[pennsiveguy]

My dad and my uncle owned a cattle ranch in Havre, Montana back in the '70s through the '90s. Once every couple of weeks we used to start out on a Friday afternoon when Dad got out of school (he was a High School teacher as a hobby) in our 2 cattle semis and head out to the ranch to haul back a load of cattle. It was 13 or 14 hours depending on traffic and weather. We'd get there at about 6 AM and have a bite to eat and then start loading steers.

A couple hours later we were back on the road, headed to Northfield, MN. After a 14-hour drive we'd have to unload them, which took a couple of hours. It'd end up being about midnight on a Saturday night when it was all done. My old man had been up since 4 AM on Friday morning, and he'd invariably insist that we go out for beers afterward, where he would hold court and we'd recount the stories of the trip. He did this well into his 50s. He was a genuine badass - hit the beach at Inchon Korea in 1950 and came home 2 years later with a Silver Star and 2 Purple Hearts. And you'd never meet a humbler man.

Cheers, Dad.