Blog Post....Bill, The Best Friend A Kid Ever Had!

Among My adventures and journey of life….I had the opportunity of enjoying the company of my Friend Bill……At the age of about 15 years old, I took a job at at a local service station, with the hopes of eventually buying a car.

The service station was at the bottom of the western slope, where I-70 meets Hwy 9 in Silverthorne Co. …It was a full service gas station with both gasoline and a truck stop, complete with a Cafe…..There was a mechanic on duty during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m…….The mechanic owned a one truck towing company, and stayed fairly busy with the tow truck …..there was often wrecks and break downs coming off the hill from the Eisenhower Tunnel down to Silverthorne.

I would ride the school bus from school and it would let me off in front of the service station at about 4 p.m. in the afternoon…….My mother would pick me up at 10 p.m. when I got done every night.

One afternoon I got to work to find the garage already closed and the tow truck in the bay…..wasn’t that unusual sometimes the mechanic would cut out a little early if he had to do something….Except this time, there was a dog on the back of the tow truck……he wasn’t doing anything, just sitting there……When I called to him he wagged his tail ……he hesitated a little and came over and sat down at my feet…..I pet his head and rubbed his ears…..seemed to be a very well mannered and likable dog…..I started to go in and change cloths, I noticed he went right back on the tow truck…….

I changed cloths and clocked in and went back up front ready to pump gas…..the other guy that was working there was sitting on the counter…….I asked him about the dog…..he told me that he turned up earlier from some where and wouldn’t leave the tow truck…….He also told me that the owner and the mechanic wanted us to get him out of there tonight when we leave!……I had about forgot about the dog when he appeared at the glass door between the bay and the front of the station……he scratched and got my attention…..I opened the door and he went to the next door that leads outside……I opened that one and he went right out and across the parking lot to the grassy area…….I thought to myself ..he’s house trained too, someone is going to miss this dog…. He came back in and took his position on the tow truck…

At 10 o’clock sharp my mother pulled up, I went to the back through the bay and changed cloths and clocked out……I heard that dogs tail hitting the tow truck as he wagged it , watching me go by…….I asked the guy I was working with if he wanted me to get that dog out now or let him do it when the third shift guy came on…..he told me to go ahead and get him out of there…..I called the dog and he came right out…..we went outside and I told the dog to sit……He sit right down…..I got in the car…….my mother asked who’s dog that was , and I told her that it was a stray……I asked if we could take him home until we found where he belongs……She reluctantly said OK ……I opened the door and called him, he jumped up and came right in , on my lap and laid across me and put his head right on my mothers lap….He knew what he was doing….mom was hooked right away!

On the way home, my mother was rubbing the dogs head. She was wondering what to call the dog, When a song by Mac Davis came on the radio……”My girl Bill”………We called the dog Bill from then on….Now Bill wasn’t a great big dog. he looked to be an Australian shepherd mix, maybe , a border collie mix, black over most his body….a white blaze on his nose and his chest and belly where white, and his toes where white too….he may have weighed 30 lbs, give or take a little.

I did make an effort to find the rightful owner of the dog …I put a sign up in the station and the Cafe……Nobody ever inquired…… .I brought him to work with me on weekends thinking maybe someone would recognize him ……still …nobody ever inquired….Seems Bill was destined to stay with us forever…..I finally was convinced that he wasn’t going any where and accepted that he was really ours!

Bill turned out to be an amazing friend to our whole family……We all loved him and he loved all of us…..He could make anybody feel special in his own way …Sometimes he would head out with my sister,who spent as much time as she could on her horse (still does)……Sometimes he would walk with me and spend all day watching me fish on the river…..He might even jump in the car with my mother and go to the store…….One time my father was about to leave for somewhere….He had to walk by Bill to leave the house…..As he opened the door, my dad told Bill (half jokingly) to get in the pick-up…..Bill trotted right out there and jumped in the back of the pick-up…..From then on we would tell him what vehicle we were going in before we left the house….he would be in it or meet us at the right one every time….Another time, my sister and I were going to herd some cattle for a local rancher……We were both on horseback and Bill came along too….We got to the ranch and started working those cattle to a different pasture …….Bill fell right in there and we found out he could herd……Not only could he herd, but he would check back with us often and take hand signals to change what he was doing…he just seemed to understand everything we told him and understood each of our needs like no other friend could!

A couple years later we moved to a farm in Oklahoma……of course Bill came too…..When we got there, Bill wouldn’t hardly get out of the car…..Took about 4 days for him to be convinced we were going to stay and weren’t going to leave him by himself….He finally warmed up to our new home and accepted his new surroundings…..He soon became the king of the farm….we raised some beef cattle and horses, a few chickens and a couple turkeys for the holidays…….sometimes the neighbors guinea hens would make their way over to our house ……Bill would look at us waiting for the signal to push them back home…..When he got the high sign, he would very slowly walk over to them until they started to move, then he would lay down…..Then he would move around them until they started to move the direction he wanted them to, and lay down ……he would work for over an hour…….pushing those guinea hens home, about a quarter mile up the road……

Later I graduated high school……Then Two years later, graduated trade school….All that time being greeted by Ol’ Bill every weekend, like I was gone too long…….After trade school I got hired at a company in Grand Junction Co……Only lasted about 8 months and moved back to Oklahoma, he was still hanging at the farm, and treated me like his long lost brother…….At the age of 25 I joined the army…..The day I was inducted and leaving for basic training from the mepps station ( the same building that was bombed about ten years later ) I received a Red Cross phone call……When I answered, my father was on the line with the Red Cross rep…….They told me that my mother had been diagnosed with in-operable cancer, they gave me the option of getting back out and going home…..The Doctors had given her about a year to live……I got to talk to my mother who convinced me to stay in the army and get started with my military journey.( By now I was married and my wife was pregnant with twins, hence why I joined the Army in the first place.)My folks had split up a couple years earlier, so they sold the farm……Bill and my mother lived in a small house in chandler Ok. …….Six months later, while stationed at Ft. Gordon Ga…….I received a call from my mother ….She told me that she had to have Bill put to sleep….It seems he wasn’t his self and getting old ….She took bill into the vet and found out that he was also suffering from cancer…..She told me she couldn’t let him suffer and had him put down as soon as possible……I think she was wishing for the same help herself…….7 months later she was gone too…..She was 1 month from her 50th birthday……..We never knew how old, Bill was ……He was well into adulthood when he came to us……..when the end came for him he had been with my family well over 10 years…….So here is to Bill, The best friend a kid, no, a family could ever have……We Love You Bill, ….Happy Mothers Day Mom….We will never forget you both and will always hold you in that special place in our heart……Love Always…..Greg "Smokey" Bowen


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