Do you remember my column from a few weeks ago about the two young men who rode on horseback from Minneapolis to Fountain Hills?

The two men were Arthur Greeley and Sandy Bergh. They were both 19 years old and looking for an adventure.

Greeley is a descendant of the famous newspaperman, Horace Greeley. He had written some 121 years earlier in a column in the New York Tribune to “Go West, young man.” Art and Sandy took his advice.

They left Minnesota from the parking lot of the trade school from which they had both graduated after learning the electrical trade.

“We ran into every kind of weather along the way except for snow,” said Art. They had to trade horses several times to complete their journey. Many nights they slept in rodeo grounds they found along the way.

Upon finishing their journey, they had planned to work for Fountain Hills Electric, a company started by his father, Roscoe Greeley. The business only lasted several months so they decided to ride back to Minnesota.

Art ended up moving to Phoenix, where he initially worked for the City of Phoenix for a period of time.

He went to work for 26 years with APS. He is now retired.

Sandy decided to go back and work the family farm.

There is something else that is interesting about the pair that rode on horseback from Minneapolis to Fountain Hills in 1972 when they were both just 19 years old. Both are now 70. Art married Kris, who is Sandy’s sister, and Sandy married Art’s cousin, Denise.

“We’re all still relatives, twice over,” Art said, “And we are still friends.”

Art and Kris have six children, who are now all grown and live in the Phoenix area.

“We’re very lucky to have all of our kids living close by,” Art said.

Sandy went back to, Minnesota to work the family farm. He retired in 2012 and still lives on a farm that has horses and donkeys near Minneapolis. He and Denise had three children. Denise has since passed away.

Art and Sandy were interviewed by Channel 10 in Phoenix in addition to my story. They also had other TV stations and newspapers interview them along the way with the Horace Greeley tie-in as the key. One other stop during their ride was in Pueblo West, a sister community to Fountain Hills.

Also interviewed by Channel 10 was Art’s brother, Roscoe, or “Bud” which is the name he goes by. Several years later after Art and Sandy completed their ride. Bud followed the same route with a bicycle ride creating awareness for children born with Down Syndrome. He completed another fundraiser ride covering some 3,000 miles about a year later.

“Bud rides that bike everywhere and is in great shape,” Art said. He was 70 when he did the first ride. Now he’s 76 and still riding.

You readers are probably wondering how I managed to get a hold of Greeley after all these years, especially since both of the young men lost my business cards and never reached me.

It was a stroke of good luck.

Art plays golf every Tuesday with Jim Margerum, who happens to live in Fountain Hills. They knew each other from their days of working at Arizona Public Service. Jim saw my last column on Art and took him a copy. Art gave me a call and that, as they say, is another piece of Fountain HiIls’ history.