Grand Mesa photo from imgarcade.com

Dad (Wayne Payton)  is the kid in the middle, serving in post-WWII Europe.

“We scouts raised enough money to stay on Grand Mesa for two weeks. The Mesa is the highest flat-topped mountain in the world. It’s beautiful country; forests of blue spruce, ponderosa pine, and aspen with flowery meadows in between. The flat top collects rainfall in three hundred sixty lakes and a zillion marshes. Those wet-lands make for a whole lot of hungry mosquitoes, but we scouts were tough. After two weeks of eating the fish that ate the mosquitoes that feasted on us, we were all blood brothers, and there was no mystery left in the circle of life.”

Thought I’d share an excerpt from Dad’s book, No Market for ‘Em for Father’s Day. I’ll always love Grand Mesa, mosquitoes and all.