you in a heart-beat that he doesn’t have the gift of gab, but I’ve never seen him miss the mark when makin’ a point. Overall, he’s a good cowboy that I’ve always known to ride for the brand. He’s faithful to watch your six, defend a lady’s honor, and tell the truth whether you want to hear it or not. He is a patron and protector of all things Texas. And most of all, he’s my friend (if you could learn to like my guitar playin’ as much as he does, then you can be my friend too).

So today I want to pay tribute, and say happy birthday to a true cowboy gypsy. My hat is off and my glass is raised in celebration of my partner and pal: Chad Allen Patton.

Gypsy