The Schmidt’s Ranch Escapade is a story of adventure, mystery and intrigue that takes place around the end of the decade of the sixties. Helen and Allen, characters from Life’s Tangled Trail go to the mountains to recover from the loss of their son in Vietnam and to decide rather to retire or continue working for their own future. There they are introduced to new adventures in the wilderness of the American West including a confrontation with a grizzly bear, an amazing adventure down a wild river and finding out who is behind the theft of their neighbor’s logs.
The mystery is intensified by the appearance of a young hermit, Grove, who saves their lives at their first meeting. They find him to be exceptional in his outdoor skills, including tracking, logging, river running and other life skills. The youth applies his skills to help those in need but also to infuriate the local sheriff. Despite the exceptional qualities of this youth they find he needs to overcome personal challenges that led to his becoming a hermit in the first place. Helen discovers that a broken heart and a rocky relationship can lead a man of many talents to leave the security of society to go out on his own to live in the wilds.
This exceptional attributes and training of their new acquaintance welds a bond of friendship between them that continues even after the mystery of the missing logs is solved. Together they take on the challenge of a river, chasing thieves, finding a valuable treasure and recovering logs that were stolen by a gang of elites from the county seat.
They work with Grove and good new friends to find out which unscrupulous elected officials are involved in stealing the livelihood of the loggers.
In the mist of all the mystery and adventure, the young hermit, Grove, learns from the example of the seasoned couple how a girl’s tears and gorgeous, colorful sunrises and sunsets can work together to build a relationship that can last forever.
Join us in the adventure, mystery and intrigue involved in solving the Schmidt’s Ranch Escapade.
Targeted Age Group:: 14+
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
When I took over the editing of my grandfather's novel I realized that I had stories to tell as well.
When I finished his novel, I started one of my own. This is the first one that I am promoting. This one included some adventures of my own mixed with stories that had been shared with me by scout leaders and relatives.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
The names of my characters are made up so as not to match anybody I know. Most of the names are misspellings of common names or names that are so common that it would be hard to associate them with any one person.
Book Sample
Arm and arm they strolled down the path to the lake. They found the canoe right where Len told them it would be, launched it disturbing several ducks and paddled at a leisurely pace across the lake. The whole pleasant ambiance of the scene with the canoe gliding gracefully across the water was too magnificent to disturb by casting a fishing line. They just paddled slowly then let the craft glide while they watched a moose and her calf enter the lake, stand, watch the couple for a few moments before tipping their heads for a long drink of refreshing water. A much larger moose was standing in the trees a short distance behind the others, holding, his massive shovels or antlers high showing the pride of the male of the species. Ducks and geese glided in to land on the reflective water to calmly float until they joined others of their kind that were congregated on the lakes surface. Now that the sun’s rays were reflecting on the water and warming the air many fish began to boil up around the canoe, lifting it a little as they swam under and around it.
Song birds few over them landing in nearby trees adding chirping and song to the pleasant appeal of the scene. On a large rock that became a small peninsula jutting into the lake sat a fat marmot that watched them smoothly paddle by. It was soon joined by another fat marmot that was followed by three little ones. They all sat on the rock to watch with curiosity for a moment then return to their business.
On the far end of the lake they could see where a stream was coming into the lake, marked by willows and other plants that are commonly found by running water.
Upon passing to an advantage point where they could see up the stream Helen exclaimed, “Oh look, see how the water cascades over that cliff making such a wonderful waterfall. See, the sun shining through the mist is producing the most magnificent array of colors in a rainbow.
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