Dove Creek, Colorado produces pinto beans, hay, and one of the finest rockcrawling teams. Rick Deremo and Rick Gersch have known each other for a lifetime and rockcrawled as a team for many years. Retired now, at least from crawling, they share their take on life in a small community. Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.
7:19 – we’ve been around each other forever
12:43 – a lot of kids that went to school here; their folks were miners during the uranium boom
16:12 – you know what? I think we can do this
22:42 – How many adaptors go from a Subaru to a C4 – it was farmerized
28:03 – I didn’t like Goldendale; it seemed like I was farming again, there was so much dirt
31:48 – Back then, ingenuity was a bigger player than money
37:18 – back then, I was drinking Monsters in between courses and stuff and getting a little hyper
47:48 – were you keeping an eye on the gauges? No, I was just having fun!
59:18 – right now, 60% of all farmers are in their mid-60s; there are going to be a lot of retirement farms in the next few years
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:39.300] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have the Ricks. That’s Rick Deremo and Rick Gersch. They’re out of Dove Creek, Colorado. They were quite the team back in the days of rock crawling. We’re going to get into all of that and more about these two. Ricks, both of you?
[00:01:57.850] – Rick Deremo
Yes.
[00:01:58.380] – Big Rich Klein
Thank you so much for coming on board.
[00:02:00.780] – Rick Deremo
No problem. I enjoy doing this.
[00:02:02.990] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. Gersch, are you there?
[00:02:05.340] – Rick Gersch
Yes, sir.
[00:02:06.170] – Big Rich Klein
Okay, there. I just want to make sure you’re still there. You didn’t sneak out the back. All right, so let’s jump right in. You’re both in Dove Creek? Did you both start off in that area?
[00:02:17.600] – Rick Deremo
Yes, I did. This is Rick Deremo. I’ve been here all my life. Went to Phoenix in the winters. My family were snowbirds. So we’d go down there and come back in the summer and farm.
[00:02:31.140] – Big Rich Klein
Right. And it’s always been a farming life, right?
[00:02:34.330] – Rick Deremo
Yes.
[00:02:35.940] – Big Rich Klein
And Rick. How about you? Gersch, how about you?
[00:02:39.620] – Rick Gersch
My family came to Dove Creek when I was ten years old. My dad worked for the State Highway Department, got transferred here, and I’ve been here ever since, about 59 years. People are starting to look at me as one of theirs now.
[00:02:56.730] – Big Rich Klein
Finally. Yeah, you’re finally local. Is that it?
[00:03:00.430] – Rick Gersch
Right? There you go.
[00:03:03.360] – Big Rich Klein
I can understand that small community thing. It really is. It takes a while to assimilate yourself into the local customs as it may be, even if you were there for 59 years. So let’s talk about those early years. Deremo, what about growing up there on the farm? What were you guys farming and what was life like for you then?
[00:03:35.320] – Rick Deremo
I started running a tractor by myself when I was twelve years old, so I think we did wheat and Pinto beans and so I got to run a combine when I was 14 and even at that age we put in 10/12 hours days and learned good work ethics learned how to weld and cut and fab equipment that I tore up. Because I was in a hurry as most kids.
[00:04:09.460] – Rick Deremo
Yes.
[00:04:11.700] – Big Rich Klein
Besides working on the farm for ten to 12 hours a day, 14 hours a day, what else did you do besides school?
[00:04:19.960] – Rick Deremo
Yeah, when I was younger, I started riding motocross back in 74 when I was 14. Got my first Cr 125 elsnor the first year they came out, got into riding motor cross and retired from that in 82. The last three years I rode the outdoor national circuit. AMA wow. First year I rode 125, 2nd year I rode two hundred and fifty s. And then my sponsor brought out an open bike for me to ride a 500 and said, see what you can do on this. And first event I went to, local event I won. So I kind of got hooked on that. Riding the 500s, loved them, but I ended up hurting my lower back and that kind of put me out of the motocross scene, compressing discs, and I felt good a few years after I quit racing, and then it kind of came back the last couple of years when I was rock crawling.
[00:05:28.050] – Big Rich Klein
Right. Understand. If you said you were 14 and that was 74, that means you were born in 69. 59. Okay. So you’re real close to my age, you’re a little younger, thank goodness. Yeah, I was born in 58, but I basically quit working, except for well, I basically quit working now. You still have a farm to run?
[00:05:58.760] – Rick Deremo
Yes.
[00:06:00.120] – Big Rich Klein
So, Gersch, what about you? You moved there when you were ten, you said you’ve been there 59 years, so you’re 69, you’re a little older.
[00:06:07.820] – Rick Gersch
Yes, just a little older.
[00:06:09.940] – Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:06:13.340] – Rick Gersch
I spent most of my summers as a kid until I was 14 up in Ouray, Colorado. My grandparents owned a gas station and a restaurant in Ouray, and I would pump gas and help my grandfather do mechanic work from the time I was six until I was 14.
[00:06:31.620] – Big Rich Klein
Okay, so you learned how to wrench early, right?
[00:06:36.530] – Rick Deremo
Yeah.
[00:06:38.740] – Rick Gersch
Doing a lot of menial stuff. Some of that like straightening nails, I got straightened a lot of nails, did some minor wrenching. But then as my summers went from spending time in Ouray back here, then I actually worked the summers for Rick’s dad and uncle.
[00:06:58.340] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. Is that how you guys became friends? I know there’s an age difference there, so typically if Rick’s that much younger, say when Rick is eight or ten, years old, not normally going to be hanging out with a 15 year old in most situations.
[00:07:17.370] – Rick Deremo
Rick has an older brother that’s my.
[00:07:19.280] – Rick Gersch
Age and that we hung out a lot together, so we were around each other all the time. Even though your analogy with the age difference is correct. But yeah, we’ve been around each other forever. READ MORE
