Tod and Buz encounter a boy with a pet mule near Zion National Park in Utah. He's been ordered to get rid of it because his family's ranch doesn't have enough water to allow a mule to drink. His family consists of his older brother, (Burt Brinkerhoff, who became a prolific director of episodic TV) and future beach party honey Deborah Walley, (another of the series' teenage actresses- she turned 19 on 8/12/60- I'm guessing this would have been filmed before that). Tod and Buz do what they can to help the family through the drought, including hooking up the engine of their beloved corvette to try to drill the well deeper. The most remarkable thing about this show is the lack of a conventional happy ending. The young family realize that their efforts to keep the ranch, which their family has owned for a century, is destroying them and they have a greater need to be liberated from it than to remain attached to it. A neighbor rancher played by Robert F. Simon, who usually place grouchy, unfeeling types but is here more of a philosopher, has a nice speech about how the land has been 'owned' by many people since it was created and that family that's on it now have actually been tenants on it for a very small period of time when you see it from the full perspective.
This episode reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of Bonanza, "Gift of Water" 2/11/62, where the Cartwrights successfully help out a young family with a similar problem. That one has a happy ending but the theme of the story is that everybody has something to contribute and, as the saying goes, "It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit." The Route 66 episode has a different theme and thus a different ending.
This episode reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of Bonanza, "Gift of Water" 2/11/62, where the Cartwrights successfully help out a young family with a similar problem. That one has a happy ending but the theme of the story is that everybody has something to contribute and, as the saying goes, "It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit." The Route 66 episode has a different theme and thus a different ending.