Overview

In 1976, I was invited by Ed Hood to attend a Conquistadores meeting. The Conquistadores del Cielo is a club originally formed by a group of aerospace pioneers. It began in 1937 when Mr. Frey got his first transcontinental flight certificate at TWA, and in the beginning it consisted mainly of airline executives. Frey thought it would be a good idea to bring his friends together for a regular social gathering. The Conquistadores would have a three-day meeting at a remote ranch once a year where they would ride, shoot, and hunt. Eventually the group got into tennis, golf, and other more civilized sports, but originally it was all ranchtype activities.

Although they were held at several other places in the early years, most of the fall meetings, which are the important ones, take place at the A-Bar-A Ranch in Encampment, Wyoming. The drive to the A-Bar-A from the airport takes you through the beautiful country of Wyoming with its big blue skies, and since it's at 7000 ft, it seems as if you can see forever. After you enter the ranch gates from the highway, you still have a seven-mile drive through the mountains with streams on one side of a rugged road. Finally, you arrive at the main entrance surrounded by green fields, a scene that is just like sitting in the bowl where you could imagine Shangri-la was. It's a fabulous area of the country with clear, clean air and pure water.

I considered it a...