Glenn face lift dooms '40s relic

July 3, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

HICKS CREEK -- The sweet strains of a folk-song duet with Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash wafted from the tack shack as Arnie Hrncir saddled up Winchester and Midnight for a trot around the yard.

"The stories this horse could tell . . . the trail rides, the moose hunts. He's been up the hill and back, over and over," Hrncir said as he rubbed Winchester's white muzzle.

Hrncir and his wife, Carol, bought the Hicks Creek Roadhouse nine years ago, and already have a lifetime of stories to tell about the establishment, which was built in 1946 at Mile 97 Glenn Hwy. and is slated to close this summer.

The state now owns the land, and in another two years, the Glenn Highway will pass over the spot where the lodge now sits.

Already, tourists have shown up on the doorstep. Some said they were disappointed that they will soon no longer be able to eat the roadhouse's bean-and-ham soup with homemade bread. And an elderly woman recently leaped out of her car and ran up to the horses, recounting a trail ride two years ago on a horse named Remington that was the best time ever. After a moment of confusion, Hrncir asked her if she meant Winchester.

Wednesday, in the muggy afternoon heat, a teal-colored sedan pulled off the Glenn Highway. A man jumped out and asked if the red, white and blue Java Hut was open for parched travelers. "Sorry, we're closed," Arnie Hrncir said.

The final chapter in the roadhouse's history has yet to be written.

Monday, residents will converge at the site for the eighth-annual Hicks Creek Fourth of July celebration, complete with a parade at high noon, horse rides, hand-cranked ice-cream, an old-fashioned picnic, and a bittersweet good-bye to the roadhouse for the 200 people who usually attend the event.

"There's more kids in the parade than adults. So the adults get thrown candy," Carol said.

The day after the national holiday, Hrncir and an expert building mover from Colorado will make an earnest effort to move the old structure without damaging it. Hrncir hopes the log building will survive the move two miles east to his newly purchased, undeveloped, 100-acre parcel.

Michelle Colby, a right-of-way agent with the state Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, visited the Hrncirs earlier in the week.

"She seemed a little nervous that we haven't moved anything yet. She said we're getting down to the wire," Arnie Hrncir said. "Until the Fourth, we won't do anything. On the fifth, we'll come out swinging."

The Hrncirs have until Aug. 31 to get everything they want to keep off the property. DOT will advertise for auction any structures left behind. Prospective owners must submit in writing how they plan to remove the building.

Anything not removed will be bulldozed prior to road construction, according to Robert Wright, supervisor of appraisal, acquisitions and relocation for DOT.

"They're building a new road so people can go 70 mph," Hrncir said.

Currently, if a person is driving north on the Glenn Highway, at Mile 97, it winds down and swings to the left at almost 90 degrees, crosses Hicks Creek, and makes an almost hairpin right-hand turn before heading uphill at a steep grade, according to DOT Project Manager Carl Nelson.

"When we're done, the road will go straight across Hicks Creek at a higher elevation," he said. "Essentially, it'll be straight road instead of a sweeping S-curve."

The road construction, which should take place during summer 2006 or 2007, will use excavation fill from the small mountain behind the roadhouse. The fill will eliminate the grade.

"This is the only real, improved property we had to buy," Nelson said, adding that everything else needed for right of way was undeveloped.

Not as necessary as upgrades on the well-traveled Parks Highway, the Glenn Highway improvements will be completed in phases over 20 years, Nelson said.

The couple said the decade has passed quickly. It was nine years ago as newlyweds that they toyed with the idea of buying the roadhouse after the former owner began vacating the premises.

"One full-moon night, we rode our snowmachines down here and prayed. A neat series of events happened and we moved in within the month," Carol said.

They ran the lodge for about a year and a half before they starting throwing the Fourth of July get-together. They catered to tourists during the summer and ran a towing and tire business year-round. Their son, Dustin, then in high school, built a cabin and a one-level four-plex on the property.

Carol said she has enjoyed her property this summer, knowing it's her last summer here, and getting a reprieve from the hectic lifestyle of running the lodge.

"It's a charming place with great water. I wish I could take the well with me," Carol said.

The well will have to stay, but the Hrncirs can bring their memories with them.

When asked what she plans to do in the future, Carol said, "Ask us in two years."

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.