This is the story of how I became a juggie.
By: Laura Cullen

 In 1980 I divorced my husband of three years and moved to Grand Junction Colorado.  It had been a very unhappy marriage and I remember wishing that somehow and someday I might find happiness again. I wrote in my diary that “freedom is the only thing that will make this life worthwhile to me; freedom to go wherever I want to, do whatever I want to, with whoever I want to, for whatever reasons I want to, with no questions asked.” I was twenty-four when I moved to Grand Junction. I chose Grand Junction because by living there I would be closer to two of my favorite areas; the Colorado Rockies and the canyonlands of Utah. But I quickly became bored with my life in Grand Junction. I met a biker in the local biker bar (the Iron Horse) and he asked me if I would hitchhike with him to California to pick up his Harley and ride back to Grand Junction with him. Being bored and ready for adventure of any kind I said yes. Well we never did pick up a Harley, but we did hitchhike up the coast of California, across Oregon, down through Idaho, and in the first week of September we were standing in Spanish Fork canyon in central Utah when a blue van pulled up and the driver leaned out the window and asked us if we needed jobs. I asked what kind of work and the driver (Danny Olsen) said that we would be hiking up and down mountains, laying out cables, setting off explosions, and flying in helicopters. I said yes and my companion agreed only he did not last long on the job. We found out later that the reason Danny had offered us jobs was because a few days earlier the company he worked for (Skyline Exploration) had a helicopter crash and two juggies were in the hospital and one was dead. The first day at the show-up site the observer (Frank Jacques) wasn’t going to let us work because he had not given Danny the OK to hire anybody. But somehow Frank reconsidered and let us work. My first helicopter ride was in a big fat orange Sikorsky; it was scary and wonderful at the same time. For the next five years I hiked in mountains, flew in helicopters, traveled to beautiful places, met great people, and had the best time of my life! Two people, one with a wild hair up his ass and the other willing to give a greenhorn a chance, set into motion the events that allowed me to live a lifestyle in which I could go wherever I wanted to, do whatever I wanted to, for whatever reasons I wanted to, with whoever I wanted to, and with very few questions asked.
Thank you very much!