In March of 1995, after lengthy preparation, 300 Longhorn steers, 100 horses,Trailboss Bud McCasland, along with 36 seasoned cowboys, 4 horse wranglers, a trail cook and his assistant, varying numbers guests and outriders, a chuck wagon and trucks, trailers and supplies headed north from Ft. Worth, Texas.

The Great American Cattle Drive of '95 was a six month journey from Ft. Worth, Texas to Miles City, Montana, passing through six states, 22 counties and approximately 100 cities, utilizing five historic cattle trails long the way.  The herd was driven across middle America along open land and public highways. They traveled about twelve miles per day and pastured, each night, on land opened to them by generous ranch owners, after years of advance planning.  Nan, then of Dallas, Texas, along with Gloria Schafer of Tool, Texas, and Annie Golightly of Fort Worth, Texas, were the only ladies who participated in the entire drive.

The two lead steers for the herd were from the Triple N Ranch, Carrot Top and Chocolate Chip.  Both of them are the focus of many photographs and an oil painting by Derek Hansen who traveled with the Drive. In Miles City, all of the steers and much of the equipment and tack were auctioned to a crowd of buyers.  Carrot Top was bought by a rancher from Iowa and later became the lead steer for the small herd at the Ft. Worth Stockyards where he entertained tourists for many months before going to the local zoo.

Carrot Top

Chocolate Chip

Nan's unique experiences of the Cattle Drive have added to the texture of her ranch life at the Triple N. She can tell many stories about the drive.

For example, “One evening a group of us were sitting around the campfire telling stories and tales and laughing at our shortcomings and smiling at our successes in life when Will Miltimore, one of the older cowboys, rode up on his horse, sat and listened for a while and then slung a huge rattlesnake right amongst us.  We all jumped, scrambled in and out of the campfire and yelled at Will.  We didn’t know at the time that the rattlesnake was dead, but we should have known it because Will had been making a hatband out of rattlesnake “rattlers” and this snake was the last one needed to complete it.”

The Drive was a great adventure for Nan, interrupted sadly, by a fall from a panicked horse she had borrowed for the day. Her gentle quarter horse, Charlie, had the day off to replace a lost shoe.  She ended up in the Oklahoma City hospital the day of the bombing of the Federal Building with a broken back.  Six weeks later she rejoined the Drive in Dodge City, Kansas, and, on September 1, 1995, rode into Miles City on the horse that threw her.

Real ranchhand cowboys pushed three hundred steers along Farm to Market roads and small state highways for the whole nation to see.