Stop along the river

High marks for story telling

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Rusty May is a saddle maker, and story teller, that I happened upon in recent wanderings.
His shop was almost wiped out by the September 2013 flooding along the Big Thompson River when the water rose six feet inside it.
As he showed me the high water marks and related stories, and we each reached out for common markers in our own histories, I couldn't help but feel I had known this character all my life.
"When May and his wife, Jo Ann, learned that a 20-foot wall of water was surging down the nearby Big Thompson River, they had just minutes to grab some saddles and equipment, then load their horses into a horse trailer before driving to safety," reported the Denver Post at the time.
Now, every time I drive past his shop on the river, I think to myself that I should stop by for a story, or six.