Q: Where did you park the horse for the day?

A: I left my horse in a stable across from the bus stop on a ranch owned by the Coughey family. They were sixth-generation ranchers. That's where I met my wife, Veronica. She was a year behind me in school. In my junior year the school district allowed the bus driver to pick up the few students living on the Alpine Road loop in his private car.

Q: How did you happen to haul equipment for rock groups like the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan?

A: Typically ranchers have to have another job. I got into excavating, dust control, trucking. I’ve always loved trucks and driving. They’re my toys–toys that’ve paid my way. Tractors–the same way. Anything mechanical.

A service buddy from my Navy days was driving trucks for concert promoter Bill Graham when I got out of the service in 1967, so I joined him for a year and a half. It wasn’t pleasant, so we started our own business. We started bidding tours.  It’s hard work, something the younger generation isn’t interested in. Driving, with benefits, can earn a guy $60,000-$70,000 a year, which is good for someone who basically only has to know how to read and write.

After about eight years we suffered ‘partnership hiatus,’ (dispute over money). Living on the road all the time is not a good life. I wanted my own trucks and things. I came back to the ranch. I started hauling hunter/jumper horses to the Cow Palace, Madison Square Garden, the same venues I’d been to with the bands. These days I go to the same places with my buckin’ bulls. Yellow Jacket 5 and Spotted Tiger– they’re my best rodeo bulls right now.

I hauled rock for Neil Young’s driveway. He’s a neighbor. (Young played with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, among other music groups, like Buffalo Springfield and Pearl Jam.)