Mike Landis – Still Doing it His Way

by Jo Gray

Mike Landis has done things his way most of his life. For 65 years, this roughed cowboy has stepped into a pair of worn spur-fitted boots, pulled on his weather-beaten cowboy hat and climbed onto the back of a horse.

As Mike sees it, the job of raising cattle has never needed change.

The son of a Kansas dirt farmer, Mike left home at the age of 14 to make it on his own. He hitched rides to Texas where he landed a job on a large ranch. From the start, he had a talent for riding horses. And, he didn’t object to the living conditions.

“When I worked on them big outfits in the Texas Panhandle, we didn’t get cleaned up from fall til Christmas,” Mike said in recalling those early years.

“We didn’t’ consider ourselves filthy. We camped out, ya know? You could make a tub out of a saddle blanket and a horse collar. The saddle blanket would hold water long enough for you to wash up if you wanted to clean up that way. Now they think they’ve got to take a shower every week or somethin’ ain’t right.

“The young fellers of today don’t get the opportunity to learn much. Used to be, you would lead a stray cow in. Now they haul ‘em in.”

Working various jobs at ranches from Nevada to Texas , Mike was doing what he loved. He never wanted to do anything other than work cattle from the back of a horse.

And, he says, he prefers the company of a horse or cow over that of people.

Mike lives with his wife, Karen, on the couple’s ranch along historic Route 66 near Peach Springs , Arizona . It was here he met Karen approximately 25 years ago.

Karen owned a convenience store at the site and Mike was a customer.

“He would come in and buy things,” Karen recalls. “One day he said, ‘Why don’t you marry me and come life with me at the Double O? You will have fun every day.’”

Karen married the man 19 years her senior and moved with him to the Double O Ranch near Seligman, Arizona . Mike was running the ranch and had no desire to own his own herd.

“I prefer to punch cows for somebody else,” Mike admits. “It’s just easier to let someone else do all the paperwork.”

Before long, Karen convinced Mike to lease land and run his own herd, along with the landowner’s herd.

The couple holds a lease on 110 sections off Interstate 40 in Mohave County , Arizona . Known as the Willows Ranch, the property is in the Black Mountains and has a spring-fed creek that provides water even during sever droughts.

Mike taught Karen about raising cattle. He taught her to rope, ride, brand and inoculate. She taught him about sharing his ranching knowledge with others.

The couple returned to the site where they met and turned the store into a home. Then they opened a different kind of dude ranch – one without frills.

Termed a “Tent and Breakfast” dude ranch, the business provides guests a lifestyle that is real. Guests sleep in tents on the property. They ride horses and work cattle. And after a full day’s work, they eat around a campfire.

Their reputation grew and word of mouth spread until guests were booking their stays a year in advance. Before long Karen and Mike became coordinators with Elderhostel, a not-for-profit travel organization for adults 55 years of age and older.

As the “city dudes” soon learn during their week’s visit to Tent and Breakfast, a cowboy’s life demands physical stamina. Even at his age, Mike seems tireless.

Known by many as “ Arizona ’s Number One Cowboy”, Mike has been portrayed by one of the country’s leading greeting card companies. Yet, he remains sky, unassuming and quiet.

A smoker since he left home, Mike learned quickly how to roll his cigarettes – a habit he maintains. Buying ready –made, packaged smokes is not an option for this cowboy. He prefers to roll his own – another sign of his adherence in doing things his way.